Technical field

The invention relates to an arrangement adapted to package a liquid consumable product in a package, and a method for packaging a liquid consumable product in a package.

Background art

In the packing industry for packing food content, packages are often made by multi-layer material, e.g. carton based multi-layer materials, that is folded and sealed into packages into which food content is placed. In the packaging process it is important to keep the material that comes into contact with the food clean so as to not compromise the food quality. The inner side of the packaging material that is in direct food contact has to be hygienic and the migration performance of the total assembly, including the packaging material, needs to live up to food safety standards. For some food packing machines of carton based packages, the packaging material, e.g. complex multi-layer packaging material, are provided in large rolls with packaging material where each roll or reel contains packaging material for a large number of packages, often thousands of packages.

The large reels with packaging material are pre-printed according to the food product that is filled into the package. In relation to the reels it must be ensured, that potential transfer from printing ink components onto the food contact layer meets food safety requirements.

Using pre-printed reels does, however, make it expensive to produce small volumes of a package for a product, makes it difficult to make individual designs to packages, since the complex multi-layer material has to be prefabricated, and makes it practically impossible to make last minute design adaptions/changes. During the fabrication process, among other steps, the material is printed and provided with a final polymer layer on top of the print. The only print added to the pre-printed material is usually the expiry date that is added before or after the package is filled with food by the filling machine. Food safety compliance of packaging material requires a full control over the risk of chemical agents migration. Migration occurs when a chemical agent present on the packaging is transferred and therefore detected in the product contained into the package.

Among other, migration can be managed by the removal or reduction of substances known by their nature or characteristics to present a risk, and by active managing and controlling the conditions in which migration can occur. Migration might occur, for example, due to the particular characteristics of the sterilization system.

In current aseptic filling machines the sterilization system is based on the usage of hydrogen peroxide at suitable concentration and temperature, both in liquid or gaseous form, in some instances combined with ultra violet electromagnetic radiation. One of the most common sterilization system implementations is trough a hydrogen peroxide bath, where the complete packaging material (both its inner and outer surfaces) is exposed to, and in contact with, the hydrogen peroxide. The aggressive nature of hydrogen peroxide combined with the exposure conditions (concentration,

temperature and duration) present a clear risk for migration.

Substances, i.e. chemical agents, present on the packaging material and more specific on any of its exposed surfaces might transfer to the hydrogen peroxide bath and from there to the inner surface of the said material (i.e. surface that shall become in contact with the packaged product). There is also the risk that new

substances are formed by chemical reaction or subsequent decay into the said bath. Another risk is that the concentration of substances present on the outer surface of a packaging material and transferred to the hydrogen peroxide bath, or created trough reaction with the said bath, increase with time. This concentration change might increase to a level where a threshold deemed critical for food safety compliance is attained.

There is thus a need for an improved packing arrangement which allows customized printing of packages or packages with unique printing on each package without the need of ordering large quantities of pre-printed packaging material. Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to improve the current state of the art, to solve the above problems, and to provide an arrangement to package a liquid consumable product in a package with a customized print without contaminating said liquid consumable product.

These and other objects are achieved, according to a first aspect of the invention, by an arrangement adapted to package a liquid consumable product in a package. The arrangement comprises an infeed to provide prepared packaging material having a first side and a second side, said second side being adapted to be in contact with the consumable product, a digital printing system coupled to said infeed and adapted to print at least one color onto at least a portion of the first side of the prepared packaging material, a sterilization system having a low voltage electron beam device adapted to emit an electron beam on said first side and/or said second side of said packaging material, and a packaging machine coupled to an outfeed of the digital printing system and adapted to provide a package from said prepared packaging material, said package being filled with the consumable product. One of the currently most common sterilization systems is the usage of a hydrogen peroxide bath, in which the entire prepared packaging material is exposed to peroxide. Substances, such as chemical agents, present on the first side of the prepared packaging material could potentially be transferred to the hydrogen peroxide bath and from there to the second side of the prepared packaging material (i.e. the surface that will come in contact with the liquid consumable product). There is also the risk that new substances are formed by chemical reaction or subsequent decay into the peroxide bath. By using the arrangement according to the present invention the hydrogen peroxide bath may be eliminated from the sterilization process. Instead, the low voltage electron beam device is used to emit an electron beam on said first and second side of said prepared packaging material, thereby sterilizing said packaging material. Thus, in practice, there is no contact (direct or indirect) between the first and second side which will reduce any risk of contamination. Also, the electron beam might be used to cure the printed ink on the first side of the prepared packaging material, thereby ensuring a better attachment of said print to said prepared packaging material and contribute totally or partially to finalize the polymerization of the said ink making the print more resistant to wear.

The arrangement may further comprise a sterilization chamber which encapsulates said sterilization system to prevent radiation from leaking into the environment outside of the housing. Thus, the sterilization chamber will ensure the safety of any service personnel present in the proximity of the arrangement.

The infeed may comprise at least two reels and a splicing unit for splicing an end portion of prepared packaging material of one reel to a start portion of prepared packaging material of the second reel. Thus, the arrangement can be up and running continuously and requires no stop when the prepared packaging material of one reel is finished and the reel is to be replaced with a new one.

The prepared packaging material may comprise at least one of the following: a printed area on the first side at least partially surrounding an area to be printed upon by the digital printing system, one or more crease lines, at least one optical marker for positioning the prepared packaging material in the digital printing system and/or packaging machine, at least one magnetic marker for positioning the prepared packaging material in the digital printing system and/or packaging machine, a carton layer and one or more lamination layers on each side of the carton layer, an aluminium layer facing the second side of the prepared packaging material, a dedicated opening area, which comprises at least one layer of the prepared packaging material less than the surrounding material. The features stated above will increase the possibility to customize the packages and make it easier to control and monitor the printing process of the digital printing system.

The printing speed of the digital printing system may be adapted to correspond to the speed of the packaging machine via respective control signals. This is important in order for the print to be placed at the right position on the packaging material. The digital printing system may comprise a mechanical and/or an optical and/or magnetic positioning system adapted to evaluate the relative position of the prepared packaging material in view of one or more markers for positioning arranged on the prepared packaging material, thereby improving the accuracy of the digital printing system. Further, the digital printing system may be adapted to print a marking on the first side of the packaging material, said marking to be read by the packaging machine during operation.

The digital printing system may be arranged on a movable platform or a movable module and its outfeed may comprise a separable interface for coupling the digital printing system to another packaging machine. The movable platform or removable module increases the flexibility of these types of arrangements. One single digital printing system may accordingly be used in connection with several different arrangements, thereby saving

manufacturing costs.

The digital printing system may comprise one or more encapsulated areas, said areas being adapted to operate in a food handling environment. The encapsulation will ensure that no printing material, such as ink or the like, will come into contact with the food.

The packaging machine may comprise one selected from the group consisting of a filling machine for web based filling material, a filling machine for sheet based packaging material, web based tube filling machine, and a tube based filling machine. The packaging machine may further comprises a splicing unit for splicing together prepared packaging material from two reels, and a bypass for feeding in prepared packaging material from the digital printing system, wherein the splicing unit is adapted to splice prepared packaging material from the digital printing system to other prepared packaging material.

The arrangement may further comprise a package material buffer between digital printing system and the packaging machine for compensating speed fluctuations in the packaging machine in order to further secure the correct positioning of the print on the package. The arrangement may preferably be placed in a food handling environment, particularly in a diary.

The packaging machine of the arrangement may further comprise a curing device for finalizing polymerization of ink used in the digital printing system. The curing device may comprise an electron beam device for ensuring a better attachment of said print to said prepared packaging material and contribute totally or partially to finalize the polymerization of the said ink making the print more resistant to wear.

The digital printing system may be adapted to print a unique print onto said first side of the prepared packaging material. This way, each and every package formed by a prepared packaging material will be traceable. The prepared packaging material may also comprise a pre-printed portion on said first side of the prepared packaging material.

According to a second aspect of the invention, these and other objects are achieved, in full or at least in part, by a method for packaging a liquid consumable product in a package. The method comprises providing a packaging material to an infeed of a packaging arrangement, said packaging material having a first side and a second side being adapted to be in contact with the consumable product, printing at least one color onto at least a portion of the first side of the prepared packaging material using a printing system of said packaging arrangement, sterilizing said packaging material by emitting an electron beam on said first side and/or said second side of said packaging material using a low voltage electron beam device of said packaging arrangement, providing a package from said prepared packaging material using a packaging machine of said packaging arrangement, and filling said package with said liquid consumable product. The same advantages as stated above also apply for the second aspect of the invention.

Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc.]" are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. Brief description of the drawings

The above objects, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of the arrangement adapted to package a liquid consumable product according to one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an arrangement adapted to package a liquid consumable product according to a first embodiment of the invention. A first reel 1 of packaging material and a second reel 2 of packaging material are connected to a splicing unit 3. Packaging material is used from one reel at a time. When one of the reels 1 , 2 are out of packaging material, the splicing unit 3 will splice the end of the packaging material from the reel 1 , 2 that is empty to the beginning of the packaging material of the full reel 1 , 2. After the splicing, the empty reel 1 , 2 may be replaced with a full reel 1 , 2. In that way the machine does not have to be stopped when a new reel 1 , 2 is attached.

The feed of packaging material after the splicing unit 3 is fed to the digital printing system 4. The digital printing system 4 prints on a portion of a first side 6 of the packaging material corresponding to each individual package enabling the possibility of a unique printing design on each package to at least some part. The second side 7 of the packaging material is intended to be in contact with the food. The printing system 4 preferably contains one or more encapsulated areas 5 adapted to enhance the fulfilment of food handling requirements. The encapsulated areas 5 may be provided with a gas flow to provide an elevated sub-pressure in the encapsulated area 5 so that an inward directed flow of gas to the encapsulated area 5 is induced, ensureing that unwanted substances cannot exit the encapsulated area 5 and endanger the second side 7 of the packaging material. The encapsulated area 5 of the digital printing system 4 may be provided to the first side 6 of the packaging material. Encapsulation may further be provided by other means than gas flow, for example a suitable mechanical arrangement and or the usage of appropriately designed seals.

The arrangement further comprises a sterilization system 8. The sterilization system 8 has a low voltage electron beam device 12 adapted to emit an electron beam on said first and second side 6, 7 of said prepared packaging material. By using such a low voltage electron beam device 12, the hydrogen peroxide bath may be eliminated from the sterilization process. Instead, the low voltage electron beam device will sterilize the prepared packaging material by emitting an electron beam on the first and second side 6, 7 of said prepared packaging material. Thus, in practice, there is no contact (direct or indirect) between the first and second side 6, 7 which will reduce any risk of contamination. Also, the electron beam will cure the printed ink on the first side 6 of the prepared packaging material, thereby ensuring a better attachment of said print to said prepared packaging material and contribute totally or partially to finalize the polymerization of the said ink making the print more resistant to wear. The sterilization system 8 is encapsulated by a sterilization chamber 13 in order to prevent radiation from leaking into the environment outside of said sterilization system 8.

Additionally, the arrangement has a packaging machine 9 coupled to an outfeed of the digital printing system 4. The packaging machine 9 is adapted to provide a package from said prepared packaging material, which package is to be filled with the consumable product.

A package material buffer 1 1 may also be placed in the feed of packaging material between the digital printing system 4 and the packaging machine 9. The buffer 1 1 may be made of a number of movable rolls that may alter the infeed of packaging material to the packaging machine 9 to synchronize the packaging machine 9 so that the printed packaging material is positioned exactly right in the machine 9 and thus on the produced packages. The same buffer 1 1 may compensate eventual speed fluctuations between the packaging machine 9 and the printing system 4. According to a further embodiment of the present invention a bypass is provided from two packaging material reels for connecting the digital printing system 4. An operator may in the splicing process, when changing reel 1 , 2, choose if the next reel 1 , 2 with pre-printed packaging material should be used or if packaging fed from the digital printing system 4 should be splice onto the feed so that the packaging machine 9 may change its production to produce instantly customizable printed packages in a seamless fashion. Naturally a third reel with packaging material then has to be provided for feeding packaging material to the digital printing system 4.

It is understood that other variations in the present invention are contemplated and in some instances, some features of the invention can be employed without a corresponding use of other features. It is e.g. understood that a person skilled in the art understands that all different possibilities are contemplated of having the printing system 4 and respective encapsulation 5 and curing device 8 to be all part of a standalone unit, a semi-autonomous unit, or autonomous movable platform, as well as being a full integral part of the packaging system in a modular or fully integrated manner. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention.