Patent · US5679412A · A · US

Method and apparatus for producing gas impermeable, chemically inert container structures for food and volatile substances

(11) Publication number

US5679412A

(21) Application number

08/595,342

(22) Filing date

1996-02-01

(30) Priority date

1993-10-28

(43) Publication date

1997-10-21

(45) Date of grant

1997-10-21

(51) IPC

B29B 13/08; B65D 1/02; B65D 23/02; C08K 3/34; C08K 7/18; C23C 16/02; C23C 16/04; C23C 16/455; C23C 16/515; G02B 5/20; H01L 31/0384

(52) CPC

G02B Optical elements, systems or apparatus: 5/206, 5/207
B29B Preparation or pretreatment of the material to be shaped; making granules or preforms; recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics: 13/08
B29K Indexing scheme associated with subclasses B29B, B29C or B29D, relating to moulding materials or to materials for {moulds, } reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts: 2023/00, 2025/00, 2033/00
B65D Containers for storage or transport of articles or materials, e.g. bags, barrels, bottles, boxes, cans, cartons, crates, drums, jars, tanks, hoppers, forwarding containers; accessories, closures, or fittings therefor; packaging elements; packages: 23/02
C08J Working-up; general processes of compounding; after-treatment not covered by subclasses C08B, C08C, C08F, C08G or C08H: 7/123
C08K Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients: 3/34, 7/18
C23C Coating metallic material; coating material with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material by diffusion into the surface, by chemical conversion or substitution; coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering, by ion implantation or by chemical vapour deposition, in general: 16/0245, 16/045, 16/45523, 16/515
H10F Inorganic semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation: 77/162
Y10T Technical subjects covered by former us classification: 428/1352

(72) Inventors

Manfred R. Kuehnle; Arno Hagenlocher; Klaus Schuegraf; Hermann Statz

(54) Title

Method and apparatus for producing gas impermeable, chemically inert container structures for food and volatile substances

(57) Abstract

A method of making a gas-impermeable, chemically inert container wall structure comprising the steps of providing a base layer of an organic polymeric material; conducting a pair of reactive gases to the surface of the base layer preferably by pulsed gas injection; heating the gases preferably by microwave energy pulses sufficiently to create a plasma which causes chemical reaction of the gases to form an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on the surface, and continuing the conducting and heating until the compound vapor deposit on the surface forms a gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of the desired thickness on the surface. Various wall structures and apparatus for making them are also disclosed.

Full text

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Claims (20)

A method of making a gas-impermeable container wail structure comprising steps of providing a base layer of an organic polymeric material; conducting a plurality of reactive gases to the surface of the base layer, supplying enough electromagnetic energy to the gases to create a plasma which causes chemical reaction of said gases to form an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on said surface; pulsing the conducting and supplying steps at a selected frequency to control the temperature and stoichiometry of the deposited vapor compound, and continuing the conducting and supplying steps until the vapor compound deposit on said surface forms a coherent, strongly adherent gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of the desired thickness on said surface.
The method defined in claim 1 including the steps of forming said barrier layer of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon, and controlling the thickness of said barrier layer so that said barrier layer blocks electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.
The method defined in claim 1 including the step of covering said barrier layer with a relatively thin top layer of a hard, abrasion-resistant material.
The method defined in claim 1 including the additional step of, prior to the conducting step, flowing an inert gas to said surface and ionizing the inert gas to subject said surface to ionic bombardment in order to clean said surface and render it receptive to said vapor compound.
The method defined in claim 4 including the additional step of depositing a plasticizer on said surface during said ionic bombardment so that the molecules of the plasticizer become crosslinked and form a coherent skin on said surface.
The method defined in claim 1 including the step of forming the base layer into a container before the conducting step.
The method defined in claim 1 including the step of forming said structure into a container after the continuing step.
The method defined in claim 1 wherein the providing step includes providing a base layer containing a dispersal of tiny radiation blocking particles of an inorganic semiconductor material which prevents the transmission through said wall structure of selected electromagnetic radiation frequencies.
A method of making a gas-impermeable container wall structure comprising the steps of providing a container of an organic polymeric dielectric material; creating a relatively high vacuum in the container; injecting a plurality of inorganic reactive gases into said container; exposing the container and its contents to microwave energy sufficient to ionize said gases and produce a plasma in the container which causes chemical reaction of said gases thereby forming an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on the interior wall of the container; pulsing the injecting and exposing steps at a selected frequency to control the temperature and stoichiometry of this deposited vapor compound, and continuing the injecting and exposing steps until the compound vapor deposit on said interior wall forms a gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of a selected thickness on said interior wall.
The method defined in claim 9 wherein, prior to the injecting step, flowing an inert gas into the container in the presence of said radiation so as to ionize the inert gas whereupon the gas ions impact and clean the interior wall and render it receptive to said vapor compound deposit.
The method defined in claim 9 including the steps of forming said barrier layer of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon, and controlling the thickness of said barrier layer so that said barrier layer blocks electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.
Apparatus for making a gas-impermeable container wall structure comprising means for providing a base layer of an organic polymeric material; means for conducting a plurality of reactive gases to the surface of the base layer; means for supplying electromagnetic radiation of sufficient strength at said surface to create a plasma which causes chemical reaction of said gases to form an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on said surface; means for pulsing the conducting and supplying means to control the temperature and stoichiometry of the deposited vapor compound, and means for controlling the conducting and supplying means until the vapor compound deposit on said surface forms a coherent, strongly adherent gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of the desired thickness on said surface.
The apparatus defined in claim 12 including means for flowing an inert gas to said surface prior to conducting said reactive gases to said surface, and means for ionizing the ined gas to subject said surface to ionic bombardment in order to clean said surface and render it receptive to said vapor compound.
The apparatus defined in claim 13 including means for depositing a plasticizer on said surface during said ionic bombardment so that the molecules of the plasticizer become crosslinked and form a coherent skin on said surface.
The apparatus defined in claim 12 wherein the providing means provides a base layer containing a dispersal of tiny radiation blocking particles of an inorganic semiconductor material which prevents the transmission through said wall structure of selected electromagnetic radiation frequencies.
The apparatus defined in claim 12 and further including means for covering said barrier layer with a relatively thin top layer of a hard, abrasion-resistant material.
The apparatus defined in claim 12 wherein said barrier layer is of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon and is of a thickness to block electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.
Apparatus for making a gas-impermeable container wall structure comprising means for providing a container of an organic polymeric dielectric material; means for creating a relatively high vacuum in the container; means for injecting a plurality of inorganic reactive gases into said container; means for exposing the container and its contents to electromagnetic energy sufficient to ionize said gases and produce a plasma in the container which causes chemical reaction of said gases thereby forming an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on the interior wall of the container, and means for controlling the injecting and exposing steps until the vapor compound deposited on said interior wall forms a coherent, strongly adherent gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of a selected thickness on said interior wall, said controlling means causing the injection of said plurality of gases into the container as injection pulses of a selected frequency and the exposure of the container and its content to said energy as energy pulses having said selected frequency.
The apparatus defined in claim 18 and further including means for flowing an inert gas into the container in the presence of said radiation prior to injecting the reactive gases into the container so as to ionize the inert gas whereupon the gas ions impact and clean the interior wall and render it receptive to said vapor compound deposit.
The apparatus defined in claim 18 wherein said barrier layer is of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon and is of a thickness to block electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.

Description

This application is a division of Ser. No. 08/421,536, filed Apr. 13, 1995, abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/342,368, filed Nov. 28, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,386, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/144,249, filed Oct. 28, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,056.

This invention deals with a gas-impermeable, chemically inert container product and the method and apparatus for producing that product.

Containers such as bottles, tanks, pouches and the like which serve for the storage of various materials such as juices, chemicals, food stuffs, other organic materials including blood, petroleum products and the like are affected by the physical and chemical properties at the interface of the container and its contents. Thus, the contents can be affected by chemical reactions which take place between the container material and the contents or by electrochemical effects caused by different ionic potentials at the interface or by transmission of damaging radiation of short wavelength light and UV through the container walls into the contents or by the gradual long-term permeation of external material such as gases or moisture through the container walls into the interior of the container. Also, permeation of materials from inside the container, e.g., gasoline vapors, may be harmful to the environment.

Citations (2)

US5338580A
US5468520A

Record as JSON

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  "publication_number": "US5679412A",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A",
  "title": "Method and apparatus for producing gas impermeable, chemically inert container structures for food and volatile substances",
  "abstract": "A method of making a gas-impermeable, chemically inert container wall structure comprising the steps of providing a base layer of an organic polymeric material; conducting a pair of reactive gases to the surface of the base layer preferably by pulsed gas injection; heating the gases preferably by microwave energy pulses sufficiently to create a plasma which causes chemical reaction of the gases to form an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on the surface, and continuing the conducting and heating until the compound vapor deposit on the surface forms a gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of the desired thickness on the surface. Various wall structures and apparatus for making them are also disclosed.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method of making a gas-impermeable container wail structure comprising steps of providing a base layer of an organic polymeric material; conducting a plurality of reactive gases to the surface of the base layer, supplying enough electromagnetic energy to the gases to create a plasma which causes chemical reaction of said gases to form an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on said surface; pulsing the conducting and supplying steps at a selected frequency to control the temperature and stoichiometry of the deposited vapor compound, and continuing the conducting and supplying steps until the vapor compound deposit on said surface forms a coherent, strongly adherent gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of the desired thickness on said surface.",
    "2. The method defined in claim 1 including the steps of forming said barrier layer of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon, and controlling the thickness of said barrier layer so that said barrier layer blocks electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.",
    "3. The method defined in claim 1 including the step of covering said barrier layer with a relatively thin top layer of a hard, abrasion-resistant material.",
    "4. The method defined in claim 1 including the additional step of, prior to the conducting step, flowing an inert gas to said surface and ionizing the inert gas to subject said surface to ionic bombardment in order to clean said surface and render it receptive to said vapor compound.",
    "5. The method defined in claim 4 including the additional step of depositing a plasticizer on said surface during said ionic bombardment so that the molecules of the plasticizer become crosslinked and form a coherent skin on said surface.",
    "6. The method defined in claim 1 including the step of forming the base layer into a container before the conducting step.",
    "7. The method defined in claim 1 including the step of forming said structure into a container after the continuing step.",
    "8. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the providing step includes providing a base layer containing a dispersal of tiny radiation blocking particles of an inorganic semiconductor material which prevents the transmission through said wall structure of selected electromagnetic radiation frequencies.",
    "9. A method of making a gas-impermeable container wall structure comprising the steps of providing a container of an organic polymeric dielectric material; creating a relatively high vacuum in the container; injecting a plurality of inorganic reactive gases into said container; exposing the container and its contents to microwave energy sufficient to ionize said gases and produce a plasma in the container which causes chemical reaction of said gases thereby forming an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on the interior wall of the container; pulsing the injecting and exposing steps at a selected frequency to control the temperature and stoichiometry of this deposited vapor compound, and continuing the injecting and exposing steps until the compound vapor deposit on said interior wall forms a gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of a selected thickness on said interior wall.",
    "10. The method defined in claim 9 wherein, prior to the injecting step, flowing an inert gas into the container in the presence of said radiation so as to ionize the inert gas whereupon the gas ions impact and clean the interior wall and render it receptive to said vapor compound deposit.",
    "11. The method defined in claim 9 including the steps of forming said barrier layer of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon, and controlling the thickness of said barrier layer so that said barrier layer blocks electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.",
    "12. Apparatus for making a gas-impermeable container wall structure comprising means for providing a base layer of an organic polymeric material; means for conducting a plurality of reactive gases to the surface of the base layer; means for supplying electromagnetic radiation of sufficient strength at said surface to create a plasma which causes chemical reaction of said gases to form an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on said surface; means for pulsing the conducting and supplying means to control the temperature and stoichiometry of the deposited vapor compound, and means for controlling the conducting and supplying means until the vapor compound deposit on said surface forms a coherent, strongly adherent gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of the desired thickness on said surface.",
    "13. The apparatus defined in claim 12 including means for flowing an inert gas to said surface prior to conducting said reactive gases to said surface, and means for ionizing the ined gas to subject said surface to ionic bombardment in order to clean said surface and render it receptive to said vapor compound.",
    "14. The apparatus defined in claim 13 including means for depositing a plasticizer on said surface during said ionic bombardment so that the molecules of the plasticizer become crosslinked and form a coherent skin on said surface.",
    "15. The apparatus defined in claim 12 wherein the providing means provides a base layer containing a dispersal of tiny radiation blocking particles of an inorganic semiconductor material which prevents the transmission through said wall structure of selected electromagnetic radiation frequencies.",
    "16. The apparatus defined in claim 12 and further including means for covering said barrier layer with a relatively thin top layer of a hard, abrasion-resistant material.",
    "17. The apparatus defined in claim 12 wherein said barrier layer is of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon and is of a thickness to block electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength.",
    "18. Apparatus for making a gas-impermeable container wall structure comprising means for providing a container of an organic polymeric dielectric material; means for creating a relatively high vacuum in the container; means for injecting a plurality of inorganic reactive gases into said container; means for exposing the container and its contents to electromagnetic energy sufficient to ionize said gases and produce a plasma in the container which causes chemical reaction of said gases thereby forming an inorganic vapor compound which becomes deposited on the interior wall of the container, and means for controlling the injecting and exposing steps until the vapor compound deposited on said interior wall forms a coherent, strongly adherent gas-impermeable, chemically inert barrier layer of a selected thickness on said interior wall, said controlling means causing the injection of said plurality of gases into the container as injection pulses of a selected frequency and the exposure of the container and its content to said energy as energy pulses having said selected frequency.",
    "19. The apparatus defined in claim 18 and further including means for flowing an inert gas into the container in the presence of said radiation prior to injecting the reactive gases into the container so as to ionize the inert gas whereupon the gas ions impact and clean the interior wall and render it receptive to said vapor compound deposit.",
    "20. The apparatus defined in claim 18 wherein said barrier layer is of a material selected from the group consisting of crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amorphous silicon and is of a thickness to block electromagnetic radiation below a selected cutoff wavelength."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "This application is a division of Ser. No. 08/421,536, filed Apr. 13, 1995, abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/342,368, filed Nov. 28, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,386, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 08/144,249, filed Oct. 28, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,056.\n\nThis invention deals with a gas-impermeable, chemically inert container product and the method and apparatus for producing that product.\n\nContainers such as bottles, tanks, pouches and the like which serve for the storage of various materials such as juices, chemicals, food stuffs, other organic materials including blood, petroleum products and the like are affected by the physical and chemical properties at the interface of the container and its contents. Thus, the contents can be affected by chemical reactions which take place between the container material and the contents or by electrochemical effects caused by different ionic potentials at the interface or by transmission of damaging radiation of short wavelength light and UV through the container walls into the contents or by the gradual long-term permeation of external material such as gases or moisture through the container walls into the interior of the container. Also, permeation of materials from inside the container, e.g., gasoline vapors, may be harmful to the environment.",
  "cpc": [
    "G02B 5/206",
    "B29B 13/08",
    "B29K 2023/00",
    "B29K 2025/00",
    "B29K 2033/00",
    "B65D 23/02",
    "C08J 7/123",
    "C08K 3/34",
    "C08K 7/18",
    "C23C 16/0245",
    "C23C 16/045",
    "C23C 16/45523",
    "C23C 16/515",
    "G02B 5/207",
    "H10F 77/162",
    "Y10T 428/1352"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B29B 13/08",
    "B65D 1/02",
    "B65D 23/02",
    "C08K 3/34",
    "C08K 7/18",
    "C23C 16/02",
    "C23C 16/04",
    "C23C 16/455",
    "C23C 16/515",
    "G02B 5/20",
    "H01L 31/0384"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Manfred R. Kuehnle",
    "Arno Hagenlocher",
    "Klaus Schuegraf",
    "Hermann Statz"
  ],
  "filing_date": "1996-02-01",
  "publication_date": "1997-10-21",
  "grant_date": "1997-10-21",
  "priority_date": "1993-10-28",
  "application_number": "US-59534296-A",
  "family_id": "27386061",
  "cited_by_count": 84,
  "citations": [
    "US5338580A",
    "US5468520A"
  ]
}

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