System for forming packages from film material

Abstract

An apparatus for forming sealed pouches comprising: a rotatable base forming drum having an outer surface with a plurality of base tooling cavities in the outer surface; a base stock supply mechanism for feeding a base stock film of material along a base stock path, a portion of the base stock path extending along the outer surface of the base forming drum; a system for displacing the base stock film into the base tooling cavities to form a pocket of base stock film material within each base tooling cavity; a material feed mechanism for feeding at least one material into each pocket of the base stock film; a rotatable lid forming drum having an outer surface with a plurality of lid tooling cavities in the outer surface; a lid stock supply mechanism for feeding a lid stock film of material along a lid stock path, a portion of the lid stock path extending along the outer surface of the lid forming drum; a system for displacing the lid stock film into the lid tooling cavities to form a lid recess of lid stock film material within each lid tooling cavity; a material feed mechanism for feeding a material into each lid recess of the lid stock film; and mechanism bringing the base stock web and the lid stock web into contact under pressure. In one form, the material fed into the lid recesses is a hardenable material and cooling is used to cool the lid recesses.

1 . An apparatus for forming sealed pouches comprising:
 a rotatable base forming drum having an outer surface with a plurality of base tooling cavities in the outer surface;   a base stock supply mechanism for feeding a base stock film along a base stock path, a portion of the base stock path extending along the outer surface of the base forming drum;   a system for displacing the base stock film into the base tooling cavities to form a pocket of base stock film within each base tooling cavity;   a material feed mechanism for feeding at least one material into each said pocket of said base stock film;   a rotatable lid forming drum having an outer surface with a plurality of lid tooling cavities in the outer surface;   a lid stock supply mechanism for feeding a lid stock film along a lid stock path, a portion of the lid stock path extending along the outer surface of the lid forming drum;   a system for displacing the lid stock film into the lid tooling cavities to form a lid recess of lid stock film within each lid tooling cavity;   a material feed mechanism for feeding a material into each said lid recess of said lid stock film; and   mechanism bringing said base stock film and said lid stock film into contact under pressure.   
     
     
         2 . An apparatus for forming sealed pouches as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said material feed mechanism for feeding material into each said lid recesses is a hardenable material feed mechanism for feeding hardenable material. 
     
     
         3 . An apparatus for forming sealed pouches as claimed in  claim 2 , further comprising,
 a cooling system associated with the lid forming drum to provide cooling along a length of the lid stock path to assist in cooling the hardenable material fed by the hardenable material feed mechanism.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the cooling system includes cooling conduits within the lid forming drum which provides cooling to the lid tooling cavities. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the cooling system includes cooling conduits to direct a gas towards the lid tooling cavities of the lid forming drum. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the cooling conduits are positioned downstream of the hardenable material feed mechanism. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the base stock path and the lid stock path intersect at a location at which the base forming drum and the lid forming drum are adjacent each other and said mechanism bringing said lid stock film and base stock film into contact under pressure forms said sealed pouches. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein one of said base forming drum and lid forming drum is resiliently mounted for applying pressure against the other drum. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the system for displacing said base stock film and said lid stock film includes a vacuum system for generating a vacuum within the base drum cavities to draw the base stock film into the base tooling cavities to form a pocket within each base tooling cavity, and a vacuum system for generating a vacuum within the lid tooling cavities to draw the lid stock film into the lid tooling cavities to form a lid recess within each lid tooling cavity. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , including a base stock heater to heat said base stock film and a lid stock heater to heat said lid stock film. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , including a lid stock wetting system to apply a solvent to the lid stock film before bringing said films into contact under pressure. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the base stock path and the lid stock path intersect at a location at which the base forming drum and the lid forming drum are adjacent each other and said mechanism bringing said lid stock film and said base stock film into contact under pressure forms said sealed pouches. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein said apparatus includes cutting mechanism to cut said films to form individual pouches after bringing said films into contact under pressure. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein one of said base forming drum and lid forming drum is resiliently mounted for applying pressure against the other of said base forming drum and lid forming drum. 
     
     
         15 . A method of forming sealed product pouches employing an apparatus having:
 a rotatable base forming drum having an outer surface with a plurality of base tooling cavities in the outer surface;   a base stock supply mechanism for feeding a base stock film along a base stock path, a portion of the base stock path extending along the outer surface of the base forming drum;   a system for displacing the base stock film into the base tooling cavities to form a pocket of base stock film within each base tooling cavity;   a material feed mechanism for feeding at least one material into each said pocket of said base stock film;   a rotatable lid forming drum having an outer surface with a plurality of lid tooling cavities in the outer surface;   a lid stock supply mechanism for feeding a lid stock film of along a lid stock path, a portion of the lid stock path extending along the outer surface of the lid forming drum;   a system for displacing the lid stock film into the lid tooling cavities to form a lid recess of lid stock film within each lid tooling cavity;   a material feed mechanism for feeding a material into each said lid recess of said lid stock film; and   mechanism for bringing said base stock film and said lid stock film into contact under pressure;   said method comprising:   passing said base stock film over said base forming drum and forming said pockets therein filling said pockets with material using said material feed mechanism associated with said base stock pockets;   passing said lid stock film over said lid forming drum and forming said lid recesses therein;   filling said lid recesses with material using said material feed mechanism associated with said lid recesses;   bringing said base stock film and lid stock film into contact under pressure.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the base stock path and the lid stock path intersect at a location at which the base forming drum and the lid forming drum are adjacent each other and said mechanism bringing said lid stock film and base stock film into contact under pressure forms said sealed pouches. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  in which the apparatus includes a base stock heater to heat said base stock film and a lid stock heater to heat said lid stock web, the method further comprising heating said base stock film and lid stock film. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein said material feed mechanism for feeding material into each said lid recesses is a hardenable material feed mechanism for feeding hardenable material, the method further comprising feeding a hardenable material into said lid recesses. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein a cooling system associated with the lid forming drum to provide cooling along a length of the lid stock path to the steps further comprising providing cooling along the length of the lid stock path. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein said apparatus includes cutting mechanism to cut said films to form individual pouches, the steps further comprising cutting said films to form individual pouches.