EP3621915B1 - Device and method for filling a container with a filling product - Google Patents

Description

technical field

The present application relates to a device and a method for filling a container with a filling product, in particular for filling a container with a carbonated filling product in a beverage bottling plant.

State of the art

For filling containers with carbonated filling products, it is known to fill the carbonated filling product into a container to be filled by means of a filling element. It is known to first preload the container to be filled with CO2 and then to fill the carbonized filling product into the container preloaded with CO2 by means of the filling element. By prestressing the container with CO2, the CO2 bound in the filling product is not released or only insignificantly released during the filling process and the foaming tendency of the filling product is correspondingly reduced when it is filled into the container to be filled. Devices of this type, but not necessarily for filling carbonated filling products are from EP 0 337 913 A2 , U.S. 5,031,673A , DE 10 2007 015 752 A1 and WO 2017/194515 A1 , which is prior art under Article 54(3) EPC.

The carbonization of the filling product takes place before the container is actually filled with the filling product. In the filling product reservoir, for example a ring bowl or a central boiler of a beverage bottling plant, in particular in a filler carousel of a beverage bottling plant, the filling product is already in carbonized form. Correspondingly, there is a CO2 atmosphere in a gas space above the filling product level in the filling product reservoir, which ensures that the CO2 in the carbonized filling product in the filling product reservoir is also not released but remains in the filling product in the intended dosage. Devices of this type are, for example, from EP 0 697 369 A1 and DE 199 39 521 A1 known.

To provide the filling product with CO2 before it is made available in the filling product reservoir, CO2 mixers and injectors are known, which are designed as separate devices and which ensure that the filling product can be carbonized to such an extent before it enters the filling product reservoir of the filling device that the desired level of carbonation is achieved. The CO2 back pressure resulting from the desired level of carbonization then corresponds to the CO2 pressure which is maintained in the gas space above the level of the filling product in the filling product reservoir.

In an alternative, for example in the DE 100 28 676 A1 mentioned expression, the non-carbonated filling product is first filled into the container to be filled and the carbonization is then carried out after the actual filling by means of a carbonization tube inserted into the container in the already filled container itself.

From the DE 202 20 674 U1 a device for carbonizing the filling product is known, in which, in a first filling step, the non-carbonized filling product is filled into the container to be filled, then liquid CO2 is introduced into the container by means of another device on a transfer path between the filling device and a closing device and then a container lid is applied in the closing device.

From the DE 10 2009 031 104 B3 a device is also known in which the filling product is first degassed by the application of pressure fluctuations, for example by means of an ultrasonic generator, and only then carbonization of the filling product is carried out. This is intended to counteract an excessive tendency to foam.

Presentation of the invention

Proceeding from the known prior art, it is an object of the present invention to specify a device for filling a container with a filling product, which provides a further simplified construction of a beverage filling device.

This object is achieved by a device for filling a container with a filling product having the features of claim 1. Advantageous developments result from the dependent claims.

Accordingly, a device for filling a container with a filling product is proposed, which comprises a filling valve for opening and closing a filling product flow between a filling product reservoir and the container to be filled for controlling the filling of the container with the filling product. According to the invention, a carbonation device is provided, which communicates with the filling product throughflow of the filling valve in order to carbonize the filling product.

Since a carbonization device for carbonizing the filling product communicates with the filling product flow, further external devices for carbonizing or gassing the filling product can be dispensed with. In this way, in particular, a simple and targeted carbonization of the respective filling products to be filled can be achieved with a carbonization quantity which corresponds to the desired exposure of the filling product to CO2.

This also results in a simplified system design, since the CO2 is applied to the filling product only shortly before the filling product is filled into the container to be filled, and in this way it can be achieved that the system areas upstream of the filling valve are dimensioned smaller can and upstream carbonization devices can be dispensed with.

The filling product carbonized by means of the carbonization device can either contain no CO2 at all before passing through the carbonization device, or it can already contain a lower than the desired proportion of CO2. In the first case, the carbonation device takes over the entire carbonation of the filling product. In the second case, CO2 is only added to the filling product.

According to the invention, the carbonation device comprises an injector for injecting CO2 into the filling product flow of the filling valve. Because the COz can be introduced into the filling product flow through the filling valve by means of an injector, a particularly exact and precise dosing of COz - for example measured by means of a corresponding flow meter (for example magnetic and/or inductive flow meters) - can be achieved, so that on the one hand a high filling product quality can be achieved, but on the other hand this can also be achieved in an economical way, since only the exact required amount of CO2 has to be released into the filling product flow. A loss of CO2 due to a possible overdosing can be avoided in this way, so that the proposed system design also leads to more economical operation.

A particularly simple structure can be implemented if the injector includes a passage through a sleeve of the filling valve.

The carbonation device preferably comprises an injector which opens into the filling product flow below a sealing plane defined by a valve seat and a valve cone of the filling valve. Due to the arrangement below the sealing plane, ie between the sealing plane and the container to be filled, the carbonation device can act on the container or the interior of the container independently of the switching position of the filling valve.

Furthermore, a vacuum valve with a vacuum channel which communicates with the filling product flow is preferably provided. The interior of the container can be brought to a predetermined ambient pressure by means of the vacuum valve. The vacuum channel particularly preferably opens into the filling product flow below a sealing plane defined by a valve seat and a valve cone of the filling valve. Accordingly, the vacuum channel can interact with the container or the interior of the container independently of the switching position of the filling valve. The vacuum channel can particularly preferably be introduced in a sleeve of the filling valve in order to achieve a structurally advantageous design. By means of the vacuum valve, the interior of the container can be brought to a negative pressure before filling.

The filling valve particularly preferably has a valve seat and a valve cone which can be received therein in a sealing manner and which forms a valve plane which is arranged essentially perpendicular to the flow direction of the filling product. The carbonation device and in particular the injector for injecting CO2 into the filling product flow are preferably arranged below the filling valve seat and correspondingly downstream of the valve plane. In this way, the CO2 can be dosed exactly into the filling product flow controlled by the filling valve, and CO2 is only released into the filling product that is actually filled into the container. In this way, on the one hand, a further simplified system structure can be achieved, since the injector on Filling element and in particular can be attached to the filling valve, and on the other CO2 losses can be limited.

The carbonation device preferably has a valve for precisely controlling the inflow of CO2 into the filling product flow such that an exact dosing of CO2 into the filling product flow which flows into the container to be filled can be achieved. This dosing can be made dependent on what type of filling product is filled in and how high the desired CO2 saturation or the desired CO2 proportion in the filling product filled into the container should be. It can also be made dependent on the CO2 absorption properties of the respective filling product and the filling speed.

The object set above is also achieved by a method having the features of claim 7 . Advantageous developments result from the dependent claims.

Accordingly, a method for filling a container with a filling product is proposed, which can preferably be carried out using one of the devices described above, with a filling valve for opening and closing a filling product flow between a filling product reservoir and the container to be filled for controlling the filling of the container with the Filling product is provided, and the filling valve is opened to start the flow of the filling product through the filling product flow into the container to be filled. According to the invention, a carbonation device carbonizes the filling product flowing through the filling product flow, by an injector of the

Carbonator COz injected into fill valve fill flow.

Short description of the figures

Figur 1

zeigt eine schematische Darstellung einer Vorrichtung zum Befüllen eines Behälters mit einem Füllprodukt mit einer Karbonisierungsvorrichtung.

Preferred further embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail by the following description of the figures. show:

figure 1

shows a schematic representation of a device for filling a container with a filling product with a carbonation device.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

Preferred exemplary embodiments are described below with reference to the figure. Elements that are the same, similar or have the same effect are denoted by identical reference symbols. In order to avoid redundancies, a repeated description of these elements is partially dispensed with in the following description.

In figure 1 a device 1 for filling a container with a filling product is shown schematically. The filling product is present in a filling product reservoir 10 which, in the exemplary embodiment shown, is designed in the form of a ring bowl in a filler carousel of a beverage bottling plant.

Fill product flows from the fill product reservoir 10 via a fill product opening 12 into a fill valve 2 which includes a fill valve sleeve 20 providing a fill product flow 22 . In a beverage bottling plant, a large number of filling valves 2 are typically arranged evenly on the circumference of the filler carousel in order to provide a large number of filling points in order to provide the required filling capacity and output.

The filling valve sleeve 20 of the filling valve 2 also has a filling valve seat 24 which is formed in the inner wall of the filling product sleeve 20 that delimits the filling product throughflow 22 . In a manner known in principle, a filling valve cone 26 can be lowered into the filling valve seat 24 such that when the filling valve cone 26 is completely lowered into the filling valve seat 24 , the filling product flow 22 is completely sealed. Accordingly, the filling product provided from the filling product reservoir 10 cannot then flow through the filling product flow 22 . The complete closing of the filling product flow 22 by lowering the filling valve cone 26 into the filling valve seat 24 is achieved in a closing plane 28 .

On the other hand, when the filling valve cone 26 is open, i.e. when the filling valve cone 26 is lifted out of the filling valve seat 24, the filling product flows out of the filling product reservoir 10 through the filling product opening 12 into the filling product flow 22, then flows along the filling product cone 26 through the annular gap formed between the filling product cone 26 and the filling valve seat 24 to a filling product outlet 29, in order to then be filled into the container 100 to be filled. This type of control of a filling product flow for filling a container to be filled 100 using a filling valve cone 26 that can be lowered into a filling valve seat 24 and lifted out of it again is known in principle.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the filling product outlet 29 ends at a receiving bell 30, on which the container 100 to be filled can be received with its mouth area 110 in a sealing manner. Accordingly, the filling product flows through the filling product outlet 29 directly through the mouth 110 into the container 100 to be filled.

A carbonization device 4 is provided, which opens into the filling product flow 22 of the filling valve 2 with a carbonization channel, which also acts as a CO ₂ injector 40, and is correspondingly in communication with the filling product flow 22 and thus also with the filling product flowing through the filling product flow 22. In this case, the injector 40 of the carbonization device 4 is arranged below the valve closure plane 28 , ie below the valve seat 24 .

The carbonation device 4 can thus introduce CO ₂ via the injector 40 into the filling product flow which flows in the filling product flow 22 when the filling valve is open, ie the filling valve cone 26 is lifted out of the filling valve seat 24 . The injector 40 can then inject the CO ₂ into the fill product stream and dose it in a desired amount.

If the filling valve 2 is closed, that is to say the filling valve cone 26 is lowered into the filling valve seat 24 in a sealing manner, then no filling product flows through the filling product flow 22 . However, since the injector 40 is arranged below the valve sealing plane 28 and correspondingly opens into the filling product flow 22 downstream of the valve seat 24, it is nevertheless connected to the interior of the container 100 to be filled. Correspondingly, the CO ₂ can enter the interior of the container 100 to be filled in a controlled manner via a CO ₂ supply 42 and via a carbonization valve 44 . It is thus possible to charge the container 100 to be filled with CO ₂ independently of the presence or flow of a filling product stream through the filling product flow 22 .

Furthermore, a vacuum valve 5 is provided below the valve sealing plane 28, i.e. also below the valve seat 24, the vacuum valve 5 having a vacuum channel 50 and a vacuum connection 52, which can also be connected to a vacuum or negative pressure device, for example.

In order to now fill a fresh container 100 to be filled with the filling product, in an advantageous application the container 100 is first pressed with its mouth area 110 sealingly against the filling bell 30 . The valve cone 26 is still lowered into the valve seat 24 in a sealing manner, so that the filling valve is closed and accordingly no filling product flows through the filling product flow 22 .

In a first embodiment, the container 100 can be flushed with CO ₂ with the filling valve 2 closed in order to reduce the oxygen content inside the container 100 . For this purpose, the vacuum valve 5 is opened and at the same time the carbonization valve 44 is also opened in such a way that CO ₂ can flow through the interior of the container 100 to be filled and can then be drawn off via the vacuum valve 5 .

As an upstream step for applying CO _{2 ,} the container 100 to be filled can also be evacuated by opening the vacuum valve 5 and applying a negative pressure or a vacuum to the vacuum connection 52 . Thereafter, the CO ₂ flushing just described can then be carried out by opening the carbonization valve 44 .

The container 100 is then prestressed by the fact that the vacuum valve 5 is closed and the CO ₂ injector or the carbonization device 4 with the carbonization valve 44 remains open. Correspondingly, via the CO ₂ supply 42, CO ₂ can get through the carbonization valve 44 and the injector 40 into the interior of the container 100 to be filled and correspondingly prestress the interior of the container 100 to the intended preload pressure.

In an alternative, the interior of the container 100 is evacuated by opening the vacuum valve 5 in order to provide a negative pressure or vacuum in the interior of the container 100 accordingly.

The provision of a corresponding negative pressure in the container 100 is also referred to herein as "vacuum". Correspondingly, vacuum can also be understood to mean a negative pressure at an absolute pressure of 0.5 bar to 0.05 bar, preferably 0.3 bar to 0.1 bar, particularly preferably 0.1 bar.

If there is a negative pressure in the container 100 at the beginning of the filling process, this can lead to the filling product flowing into the container 100 very quickly or almost suddenly.

If, according to the first embodiment, the intended preload pressure is reached in the container 100 or, according to the alternative, the intended negative pressure is reached in the container 100, the valve cone 26 is lifted out of the valve seat 24 and the filling product flow 22 between the filling product reservoir 10 and the container interior 100 is opened accordingly. The filling product can now flow out of the filling product reservoir 10 into the container interior 100 . It flows past the injector 40 of the carbonation device 4 so that a metered, controlled metering of CO ₂ into the filling product stream flowing into the container 100 can be achieved via the injector 40 of the carbonation device 4 . In this way, by controlling both the filling product flow by means of the filling valve 2 and by controlling the CO ₂ flow via the injector 40, a controlled and controlled introduction of CO ₂ into the filling product flow can be achieved. Correspondingly, the filling product flowing out of the reservoir 10 is enriched with CO ₂ . The filling product present in the filling product reservoir 10 can either itself already be carbonized with CO ₂ and the addition via the carbonization device 4 merely involves an adjustment or subsequent dosing of CO ₂ , or the filling product in the filling product reservoir 10 is completely uncarbonized and the desired complete carbonization of the Filling product takes place with the carbonization device 4 during the filling of the filling product.

To complete the filling process, the filling valve cone 26 is lowered back into the filling valve seat 24 so that the filling valve 2 is closed and the flow of filling product from the filling product reservoir 10 into the container 100 dries up and is stopped.

Then the carbonation valve 44 is also closed either simultaneously with the closing of the filling valve 2, or before this point in time or after this point in time.

The pressure bell 30 of the filling valve is followed by a pressure chamber 6 which is sealed to the container 100, for example by a chamber seal 60 which rests on the outside of the container 100. The pressure chamber 6 or the interior space 62 of the pressure chamber 6 is thus sealed off from the environment in a gas-tight manner. After or during the filling of the container 100 with the filling product, the pressure chamber 6 can be charged with CO 2 by opening a CO ₂ valve 64 which is arranged in a CO ₂ supply ₆₆ . In this way, an overpressure with CO ₂ is provided in the pressure chamber 6 . The overpressure preferably corresponds to the saturation pressure of the CO ₂ in the container 100 after it has been filled.

Correspondingly, the mouth of the container 100 can be detached from the pressing bell 30 after the filling process has been completed, so that the interior of the container 100 is in communication with the interior 62 of the pressure chamber 6 . The CO ₂ bound in the filling product and the CO ₂ not yet bound in the filling product but located in the container 100 are not released due to the CO ₂ overpressure in the pressure chamber 6 . This can prevent the filling product from foaming over or leaking out of the filled container 100 .

The filled container 100 can then also be closed in the pressure chamber 6, for example by means of a closing device, not shown here, which applies a screw cap or a crown cap.

After the container 100 has been closed or after the filling product has settled, the pressure chamber 6 can be relieved in a defined manner via a relief valve 68 and a relief line 69 and the corresponding filled container 100 can then be discharged from the device 1 .

Thereafter, the container 100 filled with the carbonized filling product can be fed to further processing, for example to a sealer or labeller.

As far as applicable, all individual features that are presented in the individual exemplary embodiments can be combined with one another and/or exchanged without departing from the scope of the invention.

Reference List

1

Device for filling a container with a filling product

10

fill product reservoir

12

filling product opening

100

container

2

filling valve

20

filling valve sleeve

22

fill product flow

24

filling valve seat

26

filling poppet

28

valve level

29

filling product outlet

30

pressure bell

4

carbonation device

40

injector

42

CO ₂ supply

44

carbonation valve

5

vacuum valve

50

vacuum channel

52

vacuum connection

6

pressure chamber

60

chamber seal

62

Interior of the pressure chamber

64

_CO2 valve

66

CO ₂ supply

68

relief valve

69

relief channel

Claims (9)

1. Device (1) for filling a container (100) with a filling product, comprising a filling valve (2) for opening and closing a filling product passage (22) between a filling product reservoir (10) and the container (100) to be filled in order to control the filling of the container with the filling product,
   characterised in that
   a carbonation device (4) for carbonating the filling product communicates with the filling product passage (22) of the filling valve (2) and the carbonation device (4) comprises an injector (40) for injecting CO₂ into the filling product passage (22).
2. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that the injector (40) comprises a passage through a sleeve (20) of the filling valve (2).
3. Device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the carbonation device (4) comprises an injector (40) which opens into the filling product passage (22) below a sealing plane (28) defined by a valve seat (24) and a valve cone (26) of the filling valve (2).
4. Device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a vacuum valve (5) with a vacuum channel (50) for providing a negative pressure in the interior of the container (100) is provided.
5. Device (1) according to claim 4, characterised in that the vacuum channel (50) opens into the filling product passage (22) below a sealing plane (28) defined by a valve seat (24) and a valve cone (26) of the filling valve (2).
6. Device (1) according to claim 4 or 5, characterised in that the vacuum channel (50) is introduced into a sleeve (20) of the filling valve (2).
7. Method for filling a container (100) with a filling product, preferably by means of a device (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a filling valve (2) is provided for opening and closing a filling product passage (22) between a filling product reservoir (10) and the container (100) to be filled in order to control the filling of the container with the filling product, and the filling valve (2) is opened in order to start the flow of the filling product through the filling product passage (22) into the container (100) to be filled,
   characterised in that
   a carbonation device (4) carbonates the filling product flowing through the filling product passage (22) by an injector (40) of the carbonation device (4) injecting CO₂ into the filling product passage (22).
8. Method according to claim 7, characterised in that the carbonation device (4) is arranged below a sealing plane (28) defined by a valve seat (24) and a valve cone (26) of the filling valve (2) and, before the filling valve (2) is opened, carbonation and/or pre-pressurisation of the container (100) to be filled with CO₂ is performed by means of the carbonation device (4).
9. Method according to claim 7 or 8, characterised in that a vacuum valve (5) with a vacuum channel (50) communicating with the filling product passage (22) is provided and, before the filling valve (2) is opened, a negative pressure is provided in the container (100) to be filled.

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