The invention relates to a machine, a method, and a lid-applying device for filling and sealing cans under hygienic conditions according to the pre-characterizing clauses of the independent claims.
Various machines for filling and/or sealing containers are known from the prior art. The purpose of the machines is to automatically fill and seal a large number of containers. A particular requirement is to fill and seal cans in as little time as possible and under the most hygienic conditions.
A machine for the sterile filling of bottles or similar containers with products, in particular beverages, is known from the document WO 2011/029609. For this purpose, containers are introduced into a housing which forms a sterile space. The housing comprises both a device for filling the containers and a device for sealing the containers. In a first step, the containers are filled with the corresponding beverage and are then in a second step transferred by means of a container transfer device to the device for sealing. This procedure requires a lot of time and entails a lot of effort and high costs to convert the corresponding space into a sterile environment.
Furthermore, a device for handling beverage containers is known from the document DE 197 39 326 which surrounds the beverage container during the handling with a housing is brought under sterile conditions. For this purpose, the beverage containers situated on a transport belt are separated from one another by gates which form a closed space under sterile conditions when the beverage containers are introduced into the device. A disadvantage of this device is that the transport belt has to be stopped for the duration of the handling.
A device for sealing containers is known from DE 44 24 098. During the movement of the container along the transport path, the sealing cap of the container mouth is supplied such that an access gap, which forms a handling zone, is situated between the container mouth and the sealing cap. Sterile handling is performed in the handling zone in the region of the container mouth upstream from the sealing process. In this case, only the sealing process of the containers takes place under sterile conditions. This has the disadvantage that the degree of sterilization as a whole during the filling process is not particularly high and in some circumstances the shelf life of the filling material is not long.
The object of the present invention is to provide a machine for filling and sealing cans which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and in particular to provide a machine, a method, and a lid-applying device which fills and seals beverage cans in a very short time and under the most hygienic conditions.
This object is achieved by a machine, a method, and a lid-applying device for filling and sealing cans as claimed in the independent claims.
According to the invention, the machine for filling and sealing cans under hygienic conditions comprises a hygienic compartment, a lid-applying device, and an inlet opening for a filling material. The lid-applying device is arranged in the hygienic compartment and the inlet opening is formed on the hygienic compartment. During normal use, one or more cans can in each case be associated with the hygienic compartment and the compartment can be moved in the machine together with the can or cans.
In this connection, sealing the can is understood to mean at least applying a can lid to the can. By holding the lid down on the can or alternatively connecting the can lid to the can by means of current joining techniques, preferably by seaming, it is ensured that the can remains sealed for further processing.
The cans which are to be filled and sealed in this machine are cans which are filled with a liquid and/or solid filling material. They are preferably beverage cans which are filled with a liquid filling material, in particular beverages.
A hygienic compartment is understood to mean here a space which is closed to the environment and under hygienic conditions. Hygienic conditions are understood to mean here conditions which correspond to at least hygiene class I as classified by the VDMA (No. 2/2000, 3rd edition, 2016), but preferably correspond to hygiene class 3 or above as classified by the VDMA (No. 2/2000, 3rd edition, 2016).
Alternatively, the lid-applying device can be formed completely or partially outside the hygienic compartment.
The advantages of the present machine consist in the cans being filled and sealed in such a way that their filling material has a long shelf life and at the same time filling and sealing are possible in a very time-efficient fashion. In addition, under these circumstances pressure conditions can be optimized such that rapid filling and applying of lids can be effected even in the case of foaming and powdered substances. An elevated pressure of up to 65 bar, preferably between 0-40 bar, is used.
A filling device is preferably formed at the inlet opening or a filling device can be introduced into the inlet opening.
This has the advantage that the can can be filled and sealed in a time-efficient fashion during the transporting of the can.
The filling device preferably comprises a flow sensor for determining the filling amount.
Alternatives for the flow sensor for determining the filling amount can be a fill level sensor which identifies when a predetermined fill level of the filling material has been reached, or a weighing device which determines when a predetermined weight has been reached.
The advantage of such a fill level sensor or one of the alternatives indicated is that automatic and reliable filling of the cans with always the same amounts of filling material is possible.
The lid-applying device preferably comprises a lid-transporting device and a holding-down arrangement and a seaming device. The lid-applying device can, however, also comprise a lid-transporting device and a holding-down arrangement or a lid-transporting device and a seaming device.
The lid-transporting device picks up the lid with the aid of a pick-up mechanism and transports the lid to the can. The pick-up mechanism can be a suction mechanism, a magnetic mechanism, or alternatively a guide system through which the lid is moved.
Alternatively, the seaming device can be arranged completely or partially outside the hygienic compartment.
The advantage of the said lid-applying device consists in the fact that the lid is fed to the can automatically and in the meantime various processes, such as cleaning the lid or aligning the lid, can be performed on the lid.
An airlock compartment is preferably arranged on the hygienic compartment.
The advantage of the airlock compartment is that, during the process of filling the can, the lid which is applied to the can at a later point in time can be prepared early on. Processes such as cleaning or aligning the lid, etc can be included in the preparation.
Lids are preferably transported with the aid of the lid-transporting device on a transport path from the airlock compartment into the hygienic compartment.
Transporting the lid through an airlock compartment has the advantage that various processes such as cleaning, aligning the lid, etc can be performed on the transported lid.
One or more entrances and exits are preferably arranged on the airlock compartment.
An airlock compartment with one or more entrances and exits is advantageous, on the one hand, in order to actively connect the airlock compartment to the hygienic compartment but also, on the other hand, in order to be able to introduce devices or lids into the airlock compartment.
The airlock compartment advantageously comprises a cleaning device.
A cleaning device which is used here is used to partially or completely clean and disinfect the lid and/or the compartment, and/or parts thereof. The cleaning device can comprise introducing gaseous, liquid, or solid cleaning agents or can function with the aid of particle radiation or electromagnetic radiation or a mechanical device. Mechanical devices can be brushes, sponges, scrapers, etc.
The advantage of the arrangement of a cleaning device in the airlock compartment is that the lid can be cleaned and prepared for introduction into a hygienic environment, whilst the filling of the can can take place at the same time in the hygienic compartment. This results in shorter process times.
The airlock compartment preferably comprises an inclined base. The base further comprises, during normal use of the machine, a drainage opening at the lowest point of the base.
The drainage opening serves for the discharge of cleaning agent to the outer environment of the airlock compartment. For this purpose, the drainage opening must be sealed gas-tightly from the outer environment. This can be effected, for example, by means of a device such as a siphon, a valve, or a container which is to be emptied. In the region of the lowest point of the base, a drainage opening can be in the base but also in the wall of the airlock compartment, near the base. This is possible to the extent that a build-up of the cleaning agent does not occur at the drainage opening in the wall and undelayed drainage through the drainage opening is possible.
Used cleaning agent can advantageously be removed from the airlock compartment simply and quickly by means of the drainage opening.
An elevated or reduced pressure can preferably be applied to an inner space of the hygienic compartment and/or an inert atmosphere can be applied.
In this way, the number of bacteria in the inner space of the hygienic compartment can be reduced in such a way that both the filling and the sealing of the cans can take place under hygienic conditions and the shelf life of the filling material is extended. The number of bacteria can be reduced, for example, by means of a cleaning device arranged in the hygienic compartment in order then to prevent the number of bacteria from rising again by means of elevated or reduced pressure and/or in an inert atmosphere. The cleaning device can comprise gaseous, liquid, or solid cleaning agents, particle radiation or electromagnetic radiation, or a mechanical device. Mechanical devices can be brushes, sponges, scrapers, etc.
A can can preferably be fully or partially introduced into the hygienic compartment. If it is only partially introduced, at least one sealing element is arranged at the hygienic compartment for sealing the hygienic compartment with respect to the can.
The advantage is that the design of the hygienic compartment can be adapted to the individual requirements.
A lid-aligning device preferably is or can be integrated into the hygienic compartment which serves to align a lid with respect to a can. The lid-aligning device comprises one or more sensors and a lid-rotating device or one or more sensors and a can-rotating device. The lid-aligning device can, however, also comprise one or more sensors and a lid-rotating device and a can-rotating device.
The sensors can be optical or mechanical sensors which detect markers on the can or can lid. Markers can be colors, text, shapes, codes, images, surface protrusions, or arrangements such as can-opening devices, etc. If a marker is detected by means of a sensor, the lid-rotating device performs a corresponding rotation of the lid and/or can by means of a control system until the predefined appearance is obtained.
The advantage of an integrated or integratable lid-aligning device consists in alignment between the lid and can can take place during the filling process such that a uniform appearance is obtained for all the sealed cans. An extra process step can be saved with the aid of this device and the process time and process costs are reduced.
The object is further achieved by a method for filling and sealing cans under hygienic conditions, in particular with a machine as described above.
The method comprises the following steps:
The lid can thus be introduced into the hygienic compartment before, during, or after step b).
If the lid is introduced into the hygienic compartment before step b), it can either be introduced into the hygienic compartment separately from the can before, during, or after the can is introduced into the hygienic compartment or be introduced into the hygienic compartment together with the can, for example by being applied to the can.
The advantage of the method is that it makes it possible for the can to be filled and sealed under hygienic conditions in a very time-efficient fashion.
In the method, the step of introducing the lid preferably comprises the following constituent steps:
The advantage of the method is that the can lid is prepared for hygienically sealing the can in parallel to the filling process of the can. Time and expense can be saved as a result.
The object is further achieved by means of a lid-applying device for the can filling. The lid-applying device comprises a lid-transporting device, a holding-down arrangement, and a seaming device. However, the lid-applying device can further also comprise a lid-transporting device and a holding-down arrangement or a lid-transporting device and a seaming device. The lid-applying device is characterized in that it can be introduced into a hygienic compartment. It is further designed in such a way that it can be introduced in a machine for filling and sealing cans under hygienic conditions. At the same time, it can be moved when the can situated in the machine moves.
The advantage of the lid-applying device is that it can be introduced into an already existing can-filling machine. As a result, a machine which fills cans can be upgraded to form a machine which additionally applies a can lid to the can under hygienic conditions and, depending on how it is equipped, also seals the can at the same time. Time and expense are saved here.
The invention is explained further below with the aid of exemplary embodiments in drawings, in which:
A machine 1 illustrated in
A weighing device 35 is shown in
The holding mechanism in
The cleaning device 41 in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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EP19182337.6 | Jun 2019 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2020/067776 | 6/25/2020 | WO |