CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/584,567, filed January 9, 2012, and which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a desiccant package, and more particularly, to a desiccant package having at least one scannable code printed thereon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Scannable linear, or ID barcodes - such as UPC barcodes and the like - are commonly used in product packaging for providing information to identify the product. ID barcodes use a series of spaced-apart vertical lines having varying thickness of lines and spacing between lines to represent the information of the product, which is typically read by an optical scanner. However, the ID barcode provides only limited product information and has fairly poor error correction, which can lead to less than 50% scanning accuracy.

[0004] Desiccant packages often have the same or similar appearance such that it is difficult to discern the difference between different desiccant packages. The size, shape, and even quantity can be difficult to distinguish, which can make it difficult for suppliers to identify the different packages. Visually differentiating between similar desiccant packages is prone to failure, which can lead to improper supply or installation of a desiccant package. If the wrong desiccant package is distributed due to confusion of products, the recall costs can be extremely expensive in order to re- supply stock with the correct product.

[0005] A need therefore exists for a desiccant package having a scannable code that provides increased product information and can also provide increased differentiation and increased accuracy of the readable medium on the package. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, a desiccant package is provided. The desiccant package includes a bag having a first end, an opposing second end, and a body extending between the first end and the second end. The desiccant package also includes desiccant material disposed within the body. At least one scannable code is printed on an outer surface of the bag.

[0007] According to another aspect of the present invention, a desiccant package is provided. The desiccant package includes a tubular bag having opposing sealed ends. The desiccant package also includes desiccant material disposed within the bag. A scannable code is printed on the bag, and a user readable code is also printed on the bag adjacent to the scannable code.

[0008] In a further aspect of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a desiccant package is provided. The method includes providing a roll of material. The method also includes printing at least one scannable code on the material. A tubular bag is formed from the material. The method further includes sealing a first end of the bag. The method also includes injecting a desiccant material into the bag. A second end of the bag is sealed, and the bag is separated from the material.

[0009] Advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the embodiments of the invention which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its details are capable of modification in various respects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] These and other features of the present invention, and their advantages, are illustrated specifically in embodiments of the invention now to be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a top view of an exemplary embodiment of a desiccant package;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a desiccant package;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a top view of another embodiment of a desiccant package;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a top view of a desiccant package having sections removed to show internal structures thereof; [0015] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the desiccant package of FIG. 4 taken along line A- A;

[0016] FIG. 6 is an end view of the desiccant package of FIG. 4;

[0017] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a machine for manufacturing a desiccant package;

[0018] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a desiccant package manufacturing process;

[0019] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a machine for manufacturing a desiccant package; and

[0020] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a desiccant package manufacturing process.

[0021] It should be noted that all the drawings are diagrammatic and not drawn to scale. Relative dimensions and proportions of parts of these figures have been shown exaggerated or reduced in size for the sake of clarity and convenience in the drawings. The same reference numbers are generally used to refer to corresponding or similar features in the different embodiments. Accordingly, the drawing(s) and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0022] Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a desiccant package 10 formed of a bag 11 having a first scannable code 12, a second scannable code 14, and a user readable code 16 printed on the bag 11 is shown. The desiccant package 10 can be used in condenser dryers or other small diameter receiver cans (not shown) for removing moisture from refrigerant passing through the package 10. The bag 11 is an elongated, tubular flexible casing having a generally circular cross-sectional shape. The bag 11 is configured to receive a desiccant material to form a filter through which refrigerant to be conditioned flows. The bag 1 1 is designed to act like a sieve in which refrigerant is allowed to pass through while the desiccant contained within the bag 11 is prevented from exiting.

[0023] In an exemplary embodiment, the bag 11 is formed of a non-woven polyester material, such as a polyester felt material for example. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the bag 11 can be formed of any material that allows sufficient air flow therethrough while providing a barrier to the desiccant disposed therein. Other materials that can be used to form the bag 11 include, but are not limited to, point-bonded nylon, yton ^® PPS, Tyvek ^® and other woven or non-woven materials. Ryton ^® PPS is manufactured by Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP of The Woodlands, TX. Tyvek ^® is manufactured by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, DE.

[0024] As shown in FIGS. 2-3, the bag 11 includes a first end 18, an opposing second end 20, and a body 22 extending between the first and second ends 18, 20. Each of the first and second ends 18, 20 is formed as a substantially flat protrusion extending from the body 22, as shown in FIG. 6. In an embodiment, the first and second ends 18, 20 are aligned such that they are substantially coplanar. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that because the body 22 is formed of a flexible material, the first and second ends 18, 20 may not remain substantially coplanar due to movement or deflection during manufacture or subsequent handling of the package 10. The first and second ends 18, 20 include a plurality of round depressions formed therein, wherein the depressions are a result of the fusing technique used to seal the ends. In another embodiment, the first and second ends 18, 20 are flat and have no discernable surface texture.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 4, an embodiment of the package 10 includes a tracer wafer 24 disposed within the bag 11. The tracer wafer 24, or a tracer dye, is configured to detect leaks, particularly in automotive air conditioning systems. The tracer wafer 24 reduces or eliminates the need for a service or repair technician to insert a separate dye into the air conditioning system to determine the location of a leak. When a leak occurs, the tracer wafer 24 releases a dye which can be viewed under a black light or other similar light that causes the dye to clearly show the cause of the leak relative to the background components.

[0026] In an embodiment, desiccant material 26 is disposed within the body 22 of the bag 11, as shown in FIGS. 4-5. The desiccant material 26 can be a silica gel, carbon, activated charcoal, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, montmorillonite clay, molecular sieve or other drying material, such as AD-1 ^® molecular sieve aluminum and silicon oxide manufactured by Flow Dry Technology of Brookville OH or XH-7 ^® and XH-9™ molecular sieve aluminum and silicon oxide manufactured by UOP of Des Plaines, IL, for example. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the desiccant material 26 can be any material sufficient to withdraw moisture from the refrigerant flowing through the package 10 while having particles large enough to be restrained within the bag 11.

[0027] The first and second scannable codes 12, 14 allow for automated, on-line extraction of data contained within the codes by an optical scanner. The user readable code 16 allows the necessary product information to be printed on the bag 11, particularly on smaller packages. Often, when customers purchase desiccant packages 10, it is difficult for the customers to differentiate between similar packages 10 that may be of the same size but different quantity of desiccant contained therein or may have slightly different sized packages or produce other differentiation difficulties. The differences between packages 10 can be difficult to identify with the naked eye. As such, printing the scannable codes 12, 14 and the user readable code 16 on the package 10 allows a user to easily differentiate between different packages 10 as well as allowing for an automated identification system that can scan the codes 12, 14 to extract the data contained in the codes on the package 10.

[0028] As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the first and second scannable codes 12, 14 as well as the user readable code 16 are printed directly onto the body 22 of the bag 11. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that although the exemplary embodiment of a package 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3 shows a first and second scannable code 12, 14 as well as a user readable code 16 printed on the bag 11, the bag 11 should include at least one scannable code printed thereon, as described below. The first and second scannable codes 12, 14 and the user readable code 16 are printed onto the body 22 of the bag 11 using an ink jet printing process. Other methods for printing the codes onto the bag 11 may include roller printing, screen printing, transfer printing, or any other manner of printing the code(s) onto the bag 11; however, ink jet printing is the preferred manner of printing. Ink jet printing is the preferred printing method because it does not require a pre-printing or post-printing treatment to be performed on the textile used to form the bag 11 to prevent the ink from spreading or blotting, or otherwise causing the code to be unscannable or otherwise unreadable.

[0029] The first and second scannable codes 12, 14 are configured to be read by an optical scanner having interpretive software that reads and extracts the information contained in the barcode. In an embodiment, at least one of the first and second scannable codes 12, 14 is a 2D barcode such as a Q code, as described in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,726,435 and 6,494,375, and ISO/IEC 18004:2006. Other 2D codes that can be used for the first or second scannable codes 12, 14 include, but not limited to, an Aztec code, Codablock, Data Matrix (used by NASA), PDF417 (used by the U.S. Department of Defense), or Maxicode (used by the United Parcel Service). Aztec codes are described in U.S. Patent No. 5,591,956 and ISO/IEC 24778:2008. Data Matrix codes are described in U.S. Patent No. 5,612,524 and ISO/IEC 16022:2006, ISO/IEC 15415:2011, ISO/IEC 15418:2009, ISO/IEC 15424:2008, ISO/IEC 15434:2009, and ISO/IEC 15459:2006. PDF417 codes are described in U.S. Patent No. 5,243,655 and ISO/IEC 15438:2006. Maxicode codes are described in ISO/IEC 16023:2000 and U.S. Patent Nos. 4,874,936, 4,896,029, and 4,998,010.

[0030] At least one of the first and second scannable codes 12, 14 can also be a ID barcode such as a U.P.C. barcode (ISO/IEC 15420:2009) or any other linear barcode. It has been found that ID barcodes used on the bag 11 contain limited information that can be extracted from an optical scanner (not shown), and the ID barcodes also provide limited error correction. It has also been found that the 2D barcodes provide a data matrix that allows for relatively more information to be included on the package 10. Information that can be incorporated into the first and second scannable codes 12, 14 includes, but is not limited to, name of manufacturer, part number, manufacture date, materials used, desiccant fill quantity, website linking, MSDS information, and part dimensions. Although there is a trade-off because as the amount of data that can be incorporated into the 2D barcode increases the amount of error correction decreases, it is preferable that at least one of the scannable codes 12, 14 is a 2D barcode. The other of the first and second scannable codes 12, 14 can be a ID barcode to allow for a more simplified barcode that contains basic information relating to the package 10.

[0031] In an embodiment, the user readable code 16 can be any type of code that can contain numbers, letters, or a combination thereof, which allows the user to visually identify and differentiate the package 10. For example, the user readable code 16 may be a product code, a part number, the name of the part, or any other type of code that does not require the use of a scanner or other optical or computer mechanism to decipher the code 16.

[0032] Further, some embodiments of desiccant package 10 may only have a first scannable code 12 printed on bag 11, which can be either a ID barcode or a 2D barcode. Other embodiments of desiccant package 10 may have a user readable code 16 and first scannable code 12 printed on bag 11 , which can be a ID barcode or a 2D barcode.

[0033] FIGS. 7-8 are schematic diagrams representing the manufacturing process of the desiccant package 10. The material 100 used to form the bag 11 is provided on a roll on a machine 101. The first step 201 of the package manufacturing process is to load the roll of material onto a machine such that the leading edge of the layer of material on the roll is inserted into the machine. The machine 101 is configured to continually unwind the material as it is transferred through the machine. The machine 101 includes a printer 102 that prints the first and second scannable codes 12, 14 and the user readable code 16 onto the material at pre-determined intervals using a printing process. The second step 202 is to feed the material through the printer to print the code(s) onto the material. The embodiment of the package 10 illustrated in FIG. 7 includes only a first scannable code 12, but it should be understood that any number of scannable codes and user readable codes can be printed on the material. In an embodiment, the printer 102 includes an ink jet head. The printer 102 utilizes software from the ink jet head manufacturer to control the ink jet printing process for printing the codes onto the material 100.

[0034] Once the code(s) are printed onto the material 100, the third step 203 includes feeding the printed material 100 through a shaper 104 which is configured to wrap the material 100 around a tube (not shown) to form the tubular bag 11 such that tubular material has a slight overlap 30 (FIG. 5) along the longitudinal length thereof. The fourth step 204 includes scanning at least one of the scannable codes 12, 14 with a read head 105 to verify that the data contained in the code(s) can be accurately extracted. The fifth step 205 includes sealing the first end of the material with a sealer 106. The sealer 106 uses a heat sealing process to pinch together the tubular material into the flat first end 18 of a bag 11. Other sealing processes may include ultrasonic and radio frequency (RF) sealing.

[0035] The sixth step 206 includes inserting desiccant material 26 into the hollow tubular form having a sealed first end 18. In an embodiment, the tube (not shown) about which the tubular package is formed and sealed in the third step 203 is used to also inject the desiccant material 26 into the material 100. After a pre-determined length of material 100 has been filled with desiccant material 26, the seventh step 207 includes sealing the second end 20 of the bag 11 using the same sealer 106 used in the fifth step 205. This second seal simultaneously cuts the material 100 so as to separate the first desiccant package 10 from the remaining material 100, wherein the cut forms the second end 20 of the first bag 11 as well as the first end 18 of a subsequent bag 11. This process is continually repeated to form more packages 10.

[0036] FIGS. 9-10 are schematic diagrams representing another embodiment of a manufacturing process of the desiccant package 10. The material 100 used to form the bag 11 is provided on a roll on a machine 101. The first step 301 of the package manufacturing process is to load the roll of material onto a machine such that the leading edge of the layer of material on the roll is inserted into the machine. The machine 101 is configured to continually unwind the material as it is transferred through the machine. The machine 101 includes a printer 102 that prints a first scannable code 12, optionally a second scannable code 14, and optionally a user readable code 16 onto the material at pre-determined intervals using a printing process.

[0037] The second step 302 is to feed the material through the printer 102 to print the code(s) onto the material. The embodiment of the package 10 illustrated in FIG. 9 includes only a first scannable code 12, but it should be understood that any number of scannable codes and user readable codes can be printed on the material. In an embodiment, the printer 102 includes an ink jet head. The printer 102 utilizes software from the ink jet head manufacturer to control the ink jet printing process for printing the codes onto the material 100.

[0038] Once the code(s) are printed onto the material 100, the third step 303 includes scanning at least one of the scannable codes 12, 14 with a read head 105 to verify that the data contained in the code(s) can be accurately extracted. Once it has been verified that the data can be accurately extracted, the fourth step 304 includes feeding the printed material 100 through a shaper 104 which is configured to wrap the material 100 around a tube (not shown) to form the tubular bag 11 such that tubular material has a slight overlap 30 (FIG. 5) along the longitudinal length thereof.

[0039] The fifth step 305 includes sealing the first end of the material with a sealer 106. The sealer 106 uses a heat sealing process to pinch together the tubular material into the flat first end 18 of a bag 11. Other sealing processes may include ultrasonic and radio frequency (RF) sealing. [0040] The sixth step 306 includes inserting desiccant material 26 into the hollow tubular form having a sealed first end 18. In an embodiment, the tube (not shown) about which the tubular package is formed and sealed in the fourth step 304 is used to also inject the desiccant material 26 into the material 100. It is understood that in some embodiments, the fifth step 305 and sixth step 306 are simultaneously performed, such that the first end of the tubular material is pinched and sealed with sealer 106 into the flat first end 18 of a bag 11 while the tube (not shown) about which the tubular package is formed and sealed injects the desiccant material 26 into the material 100.

[0041] After a pre-determined length of material 100 has been filled with desiccant material 26, the seventh step 307 includes sealing the second end of the bag 11 using the same sealer 106 used in the fifth step 305. This second seal simultaneously forms the second end 20 of the first bag 11 as well as the first end 18 of a subsequent bag. It is understood that in some embodiments, the tube (not shown) about which the tubular package is formed and sealed injects the desiccant material into the material 100 of a subsequent bag 11 as the second seal simultaneously forms the second end 20 of the first bag 11 as well as the first end 18 of a subsequent bag.

[0042] Cutter 107 cuts the material 100 so as to separate the first desiccant package 10 from the remaining material 100, wherein the cut separates the second end 20 of the first bag 11 from the first end 18 of a subsequent bag 11. In one embodiment, cutter 107 cuts the material at the middle of the seal created by sealer 106, such that the flat second end 20 of the first bag 11 is the same length as the flat first end 18 of a subsequent bag 11. The processes of steps 301-308 are continually repeated to form more packages 10.

[0043] While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it should be understood that the present invention is not so limited and modifications may be made without departing from the present invention. Combinations of the above embodiments and other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon studying the above description and are intended to be embraced therein. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims, and all devices, processes, and methods that come within the meaning of the claims, either literally or by equivalence, are intended to be embraced therein.