Spout member and packaging bag utilizing same

Abstract

It is aimed to provide a spout member and a packaging bag using the spout member which have excellent handling property and hygiene management performance at the time of supplying water or the like from the outside before and during use such as administration of water and medicine, in which a closure means for freely opening and closing an aperture formed by cutting off parts of peripheral portions of sealed film pieces is protected from a contained content at the time of storage or transportation and which have excellent protecting property even when an inner pressure acts in the packaging bag, excellent contamination preventing property until a spout is opened and excellent contamination preventing property and handling property after opening.In a packaging bag formed by sealing peripheral portions of a plurality of film pieces and including an inlet portion and a spout portion at the peripheral portions, the inlet portion is opened as an inlet port by cutting off parts of the peripheral portions of the sealed film pieces to form an aperture by an unsealed portion, at least two holes are formed at the opposite sides of a part which becomes the inlet port at the peripheral portions near the inlet portion, and the holes serve as a suspension means for enabling the packaging bag to be suspended and a finger holding means. An operable and closable closure means including first and second members engageable with each other is formed by bonding an upper part of a first base member including the first member and an upper part of a second base member including the second member respectively to inner sides of the film pieces forming the aperture and facing each other, and a bottom end portion of one base member is formed to be longer than that of the other base member and bonded to the other film piece opposite thereto by an easily peelable seal, thereby forming an easily peelable portion which is peeled open to open the aperture at the time of opening. A spout member is provided with a spout portion including a base portion and a cylindrical portion projecting from the base portion, a sealing portion for sealing a tip portion of the cylindrical portion via a tearable weakened portion, and a cap portion. The weakened portion is torn by turning the cap portion to separate the sealing portion and the cap portion from the spout portion and simultaneously open the tip portion of the cylindrical portion, thereby forming a spout. The cap portion is shaped to cover the entire cylindrical portion, and the cap portion and the spout portion include a locking mechanism capable of locking the cap portion to the spout portion.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a spout member to be attached to a packaging bag, particularly a packaging bag for containing a tube-feeding enteral nutrient, tube-feeding enteral liquid diet, or the like which bag is opened by cutting off parts of peripheral portions of sealed film pieces to form an aperture or includes a spout for discharging a contained content, and a packaging bag using the same.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Tube-feeding enteral nutrients (abbreviated as nutrients in some cases below) and tube-feeding enteral liquid diets (abbreviated as liquid diets in some cases below) are used while being contained in various packaging containers such as cans, paper containers, pouches and bottles. Above all, pouch-type packaging bags have excellent sealing property and handling property and are widely used. A pouch-type packaging bag generally includes a spout, and administration is performed by connecting a tube to the spout. Particularly, in the case of a nutri...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0046]In the packaging bag of the present invention, at least two holes are formed at the part that becomes the inlet port at the peripheral portions near the inlet portion and function as the suspension means for enabling the packaging bag to be suspended and the holding means in an operation of handling the packaging bag. Thus, upon supplying water or the like from the outside before, after and during use such as administration of water or medicine, the packaging bag is stably held to facilitate a cutting operation and provide excellent handling property and hygiene management performance. By bonding the bottom end portion of the base member including the closure means to the opposite other film piece, the closure means for freely opening and closing the aperture is isolated from the contained content before opening. Thus, the packaging bag is protected from contamination and the like by the contained content at the time of storage or transportation to provide excellent hygiene management performance and handling property. Further, even if an inner pressure acts in the packaging bag, a pressure is unlikely to act to peel open the easily peelable portion bonding the bottom end portion of the base member, wherefore pressure resistance is excellent. Further, since the above protecting property and pressure resistance can be easily realized by the base member including the closure means, manufacturing is easy and cost performance is excellent. Since the spout member of the present invention includes the cap portion capable of sealing the spout before opening and covering the spout also after opening, contamination preventing property and handling property are excellent at the time of and after opening. Further, since the spout member is sealed and sandwiched in the packaging bag of the present invention, hygiene and control management performances until opening and breakage preventing property of the sealing portion for sealing the spout are excellent, and the spout member can be opened without being touched, wherefore contamination preventing property is excellent.

Problems solved by technology

However, there are problems of increasing material cost and attaching cost and difficult handling because packaging bags become bulky upon being stacked up particularly when spouts are large due to the fact that another member is tucked in the peripheral edge portion.

However, when the spout is formed by cutting off the part of the packaging bag as described above, holding of a pouch becomes unstable with a liquid content contained unless there is any reliable holding means for enabling handling of the pouch.

Further, it is also difficult to cut off the part of the pouch and to perform an operation of supplying water and medicine.

In addition to problems of dropping and tilting the packaging bag to spill out the contained content, there have been also problems in hygiene management such as contamination of an inlet port such as by contact with the interior of the packaging bag and opening of the packaging bag more than necessary.

Further, a closure means such as a fastener seal provided at an aperture beforehand may be opened due to an inner pressure of a contained content at the time of storage or transportation and the contained content may attach to engaging parts to result in insufficient engagement or contaminate the contained content.

However, if an inner pressure acts in a packaging bag such as due to a fall at the time of storage or transportation, the easily peelable portion may be peeled open and its original purpose may not be fulfilled.

There are also packaging bags in which an easily peelable portion is provided at a part which becomes an aperture for the purpose of clearly showing opening by the peel opening of the easily peelable portion or reducing an inner pressure by the breakage of the easily peelable portion (see patent literatures 5, 6 below), but these packaging bags are not for preventing the easily peelable portion from being peeled open due to an inner pressure in the packaging bag.

The spout member may be contaminated by being exposed to outside air and dust if it exposed to the outside of the packaging bag before opening such as at the time of transportation and storage.

Further, H2O, O2 and the like may permeate through the spout member to cause oxidation, deterioration and the like of a contained content such as vitamin destruction.

However, any of, the spout members of the packaging bags disclosed in patent literatures below has a possibility that hands, fingers and the like touch the vicinity of the spout at the time of opening.

Further, although the spout member is re-closable after being opened, it has to be used after being taken out from the separated film pieces, which presents problems in handling property and contamination preventing property.

Further, the spout member is easily movable even when being sealed in the packaging bag and subject to damage due to an external impact.

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