Packaging Tray for Caps Intended to Seal Bottles for Pharmaceutical Use

This application claims the benefit of the filing date of French Patent Application Serial No. FR 2405389, filed May 27, 2024, for “Packaging Tray for Caps Intended to Seal Bottles for Pharmaceutical Use,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.

The present disclosure relates to the field of conditioning for pharmaceutical products. In particular, it relates to a packaging tray adapted to hold caps, the caps being intended to seal bottles for pharmaceutical use.

It is customary for the caps intended to seal bottles after they have been filled with a product for medical use to be collectively held by a conditioning tray for their storage, transport and handling before use. This collective conditioning avoids these caps, considered as medical devices, being contaminated or damaged by contacts and friction between them.

European Patent Application Publication EP3505458 proposes this type of conditioning. The caps held by fastening systems on the lower face of a conditioning tray are assembled on bottles, which also may be collectively held by a tray. After assembly, a rod, attached to a plate, is moved downward so as to pass through an opening provided in the tray of caps, in line with each cap, and to gradually push each cap downward until they detach from the tray. The disadvantage that can be encountered when the number of rods is equal to the number of caps, is that the force to be applied is significant and tends to damage the tray due to excessive flexing.

Another problem can arise when assembling caps (held on their trays) to bottles, namely the incorrect clipping of a cap to a bottle due to excessive dimensional discrepancies (height, in particular) on the elements to be assembled.

The present disclosure proposes a solution that aims to remedy all or some of the stated problems. The present disclosure relates to a packaging tray for collectively held caps, which facilitates the detachment of caps when they are associated with the bottles. In some embodiments, the present disclosure also compensates for variations in bottle height and increases the clipping reliability of the caps onto their respective bottles.

The present disclosure relates to a packaging tray for caps comprising:

The packaging tray is characterized in that each abutment is connected to the base by flexible bridges, enabling the abutment to move perpendicularly to the main plane.

According to advantageous and non-limiting features of the present disclosure, which can be taken either individually or in any technically feasible combination:

In the description, the same references in the figures may be used for elements of the same type.

The present disclosure relates to a packaging trayfor caps, in particular, for pharmaceutical use, an example of which is shown in. For ease of visualization, a single caphas been shown, attached to the packaging tray, in; of course, the practice is to have a capheld at each of the locations provided for this purpose on the tray.

The packaging traycomprises a generally plate-shaped baseand two faces,extending parallel to a main plane (x,y): one is called the upper faceand the other the lower face. The terms “upper” and “lower” refer to the intended use of the packaging tray. When the capsare held against the tray, one or more packaging traysare usually placed in a storage and transport tank, potentially stacked on top of one another, with the basearranged horizontally: the upper faceis then the one seen from above, and the lower faceis the one seen from below.

The capsare held against the trayon the lower faceside. To this end, the packaging traycomprises a plurality of abutmentsconnected to the base. Each abutmentis designed to be in contact with a cap, when the trayis loaded with caps. Advantageously, it is an upper portionof the capthat lies against the abutment, as shown in.

Referring to, each cappreferably comprises a cylindrical body, which houses an elastomer stopperdesigned to close the openingof the neckof a bottleafter filling; the bottleis usually formed by a cylindrical bodyand a collardefining the end of the neck

The caphas a closed upper part, and its function is to securely cap and seal the bottlefilled, for example, with a pharmaceutical product. Advantageously, the capis formed of an external body, an upper cap, a cageand a stopperprovided with a headand a foot, such as, for example, described in documents EP2464577 or FR3098504.

Each abutmentcan take the form of a solid or perforated disc, whose lower surface (on the side of the lower faceof the base) is configured to be in contact with the held cap, as in the example shown in. Alternatively, the abutmentcan take any other form, providing a continuous contact surface or areas of local contact with the upper portionof the cap.

The trayalso comprises a plurality of fastening systems, each fastening systembeing associated with an abutmentand being configured to hold a capagainst the abutment.

According to the present disclosure, each abutmentis connected to the baseby flexible bridges, enabling the abutmentto move perpendicularly to the main plane (x,y). This particular feature makes it easy to unfasten each capfrom the associated fastening system, by pushing on the abutment, on the side of the upper faceof the base. Such a thrust causes the abutment, and as a result the cap, to move along an axis (z) normal to the main plane (x,y), until the latter is extracted from the fastening system.

Advantageously, there are three flexible bridgesconnecting each abutmentto the base. The number of bridgescan typically vary between two and six, with the three-bridge design being the one that ensures good stability of the abutment, without overcomplicating the design of the tray. Restricting the number of flexible bridgesto two may save space.

Each bridgehas two ends,; by convention, the proximal endwill refer to the end of bridgeconnected to the abutment, and the distal endwill refer to the end of bridgeconnected to the base.

Several shapes of bridgecan be envisaged to allow displacement along the axis (z) of the abutment. In particular, a bridge with a curvature is likely to be more flexible than a flat bridge, due to a spring effect. A U-shape in a plane normal to the main plane (x,y) (shown in) ensures that the bridgebends, at least in one direction along the z-axis normal to the main plane (x,y). Note that the U-shape can be oriented downward (that is, the opening of the U is on the side of the lower faceof the tray), as shown in, or it can be oriented upward (that is, the opening of the U is on the side of the upper faceof the tray). An S-shape in a plane normal to the main plane (x,y) (shown in) allows the bridgeto bend in both directions along the z-axis normal to the main plane (x,y); in other words, considering that the main plane (x,y) is horizontal, the S-shape of each bridgeallows the abutmentto move vertically, upward or downward.

In the case of a packaging traywith a large number of positions for holding caps, such as that shown in(positions), the flexible bridgescan be U-shaped, oriented upward or downward (), but with a small amplitude along the z-axis, in order to reduce the overall dimensions.

Preferably, each fastening systemcomprises flexible tabs. Each of these flexible tabshas a first end(), free and able to move (in other words, able to be displaced) in one direction in the main plane (x,y), and a second endconnected to the base, directly or indirectly. The ability of the first endto move allows the flexible tabsof the fastening systemto move apart when a capis brought against the abutment, allowing the capto pass until it is clipped against the abutment; it also allows the flexible tabsto move apart when the abutmentmoves downward, forcing the capout of the clipping.

To achieve the above-mentioned clipping, each flexible tabadvantageously comprises a protrusiondesigned to grip the cap(and, in particular, an upper portionof the cap) to keep it pressed against an abutment.

According to a first variant, shown in, the second endof each flexible tabis directly connected to the base.

According to a second variant, shown in, the second endof each flexible tabis connected to the proximal endof a flexible bridge, a distal endof the flexible bridgebeing secured to the base. In this case, the flexible tabsof each fastening systemare additionally spread by the downward movement of the abutment, due to the link between tabsand bridges(.

Each fastening systemcan comprise a plurality of flexible tabs, typically between two and five, preferably three to ensure that the capis mechanically secure and takes up little space.

Advantageously, each abutmenthas a projectionextending from the upper faceof the base. In particular, this projection can be tubular, as shown in. Of course, any other form could also be implemented. The purpose of this projectionis to facilitate the application of force to move the abutmentdownward (away from the z axis in the figures). Individual contact with a projectionseparates a capfrom the packaging tray; collective contact with all projections, for example, via a plate arranged parallel to the main plane (x,y), separates all caps. This last configuration is particularly interesting in cases where the caps, held on the packaging tray, are collectively associated with bottles, themselves arranged on a packaging tray (in general); it is thus possible to separate all the capsat the same time, easily, without the need for special tools, thus leaving them each assembled on a bottle. The packaging traycan then be reused for other caps.

According to an advantageous design, at least one abutmentcomprises a damping element, configured to lie against the associated cap(). This damping elementis formed from an elastomer material and is capable of deforming to absorb potential variations in the dimensions of the capsand/or bottles, which the capsare configured to seal.

Preferably, each damping elementis removable, so the packaging traycan be used with or without these elements. For example, the damping elementmay take the form of a disc() fitted with a male membersuitable for coupling with a female memberarranged in the abutment(); in this case, the abutmentcan take the form of a disc with a central holein which the male memberis housed, the mechanical holding of the damping elementon the abutmentbeing ensured by engagement between the peripheral edge of the central holeand a grooveformed in the male member

Alternatively, the damping elementcan take the form of a single disc and be bonded to the abutmenton the lower faceof the base, or produced by bi-injection at the same time as the tray. In this respect, the packaging trayis advantageously manufactured by injection molding from a plastic material chosen, for example, from polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or polyamides (PA).

The basecan be perforated to limit the mass of the packaging trayand material consumption. Preferably, it features stiffening ribson its upper faceand/or lower face.

Finally, the tray can comprise spacers, secured to the baseand extending along an axis normal z to the main plane (x,y), on the side of the lower face. The function of these spacersis to maintain a constant, controlled spacing between the capsand underlying surfaces or elements. They are particularly useful when several packaging traysneed to be stacked in a storage and transport tank, to avoid untimely contact between the capsand the tank bottom or the underlying tray. The spacersare advantageously arranged in a peripheral region of the tray, for example, near the four corners of the tray. One or more spacerscan also be arranged in a central region of the trayto prevent sagging, particularly when the number of capsto be held is large and the trayhas large lateral dimensions; the use of spacers relaxes the constraints of stiffening by ribs, by increasing the thickness of the trayor by reducing perforated areas.

Advantageously, receiving areasare provided on the upper faceof the baseof the tray, in line with the spacers. They correspond to cavities adapted to receive the free ends of the spacersof another traystacked on the upper faceof the tray.

The packaging trayis shown in some figures with nine or one hundred positions for holding caps. Its lateral dimensions may be of the order of a few tens of cm (e.g., of the order of 22 cm by 17 cm for the 9-location tray), and the thicknesses of the baseand the flexible bridgesare typically between 1 mm and 2 mm. Of course, these dimensional examples are not limitative, and traysaccording to the present disclosure can be envisaged with 16, 25 or even 48 locations for caps, with dimensions adapted to the number of locations and their distribution and density.

Naturally, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and examples that have been described, and it is possible to add alternative embodiments thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.