Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67C—CLEANING, FILLING WITH LIQUIDS OR SEMILIQUIDS, OR EMPTYING, OF BOTTLES, JARS, CANS, CASKS, BARRELS, OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FUNNELS
  • B67C3/00—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus; Filling casks or barrels with liquids or semiliquids
  • B67C3/02—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus
  • B67C3/22—Details
  • B67C3/28—Flow-control devices, e.g. using valves
  • B67C3/281—Profiled valve bodies for smoothing the flow at the outlet of the filling nozzle
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B39/00—Nozzles, funnels or guides for introducing articles or materials into containers or wrappers
  • B65B39/001—Nozzles, funnels or guides for introducing articles or materials into containers or wrappers with flow cut-off means, e.g. valves
  • B65B39/004—Nozzles, funnels or guides for introducing articles or materials into containers or wrappers with flow cut-off means, e.g. valves moving linearly
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67C—CLEANING, FILLING WITH LIQUIDS OR SEMILIQUIDS, OR EMPTYING, OF BOTTLES, JARS, CANS, CASKS, BARRELS, OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FUNNELS
  • B67C3/00—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus; Filling casks or barrels with liquids or semiliquids
  • B67C3/001—Cleaning of filling devices
  • B67C3/002—Cleaning of filling devices using cups or dummies to be placed under the filling heads
  • B67C3/004—Cleaning of filling devices using cups or dummies to be placed under the filling heads permanently attached to the filling machine and movable between a rest and a working position
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B39/00—Nozzles, funnels or guides for introducing articles or materials into containers or wrappers
  • B65B2039/008—Strainer means
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67C—CLEANING, FILLING WITH LIQUIDS OR SEMILIQUIDS, OR EMPTYING, OF BOTTLES, JARS, CANS, CASKS, BARRELS, OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FUNNELS
  • B67C3/00—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus; Filling casks or barrels with liquids or semiliquids
  • B67C3/02—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus
  • B67C3/22—Details
  • B67C3/26—Filling-heads; Means for engaging filling-heads with bottle necks
  • B67C2003/2645—Means to avoid overfilling by preventing gas returning from the container into the filling tank via the liquid valve, e.g. mesh screens
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67C—CLEANING, FILLING WITH LIQUIDS OR SEMILIQUIDS, OR EMPTYING, OF BOTTLES, JARS, CANS, CASKS, BARRELS, OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FUNNELS
  • B67C3/00—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus; Filling casks or barrels with liquids or semiliquids
  • B67C3/02—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus
  • B67C3/22—Details
  • B67C3/26—Filling-heads; Means for engaging filling-heads with bottle necks
  • B67C2003/2671—Means for preventing foaming of the liquid

Definitions

• the invention relates to a valve for filling liquids in packaging, with a housing with a supply nozzle, front mouthpiece and outlet device, in which a plurality of outlet holes is arranged, with a closing body which is movably arranged in the housing and can be brought into engagement with a valve seat, and with a rear side Sealing devices.
• the filling speed must be reduced in the case of strongly foaming products such as milk or the like in order to limit the foaming. Dipping the filling mouthpiece into the filling material and touching the inside of the container or the opening of the container through parts of the filler is not desirable for hygienic reasons. The immersion of the filling mouthpiece in the container is also not desirable from an economic point of view because an additional movement is required for this. Either the container or the packaging must be raised, or the filling mouthpiece must be lowered into the container.
• the diameter of the filling opening limits the diameter of the filling mouthpiece and the filling tube.
• one has to increase the flow rate of the product.
• this leads to increased foam formation when filling foaming products.
• filling mouthpieces used in practical operation are usually difficult to clean because they usually have to be dismantled and cleaned by hand. It would therefore be desirable to refrain from dipping filler parts or parts of a filling valve into the container or the package and to fill the product with a free jet into the packaging. However, this would create the following problem. Depending on the height of fall, the contents would be accelerated by gravity, so that the filling speed would have to be reduced in the case of strongly foaming products, which on the other hand would disadvantageously increase the filling time and thus reduce the machine capacity.
• the object of the invention is therefore to improve a filling valve with the features described above in such a way that a large volume flow of the liquid filling material is nevertheless possible at a low outlet speed without relative movements between the packaging and the outlet device.
• this object is achieved in that the outlet holes, distributed over the entire surface of the mouthpiece, are arranged in an outlet plate which penetrates them in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece and is formed in one piece with the mouthpiece such that the diameter or the width of the exit holes is greater than 1 mm and less than 5 mm and that the length of the exit holes is greater than twice their diameter or width. It has been shown that, taking into account the features of this solution according to the invention, it is possible to bring liquid filling material with low discharge speed in sufficient quantity into a package even if the distance between the outlet plate with the mentioned outlet holes and the filling opening of the package during of the bottling plant remains constant.
• outlet plate which is formed in one piece with the mouthpiece.
• the outlet plate practically forms the front-side, outlet-side closure of the mouthpiece and is perpendicular to its longitudinal axis.
• the outlet holes in the form of short tubes or better bores penetrate the outlet plate vertically so that they run in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece, preferably all parallel to one another and particularly preferably in a straight line.
• the cross-sectional area of the outlet holes is made circular.
• the aforementioned advantages can also be achieved with outlet holes whose cross-sectional area is oval, oblong, curved or with a similar configuration, but the circular shape is particularly easy to produce (drilling).
• the cross-sectional area of the outlet holes is designed to be polygonal in another alternative, a web remains between the individual outlet holes, which in today's machining processes, e.g. the mouthpiece with the outlet plate made of metal, e.g. stainless steel or aluminum, can be kept very narrow.
• the web width between adjacent polygonal exit holes, e.g. hexagonal holes, can be between 0.1 and 0.5 mm, preferably about 0.3 mm. This results in an even better use of space, because the cross-sectional area of the mouthpiece corresponds in its outlet-side area to approximately the cross-sectional area of the outlet plate that can be provided with the outlet holes.
• Embodiments show that the area of the material of the exit plate remaining between the exit holes is smaller in the case of polygonal exit holes than in the case of circular exit holes.
• downstream outer surface of the outlet plate is concavely curved. If one designs the so-called active surface of the outlet plate, that is to say the surface in which outlet holes are arranged, in such a way that the surface facing the interior of the mouthpiece is flat and the aforementioned downstream outer surface of the outlet plate is concavely slightly curved, then one avoids opening the Valve and the first emergence of the liquid filling material, the spraying of small splashes onto surfaces of the packaging outside its filling opening. During operation, it will Filling valve opened and closed intermittently. Even if dripping is avoided, it cannot be avoided that cohesion holds liquid on the outer, downstream side of the outlet plate.
• the filling valve When the filling valve is opened again in the form of small splashes at smaller angles with a total opening of, for example, 5 ° to 10 °, this is also thrown off to the side.
• the curvature ensures, according to the invention, that these splashes are concentrated, so to speak, on the surface inside the filling opening of the packaging.
• the "concave" curvature of the mentioned outer surface of the outlet plate is the curvature which, in its central region, curves the outlet plate inwards towards the interior of the mouthpiece against the direction of flow.
• the center of a circle for this concave curvature lies on the downstream side of the mouthpiece on the extension of its longitudinal central axis and preferably below, because the filling valve is usually arranged so that the longitudinal central axis of the mouthpiece is perpendicular, with the result that the outlet plate is horizontal lies.
• the exit holes of the exit plate are shorter in the central area, namely up to 5% to 30%, preferably up to 10% to 25% shorter.
• the closing body is configured on the downstream side as a cone whose cone angle ( ⁇ ) is in the range from 40 ° to 90 °, preferably from 60 ° to 70 °.
• ⁇ cone angle
• the design of the closing body at the downstream end in cooperation with the outlet plate, the generation of a compact filling jet is achieved, in which, especially when the outlet holes are arranged closely next to one another, the air mixing is switched off even when the filling jet is falling.
• the cone in the manner according to the invention, the filling material can be gently transported through the valve.
• the closing body is designed without sharp edges with soft transitions of low curvature from its downstream front end to the upstream rear end, so to speak fluidically favorable, as it is known for underwater bodies, only that the filling material closes the closing body in the case of the invention from behind flows around to the front. If the filling material finally gets into the area around the cone, then the flow calms down with advantage, and there are no dead spaces with dead water areas with the result that the flow of the filling material is uniform and clean individual jets form, which form the outlet plate on leave downstream end.
• the individual liquid jets emerging from the exit holes are combined into one by cohesion Beam.
• the diameter of this common beam is advantageously smaller than the outer diameter of the cross-sectional area through which the plurality of individual beams flows.
• the latter is the so-called active area of the outlet plate, which can surprisingly be kept somewhat larger (for example 5 to 10% larger) than the cross-sectional area of the inlet opening of the packaging when the measures according to the invention are observed. It is only necessary to ensure that the cross-sectional area of the bundled beam combined from the individual beams fits into the filling opening of the package.
• the distance between the conical tip of the closure body and the upstream inner surface of the outlet plate is greater than half the diameter of the mouthpiece.
• the mouthpiece was again referred to here because its cross-sectional area or its diameter or width corresponds to the active area in the outlet plate.
• the formation of smaller vortices directly at the tip of the cone cannot be avoided during operation with the valve open.
• you observes the distance of the cone tip from the outlet plate in the aforementioned sense, i.e. choose this distance not too small then you give the flowing liquid the opportunity to flow under the outlet plate with a uniform speed profile, so that the individual jets can bundle there in the described and appropriate manner. Vortexes and other turbulence are then advantageously avoided in the area of the outlet plate.
• the invention is advantageously further developed in that the mouthpiece is detachably inserted in a suitably shaped recess in a carrier plate via seals such that essentially only the downstream outer surface of the outlet plate and the outer surface of the mouthpiece in the area around the outlet plate from the Project the support plate into the hygiene room.
• the measures explained here advantageously achieve that the filling valve has only a very small immersion depth into the hygiene area. So there are only small areas that protrude into the hygiene room or into the aseptic area of such a machine.
• a cleaning cap is movably arranged, which has a sealing surface with sealing means facing the carrier plate, the sealing surface of the cleaning cap matching the assigned surfaces of the carrier plate and the mouthpiece protruding therefrom is appropriately adapted to accommodate and form a cleaning interior.
• the cleaning cap only needs to be moved for cleaning and sterilizing, otherwise there is only the closing body in the new filling valve, which moves in the hygiene room, but which, on the other hand, is designed with a correspondingly smooth and closed surface and is sealed on the valve side to prevent contamination avoided, germs cannot develop and bacteria cannot be introduced from the valve.
• the few bushings are sealed so that bacteria cannot be drawn into the hygiene room. Lubrication points are excluded in the valve according to the invention in the hygiene room.
• the one-story design of the outlet plate with the mouthpiece also serves for skillful cleaning. There are no longer the previously used screens, discs or inserts which have to be sealed appropriately on the mouthpiece and which make cleaning and maintenance work difficult.
• the new filling valve can be cleaned daily, on site.
• the surfaces of the cleaning cap on the one hand and the carrier plate with the protruding mouthpiece on the other hand are designed so as to protrude into the hygiene room in such a way that cleaning in place, possibly also sterilization before the start of operation, can be carried out in a simple manner.
• the outlet holes can either be drilled, in the case of polygonal cross-sections EDM, laser beam or water jet, etc.
• the active area of the outlet plate can be used optimally because only small areas of material remain between the outlet holes, so that a sufficient number of individual jets of the liquid to be filled can be let through the outlet plate and a large volume flow is nevertheless guaranteed at a low outlet speed.
• Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the filling valve in the structure of the figure
• FIG. 3 the same filling valve is reduced in size and held in a carrier plate with the cleaning cap moved away from it, in the state of the filling operation
• FIG. 4 shows the same view as FIG. 3, but with the cleaning cap in the
• FIG. 5 shows an enlarged, broken cross-sectional view through the mouthpiece with the cone of the closure body arranged therein
• FIG. 6 shows the same representation as FIG. 5, but with the exit plate being curved at the bottom
• FIG. 7 shows the top view onto the outlet plate from the inside in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the
• the filling valve shown in perspective or in section in FIGS. 1 and 2 has in its upper half a housing 1 and attached to it in the lower half a mouthpiece 2, in the middle of which an externally streamlined closure body 3 plumb in the direction of the double arrow 26 - And is arranged movable.
• a supply nozzle 24 opens with a vertical component laterally at the top in the housing 1, where the upper, rear part of the closing body 3 is located, which is sealed by a membrane 5 made of rubber or silicone.
• the mouthpiece 2 is closed off by the outlet plate 16, the active surface of which, which can be seen particularly clearly in FIGS. 7 and 8, has so many outlet holes 4 is occupied as possible.
• the closing body 3 has a shoulder 21 in which a feather key 6 is seated, which secures in the not shown groove of an axis 8 against rotation.
• the axis 8 can be screwed onto the shoulder 21 of the closing body 3.
• the fork head 20, which is designed in one piece with the axis 8, is thus also fastened.
• a slide bearing sleeve 10 lies against the axis 8 in the upper region of the screw 9 and ensures a sliding movement of the axis 8 in the bore of a cover 7.
• the cover 7 is screwed to the housing 1 with a nut 11.
• a similar nut 12 connects the housing 1 to the mouthpiece 2, an O-ring 13 being clamped in between, the seat of which is designed according to aseptic criteria. So that the housing 1 and the mouthpiece 2 are sealed together.
• the axis 8 is secured against rotation by a cylindrical pin 14.
• the assembly is designed in such a way that the axis 8 is inserted into the cover 7 from above downwards via the slide bearing sleeve 10.
• the closure body 3 with the slipped, rotationally symmetrical, cup-shaped membrane 5 is then inserted from below, the feather key 6 then already being inserted into the groove.
• the extension 21 at the rear end of the closing body 3 now projects upwards into a corresponding central recess in the axis 8 and is screwed tightly via the screw 9.
• the lid 7 with the closing body 3 located below it is lowered into the housing 1, to which the mouthpiece 2 has not yet been attached. With the screwing by means of the union nut 11, the membrane 5 could twist, and therefore one can look into the housing 1 from below and check whether the membrane 5 is correctly placed.
• the closure body 3 which is designed as a streamline on the outside in its entirety, is designed as a cone, the tip of which can be clearly seen in FIGS. 1 to 6.
• a cylinder jacket-shaped part adjoins the cone backwards and upwards, and the transition surface of the closing body 3 sits at its lower tip 27 on the valve seat 23 in sealing engagement.
• the design of the outlet plate 16 can be seen particularly clearly. This is in the outflow direction, i.e. in the direction of the longitudinal axis 28 of the mouthpiece 2 and also of the housing 1 directed vertically downward (lower direction of the double arrow 21).
• the exit holes 4 all run in this direction and are parallel to one another. They are evenly distributed over the entire cross-sectional area of the mouthpiece 2, which can be seen in FIGS. 7 and 8.
• the diameter of the outlet holes 4, which are circular in cross section, is denoted by d in FIG.
• the width of the exit holes 4, which are hexagonal in cross section is designated by b in FIG.
• Small webs remain, which are denoted by s in FIGS.
• the diameter D of the interior 29 of the mouthpiece 2 should only be 5 to 10% larger than the diameter of the filling opening (not shown) of the package to be filled. It can nevertheless be seen that in such a case the outside diameter of the mouthpiece 2 would be larger than the filling opening of the packaging, with the result that the mouthpiece 2 could not be inserted into the filling opening of a package.
• this is neither intended nor necessary according to the invention, and the advantage of the larger cross-sectional area of the outflow jet of the filling material can be seen in comparison to a tube size, not shown, of a known valve, which would have a smaller effective area or active outlet area, only around the mouthpiece in the filler opening of the Pack.
• the advantages according to the invention are obvious.
• downstream outer surface 30 of the outlet plate 16 is concavely curved so that the middle outlet holes 4 can be seen to be approximately 15% shorter than the outer ones.
• the closing body 3 is designed as a cone with its tip 27 and the cone angle ⁇ of approximately 60 °.
• the distance L of the cone tip 27 of the closure body 3 to the upstream inner surface 31 of the outlet plate 16 should be greater than D / 2, that is to say greater than half the diameter of the interior 29 of the mouthpiece 2 .
• FIGS. 3 and 4 show that the mouthpiece 2 is detachably inserted in a suitably shaped recess 32 in a carrier plate 17.
• this plug-in connection is also sealed via the upper sealing ring 33 (FIGS. 3, 4), so that there is a double security against air entering from above from above, through which bacteria could be introduced into the hygiene room that is in 3 and 4 is designated 34 below.
• a separating plate 35 separates the right-hand upper corner and a further separating plate 36 below the left-hand side the hygiene room 34 located below from the environment to be thought above.
• the carrier plate has a flat, downstream external surface 37 which is inclined at an angle of 30 ° to the longitudinal axis 28 and which corresponds to the inclined surface of the cleaning cap 18 (not specified) in position and inclination.
• a free space 38 is incorporated in the inclined surface of the cleaning cap 18, which can accommodate the lower end of the mouthpiece 2, which protrudes from the inclined surface 37 of the carrier plate 17. If the cleaning cap 18 is moved horizontally to the left in the direction of arrow 41 from the position in FIG the carrier plate 17 connects.
• an annular seal 43 is inserted into the inclined surface of the cleaning cap 18, encompassing the free space 38.
• the liquid is at the beginning of the filling process in the interior 29 of the valve up to the sealing surface, ie to the seat 23 between the closing body 3 and the mouthpiece 2. Since the valve is closed in the direction of flow, the membrane 5 is elongated downward, so that no pocket is formed that could trap air.
• the supply line 24 has an inclination with a vertical component, so that, for example, air introduced into it could rise upwards.
• the cone tip 27 of the Verschlieskö ⁇ ers 3 is so far above the upstream inner surface 31 of the outlet plate 16 that the liquid flow has reunited and calmed down before entering the outlet holes 4.
• the closing body 3 is moved downwards until it comes back into the sealing device on the seat 23.
• the liquid in the space under the closing body 3 is retained by the atmospheric pressure and the surface tension of the liquid with sufficiently small outlet bores 4, so that dripping is prevented.
• the diameter of the jet, not shown, combined from the individual liquid jets is smaller than that of the outlet cross section D at the mouthpiece.
• the cleaning cap 18 is moved from the position of FIG. 3 into that of FIG. 4 in the direction of arrow 41 in such a way that the cleaning interior 38 is closed off with the help of the sealing ring 46 to the hygiene space 34.
• Detergent can now be introduced into the supply nozzle 24, flows around the closure body 3, which comes into the open position, i.e. is lifted from the seat 23, flows into the interior 29 in the mouthpiece 2 and leaves it through the outlet holes 4.
• Even the outer surfaces of the mouthpiece 2 which protrude from the inclined surface 37 of the support plate 17 into the hygiene space 34 become, because they lie in the cleaning interior 38, washed around by the cleaning agent, which is then returned through line 42.
• the cleaning cap only has to be moved back into the position of FIG. 3 by actuating the pneumatic cylinder 39, and the filling operation can begin again.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Filling Of Jars Or Cans And Processes For Cleaning And Sealing Jars (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
• Package Specialized In Special Use (AREA)
• Supply Of Fluid Materials To The Packaging Location (AREA)
• Devices For Dispensing Beverages (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=6514612

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (2)

Families Citing this family (33)

Family Cites Families (12)

• 1994
  • 1994-04-02 DE DE4411629A patent/DE4411629A1/de not_active Ceased
• 1995
  • 1995-03-07 EP EP95911305A patent/EP0754144B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1995-03-07 WO PCT/EP1995/000838 patent/WO1995026906A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1995-03-07 AT AT95911305T patent/ATE188661T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1995-03-07 DE DE59507616T patent/DE59507616D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1995-03-07 US US08/716,425 patent/US5865221A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1995-03-07 AU AU18935/95A patent/AU1893595A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1995-03-07 ES ES95911305T patent/ES2140666T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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