JPH04201823A - Aseptic filling and packaging equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a filling and packaging apparatus that sequentially performs the steps of sterilizing container material, forming the bottom, injecting contents, and sealing the top. In particular, the present invention relates to an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus in which each of the above steps is performed in a closed chamber under aseptic conditions.

[Prior Art] A conventionally known aseptic filling and packaging device includes a sterilizing section that sterilizes container materials, a forming and filling section that shapes the sterilized container material and injects the contents into the inside thereof. There is also an apparatus that includes various parts of a conveyance section that conveys sterilized container material from a sterilization section to a forming and filling section. In this device, the following processing is generally performed.

First, as shown in FIG. 8, a so-called sleeve material 1, which is a cylindrical material whose base material is a laminated material mainly made of paper and is open at both ends, is prepared as a container material.

Then, in the sterilization section, the inner and outer surfaces of the sleeve material 1 are sterilized.

The sterilized sleeve material 1 is sent to the forming and filling section via the conveying section. In the forming and filling section, one open end of the sterilized sleeve material 1, for example, the open end P, is folded in, and the armpit portion is further sealed to form a container bottom Q (FIG. 2). The container 2 with the bottom Q formed is placed vertically on a conveyance means such as a conveyance chain with the bottom Q facing downward, and is intermittently conveyed by the conveyance means.

During this transportation, the contents, such as alcohol, juice, milk, etc., are poured into the container 2 through the top opening R, and then the top opening R is folded in, and as shown in FIG. is sealed in a mountain shape. In this way, the container 3 with contents as a product is formed. This filled container 3 is then removed from the conveyor chain and discharged to the outside of the forming and filling section.

Recently, several techniques #I have been proposed to prevent bacteria from being included when the contents are injected into the container 3.

One of the methods is to sterilize the above-mentioned sleeve material under aseptic conditions by sealing the sterilizing section, the conveying section, and the molding and filling section all in a sealed chamber and maintaining the inside of the sealed chamber in a sterile state. Devices have been developed to perform various processes such as pouring the contents, folding the top of the container, and sealing the container.

Conventionally, in an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus using this sealed chamber, each part of the sterilization section, the conveyance section, and the forming and filling section was covered by only one sealed chamber.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, in the above-mentioned aseptic filling and packaging apparatus, the sleeve material 1 is
, molding defects or deformation may occur in the bottom forming container 2 or the like. In such a case, the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus must be shut down and the closed chamber must be opened before the defective container material can be removed or repaired.

If the sealed chamber is opened in this way.

In order to operate the device again, it is necessary to set the inside of the closed chamber to a sterile state again.

In conventional aseptic filling and packaging equipment, as mentioned above, each part of the sterilization section, conveyance section, and forming and filling section is simply sealed by one sealed chamber, so the sterile state is set again as described above. In some cases, sterilization department, transportation department,
All parts of the mold fill had to be re-sterilized. Therefore, the present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional aseptic filling and packaging equipment, which required a large amount of expense and a long processing time. The purpose of this invention is to shorten the time required to sterilize the inside of a sealed chamber and efficiently operate an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus according to the present invention includes a sterilizing section (4) that sterilizes the container material (sleeve 1), and a sterilizer that sterilizes the container material (sleeve 1). a forming and filling section (5) that forms the container material into a container (2, 3) and fills the inside of the container; and a conveying section (6) that transports the container material sterilized in the sterilization section to the forming and filling section. ) and a sealed chamber (13, 14) that airtightly surrounds a sterilizing section, a forming/filling section, and a conveying section in a sterile state, the apparatus comprising: a sterilizing section, a forming/filling section, and a conveying section; airtight shielding means (air cylinder 32
．． Pressing plate 34. The present invention is characterized in that a shutter 40) is provided inside the transport section.

[Function] Accidents such as deformation of container materials rarely occur in both the sterilization section and the forming and filling section at the same time.
Generally, it only occurs in one or the other. In this way, if an accident occurs in either part, the airtight state in the sealed chamber is interrupted between the sterilization section and the molding and filling section using the airtight shielding means, and the part where the accident occurred is sealed. Open only the sealed chamber that is in use, maintain the other airtight, or sterile, state, and repair the part where the accident occurred in that state.

When the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus is restarted after the repair is completed, sterilization treatment is performed only on the part that has been repaired before restarting.

When the sterilization process is completed, the airtight shielding by the airtight shielding means is released, the sterilization section and the forming and filling section are brought into communication again, and the operation is restarted.

When restarting operation, only the repaired parts need to be sterilized again, not the entire sealed chamber. Therefore, the time required for sterilization can be shortened. In addition, there is no need to spray disinfectants into the sealed chamber for sterilization.

[Example] FIG. 1 shows an entire example of an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus according to the present invention.

This aseptic filling and packaging apparatus is roughly divided into a sterilization section 4, a forming and filling section 5. It is also constituted by a conveying section 6.

The sterilizing section 4 includes a sterilizing tank 7 in which a sterilizing solution such as hydrogen peroxide is stored, and a hot water washing tank 8 in which fresh water is stored, which are arranged radially and rotate intermittently in the direction of arrow A. It has a book mandrel 9 and two hot air tanks 10 and 11 in which warm air circulates.

The conveying section 6 has a container material conveying device (described later) that conveys the sleeve material 1 (FIG. 8) as a container material in the direction of arrow B, that is, from the sterilizing section 4 to the forming and filling section 5. are doing.

The forming and filling section 5 is composed of a container bottom forming stage C1, a first top folding stage D, a filling stage E, a second top folding stage F, a top sticking stage G, and a container discharging stage H.

The entire sterilizing section 4 and a part of the transporting section 6 on the sterilizing section side are covered and sealed by a first sealed chamber 13 formed of a stainless steel plate or the like. On the other hand, the entire molding and filling part 5 and a part of the conveying part 6 on the molding and filling part side are covered by an F2 sealed chamber 14 which is also formed of a stainless steel plate, and the two sealed chambers 13 and 14 are sealed. The inside of the device is maintained in a sterile or sterile state (hereinafter simply referred to as a sterile state).

Various methods can be considered to maintain the inside of the sealed chambers 13 and 14 in a sterile state. For example, sterilizing liquid spray nozzles (not shown) are disposed at various locations inside the sealed chambers 13 and 14. The sterilizing liquid is evenly sprayed over the entire area inside the sealed chambers 13 and 14 through those nozzles, and then the sealed chamber 1 is sprayed using a blower (not shown) or the like.
Flowing hot, dry air through chambers 3 and 14 dries the interior thereof, and the airflow maintains the interior of both chambers at a positive pressure, ie, higher than the outside pressure. By maintaining this positive pressure state, the sealed chamber 1
The interiors of both chambers 13 and 14 are kept sterile by preventing bacteria from entering them.

In the sterilizing section 4, the sleeve material 1 (see FIG. 8) fed from the outside to the right end on the front side is intermittently conveyed in the direction of arrow B. The sleeve material 1 thus transported is sterilized by the chain transport device 15! ! 7, the entire body is immersed in a sterilizing solution to be sterilized, and then conveyed by a chain conveyor 16 into a hot water washing tank 8, where the entire body is washed away with fresh water.

The sleeve material 1 that has been washed with fresh water is then inserted into one mandrel 9 and rotated intermittently in the direction of arrow A together with the mandrel 9, and air is blown onto the inner circumferential surface of the sleeve material 1 during this rotation. By this air blowing, water droplets are blown away from the inner circumferential surface of the sleeve material 1. Thereafter, the sleeve material 1 is sequentially sent to two hot air tanks 10 and 11, and circulated within each tank by chain transport devices 17 and 18, whereby it is completely dried. The dried sleeve material 1 is then sent to the conveying section 6.

As shown in FIG. 2, the conveying section 6 is hermetically sealed by a first chamber 13 and a second chamber 14 that are hermetically joined to each other, and inside thereof, as shown in FIG.
It has a set of conveyance rails 19 and a conveyance chain 20 that rotates in the direction of arrow J. The conveyance rail 19 is as shown in FIG.

It is formed by arranging four linear rail members whose cross sections are bent at right angles to face each other, and the sleeve material 1 moves in the direction of arrow B while being guided by each of these transport rails 19.

Returning to FIG. 3, each conveyor chain 20 has a claw member 21.
is fixedly provided so as to protrude to the outside. These claw members 21 move according to the rotation of the chain 2°, and move the sleeve material 1 within the conveyor rail 19 in the direction of arrow B.
That is, it is transported toward the forming and filling section 5 (FIG. 1).

Returning to FIG. 1, the sleeve material 1 conveyed in the direction of arrow B in the conveying section 6 and fed into the forming and filling section 5 is transferred to the eight mandrels 22 arranged radially on the container bottom forming stage C. It will be inserted into one of them. The inserted sleeve material 1 is intermittently rotationally conveyed as the mandrel 22 rotates intermittently in the direction of the arrow, and a well-known bottom forming process is performed during the conveyance. By this bottom forming process, a container bottom (QCMQ diagram) is formed at one end P of the sleeve material 1 (FIG. 8), which had both ends open until then.

When the container 2 with the bottom formed therein is conveyed to the vertically extending position (L position) by the rotation of the mandrel 22, the container 2 is removed from the mandrel 22 by a container removal device (not shown) and rotated. It is placed on a moving conveyance means (not shown) such as a chain. Thereafter, the container 2 is intermittently and linearly transported in the direction of arrow B by the transport means. The container 2 transported in this way.

In the first top folding stage D, the top R (FIG. 9) is temporarily folded, and in the filling stage E, the contents, e.g., sake, are inserted into the container 2 through the top opening R (FIG. 9).
injected into the inside of. After that, the top opening R of the container 2 is
It undergoes a folding process again at the second top folding stage F, and further undergoes a sealing process at the top adhering stage G. When this sealing process is completed, the container 3 containing contents as a product as shown in FIG. 10 is completed. At the container ejection stage H, the product container 3 is taken out to the outside by a container ejection device (not shown) through a container ejection opening 23 provided in advance in the second closed chamber 14.

In this embodiment, the above-mentioned sterilization treatment of the sleeve material 1, injection treatment of the contents into the bottom forming container 2, and product container 3 will be described.
The molding process and the like are performed in the first sealed chamber 13 and the second sealed chamber 14 under aseptic conditions. Therefore, contamination of bacteria into the finished product container 3 is completely prevented.

By the way, the sterilization section 4 and the forming and filling section 5 are normally
Ideally, it should work without any failures. However, in reality, failures cannot be avoided due to poor molding, deformation, or other causes of the container. If a failure occurs in this way, one or both of the closed chambers 13 and 14 must be opened to repair the failed part, in this case by opening the closed chambers.

Sterility within the chamber is broken. Therefore.

When restarting the operation of aseptic filling and packaging equipment.

Prior to this, it is necessary to sterilize the inside of the closed chamber 13 or 14 again.

In that case, for example, a failure occurs only in the molded filling part 5,
When the sterility of the armpit area is eliminated for repair, the sterility of the sterilization section 4 is also eliminated at the same time, and both the sterilization section 4 and the forming and filling section 5 must be sterilized before restarting operation. In this case, a long time is required for the sterilization treatment, and the cost associated with sterilizing solutions and the like increases. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to solve such a problem, the following configuration is adopted in the transport section 6.

First, as already explained, the first sealed chamber 13 and the second sealed chamber 14 are joined to each other in the conveying section 6. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an opening 24 for conveying the container is formed at the joint. During normal operation of the apparatus, as shown in FIG. 3, the conveyor rail 19 comes out into the opening 24, and the sleeve material 1 is conveyed in the direction of arrow B.

As shown in FIG. 2, within the second sealed chamber 14 are two
Book support rods 25,25 are provided extending perpendicularly to the container transport direction (direction B), and the bracket 26 is supported by these support rods 25. This bra nut 26 is fixed to the support rod 25 and remains stationary. Two supports 27 are fixed to the right end of this support rod 26 and extend in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a flat support plate 28 is fixedly provided at the upper end of these columns 27. As shown in FIGS.

A guide rod 29 is erected at the lower end of each pillar 27, and these guide rods 29 penetrate the support plate 28 and protrude upward. A cylindrical stopper 30, the function of which will be explained in detail later, is arranged at the lower end of the guide rod 29. On the other hand, a cylinder support plate 31 is fixed to the upper ends of both guide rods 29, and an air cylinder 32 is attached to the cylinder support plate 31 so as to be swingable about a support shaft 33.

A cylinder rod 32a of the air cylinder 32 extends downward in the figure, and one ends of two generally triangular suppressing plates 34 are rotatably attached to the lower end of the rod 32a.

Each of the guide rods 29 is provided with a prism-shaped slider 35, which is slidably movable relative to the guide rods 29. A bracket 36 is formed on the lower side of one side of each of these sliders 35, and the other end of the pressing plate 34 is supported by the bracket 36 so as to be swingable about a support shaft 37. .

With the above configuration regarding the press plate 34, the air cylinder 3
2 is activated and the rod 32a descends downward,
The pressing plate 34 is pressed down, and at the same time the slider 35 descends along the guide rod 29. Therefore, the pressing plate 34
is translated downward in the state shown in the figure. Conversely, when the cylinder rod 32a rises, the press plate 34 moves upward in parallel.

A block 38 is provided at the lower ends of the two pressing plates 34 so as to be rotatable about a support shaft 39 so as to be sandwiched between the two pressing plates 34 . And that block 3
A shutter 40 made of a rectangular flat plate is fixed to 8. Therefore, when the press plate 34 moves vertically in parallel as described above, the shutter 40 also moves in parallel in the vertical direction together with the pressing plate 34 .

In FIG. 6, there are bolts 4 on the outer surface of the slider 35.
1, the regulating plate 42 is fixed and extends downward. Normally, the shutter 40 is in contact with these regulating plates 42, and is prevented from moving further in the clockwise direction in FIG. 5.

In FIG. IIa, the container conveying chain 2o and the conveying rail 19 for guiding the conveyed sleeve material 1 are disposed inside the conveying section 6, as already explained. Of the chain 20 and the transport rail 19, the transport rail 19a located across the container transport opening 24 formed at the joint between the first sealed chamber 13 and the second sealed chamber 14 and the chain 20a attached thereto are , as shown by the chain line, it can be rotated to a retracted position (hereinafter referred to as retracted position Y) from the container transport opening 24.

Hereinafter, in FIG. 1, the sterilization section 4 or the forming and filling section 5
The operation of the conveying section 6 in the case where, for example, a failure occurs in the forming and filling section 5 will be explained.

In that case, first, in FIG. 3, the container conveyance chain 20a and the accompanying conveyance rail 19a are rotated to the retracted position Y (the chain line position).

This moves both of them away from the container transport opening 24.

Thereafter, in FIG. 5, the air cylinder 32 is operated and the press plate 34 is lowered downward. This descent continues until the slider 35 hits the stopper 30. When the slider 35 hits the stopper 3o, it stops at that position (#M position t) of the press plate 34. At this time, the pressing plate 34
The shutter 40 supported on the right side also lowers and stops at a position facing the opening 24.

After the slider 35 hits the stopper 30 and stops,
The air cylinder 32 continues to operate and lowers the rod 32a a little further. As a result, the pressing plate 34 swings counterclockwise about the support shaft 37 as shown by an arrow M. This swing moves the shutter 40 to the right in the figure, and it is pressed against a rubber backing 43 attached to the periphery of the opening 24. As a result, the airtight state inside the first sealed chamber 13 and the second sealed chamber 14 is interrupted with the opening 24 as a boundary. That is, the individual chambers 13 and 14 can be kept airtight independently.

After the airtight state inside each chamber 13, 14 is cut off as described above, the failed part, that is, the molded filling part 5
The second sealed chamber 14 covering the is opened and the malfunctioning part is repaired. By opening the second sealed chamber 14, the second
Although the sterile state inside the sealed chamber 14 is eliminated, the interior of the first sealed chamber 13 remains sterile because the transport section opening 24 is covered by the shutter 40.

When the malfunction in the forming and filling section 5 is repaired and the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus is to be restarted, the area around the forming and filling section 5, that is, the second sealed chamber 14, is closed with the conveyance section opening 24 covered by the shutter 40. Perform sterilization only on the inside. When the inside of the second sealed chamber 14 becomes sterile, the air cylinder 32 starts to move back as shown in FIG. It is lifted to an unobstructed upper position (solid line position in Figure 5). Furthermore, in FIG. 3, a container conveying chain 20
a and the accompanying conveyance rail 19a are again rotated to the solid line position in the figure.

As a result of the above, the sterilizing section 4 and the forming and filling section 5 are communicated again, and the apparatus becomes ready for operation.

As is clear from the above description, according to this embodiment, when a failure occurs in either the molding/filling part 5 or the sterilizing part 4, the closed chamber covering the part where the failure has occurred is Only one sealed chamber needs to be opened, and the inside of the other sealed chamber can be kept sterile. Therefore, when restarting operation, the only thing that needs to be sterilized is the sealed chamber corresponding to the failed part, which shortens the time required for sterilization and also avoids consuming an unnecessarily large amount of sterilizing liquid. There's no need.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to that embodiment.

For example, the airtight shielding means, which is a means for blocking the airtight state within the sealed chamber 13, 14, is not limited to the configuration specifically shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, but may adopt any other configuration. can.

In addition, as an aseptic filling and packaging device, as shown in Fig. 7,
Two sterilizing sections 44a and 44b are installed in parallel in one first sealed chamber 13, and the sleeve material 1 (see FIG. 8) sent out from each sterilizing section is transferred to two conveying sections 46a and 4.
6b, separate second sealed chambers 14a and 14
Separate molded filling parts 45a and 45 stored inside b
There is one that sends it to b. In the figure, the sterilization parts 44a, 44b and the molded filling parts 45a and 45b are
Since the steps having the same structure as those of the sterilizing section 4 and the forming and filling section 5 shown in FIG. 1 can be adopted, detailed illustrations are omitted and only broken lines are shown.

In the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus of the type shown in FIG. 7, the airtight shielding means explained in FIGS. 2 to 6 is installed in each of the conveying sections 46a and 46b, and The hermetic space formed by the two sealed chambers 14a, 14b can be divided into two or three hermetic spaces by the respective hermetic shielding means.

Therefore, for example, if a failure occurs in only one of the molded and filled chambers 45a, the airtightness of only one of the second sealed chambers 14a is released and the molded and filled part 45a is repaired, while the other second sealed chamber 14a is repaired. The chamber 14b and the first sealed chamber 13P3 can continue filling and forming containers without stopping operation while maintaining a sterile state.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the sterile state of the sterilization section and the molding and filling section can be maintained separately and independently.

Even if the sterility condition for either one is lifted,
The sterile state of the other part can be maintained as is. Therefore,
If you want to sterilize the inside of the entire sealed chamber before restarting the operation of the aseptic filling and packaging equipment, you only need to perform the sterilization process again on the sealed chamber that was released from the sterile state. The time is greatly reduced compared to conventional equipment. Furthermore, it is economical because only a small amount of sterilizing solution is required for the second sterilization process.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective view of an embodiment of the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the structure of the conveyance section at the back side of the page from the part shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a part of the structure in FIG. 3, and FIG. is a side sectional view showing the airtight shielding means in detail along the line S5'-S5 in FIG. 2, FIG. 6 is a front sectional view taken along the line S6-S6 in FIG. 5, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a sleeve material as a container material; FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a container material with a bottom portion formed; FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a container with contents as a product. 1... Sleeve material, 2... Bottom forming container, 3...
Container with contents, 4... Sterilization section, 5... Forming and filling section, 6... Conveyance section, 13.-w1 sealed chamber, 14.
14a, 14b - second closed chamber, 19... conveyance rail, 20... chain for conveying containers, 24... opening for conveying containers, 30... - stopper, 32... air cylinder, 34...・Press plate, 35...Slider, 40・
...Shock, 44a, 44b...Sterilization department, 45a
, 45b...forming and filling section, 46a, 46b-conveying section

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A sterilization section that sterilizes the container material; a forming and filling section that forms the sterilized container material into a container and fills the container with contents; In an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus, the apparatus includes a conveyance section that conveys the container material to the forming and filling section, and a closed chamber that airtightly surrounds the sterilization section, the forming and filling section, and the conveyance section in a sterile state. 1. An aseptic filling and packaging apparatus, characterized in that an airtight shielding means is provided for blocking an airtight state between a sterilizing section and a forming/filling section.