DK2688689T3 - A device for blowing off the bottle bottoms. - Google Patents

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a device for (blow) cleaning containers, in particular for container inspection machines, wherein the device has a nozzle element and wherein the containers are transported along a transport direction.

[0002] The containers referred to in the preamble can, for example, be used as bottles for liquids, for example for drinks. The containers, e.g. bottles, can be made of a transparent or translucent material, for example of glass or of a translucent plastic, e.g. PET. It is also conceivable for the containers to be made of other materials and to be filled with other filling products.

[0003] When filling containers or bottles respectively, use is made in appropriate filling systems of what are referred to as inspection machines, which serve to detect dirt contamination on or in the bottles, wherein the principle is known of illuminating (transilluminating) the bottles from the underside.

[0004] In order to ensure that, in the presence of contamination which is located in the interior of the container, the outer surface of the container or bottle must be cleaned of contamination, such as of adherent lubricating agents on the container base, which could adhere to the containers from the cleaning system itself. Any adherent foam from the cleaning systems which may still be present must also be removed.

[0005] In any event, the principle is known of blow-cleaning the bottoms of bottles, such as is known, for example, from DE 94 01 926 U. In the journal "Brauin-dustrie" (Brewing Industry) 8/98, p. 484-486, hygiene measures are described, among others also a bottle cleaning machine. A blow-cleaning device is also shown in DE 203 17 458 U. DE 295 15 052 Ul and DE 20 2006 014 110 UI likewise disclose blow-cleaning devices.

[0006] It has been shown that with these blow-cleaning devices, large quantities of air must be moved, i.e. they must, if necessary, be sucked away with the contamination, wherein high volume flows require a comparatively large effort, with the economic disadvantages associated with this. As well as this, the noise incurred by the compressed air emerging from the cans is not inconsiderable.

[0007] A blow-cleaning device which has proved its value in practice is disclosed in DE 10 2008 016 322 Al. This describes a device for blowing air into and out of the bottoms of bottles, with a nozzle head, with a compressed air outlet channel directed against the bottom of a bottle located above it, and a ring body surrounding the nozzle body with a distance spacing from it. Beneath the nozzle head, in the ring body, a channel is provided, which is subjected to compressed air from a compressed air line. In the upper edge pointing to the nozzle head, the channel forms an annular gap, which initiates the Venturi effect.

[0008] The invention is based on the object of providing a device for the blowing of air into and out of the bottoms of containers or bottles, with which air volume flows and noise emissions are further reduced.

[0009] According to the invention, the object is solved by a device for the blowing of air into and out of the bottoms of containers or bottles through an air strip or a venturi slot nozzle, over which the container bottom is stroked along the transport direction, in accordance with claim 1.

[0010] Advantageous in the meaning of the invention is the fact the nozzle element comprises a longitudinal air guide channel housing, wherein the air guide channel housing is configured as a venturi slot nozzle, wherein the venturi slot nozzle is arranged with its central axis parallel to a reference line, as well as at an angle to the transport direction.

[0011] In a favourable embodiment, the air guide channel housing or venturi slot nozzle is arranged transverse, i.e. with its central axis at a 90° angle, to the transport direction. It is also useful, however, if the air guide channel housing or the venturi slot nozzle is arranged not exactly transverse, i.e. not exactly at a 90° angle, to the transport direction, in order thereby to increase the stroking time of the bottle or container over the air guide channel housing or venturi slot nozzle.

[0012] It is useful in the meaning of the invention if the venturi slot nozzle or the air guide channel housing comprises a hollow base body, which comprises an outlet side, which transfers into the transition region, configured as rounded, which opens into the guide side. On the outlet side, at least one opening is introduced, which can be configured in the form of a slot. It is possible for the opening to extend continuously from one face side to the opposite face side of the venturi slot nozzle or air guide channel housing. Material cut-out apertures, such as boreholes, spaced at a distance from one another, are of course also possible, which can be introduced into the outlet side.

[0013] In a further favourable embodiment, the venturi slot nozzle or air guide channel housing comprises a deflection element, which purposefully covers the at least one opening in the outlet side, but does not close it. The deflection element comprises the nozzle slot on the longitudinal side, wherein the deflection element is preferably configured in such a way that the nozzle slot is arranged directly at the transition from the outlet side to the transition region.

[0014] The air guide [channel] housing or venturi slot nozzle comprises on at least one face side a connection for a compressed air line. In a preferred embodiment, the connection for the compressed air line is arranged at the hollow base body.

[0015] By way of the connection on the face side, via the compressed air line, compressed air is conveyed into the base body of the air guide channel housing or into the venturi slot nozzle. This is particularly purposeful, since compressed air connections are present at many locations in production environments, i.e. compressed air can be generated centrally, and can be conveyed easily to the consumption point, i.e. to the apparatus according to the invention. The compressed air therefore passes into the interior of the base body, which comprises the outlet side opening or the outlet side slot.

[0016] The deflection element can also be designated as a hollow cover, which seen in cross-section is configured, for example, as rectangular, and comprises the nozzle slot. In the simplest embodiment, the deflection element can be secured by means of screws to the base body or to its outlet side. Other types of connection are, however, conceivable. A single-piece production of base body and deflection element is also possible, however.

[0017] The nozzle slot can be configured in such a way that the longitudinal side of the deflection element, facing the transition region, ends shortly before the outlet side wall of the base body.

[0018] Overall, with the invention, essentially an air strip, or a venturi slot nozzle, is provided, which is stroked over by the bottom of the container or bottle along the transport direction. By way of the compressed air connection, the base body is constantly subjected in its interior to compressed air (overpressure), this overpressure delivering compressed air into the deflection element through the at least one opening. Here the nozzle slot is provided as the only outlet opening. The nozzle slot is configured essentially as a gap between the longitudinal side of the deflection element, facing the transition region, and the surface of the outlet side, i.e. between the free longitudinal edge of the deflection element and the outlet side. To this extent, the opening of the nozzle slot is reduced in size, relative to the inner volume of the deflection element, such that the outlet speed is increased, with the same volume coming from the deflection element. It is therefore possible for a lesser compressed air volume to be delivered into the air strip or the venturi slot nozzle. The air flow emerging from the nozzle slot is directed via the transition region, which is configured as rounded, and the guide side following on from that, and to a foot side of the base body, opposite the outlet side. The air flow which is directed in this way draws ambient air along with it immediately, such that the container bottom is essentially sucked clear. But it is not only the container bottom which is sucked clear in this way. Specifically, when the container, along its transport path, is stroked over the air strip, or venturi slot nozzle, the suction effect purposefully initially takes effect also on the container wall, before taking effect on the container bottom. With the air strip or venturi slot nozzle, essentially a laminar air flow is created, which, by means of the compressed air emerging from the air strip or venturi slot nozzle and then directed via the nozzle slot, the transition region, and the guide side, is sucked in the direction towards the foot side of the base body.

It is purposeful if the air strip, or the venturi slot nozzle, is arranged horizontal in its entire longitudinal extension. By the advantageous pivoting of the air strip or the venturi slot nozzle about its central axis, the situation can be reached in which the nozzle slot is more directly directed onto the container. With this pivoted arrangement, the guide side is inclined relative to a central axis of the container. A further advantage can be seen in that the transition region is configured as rounded, such that the venturi slot nozzle, in comparison with known solutions, can be positioned particularly closely to the container bottom. To this extent, the rounded configuration of the transition region, together with the advantageous pivoting of the venturi slot nozzle, with which the nozzle slot is inclined, i.e. essentially directed directly onto the container bottom, allows for the deflection, causing the suction effect, of the air flow emerging from the venturi slot nozzle to be positioned particularly closely to the desired effect region, namely particularly closely to the container bottom. It is purposeful in this situation that, due to the pivoting of the venturi slot nozzle about its central axis, the maximum utilization of the suction effect can be achieved, wherein the rounded configuration of the transition region allows for a particularly close positioning to the container bottom.

[0019] The situation is therefore reached in which any air turbulence takes place beneath the container bottom and directed away from it, such that any contamination of the open container or container mouths is excluded.

[0020] It can be seen that, due to the configuration according to the invention, the noise emission is also reduced.

[0021] Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the sub-claims and the following figure description. The figures show: [0022] Fig. 1 a device for blowing air in and out of containers, and [0023] Fig. 2 the nozzle element in detail.

[0024] In the different figures, the same parts are always provided with the same reference numbers, as a result of which, as a rule, they are also only described once.

[0025] Figure 1 shows a device 1 for blowing air into and out of containers 2. The container 2 is configured, for example, as a bottle 2, and is designated hereinafter as the bottle 2. The device 1 comprises a nozzle element 3. The bottle 2 or bottles 2 are transported along a transport direction, which is indicated by the arrow 4. Additionally, Figure 1 shows in sketch form a feed band 23 upstream to the holding band 22, on which the bottles 2 are transported upright. Directly after the air guide channel housing, and still in the region of the holding bands 22, the inspection unit 24 is also represented, for the inspection of the container bottom 5, which is connected via the data line 25 to a computer-controlled evaluation and control unit (not represented).

[0026] When the two holding bands 22 are still moving relative to one another, wherein the one holding band 22 has a different speed to the other, the bottle 2 rotates about its central axis X along the transport path. The transport elements can be configured as endless conveyors with gripper elements, as holding bands, or in another suitable form. Downstream, the bottle 2 is again placed onto a discharge band 26, and transported onwards or treated. In an analogous manner, the bottle 2 can of course also be transferred directly or indirectly to a transport star or another transport element equipped with grippers.

[0027] The nozzle element 3 comprises a longitudinal air guide channel housing 6, which lies with its central axis Y in a reference plane, preferably in a horizontal reference plane, as well as being arranged at an angle to the transport direction 4. The reference line H indicates this horizontal reference plane, wherein both the horizontal reference plane as well as the central axis Y pass through the flat plane of Figure 2 perpendicularly. The ancillary line L runs parallel to the guide surface 10 and, in the embodiment shown, encloses an angle a with the reference line H or the horizontal respectively.

[0028] The air guide channel housing 6 comprises such a longitudinal extension, which corresponds at least to the diameter of the container bottom 5. It is preferable if the air guide housing 6 is greater in its longitudinal extension than the diameter of the container bottom. Due to the fact, among others, that containers can be transported which are configured differently in their dimensions, the longitudinal extension should purposefully be adjusted, wherein, initially, an overdimensioned air guide channel housing 6 can be selected, in order to keep the expenditure of effort low with regard to changing to different containers. The air guide channel housing 6 should of course be selected as suitable in its longitudinal extension. A favourable consideration with an over-dimensioned embodiment of the air guide channel housing 6, for example, is that a plurality of bottles 2 can be transported simultaneously or next to one another over the air guide channel housing 6.

[0029] It is useful if the air guide channel housing 6 is arranged transversely to the transport direction (arrow 4), such that the bottle 2 strokes over this along its transport path. The air guide channel housing 6 can of course advantageously also be arranged at an angle to the transport direction 4 which is greater or less than 90°, in order to increase the stroking time of the bottle 2.

[0030] The air guide channel housing 6 comprises a hollow base body 7, which has an outlet side 8, which transfers into a transition region 9, configured as round or curved, which opens into a guide side 10. The guide side 10 in the embodiment represented is arranged perpendicular to the outlet side 8. Opposite the outlet side 8, the base body 7 comprises a foot side 11. Extending oriented away from the foot side 11 is an extension 12, which is arranged, for example, at a 90° angle to the foot side 11. A holding element 13 can engage at the extension 12, which can be seen in principle in Figure 1.

[0031] On the outlet side 8 an opening can be arranged, which is configured, for example, in the form of a slot. In the embodiment variant shown in Figure 1, the bottle 2 is held in the region of the air guide channel housing 6 between two endlessly running holding bands in the bottle belly region, of which the rear holding band 22 is represented.

[0032] The opening is not visible in Figure 2, since the outlet side 8 is covered by a deflection element 14. The deflection element 14 is configured in the form of a cover, and comprises an inner volume, wherein the outlet side 8 is covered but not closed. By way of example, the deflection element 14 is configured as tapering towards the nozzle-side longitudinal side 15, which can also exert a certain guide effect.

[0033] On its nozzle-side longitudinal side 15, the air guide channel housing 6 comprises its nozzle slot 16. The nozzle slot 16 is arranged at a transition 17 from the outlet side 8 to the transition region 9, and is formed by a distance spacing from the nozzle-side free longitudinal side edge of the deflection element 14 to the outlet side 8. The nozzle slot 16 can therefore also be designated as a gap.

[0034] The air guide channel housing 6 is therefore advantageously configured as a venturi slot nozzle 16.

[0035] In a preferred embodiment, the air guide channel housing 6 is pivoted about its central axis Y, as can be seen in Figure 1. In this situation it is advantageous if the nozzle slot 16 is inclined with its opening oriented obliquely from below against the bottle bottom 5.

[0036] Here a further advantage of the invention is to be seen, which is based on the rounded configuration of the transition region 9. Due to the rounded transition region 9, the entire venturi slot nozzle 16, in particular the rounded transition region 9, is moved particularly closely to the bottle bottom, such that the nozzle slot 16 can also be positioned close to the bottle bottom 5.

[0037] In Figure 1, a compressed air armature 18 is also shown, which can be connected to a corresponding compressed air connection 19 (Figure 2) of the base body 7.

[0038] By means of the compressed air connection 19, the base body 7 is constantly subjected to compressed air (overpressure) in its interior, this overpressure conveying compressed air through the at least one opening into the deflection element 14. Here the nozzle slot 16 is provided as the only outlet opening. The air flow (arrow 20) emerging from the nozzle slot 16 is directed via the rounded configured transition region 9 and the guide side 10 which follows this, and to the foot side 11 of the base body 7, opposite the outlet side 8. This air flow 20, directed in this way, immediately draws ambient air with it, such that the container bottom 5 is essentially sucked clear, which is indicated in Figure 1 by means of the suction region 21, represented by way of example. It can be seen that even cambered bottle bottoms 5 can be sucked clear. But it is not only the container bottom 5 or the bottle bottom 5 which is sucked clear in this way. Specifically, when the container 2, along its transport path, is stroked over the air strip 6 or the air guide channel housing 6, or venturi slot nozzle, the suction effect purposefully initially takes effect also on the container wall, before taking effect on the container bottom 5. With the air strip 6 or venturi slot nozzle 6, essentially a laminar air flow is created, which, by means of the compressed air emerging from the air strip 6 or venturi slot nozzle 6 and then directed via the nozzle slot 16, the transition region 9, and the guide side 10, is sucked in the direction towards the foot side 11 of the base body. Due to the fact that the venturi slot nozzle 6, because of the rounded configuration of the transition region 9, and therefore also of the nozzle slot 16, can itself be positioned particularly close to the bottle bottom 5, the suction effect can be particularly favourably exploited. The pivoted positioning of the venturi slot nozzle 6 has a purposeful effect here too. The suction effect can therefore be exploited to the maximum.

[0039] In Figure 1 it is also shown that the guide side 10, due to the pivoting of the air strip 6 about its central axis Y, is arranged obliquely to the central axis X of the bottle 2.

[0040] It is also conceivable for a catchment device to be arranged beneath the device 1 or beneath the bottle. As can be seen in Figure 1, the air flow 20, corresponding to the arrangement of the transition 9 and the guide side 10, i.e. due to the pivoted position of the venturi slot nozzle 6, in the plane of the drawing is directed obliquely downwards, or oriented away from the bottle bottom 5. To this extent, it is purposeful for the said catchment device to be positioned in the flow path of the air flow 20.

Reference number list: 1 Device for blowing air in and out 2 Container/bottle 3 Nozzle element 4 Transport direction 5 Container/bottle bottom 6 Air guide channel housing/air strip 7 Base body 8 Outlet side 9 Transition region 10 Guide side 11 Foot side 12 Extension 13 Holding element 14 Deflection element 15 Nozzle-side longitudinal side 16 Nozzle slot 17 Transition 18 Compressed air armature 19 Compressed air connection 20 Air flow emerging from 14 21 Suction region 22 Holding band 23 Feed band 24 Inspection unit 25 Data line 26 Discharge band X Central axis of 2 Y Central axis of 6 H Reference line/horizontal L Ancillary line parallel to 10

Claims (4)

A device for blowing out container bottoms (2), in particular for container inspection machines, wherein the device (1) comprises a nozzle element (3) and wherein the container (2) can be transported along a transport device (4) during an over-irrigation time of the container (2). ) over the nozzle element (3), characterized in that the nozzle element (3) is designed as an air duct housing (6) which is formed as a ventilation opening and extends along a central axis (Y) transversely of the transport direction (4) and comprises an exit side (8) with a nozzle slot (16), a rounded transition area (9) and a guide side (10) thereafter, the central axis (Y) of the air duct housing extending longitudinally of the air duct housing (6) parallel to the horizontal; whereby the exit side (8) passes into the rounded-out transition area (9) and opens into the guide side (10) following, whereby an air flow (20) exiting the nozzle slot (16) is controlled via the transition area (9). island g the guide side (10) facing away from the container bottom (5) of the container (2), whereby the air duct housing (16) is inclined to the horizontal and in relation to the horizontal is inclined towards the bottom of the container (5). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the air duct housing (6) comprises a base body (7) comprising an exit side (8) which extends into the rounded shaped transition area (9) which opens into the guide side (10). . Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the air duct housing (6) on its outlet side (8) comprises at least one opening. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the air duct housing (6) comprises a deflection element (14) comprising the nozzle slot (16).