Patent Application
20070271873
The present invention relates to a filling machine and a method for filling foodstuffs, particularly beverages, in composite packages which are open on top, and for sealing these packages, using a packaging transport device, a sterilization unit, a drying unit, a filling unit, and a sealing unit.
Such filling machines are known in various embodiments from practice. Normally, the individual units connected in series are typically positioned above the composite packages in a line, the manufacturing being performed in multiple parallel lines. In the known facilities, the composite packages open on top are produced from a packaging sleeve immediately before the sterilization. Since the production of the composite packages is performed on an intermittently rotated mandrel wheel, the speed of linear transport is directly dependent on the output speed of the mandrel wheel. It is immediately obvious that the transport speed may not be elevated arbitrarily, since the linearly transported composite packages open on top must be filled from fixed filling nozzles. With linear transport of the composite packages to be filled and fixed filling nozzles, for optimization of the output speed, the actual filling process must be performed in a relatively short time, which leads to undesired foaming on the liquid.
The present invention is therefore based on the object of implementing and refining a filling machine of the type initially cited and described in greater detail above in such a way that—at the same output—more time may be made available for the individual processes (sterilization, filling, and sealing process), particularly to prevent the undesired foaming.
This object is achieved in that multiple assemblies, made of a sterilization unit, a drying unit, and a filling unit, which are assembled into processing lines, are firmly positioned on a rotating rotary machine and the transport direction of the composite packages on the rotary machine runs radially around the axis of rotation.
According to a preferred teaching of the present invention, the rotary machine is rotated continuously around the axis of rotation in this case.
A further teaching of the present invention provides that the transport of the composite packages in the radial direction occurs in the radial direction each on a plurality of traveling feeders corresponding to the number of the assembly rows. A fixed support rail is expediently used as the control element for the floor guides of the composite packages is positioned below the rotating rotary machine. This fixed support rail preferably has at least one recess for the discharge of the filled and possibly sealed composite packages.
According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the composite packages positioned on the rotating rotary machine and/or the individual units or assemblies are situated displaceably in relation to one another in the vertical direction. The composite packages positioned on the rotating rotary machine are alternatively or additionally displaceable in the radial direction in relation to one another. The relative motion expediently occurs via a curve controller.
A further teaching of the present invention provides that the rotating rotary machine is sealed in relation to the atmosphere except for the openings for the inward (charging) and/or outward (discharging) transfer of the composite packages.
According to the present invention, it is possible that multiple sealing units are provided on the rotary machine. For this first embodiment of the present invention, the composite packages are transferred into the rotary machine from the outside, moved there radially toward the axis of rotation via its peripheral motion, and filled and sealed thereby. The outward transfer is then expediently performed vertically downward.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention provides that multiple sealing units are provided outside the rotating rotary machine. For this alternative embodiment, the sealing units are preferably positioned in a housing, shaped like an annular segment, outside the rotary machine housing, which is rotatable by a preset angle around the axis of rotation and in relation to the rotary machine.
Both embodiments expediently have sealing units which are implemented as ultrasonic welding units.
In terms of a method, the object is achieved by the following steps:
According to a first alternative of to the present invention, the sealing units for sealing the filled composite packages are positioned on the rotary machine. Alternatively, however, it is also possible for the filled composite packages to be sealed outside the rotary machine, as is described in greater detail in the following.
Each of the composite packages to be filled is assigned a pocket-like sterile chamber, each of which has an H2O2 nozzle and a superheated steam nozzle. In addition, these chambers are followed by a filling outlet and possibly a sealing device for sealing the composite package in sequence radially inward.
The present invention is described in greater detail in the following on the basis of a drawing, which merely illustrates two preferred exemplary embodiments. In the drawing:
The sterile chamber 2 is closed to the outside by a fixed outer wall 8 and is sealed by sealing lips (not shown). This also applies for the upper fixed cover (not shown). A lower bulkhead is not provided, since the H2O2-air mixture must escape downward out of the chamber after the blowing out and before the filling.
The H2O2 nozzle and the superheated steam nozzle are connected in series. While, for example, the sterilization ‘S’ is performed over two “stations”, the drying ‘T’, i.e., blowing out the H2O2-air mixture, maybe performed over multiple stations, three in the example.
After the sterilization process, each composite package P is pushed radially inward under the filling outlet 5 using a traveling feeder 9, which is positioned below a radially positioned support rail 10, which also travels. This filling outlet is activated over five stations for the filling ‘F’ in the illustrated and preferred exemplary embodiment, through which a continuous, low-foam filling of the product is made possible.
Replacing the feeder 9 by a fixed curve 11 implemented corresponding to the motion of the composite package P directed radially inward is also conceivable.
After the filling process, the composite package P preferably moves further inward, so that it arrives underneath the sealing jaws 6A, 6B. The sealing ‘V’ is now performed over three stations.
The packaging material may still be heated by a steam nozzle 12 during the sealing at the head of the composite package P after the filling, in order to minimize the unavoidable air component in the sealed composite package P through subsequent cooling.
In the last station, the now filled and sealed composite package P is finally displaced once more in the direction toward the axis of rotation R, where the package ears are applied in a known way. The finished composite package is then drawn downward out of the rotary machine 1 through the opening 7 and carried away on a transport band (not shown).
In the preferred example, a rotation around 360° is necessary for a production cycle. With a rotary machine which is dimensioned sufficiently large, doubling to 2×180° is also possible, the two supply and outward transfer openings then each lying diametrically opposite one another.
A rotary filling machine has the advantage over the intermittently operating inline filling machines previously used that all processes are performed on a composite package which is stationary in relation to the assemblies. Therefore, more time is obtained for the individual processes, which maybe performed more intensely (sterilization), with low foam (filling process), and more reliably (sealing).
If it is necessary that individual assemblies 3, 4, or 5 must be dipped into the composite package P, this is possible without anything further through a curve controller (cylinder curve) above the rotating units.
For better illustration, the positioning of the individual assemblies inside a sterile chamber 2 is shown in a side view and a top view, respectively, in
In
For better understanding, the process of sealing is shown once again enlarged in a perspective view in
The present invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiments shown, but rather two conceivable alternatives are shown here, in which, for longer dwell of a composite package to be filled during its continuous transport, an expedient exploitation of machines with an manageable use of space is possible through the expedient arrangement and appropriately superimposed rotational and/or translational movement sequences.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102 61 706.6 | Dec 2002 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP03/14903 | 12/24/2003 | WO | 2/22/2007 |
