EP2824063B1 - Device for sealing the product outlet opening of a filling body to a container to be filled - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to a device for sealing the product outlet opening of a filling member with respect to a container to be filled in a beverage filling plant.

State of the art

In beverage filling plants, it is known to use filling elements, which are brought into sealing contact with the mouth of a container to be filled via corresponding sealing elements. Such a direct and sealing contact between the mouth of the container to be filled and the filling member may be of importance for various reasons. First of all, it is achieved in this way that the entry of undesirable foreign substances into the container to be filled during the filling process can be avoided. Furthermore, a squirting of the filling product into the environment and in particular on the outside of the container to be filled and on a closure area, on which a container closure is to be applied subsequently, be avoided, thereby preventing contamination of said areas.

Furthermore, a sealing of the container to be filled relative to the filling member is particularly important when filling carbonated filling products, since these are frequently filled in the counterpressure process. For this purpose, the container to be filled is first biased with a clamping gas and then filled the carbonated filling product in the prestressed container. In this way, an excessive outgassing of the CO ₂ can be prevented from the filling product and correspondingly the Aufschäumneigung the product can be reduced.

In addition, it is usual for oxygen-sensitive products to evacuate the container to be filled before filling or the container with a low-oxygen or to purge oxygen-free purge gas before the actual filling product is filled.

In the aforementioned cases, it is therefore necessary to seal the product outlet opening of the respective filling member with respect to the container to be filled.

For this purpose, a so-called pressure sleeve is usually used, which is brought directly into contact with the mouth region of the container to be filled and is pressed onto the latter for sealing. The known Anpresshülsen, for example, for sealing of plastic provided mouth areas, for example, PET bottles or large containers, are designed substantially metallic and have a conical inner region, which forms a sealing region, by means of which the seal is provided. The conical area serves as a sealing area of the rigid pressure sleeve. Accordingly, the sealing region is also rigid, so that a possible deformation during pressing on the mouth occurs only in the region of the plastic mouth.

Such a device according to the preamble of claim 1 is made DE 198 25 559 A1 known.

When creating orifice areas on the rigid sealing region of the rigid pressure sleeve, it is problematic, for example, when filling a filling product in large bottles, to provide the necessary contact pressure, which would be necessary for a sealing seal. This is the case in particular because the pressure load on the large container, which is usually guided in its bottom area, is not particularly pronounced at the top. In other words, the achievable load, which is also referred to as " topload ", rather low. This often follows leaky connections between the filling organs and the corresponding mouth areas, which are further deteriorated, for example, by slight muzzle damage or slightly non-circular or deformed mouths. Even with diagonally located mouth areas, the required contact pressure can not be applied.

For sealing Füllorganen against glass bottles, it is still for example from the EP 341 626 A1 It is known to provide an elastic seal to which the mouth region is completely pressed.

The US 1,846,535 A describes a plant for producing and filling drinks. The EP 0 309 928 A1 describes a contact pressure device for beverage containers. The DE 10 2005 003 222 A1 describes a device for filling vessels. The EP 0 601 514 A1 describes a back pressure filling machine. The DE 103 07 052 A1 describes a device for the treatment of used containers.

Presentation of the invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for sealing the product outlet opening of a filling member with respect to a container to be filled, which shows a further improved sealing behavior.

This object is achieved by a device having the features of claim 1. Advantageous developments emerge from the subclaims.

Accordingly, a device for sealing the product outlet opening of a filling member relative to a container to be filled, preferably in a beverage filling plant, comprising a rigid sleeve with a conical sealing area for sealing contact with a first mouth region of the container to be filled is proposed. According to the invention an elastic seal for sealing contact with a second mouth region of the container to be filled is provided.

Characterized in that in addition to the sealing region of the rigid sleeve and an elastic seal is provided for sealing engagement with a second mouth region, the sealing performance of the device can be improved overall. As a result, for example, small mouth damage, non-circular mouth areas, slightly inclined mouth areas or otherwise problematic mouth areas can be better sealed by the additional elastic seal, so that at the same given contact pressure, the sealing performance can be improved.

Furthermore, by providing the rigid sealing portion on the rigid sleeve in combination with the elastic seal, it is possible to achieve a defined immersion of the mouth portion into the elastic seal, resulting in only slight deformation of the elastic seal, thereby reducing the wear of the elastic seal Seal can be kept very low.

For this purpose, the elastic seal is particularly preferably spaced from the rigid sealing region and, in a particularly preferred development, lies on a region of the rigid sleeve facing the product outlet opening of the filling member. In other words, the sealing area and the elastic seal do not engage in the same area of the mouth of the container to be filled, but provide a seal in different areas and in particular in different levels of the mouth area.

For example, in a preferred embodiment, the elastic seal at, with the container to be filled standing upright, engage the upper end of the mouth region, whereas the rigid sealing region of the sleeve engages in an underlying region of the mouth. Thereby, two different sealing surfaces are formed at the mouth, wherein a first annular sealing surface is provided by the substantially rigid sealing portion of the rigid sleeve, and an annular sealing surface spaced therefrom is provided by the elastic seal. By thus formed overlying double seal the entire sealing effect can be improved, so that either the same contact pressure, the sealing effect is increased, or the required contact pressure can be reduced, so that unwanted deformations of the container can be reduced.

On the other hand, maintaining the rigid sealing area of the sleeve in combination with the elastic seal ensures that the elastic seal is compressed only by a defined amount, since the rigid sealing area is virtually a mechanical stop or a mechanical limit for the insertion of the mouth of the to be filled Container provides in the rigid sleeve or for pressing the rigid sleeve on the mouth of the container to be filled.

According to the sealing region is preferably dimensioned so that when sealing contact of an orifice, the elastic seal is pressed defined and particularly preferably so that the mouth then dips by a predetermined amount in the elastic seal. In this way, the wear of the elastic seal is kept low, so that the device can have a long service life for filling a large number of containers.

Preferably, the sleeve has a connection section for connecting the sleeve to a filling member, preferably for attachment to a product outlet opening of the filling member. The connection section can typically be provided in the form of a thread, by means of which the sleeve can be sealingly attached to the filling member. Other connection options are also possible, such as bayonet locks, plug-in closures, non-positive connections, etc.

The elastic seal is preferably formed as an O-ring, particularly preferably with a circular cross-section, whereby a particularly cost-effective operation is possible because standard parts can be used here.

The rigid sleeve preferably has a groove for insertion of the elastic seal, such that the elastic seal is held firmly in the sleeve. The groove preferably has an undercut, so that the elastic seal can be held securely and without further fastening means in the groove.

The profile of the rigid sleeve preferably provides a cylindrical insertion region for inserting a mouth of a container to be filled, the tapered conical sealing region for sealing engagement with a first mouth region, and a groove for receiving the elastic seal for sealing engagement with a second mouth region before, preferably in this order in the direction of the filling member.

In a further preferred arrangement, a centering bell is provided below the sealing area, and the rigid sleeve preferably has a region designed as a centering bell and preferably spaced from the sealing area.

Brief description of the figures

Figur 1

eine schematische Schnittzeichnung durch eine Vorrichtung zum Abdichten der Produktauslauföffnung eines Füllorgans gegenüber einem zu befüllenden Behälter, und

Figur 2

eine vergrößerte Detaildarstellung des in Figur 1 mit X bezeichneten Ausschnitts.

Preferred further embodiments and aspects of the present invention are explained in more detail by the following description of the figures. Showing:

FIG. 1

a schematic sectional view through a device for sealing the product outlet opening of a filling member against a container to be filled, and

FIG. 2

an enlarged detail of the in FIG. 1 with X designated section.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

In the following, preferred embodiments will be described with reference to the figures. The same, similar or equivalent elements in the different figures with denoted by identical reference numerals and a repeated description of these elements will be omitted in the following description in part in order to avoid redundancies.

In FIG. 1 a device 1 for sealing a product outlet opening 10 of a schematically and partially indicated filling member 100 against a likewise schematically indicated container 2 is shown.

From the container 2, only the mouth 20 is shown, which is brought into contact with the device 1.

The device 1 comprises a substantially rigid sleeve 3, which is usually made of a metallic material, for example a stainless steel material. The sleeve 3 has a sealing region 30, which is formed on the inside of the sleeve 3 and which can be brought into sealing engagement with a first mouth region 22 of the container 2. The sealing region 30 is substantially conical in such a way that the slope of the cone interacts with the mouth 20 of the container 2 and in particular with the first mouth region 22 such that a defined and sealing engagement with the sealing region 30 is made possible.

In addition to the sealing region 30, an elastic seal 4 is provided, which is designed in the form of an elastic O-ring. The elastic seal 4 is received in a groove 32 of the rigid sleeve 3 and serves to be brought into sealing engagement with a second mouth region 24. This situation is detailed in FIG. 2 in which a sealing contact of the sealing region 30 of the sleeve 3 at a first mouth region 22 of the mouth 20 of the container 2, and a sealing contact of the elastic seal 4 at a second mouth region 24 of the mouth 20 of the container 2 is shown.

Accordingly, at least two sealing surfaces are provided here, which lie one above the other along the axis of symmetry S of the product outlet opening 10, which can also be regarded as the symmetry axis S of the mouth 20 of the container 2. The first sealing surface is formed by the sealing engagement of the rigid sealing portion 30 of the sleeve 3 in contact with the first mouth portion 22. The second sealing surface results from the sealing engagement of the elastic seal 4 at the second mouth region 24.

By the two, at an ideal mouth 20 annularly formed and superimposed sealing surfaces correspondingly results in a double seal in different levels of the mouth 20 of the container 2, so that correspondingly increased sealing effect at the same contact pressure of the container 2 against the device 1, respectively a possible reduction of the contact pressure with the same sealing effect can be achieved.

If the mouth 20 of the container 2 have slight damage, such as nicks or the like, or be formed asymmetrically, so can be sealed by the provision of the elastic seal 4 on the sealing region 30 of the rigid sleeve 3 eventually occurring leakage, so that a total is significantly improved by the device 1, the sealing performance.

By the combination of the sealing sleeve 30 provided in the rigid sleeve with the elastic seal 4, it can furthermore be achieved that the mouth 20 in the second mouth region 24 dips into the elastic seal 4 only by a defined and predetermined dimension D. The sealing region 30 acts in this case with respect to the orifice 20 as a mechanical boundary or mechanical stop, which limits the insertion depth of the orifice 20 into the sleeve 3. Accordingly, the predetermined amount D of immersion of the second orifice portion 24 in the elastic seal 4 is usually not exceeded, so that the wear of the elastic seal 4 may be very small. In particular, it is achieved by the rigid sealing region 30 that the elastic seal 4 is not completely crushed or crushed when it is pressed onto the mouth 20, so that the service life for the elastic seal 4 is particularly high. Next finds a contamination of the filling by sealing particles not or only to a small extent, since the elastic seal 4 mechanically loaded only defined.

The groove 32, which serves to receive the elastic seal 4, is preferably shaped so that a simple sanitation of the device 1 is possible. By means of an undercut of the groove 32 can further be ensured that the elastic seal 4 is securely held on the rigid sleeve 3, so that in production a reliable fate of the elastic seal 4 is achieved in the sleeve 3 and a contamination of a container to be filled by a sloping elastic seal 4 is not to be feared.

The elastic seal 4 is arranged correspondingly spaced from the sealing region 30 of the rigid sleeve 3. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the elastic seal 4 is located on the side facing the filling member 100 with respect to the sealing region 30. In an alternative, or a supplement, but an elastic seal below, so on the filling member 100 facing away from the Abdichtbereiches 30 may be arranged.

In one embodiment, not shown, a plurality of sealing surfaces and / or a plurality of elastic seals may be provided.

The sleeve 3 has a connecting portion 34 for connecting the sleeve 3 to the filling member 100, wherein the connecting portion 34 is preferably designed so that a symmetrical arrangement of the rigid sleeve 3 with respect to the product outlet opening 10 of the filling member 100 can be achieved. The attachment portion 34 may include a thread, a bayonet, a connector, a frictional connection or other suitable connection.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the profile of the rigid sleeve 3 is designed in such a way that, in addition to the sealing region 30 and the groove 32, an insertion region 36 is provided which extends parallel to the insertion direction or the pressing direction of the sleeve 3 onto the orifice 20. Accordingly, the insertion region 36 is a cylindrical recess, which is adjoined by the essentially tapering or conical sealing region 30, which is adjoined by the groove 32 for receiving the elastic seal 4, in the direction of the filling member 100.

In an embodiment not shown, a further conical widening is provided below the insertion region 36 or instead of the insertion region 36, which serves as a centering bell. Thus, a targeted feeding of the mouth 20 to the sealing region 30 and the elastic seal 4 is made possible, so that an accurate centering can take place.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

Device for sealing the product outlet opening of a filling element

10

Product outlet opening

100

Filling head

2

container

20

muzzle

22

first estuary

24

second mouth area

3

rigid sleeve

30

sealing

32

groove

34

connecting section

36

insertion

4

elastic seal

S

Symmetry axis of the product outlet opening

D

predetermined amount

Claims (12)

1. A device (1) for sealing the product outlet opening (10) of a filling element (100) with regard to a container (2) to be filled in a beverage bottling facility, comprising a rigid sleeve (3) with a conically formed sealing area (30) for a sealing contact with a first mouth area (22) of the container (2) to be filled.
   characterized by
   an elastic seal (4) for a sealing contact with a second mouth area (24) of the container (2) to be filled.
2. A device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the elastic seal (4) is spaced apart from the sealing area (30) of the rigid sleeve (3).
3. A device (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that the elastic seal (4) is arranged in an area of the sleeve (3) turned towards the product outlet opening (10) of the filling element (100).
4. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing area (30) is designed such that the elastic seal (4) is compressed in a defined manner when the first mouth area (22)is in sealing contact.
5. A device (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the elastic seal (4) is compressed by the immersion of the second mouth area (24) by a predetermined amount (D).
6. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sleeve (3) has a connecting section (34) for connecting to a filling element (100), preferably for connecting subsequently to a product outlet opening (10) of the filling element (100).
7. A device (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that the connecting section (34) comprises a thread, a bayonet joint, a plug fastening, a non-positive connection or another releasable connection.
8. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the elastic seal (4) is formed as an O-ring, preferably with a circular cross section.
9. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rigid sleeve (3) has a groove (32) for the insertion of the elastic seal (4), preferably a groove (32) defining an undercut for holding the elastic seal (4).
10. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rigid sleeve (3) has a metallic material and preferably is produced from stainless steel.
11. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rigid sleeve (3) has an insertion area (36) running cylindrically for inserting a mouth (20) of a container (2) to be filled, the tapering, conically designed sealing area (30) for a sealing contact with a first mouth area (22), and a groove (32) for receiving the elastic seal (4) for a sealing contact with a second mouth area (24), preferably in this order in the direction of the filling element (100).
12. A device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that below the sealing area (30) a centering bell is provided and preferably the rigid sleeve (3) has an area formed as a centering bell and preferably spaced apart from the sealing area.

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