Patent Application
20150007906
The disclosure relates to an apparatus for reducing the oxygen content in a product container having a closure, wherein the product container is filled with a liquid product. The disclosure also relates to a system comprising this apparatus and a method for reducing the oxygen content in a product container having a closure.
There are a wide variety of liquid products that are being sold to be dispensed from product containers, such as bottles. Exemplary liquid products are vinegar, vegetable oils, laboratory liquids, detergents, honey, condiments, alcoholic beverages, and the like.
The product is filled into the product containers through respective openings of the container in the bottling process and filling process, respectively. Subsequently, the openings are closed by a suitable closure, such as a screw cap closure or a cork closure.
From prior art, e.g. EP 2 485 370 A1, it is known to measure the oxygen content, in particular, the total package oxygen (TPO), within the filled product container. The total package oxygen is comprised of the dissolved oxygen concentration in the product, such as wine, and the gaseous oxygen in the headspace of the product container. The headspace is the (gaseous) space between the closure and the product which has been filled into the product container. In the case of screw cap closures, the oxygen content is generally higher than in the case of inner sealing closures, such as cork closures, due to the greater headspace.
For example, the total oxygen content can be measured by using a precise and non-invasive, non-destructive measuring method, such as a luminescence technology. Thereby, it can be determined that, on average, the significant part of the total oxygen content results from the gaseous content in the headspace. Thus, the total oxygen content is particularly high if screw cap closures or the like are used due to the greater headspace.
However, the quality of the product, in particular, of alcoholic beverages, such as wine depends on the oxygen content in the container. High oxygen content may, in particular, reduce the quality of wines due to early oxidation of the wine. The shelf-life of the wine can be curtailed by the high oxygen content.
It is known from prior art to use evacuation techniques for filling the product containers in order to reduce the oxygen content in the product container. However, in addition to the high level of effort required the achievable results are negligible, in particular, in connection with screw cap closures.
Therefore, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide an apparatus, method and system which reduce the oxygen content in the product container in a simple manner.
The object is solved according to a first aspect of the disclosure by an apparatus according to claim 1. The apparatus for reducing the oxygen content in a product container having a closure, wherein the product container is filled with a liquid product, comprises at least one first injection nozzle arrangement configured to inert the product container by injecting the inert gas stream into the filled product container solely at an edge region of an opening of the filled product container.
In contrast to the prior art, the total package oxygen content in the product container is reduced by injecting an inert gas stream at a particular region of the opening of the product container in order to generate a vortex in the product. The product container can be efficiently inerted.
According to the disclosure, the product container may be any containment device for a liquid product, for example a bottle, a vat, a barrel, a bag or a bag-in-box container.
Furthermore, the liquid product may be any liquid substance or combination. The product, in particular, may be any beverage, for example wine or sparkling wine, such as champagne.
The term “closure” as used herein applies to any means for effectively closing product-retaining containers in general. Such closures include, but are not limited to, screw caps, stoppers, such as corks, crown caps, latches, seals and lids. According to one embodiment, the closure is selected from the group consisting of a bottle cap, such as a screw cap or a crown cap, and a cylindrically shaped bottle stopper. Examples of screw caps include, but are not limited to, roll-on pilfer proof screw caps (“ROPP”) and roll-on tamper evident screw caps (“ROTE”). According to an embodiment, the material for the closure may, for example, be selected from the group consisting of metal, polymer material, glass, natural materials such as cork, ceramic, steel, and rubber and combinations thereof.
An inert gas according to the disclosure may be a gas, which does not undergo chemical reactions under a set of given conditions. Preferred inert gases are noble gases and/or nitrogen.
The filled product containers can be passed to the inerting apparatus in series by e.g. a conveying mechanism. The first injection nozzle arrangement is configured to dispense the inert gas stream and inert gas flow, respectively.
The injection nozzle arrangement may be arranged such that the dispensed inert gas stream is injected into the product container solely at an edge region of the opening of the product container. In other words, the inert gas stream is not injected at the center region of the opening of the product container. Due to the injection of an inert gas flow at the edge region, a vortex is formed in the product. The vortex effect significantly improves the inerting procedure. The total package content can be reduced. The dissolved oxygen content and the oxygen content in the headspace, in particular, can be reduced due to the vortex effect.
A particular advantage of the inerting apparatus according to the disclosure lies in its ease of implementation and use. It is possible to adapt the apparatus to any type of bottling line, bottle type and line speed. Furthermore, due to the inert gas injection the apparatus can be operated in a very economical way in terms of gas consumption. In addition, advantages of inerting the headspace include limiting the premature aging of wines sensitive to oxygen, reducing the loss of antioxidants, in particular, free sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the first months after bottling, and as a consequence, reducing the doses of SO2 in wine.
According to a first embodiment of the apparatus according to the disclosure, the apparatus may comprise at least one outlet configured to enable exhaustion of the gas flushed by the inert gas stream. The outlet may be a longitudinal hole which may run substantially parallel to the first injection nozzle arrangement. The flushed gas, such as air comprising oxygen, can be exhausted in a simple way. Furthermore, generating the vortex in the product can be supported by locating the outlet substantially parallel to the first injection nozzle arrangement. The efficiency of the inerting process can be improved. It shall be understood that evacuation means can be provided for supporting the exhaustion of the flushed gas.
As pointed out hereinbefore, the closure used may, in general, be any suitable means for closing the product container. Some closures, such as caps, may comprise an interior volume which has the drawback that oxygen may be in the interior, and thus, by putting the closure onto the opening, oxygen may be introduced into the product container. According to a preferred embodiment, in order to further reduce the oxygen content in the product container, the apparatus may comprise at least one second injection nozzle arrangement configured to inert an interior of a closure by injecting a further inert gas stream into the interior of the closure. The second injection nozzle arrangement may be formed by at least one suitable nozzle configured to generate an inert gas stream. The oxygen content can be flushed by inerting the inner volume of the closure, such as the interior of a screw cap closure. The total package content can be further reduced.
According to a preferred embodiment, the first injection nozzle arrangement may comprise a plurality of injection nozzles which can be consecutively arranged in the travel direction of the product containers. In this case, the inert gas stream dispensed by the first injection nozzle arrangement is comprised of a plurality of partially inert gas streams and partially inert gas flows, respectively. By providing two or more injection nozzles, air turbulences can be created to chase the air in the headspace of the container, such as the bottle neck, and to replace the air, and thus the oxygen, with the inert gas used. The turbulences are caused by the interruption of the inert gas stream. The number of holes and injection nozzles, respectively, can be calculated and chosen according to the container speed and according to the time that the inert gas needs to replace the air with inert gas. The number of the holes may be at least two, preferably between 5 and 20.
Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the apparatus according to the disclosure, the apparatus may comprise at least one detector configured to detect the arrival of the product container at the apparatus. For example, after a product container has been filled with the product by a filling apparatus, the product container may be passed to the inerting apparatus of the present disclosure by e.g. a conveyor belt. The detector may preferably be located in front of the first injection nozzle arrangement at the beginning of the inerting apparatus. In other words, the first injection nozzle arrangement is arranged downstream of the detector in a predefined distance in the passing direction of the product containers. For example, an optical sensor, such as a passive infrared sensor, can be provided. It shall be understood that other sensors, such as electromagnetic sensors or ultrasound sensors, can be used.
In a preferred embodiment, the inerting apparatus comprising a detector may further comprise at least one controller connected to the detector. In order to save inert gas, the controller may be configured to control at least the first injection nozzle arrangement such that upon detecting the arrival of a product container the injection of the inert gas stream is initiated. For example, if the arrival of a product container is detected by the detector, a detection signal may be transmitted to the controller. Upon receiving the detection signal, the controller may initiate the injection of the inert gas, e.g. by causing a valve, such as a gas injection valve, to open. The injection of inert gas can be stopped after a predefined time has elapsed. This predefined time may preferably correspond to the time required by the product container to pass the first injection nozzle arrangement. The travel velocity of the product container to be inerted, the distance between the first injection nozzle arrangement and the detector and the reaction time required to initiate the injecting of the inert gas upon the actual arrival of the container at the detector can preferably be adjusted to one another such that the inert gas stream is dispensed just as the product container arrives at the first injection nozzle arrangement.
Furthermore, if the first injection nozzle arrangement comprises a plurality of injection nozzles arranged in series, it may be preferred to individually drive at least two groups of the injection nozzles. For example, upon detecting the arrival of a container the injection nozzle groups may be consecutively initiated by the controller such that substantially only the injection nozzles are activated which can actually inject a partially inert gas stream into the opening of the container. The total gas consumption can be reduced.
In a further embodiment, alternatively or preferably additionally, the controller connected to the detector may be configured to control the second injection nozzle arrangement such that upon detecting the arrival of a product container the injection of the further inert gas stream is initiated. The second injection nozzle arrangement can be controlled in a similar way as was previously described for controlling the first injection nozzle arrangement.
The apparatus may further comprise at least two guiding elements for guiding an opening of a product container along a defined travel path in order to guide the edge region of the opening of the product container along the first injection nozzle arrangement. For example, the guiding elements may have a distance to one another which corresponds to the outer diameter of the opening of the product container, such as the outer diameter of the bottle neck of a bottle. In a simple manner, it can be ensured that every product container travels along the inerting apparatus such that the inert gas stream can be injected at an edge region of the opening of the container.
According to a further embodiment, the first injection nozzle arrangement may be configured to inject the inert gas stream at a pressure between about 0 bar and 2 bar in order to generate a particular strong vortex in the product of the product container. The inert gas stream may preferably be dispensed at a pressure between about 1 bar and 2 bar. It shall be understood that the actually pressure used may depend on the type of product, the length of the headspace of the container, the diameter of the inert gas stream, and the like.
Furthermore, according to another embodiment, the second injection nozzle arrangement may be configured to inject the further inert gas stream at a pressure between about 0 bar and 2 bar. A good inertion result can be achieved.
For instance, the apparatus can be supplied by an inert gas having 0 to 2 bar. The apparatus may comprise at least one, preferably two individually controllable pressure reducer/s. One pressure reducer can be comprised of or connected to the first injection nozzle arrangement and a further pressure reducer can be comprised of or connected to the second injection nozzle arrangement. It is possible to inject the inert gas stream at a desired pressure and/or the further inert gas stream at a desired pressure.
According to a preferred embodiment of the apparatus according to the disclosure, the first injection nozzle arrangement may be configured to inject the inert gas stream such that the inert gas stream impacts the surface at a defined angle of impact. The term “angle of impact” as used herein is the angle between the center axis of the inert gas stream injected by the first injection nozzle arrangement and the (usually horizontal) surface of the product in the product container. The angle of impact may be about 90°. The flushed gas may leave the bottle with an angle of about 30°, wherein the angle is the angle between the center axis of the flushed gas and the (usually horizontal) surface of the product in the product container. By arranging or setting the first injection nozzle arrangement, e.g. every injection nozzle of the first injection nozzle arrangement, such that the inert gas stream, e.g. every partially inert gas stream, impacts the surface at a defined angle of impact the generation of the vortex effect can be further supported.
Furthermore, the second injection nozzle arrangement may be configured to inject the further inert gas stream such that the inert gas stream impacts the surface at an angle between about 45° and 65°, preferably of about 55°, wherein the angle is the angle between the center axis of the further inert gas stream and the (usually horizontal) surface of the screw cap closure.
Moreover, the first injection nozzle arrangement may comprise a length between about length of the inner diameter of the opening of the product container and three times the length of the inner diameter of the opening of the product container. The length may depend on the travel velocity of the product container. The faster the container travels, the longer the length that needs be chosen for obtaining a good inertion of the container. The length is preferably about twice the length of the inner diameter of the opening of the product container. The first injection nozzle arrangement may comprise a width between about 10% of the inner diameter of the opening of the product container and 40% of the inner diameter of the opening of the product container. Such a width enables the injection of the inert gas stream solely at the edge region of the container in a simple manner. Furthermore, the inert gas stream may have a width, which is sufficient for generating the desired vortex in the product.
Furthermore, the flow of inert gas may be constant during the flushing process and inerting process, respectively, for a given container.
The apparatus can be can be adapted to any existing bottling system in an easy manner. In other words, already existing bottling lines can be easily upgraded with the previously described apparatus.
A further aspect of the disclosure is a system comprising at least one previously described apparatus and at least one closing apparatus configured to put a closure onto the opening after the product container has been inerted.
The system may be a bottling system. In a preferred embodiment of the system according to the disclosure, the closing apparatus may be configured to put the closure onto the opening of the product container substantially directly after at least the product container has been inerted. Since the injection procedure/s is/are performed up until just before the closure is onto the opening of the container, no oxygen can reenter the container. The system may additionally comprise a filling apparatus configured to fill the product container with the liquid product prior to inerting the product container.
In another embodiment, at least the first injection nozzle arrangement may be connected to an inert gas source. In the case nitrogen is used as an inert gas, at least the first injection nozzle arrangement may be connected to a nitrogen generator. A nitrogen generator may be a stationary or mobile air-to-nitrogen production device using e.g. adsorption technology or membrane technology. Furthermore, the second injection nozzle arrangement may preferably be connected to the nitrogen generator.
A still further aspect of the disclosure is a method for reducing the oxygen content in a product container having a closure, comprising:
The method can, in particular, be performed by using the previously described system.
Furthermore, the inventive method for inerting the product container can also be combined with vacuum techniques. For example, the combination of liquid nitrogen and vacuum used for inerting may allow very low amounts of oxygen to be achieved with all inner seal closures.
In addition, according to an embodiment, the empty product container can be flushed with an inert gas before filling the product container. The flushing of empty bottles may avoid the increase of dissolved oxygen in the product filled in the product container.
These and other aspects of the present patent application become apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the following figures. The features of the present application and of its exemplary embodiments as presented above are also understood to be disclosed in all possible combinations with each other.
a shows a schematic side view of an exemplary product container and an exemplary closure,
b shows a schematic top view of the product container according to
a shows a schematic side view of an embodiment of the apparatus according to the disclosure;
b shows a schematic top view of the embodiment according to
c shows a schematic view of the embodiment of
a shows a schematic top view of a further embodiment of the apparatus according to the disclosure;
b shows a schematic side view of the embodiment according to
Like reference numerals in different figures indicate like elements.
a shows an exemplary product container 2 in the form of a bottle 2. The depicted bottle 2, e.g. a glass bottle 2, is filled with a product 4, such as wine 4. Furthermore, a headspace 6 of the bottle 2 comprises gaseous fluid. The headspace 6 comprises an opening 10 for dispensing the product 6 or for inserting the product 6. As can be further seen from
Screw cap closures 8 commonly used in the wine industry typically comprise an outer metal cap consisting of a head and a skirt, a threaded plastic insert adapted to wine glass bottle screw tops, and possibly a seal, if the plastic insert itself does not perform the sealing function. Advantageously, the outer metal cap of the screw cap closure 8 is itself not threaded, which improves the aesthetic quality of the cap. Materials for and methods of manufacturing a screw cap closure are known to the person skilled in the art and for example described in detail in column 3 lines 15 to 67 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,403,173 B1.
b shows a top view of the bottle 2 without the closure 8. The opening 10 comprises an edge region 12 and a center region 14. As will be shown hereinafter, the inert gas stream is only injected into the bottle 2 at this edge region 12.
Furthermore, from the top view of the bottle 2 shown in
a shows an exemplary embodiment of the apparatus 18 for reducing the oxygen content in a product container, such as the bottle 2 shown in
Furthermore,
Furthermore, the apparatus 30 comprises a first injection nozzle arrangement 41 which is arranged downstream of the detector 38 at a distance 50. The first injection nozzle arrangement 41 has a length 44 and a width 46.
In the present embodiment, the first injection nozzle arrangement 41 comprises a plurality of injecting openings 42. It shall be understood that according to other variants more or less injection openings can be provided and/or the form of an injection opening may be different, e.g. elliptical.
The first injection nozzle arrangement 41 is arranged parallel to the guiding elements 32.1 and 32.2. The first injection nozzle arrangement 41 is, in particular, located at an edge region of the apparatus 30. The distance 48 between the guiding element 32.1 and the first injection nozzle arrangement 41 may correspond at least to the thickness 20. The distance 48 preferably depends on thickness 20 but it is greater than thickness 20 of the bottle neck. Even if the bottle 2 does not enter the inerting apparatus 30 completely centered the inert gas stream still generates a vortex effect. This in particular enables an inert gas stream to be injected at the edge region 12 of the opening 10 of the bottle 2, and thus, to generate a vortex in the wine 4.
On the side opposite the first injection nozzle arrangement 41, there is located an outlet 40 configured to allow the flushed gas to exhaust. The outlet 40 runs substantially parallel to the first injection nozzle arrangement 41 and guiding elements 32.1 and 32.2, respectively. The length of the outlet 40 is at least equal to the length 44. The outlet 40 comprises an inclined plane 52 for guiding the flushed gas from the bottle.
c shows a further schematic extract of the embodiment shown in
The first injection nozzle arrangement 41 and the injection openings 41, respectively are located with respect to the opening 10 such that an inert gas stream is injected (solely) at the edge region 12 of the opening 10. The flushed gas can be exhausted via the outlet 40.
The embodiment shown in
a and 3b shows a further embodiment of an apparatus 54 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment shown is similar to apparatus 30 of
The inerting apparatus 54 depicted comprises a detector 66, a first injection nozzle arrangement 58 comprising nine injection nozzles 59 in the form of holes 59, and a second injection nozzle arrangement 60 having one injection nozzle in the form of a hole. The first injection nozzle arrangement 58, in particular, all injection nozzles 59, is/are fed by an inerting gas via feed line 62. The constant flow of inert gas can be provided. The second injection nozzle arrangement 60 is preferably fed with the same inert gas via feed line 64.
As can be further seen from
The detector 66 comprises a connection 68 with a controller (not shown). Furthermore, the apparatus 54 comprises attachment means 72. As can be further seen from
Furthermore,
The controller 74 depicted is configured to control the first injection nozzle arrangement 58 and the second injection nozzle arrangement 60. The controller 74 is, in particular, configured to initiate the injecting process of the first and second injection nozzle arrangements 58 and 60 and to stop the injecting process of the first and second injection nozzle arrangements 58 and 60.
Upon receiving a detection signal, the controller 74 initiates the injecting of an inert gas by the first injection nozzle arrangement 58 and the second injection nozzle arrangement 60 which are both connected to a common inert gas source 60. For example, a first valve 76.1 and a second valve 76.2 connected to the common inert gas source 78 and the respective injection nozzle arrangements 58 and 60 can be driven (opened and closed) by the controller 74 to control the dispensing of the inert gas with a predefined pressure.
In the following, a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present disclosure will be described with the aid of
In a first step 501, at least one bottle 2 is filled with wine 4. A plurality of bottles can preferably be filled in series. For example, the wine 4 can be drawn from a holding tank and then filled into the bottles 2 in a filling machine. After filling, the bottles 2 travel to the inerting apparatus 30 and then to the closing apparatus configured to close the respective openings of the bottle 2. A suitable travel mechanism, such as a conveyor belt, can be provided.
As described above, before the bottles 2 are closed by a closure 8, the bottles 2 are passed to the inerting apparatus 54 to reduce the oxygen content in the bottle 2. In a next step 502, an inert gas stream is generated and injected by the first injection nozzle arrangement 41 into the bottle 2. The inert gas, such as argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide or any other mix of these inert gases, is injected into the bottle by the first injection nozzle arrangement 58 at an edge region 12 of the opening 10 of the bottle 2. A directed inert gas stream is preferably injected at an angle of impact of about 90° and at a pressure of e.g. 1 bar. The injected inert gas stream generates a vortex in the product 4. The vortex enables a particularly good inerting of the bottle 2. The injecting process can be initiated upon detecting the passing of a bottle 2 by the detector 66, such as an optical sensor 66.
In a step 503 which is preferably performed parallel to step 502, a further inert gas stream is injected into the screw cap closure 8 to be used for closing the bottle 2 by a second injection nozzle arrangement 60. If the detector 38 detects the passing of a bottle 2, the injection of the further inert gas stream by the second injection nozzle arrangement 60 is preferably also enabled.
Both injection nozzle arrangements 58 and 60 may be connected to the same inert gas source 78. However, it shall be understood that more than one inert gas source and/or different inert gases can be used.
Both injecting procedures are preferably performed up until just before the screw cap closure 8 is put onto the bottle 2 in step 504. Since the inerting process is performed up until just before the screw cap closure 8 is put onto the opening 10 of the bottle 2 the renewed insertion of oxygen can be substantially avoided.
On average, without using the inventive method, the headspace oxygen content of the bottle 2 with the screw cap 8 is around 3 to 5 mg/l whereas using the previously described method, apparatus and/or system the headspace oxygen content can be decreased by a factor of ten times to a minimal headspace oxygen level of e.g. 0.3-0.5 mg/l.
Finally, some test results are given in table 1 below. In the table, Temp is the temperature of the wine 4, DO is the amount of the dissolved oxygen in the wine, HS (mm) is the length of the headspace filled with gas after the bottling, HS (hPa) is the pressure in this headspace after bottling, HS (ppm) is the amount of oxygen in this headspace and TPO is the total package oxygen in the bottle.
As can be seen from the first two test results which have been achieved by performing a method according to prior art, the TPO is high (2.55 ppm and 7.85 ppm) wherein the higher value of the TPO for the closure type “screw cap” directly correlates with the higher amount of oxygen in the headspace (1.06 ppm versus 5.15 ppm) due to the greater length of the headspace (20 mm versus 47 mm).
As can be further seen from the third test results which have been achieved by performing the previously described method according to the disclosure the content of oxygen in the bottle can be significantly reduced. The TPO value is, in particular, 2.45 ppm which is much lower than 7.85 ppm and also lower than 2.55 ppm. In comparison with the second test scenario the DO value and the HS (ppm) value are reduced.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/842,688 filed on Jul. 3, 2013 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REDUCING THE OXYGEN CONTENT IN A PRODUCT CONTAINER,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61842688 | Jul 2013 | US |
