Vacuum Skin Packaging Apparatus and Process
AssigneeCryovac, Inc.
InventorsAndrea Granili, Riccardo Evangelisti
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Abstract
It is disclosed a vacuum skin packaging apparatus equipped with a cutting device. The apparatus comprises an arrangement for packaging products between a bottom thermoplastic web and a top thermoplastic web, wherein the top web forms a tight skin all around the products to be packed, thus sealing wherever the two webs contact each other. The cutting device comprises a laser source (LS) producing a laser beam (LB) at a first optical power and means (MR) for directing said laser beam at said first optical power towards the area where the two webs contact each other in a manner that the reflected laser beam (RLB) at said first optical power follows a predetermined path (CL) so that the two webs become cut and the products become packaged singularly.
Claims20
-24. (canceled)
A vacuum skin packaging apparatus comprising:
- a loading station wherein a plurality of products to be packaged are arranged on a bottom thermoplastic web;
- a skin station adapted to:
- i) position a top thermoplastic web above a product on the bottom thermoplastic web,
- ii) heat the top thermoplastic web, and
- iii) apply a vacuum between the top thermoplastic web and the bottom thermoplastic web to draw the top thermoplastic web to the bottom thermoplastic web to seal the top and bottom thermoplastic webs together in areas where they contact each other to encase the product between the top and bottom thermoplastic webs and create an encased packaged product;
- and
- a cutting station comprising a cutting device comprising:
- a laser source adapted to produce a first laser beam at a first optical power;
- and
- a mirror adapted to direct the first laser beam to cut through the top and bottom thermoplastic webs in the sealed areas along a selected path.
A process for vacuum skin packaging comprising:
- placing a plurality of products to be packaged on a bottom thermoplastic web;
- positioning a top thermoplastic web above a product on the bottom thermoplastic web;
- heating the top thermoplastic web;
- applying a vacuum between the top thermoplastic web and the bottom thermoplastic web to draw the top thermoplastic web to the bottom thermoplastic web to seal the top and bottom thermoplastic webs together in areas where they contact each other to encase the product between the top and bottom thermoplastic webs and create an encased packaged product;
- and
- moving a mirror to reflect a laser beam to cut through the top and bottom thermoplastic webs in the sealed areas along a selected path.
The process of claim 44 wherein the detached encased product has a skirt of less than 2 mm width.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.