Patent Application
20110039044
The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of Claim 1, to a filling system according to the preamble of Claim 11 and to a liquid product filled into containers according to the preamble of Claim 17.
Beverages filled into bottles, cans or similar containers are for the most part mixed beverages where a main component, which makes up by far the largest part of the respectively filled product in terms of volume, has mixed therewith a further liquid addition component e.g. in the form of a taste-giving, highly concentrated flavouring. Said mixing is generated, in practice, inside a mixing system that is also referred to as a “mixer” and is located upstream of the filling machine in the process cycle, in which the product mixed from the two components is then filled into the containers.
Examples of these types of mixed beverages are, among other things, water+liquid flavouring or taste-giving addition, water+liquid flavouring or taste-forming addition+sugar, water+liquid flavouring or taste-giving addition+basic syrup etc. Mixed beverages produced in this manner are, for example, fruit juices or cola beverages, also with the addition of carbonation.
A disadvantage with said methods of operation, among other things, is that the mixer in which the components forming the mixed beverage (water and/or sugar and/or basic syrup and/or flavouring and/or carbonation) are mixed is a unit that is separated spatially from the filling machine, and that, consequently, there is a need for connecting lines between the mixer and the filling machine which, just as liquid connections inside the filling machine, contain a considerable liquid volume.
At each product change, for example when changing the addition component(s) but also when changing the basic component, it is necessary [to flush out] the entire liquid volume contained inside the overall system, in particular also from the pipelines between mixer and filling machine and from the individual supply lines of each filler valve. As a rule, a large part of said liquid volume has to be discarded at the same time.
In addition to the loss of high quality product that occurs in this case, it is also disadvantageous that in practice the product change or the component change is very time consuming just from the necessary emptying of the connecting lines.
In order to avoid these disadvantages, it has already been proposed (EP 0 775 668 B1) to mix an additional component to a basic component inside the respective filler element and during the filling procedure or during the filling phase by introducing said additional component in a monitored and controlled manner via a flow meter into the section of the liquid channel of the filler element that is directly connected to an annular tank or communicates via an opening with the annular tank, i.e. in the direction of flow of the liquid product upstream of the liquid valve located in the liquid channel. Among other things, the disadvantage of this is that an undesired mixing of the additional component with the first component or main component contained in the annular tank cannot be reliably avoided, such that during the filling operation, the main component contained in the annular tank is increasingly augmented by the additional component, thus making a filling of mixed beverages with a constant, reproducible quality not possible.
It is the object of the invention to provide a method which, with constant, reproducible quality of the filled product, enables a product change or component change and in this case especially a change in the at least one addition component, reducing the loss of high quality product and reducing expenditure of time.
This object is achieved by a method corresponding to Claim 1. A filling system for accomplishing the method is the object of Claim 11. A product filled into bottles or similar containers is the object of Claim 17.
In the case of a general embodiment of the invention, the addition of the at least one addition component to the first component or basic component is effected outside the respective filler element, preferably via at least one additional discharge opening for the at least one additional component, directly into the containers to be filled and/or into a flow of the at least one first component flowing to the container during the filling operation or during the filling phase.
Especially in the case of said embodiment of the method according to the invention, it is not necessary to mix the components before and/or during introduction into a container. It has been shown that the components are mixed sufficiently with the mixed liquid product, for example with the mixed beverage whenever the components are introduced separately and consecutively into the respective container. The mixing is effected then in many cases quasi automatically, for example through agitation and through the movements occurring during transport or when the container is handled. In addition, it is also possible, however, for the components not to be stirred up in the closed container until reaching the final consumer, for example by the container being shaken, whereas the components are deliberately present beforehand in the closed container, for example in such a manner that in a container made of transparent material (e.g. glass or crystal clear plastics material) the “colourless” basic component is situated above the somewhat heavier coloured and/or taste-forming further component or vice versa, which can also be utilized as an additional marketing effect.
In the case of another general embodiment of the invention, the addition of the at least one additional component to the first component or basic component is also effected outside the respective filler element or outside the liquid channel, realized in the filler element and containing the liquid valve, in the fluid or liquid connection between the respective filler element and a storage container or tank, via which the at least one first component or basic component is supplied to the respective filler element.
Advantages of the method according to the invention or of the device according to the invention consist, among other things, in that a constant, reproducible quality of the filled product is achieved, and in that the product volume to be discarded during a product or component change is small as no mixing product produced from the components or only a very small volume of such a mixing product is situated inside the connections of the filling system or of the respective filling machine. The amount of product to be discarded during a product change and also the time expended for a product change are consequently clearly reduced with reproducible filling results.
Further developments of the invention are the objects of the sub claims.
The invention is described below by way the Figures of exemplary embodiments, in which, in detail:
In
The filling system 1, which in the embodiment represented is a component part of a filling machine of the rotary type, comprises in a known manner per se a filler element 3, which is provided with a plurality of similar-type filler elements at the periphery of a rotor 4 of the filling machine 1, said rotor being driveable in a rotating manner about a vertical machine axis.
A liquid channel 6 is realized in a housing 5 of the filler element 3, said liquid channel, at an upper end via a liquid connection formed at least partially by a line 7, serving, with the tank 8, which is common to all the filler elements 2 of the filling system 1 and is provided on the rotor 4, for the accommodating of the main component or first component. In the case of an operational filling system 1, the tank 8, which is realized, for example, as an annular tank, is filled in a level-controlled manner up to the level N with the component HK.
In the liquid connection between the tank 8 and each filler element 3 or its liquid channel 6, there is provided a flow meter 9, which, for example, is a magnetic/inductive flow meter supplying an electric signal, which corresponds to the volume flow or to the amount of component HK flowing to the respective filler element 3, to a control unit 10 that is formed, for example, by a computer, said control unit being provided in common for all the filler elements 3 of the filling system 1 and, for example, being the computer controlling the filling machine.
In the region of the underside of the filler element 3, the liquid channel 6 forms a discharge opening 11 for discharging the liquid product to each bottle 2 to be filled. A gas block 12 is provided in the discharge opening 11, said gas block in the embodiment represented being formed by an insert that is provided with a plurality of passages or channels in the manner of a sieve.
A liquid valve 13 for the controlled discharge of the component HK is located in the liquid channel 6 between the upper connection to the liquid connection 7 and the bottom discharge opening 11. In a known manner the liquid valve 13 comprises a valve body 14, which is moveable up and down in the vertical direction between a closed position and an open position, i.e. in the axis of the filler element FA, and in the closed position abuts against a valve seat in the liquid channel 6 by way of a seal. The controlled opening and closing of the liquid valve 13 is effected via an actuating device 15 controlled by the control unit 10, among other things also as a function of the measuring signal supplied by the flow meter 9.
The reference 6 in
Each filler element 3 has associated therewith a container support 21, on which, in the embodiment represented, the respective bottle 2 is held suspended at a flange 2.2 that is formed below the bottle mouth 2.1, in such a manner that the bottle mouth 2.1 is at a spacing from the underside of the filler element 3 and consequently from the discharge openings 11 and 17 at that location and also from the bottom, open end of a ring-shaped insert 22, such that the two components HK and ZK are supplied to the respective bottle 2 to be filled as an open jet, as is represented in
The insert 22 surrounds the lower tubular housing section 5.1 of the housing 5 forming the discharge opening 11 at a spacing, such that an annular channel 23 is formed between the inside surface of the ring-shaped insert 22 and the outside surface of the housing section 5.1. In addition, the insert 22 extends downward somewhat beyond the underside of the gas block 12 and also beyond the discharge openings 11 and 17 such that once the bottom open end of the insert 22 has been closed by way of a flushing cap 22.1, indicated by the broken line, and with liquid valve 13 open, a CIP cleaning operation is possible using a cleaning medium, which, for example, traverses the liquid channel 6 from top to bottom and is then conducted away via the annular gap 23 and a line 24 connected to said annular gap. The discharge opening 17 and the associated liquid paths (fluid connection 16, stop valve 18, metering pump 19, line 20 etc.) can be included in said CIP cleaning operation.
A possible mode of operation of the filling system 1 for the introduction of the components HK and ZK can be seen in
The mode of operation where the supplying of the component HK ends before the liquid valve 13 is closed, has the advantage that in the region of the discharge opening 17 or in the region of the underside of the gas block 12, any potentially present residue of the component ZK is entrained by the component HK and is introduced into the bottle 2 provided at the filler element 3, such that clear conditions prevail at the start of each new filling phase. It is obvious that where there is a plurality of filler element 3 on the rotor 4, there is an independent metering pump 19 and an independent stop valve 18 provided for each filler element 3 and they are individually controllable for each filler element 3.
The filling system 1 also enables a change of the component HK and/or ZK. The changing of the component HK is effected in the conventional manner by emptying the filling system 1 with regard to the component HK and, where applicable, by subsequently flushing and/or cleaning the filling system 1 and also all the fluid connections and paths inside the filler elements 3 preferably by using a CIP cleaning method.
The achievement of using the gas block 20 is that once the liquid valve 13 has been closed, i.e. at the end of each filling phase, the part of the liquid channel 6 located below the liquid valve 13 continues to be filled completely with the component HK without any dripping of the filler element 3. In addition, the cross section of the fluid connection 16 or of the fluid channel forming said fluid connection, in particular at the discharge opening 17 is selected such that after terminating the discharging of the component ZK, i.e. once the valve 18 has been blocked and the metering pump 19 switched off, the part of the fluid connection 16 extending between the stop valve 18 and the discharge opening 17 continues to be filled with the component ZK without any dripping from the discharge opening 17. Consequently, at the start of each new filling phase the two components HK and ZK are immediately available, i.e. with no delay.
For changing the component ZK for another component ZK′, for example for a component that differs in taste and/or colour, corresponding to
Once the fluid connection 16, the stop valve 18, the metering pump 19 and the line 20 of each filler element 3 connected to the input of the metering pump has been flushed, with the metering pump 19 still being driven and with stop valve 18 open, the component ZK′ is supplied or drawn up just until said component has reached the discharge opening 17 or exits there. Since the volume previously flushed and collected from the flushing liquid after the flushing process is known, this drawing up of the component ZK′ can be effected in principle through corresponding control of the metering pump 19 or of the volume flow conveyed by said pump.
If the collecting tray 25 is provided as described in a fixed manner on the rotary type filling machine, the adapting or changing of the component ZK to the component ZK′ is effected in a sectional manner at the filler elements 3 located in each case above the collecting tray 25 by rotating the rotor 4, e.g. by rotating the rotor 4 continuously but very slowly or with the rotor 4 rotating in a clocked manner.
It has been assumed above that each filler element 3 has a common metering pump 19 with stop valve 18 for the two components ZK and ZK′ and the two components are also conducted in a corresponding manner via the line 20 to the metering pump 19.
In addition, the filling system la also enables the volume-controlled introduction of the components ZK and ZK′ into the respective bottles 2 within one and the same filling phase. The components ZK and ZK′ are introduced into the respective bottle 2 for this purpose in a time-delayed manner, for example through corresponding actuation of the associated metering pump 19 and of the valve 18, in such a manner that the introducing of the components ZK and ZK′ is started with one of said components, for example with the component ZK and is also terminated with the same component such that after the filling of each bottle 2, i.e. at the end of each fill phase, the same conditions prevail with regard to the component ZK or ZK′ pending at the discharge opening 17.
In the case of the filling systems 1-1b, the tanks for the components ZK and ZK′ are provided for all the filler elements 3 or for a group of several filler elements of the filling machine in common. The metering pumps 19 and the associated stop valves 18, contrary to this, are provided separately for the individual filler elements 3 and are individually controllable.
Once the bottle 2 has been positioned under the filler element 3 or below the discharge opening 11 provided at that location with the gas block 12 and once the filling phase has been introduced by opening the liquid valve 13, during a part phase of said filling phase, after opening the stop valve 28, the volume-controlled introduction of the component ZK or ZK′ into the line section 7.2 is effected via the metering pump 27, preferably with the stop valve 26 blocked beforehand in order to avoid ingress of the component ZK or ZK′ into the tank 8 in a reliable manner. The introducing of the component ZK or ZK′ is terminated by closing the stop valve 28 and by switching off the metering pump 27 so that the filling of the respective bottle 2 with the component HK can be effected or continued by opening the stop valve 26.
With consideration to the liquid volume that is located in the fluid connection between the output of the stop valve 28 and the discharge opening 11, the part filling phase, in which the component ZK or ZK′ is introduced into the line section 7.2, is selected such that and is provided within the overall filling phase such that, with the component HK flowing to the respective bottle 2, after the closing of the stop valve 28 and opening of the stop valve 26, the entire portion of the component ZK or ZK′ introduced previously is entrained into the bottle 2 before the filling phase in terminated. As soon as the overall volume (volumes of the component HK and the component ZK or ZK′) measured by the flow meter 9 corresponds to the desired fill quantity, the filling phase is terminated by closing the liquid valve 13.
The filling system 1c obviously also allows a change between the components ZK and ZK′. For this change, according to
Finally
In the case of the filling systems 1c and 1d, the tanks 29 for the components ZK and ZK′ are provided, once again, common to all the filler elements 3 or to a group of several filler elements of the filling machine. The metering pumps 27 and the associated stop valves 28, contrary to this, are provided separately for the individual filler elements 3 and are individually controllable.
Common to all the embodiments described above is, among other things, that the components ZK or ZK′ are each added via the metering pump 19 or 27 in a volume controlled manner, and that each metering pump 19 or 27 has associated therewith a stop valve 18 or 28, which, among other things, enables a delay-free start and a delay-free termination of the addition of the respective components ZK or ZK′.
In the case of the filling systems and in this case especially also in the case of the filling systems 1-1b, it is also possible to control or to regulate the portion of the component ZK or ZK′ introduced into the respective bottle 2 by using flow meters, which are then provided in place of the metering pump 19 or 27 or in addition to said metering pump in the liquid channel upstream or downstream of the stop valve 18 or 28, which is then controlled by the control unit 10 as a function of the signal from said flow meter.
The invention has been described above by way of exemplary embodiments. It is obvious that numerous changes and conversions are possible without in any way departing from the inventive concept underlying the invention. Thus, the number of components that are introduced into the bottles or containers in a selective manner or also in each case together in addition to the main component HK can be arbitrary.
The present invention can also be utilized to fill several different products in parallel on one filling machine during the current operation at one point in time. Thus, it is possible, for example, to fill all the bottles 2 to be filled with the main component HK, a first addition component ZK being supplied through the filler elements 3 of a first number of bottles 2 and a second addition component ZK′ being supplied through the filler elements 3 of a second number of bottles 2. In this case, the ratio between the first number of bottles 2 and the second number of bottles 2 can be arbitrary. The spatial arrangement of the first bottles 2 to the spatial arrangement of the second bottles can also be arbitrary. For example, these can alternate or can also be provided in blocks on the rotor 4. This method of operation makes it possible to generate an arbitrary product mix without the need for any adaptation.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2008-020-271.1 | Apr 2008 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP09/02666 | 4/9/2009 | WO | 00 | 10/22/2010 |
