GB2280428A

GB2280428A - Device for simultaneously sealing a plurality of containers with sealing caps

Info

Publication number: GB2280428A
Application number: GB9414124A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Willi Stirnkorb; Max Goetz; Theodor Moser; Wolfgang Schmitt; Martin Beck
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 1993-07-31
Filing date: 1994-07-13
Publication date: 1995-02-01
Anticipated expiration: 2014-07-13
Also published as: GB2280428B; CH687524A5; GB9414124D0; ITMI941612A0; IT1273689B; ITMI941612A1; DE4325843A1

Description

2280428 1 Device for sealing containers with sealing caps

Prior art

The invention proceeds from a device for sealing containers with sealing caps according to the preamble of the main claim. Such a device is known from EP-A-0 266 061. It has a swivel arm which executes a curved movement and, in the Drocess, removes one sealing cap at a time from a cap chute supplying the sealing caps and positions it below an axially movable closing head. The closing head then executes a lowering and lifting motion in order to remove the sealing cap from the swivel arm and clear the area of movement of the swivel arm once more so that the latter may swivel back towards the cap chute to remove the next sealing cap. The closing head is then lowered once more in order to screw the sealing cap onto a container positioned in readiness below the closing head. The drawback of the known device is that its capacity is low since only one sealing cap at a time is removed from the cap chute and screwed on the container. Furthermore, the device is not suitable for sealing containers under aseptic conditions.

The cap chute is also of a mechanically complex construction since, for the transfer of a sealing cap to the swivel arm, the cap chute has to be lowered each time into the area of movement of the swivel arm.

Advantages of the invention In contrast, the device according to the invention for sealing containers with sealing caps according to the preamble of the 2 main claim has the advantage that a cap strip in the course of a rectilinear movement removes a plurality of sealing caps from a cap chute per working cycle of the device and feeds them to closing heads of a sealing device so that the capacity of the device according to the invention is particularly high. By virtue of suitable control of the lock- out at the cap chute it is moreover possible purposefully to associate sealing caps with closing heads and hence with containers so that, particularly in the absence of a container in the region of a closing head, no sealing cap is supplied, with the result that the device operates in a trouble-free manner. The lock-out moreover enables a particularly simple construction of the cap chute.

By virtue of the features indicated in the sub-claims, developments and improvements of the device according to the invention for sealing containers with sealing caps are possible.

It is particularly advantageous, for achieving an improved keeping quality of the product to be packaged, to use a fumigation frame for the top areas of the containers. By virtue of the compact construction of the device, it is moreover possible to dispose the device according to the invention inside a sealed sterile area.

Drawings An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and explained in greater detail in the following description. Fig.1 shows a device for sealing containd-rs with sealing caps in a simplified manner in side view and Fig.2 shows a part of the device shortly prior to sealing of a container in an enlarged side view.

a 3 Description of the embodiment

The device for sealing containers 10, such as bottles, with sealing caps 12 has a cap chute 13, in which the sealing caps 12 are lined up one behind the other. The cap chute 13 adjoins a storage and sterilizing device (not shown) for the sealing caps 12. Before the sealing caps 12 are fed into the cap chute 13, they pass through a sterilizing shaft, which is disposed, for example, vertically above the cap chute 13 and in which the sealing caps 12 are sterilized in batches using water vapour or a sterilizing agent. The sealing caps 12, which have previously been oriented with their opening 14 downwards in relation to the cap chute 13, then pass solely by virtue of their weight into the cap chute 13, whose illustrated end portion is inclined towards the horizontal. The cap chute 13 comprises guide rails 16, 17, whose distance apart from one another is large enough to prevent the sealing caps 12 tilting between them. Formed in the bottom guide rail 16 is a recess 18, in which a catch hook 19 of a lock-out 20 engages into the opening 14 of the leading sealing cap 12 of the row and holds it fast.

A cap strip 22 is displaceable below the cap chute 13. The cap strip 22 comprises a rail 23, on which are disposed at regular intervals, for example, five cap drivers 24 whose dimensions are adapted to the openings 14 of the sealing caps 12. The cap strip 22 is rectilinearly reciprocable in the direction of the horizontal extension of the cap chute 13, with the top sides 25 of the cap drivers 24 extending directly below the end 26 of the bottom guide rail 16. In the one end position - the starting position - of the cap strip 22, all of the cap drivers 24 are situated below the cap chute 13, while in the other end position of the cap strip 22 the cap drivers 24 are positioned below a corresponding number of closing heads 28 of a sealing device 30. The closing heads 28 are disposed on the sealing device 30 so as to capable of lifting and lowering and they are intermittently rotated.

4 Formed at the underside 33 of the closing heads 28 are. receivers 34, which are adapted to the sealing caps 12 and contain, for example, magnets 32 for holding the sealing caps 12 fast. At their circumferential inner wall, the receivers 34 have raised portions 35 which engage in a form-fit manner into correspondingly constructed indentations 36 of the sealing caps 12. For holding the sealing caps 12, it is however alternatively possible to use, for example, pneumatically operated clamping devices in the closing heads 28.

A vertically movable fumigation frame 37 is disposed below the closing heads 28 and the cap strip 22. Said fumigation frame has, in extension of the closing heads 28, conical recesses 38 which are adapted to the collar region 39 of the containers 12 and whose smallest internal diameter corresponds at least to the diameter of the sealing caps 12. Formed above the recesses 38 in the fumigation frame 37 are screwing regions 42 which leave the top areas 41 of the containers 12 free. The size of each screwing region 42 is such that a closing head 28 with a sealing cap 12 may engage fully into the top area 41 of the container 10 without brushing against the fumigation frame 37. For introducing water vapour or protective gas into the top area 41 of the containers 10, there are formed in the fumigation frame 37 annular channels 44, which are directed towards the top area 41 of the containers 10, are open at one side and are connected to a steam or protective gas supply (not shown). Below and in the alignment of the fumigation frame 37, the containers 10 are conveyed along on a console 46 by means of a feed device, e.g. a worm conveyor 45. In the process, the containers 10 pass a sensor 48 which is disposed on the conveying path of the containers 10, registers the absence of individual containers 10 and supplies corresponding signals to a control device.

Disposed parallel at the level of the worm conveyor 45 and in the region of the sealing device 30 is a clamping device in the form of horizontally movable clamping holders 50 which, while the sealing caps 12 are being screwed on, press the containers 10 against the worm conveyor 45 in order to ensure the necessary counterforce for the screwing moment of the L sealing caps 12.

The device according to the invention for sealing containers 10 with sealing caps 12 operates as follows:

In the basic position of the device, the closing heads 28 and the fumigation frame 37 are situated in a raised position and the cap strip 22 with its cap drivers 24 is situated completely below the cap chute 13 in its starting position. The worm conveyor 45 conveys a number of previously filled containers 10,.which corresponds to the number of closing heads 28, under the closing heads 28, with the absence of containers 10 being reported by the sensor 48 to the control device of the device. Once the containers 10 after a corresponding number of revolutions of the worm conveyor 45 are positioned below the associated closing heads 28, the drive of the worm conveyor 45 is switched off and the clamping holders 50 are moved in the direction of the worm conveyor 45 so that the containers 10 are clamped in between the clamping holders 50 and the worm conveyor 45. The cap strip 22 is then moved in a rectilinear path of movement in the direction of the closing heads 28, with the cap drivers 24 running past the end 26 of the cap chute 13. In accordance with the signals of the sensor 48, the lock-out 20 is controlled in such a way that for each cap driver 24, where appropriate, a sealing cap 12 is released by the catch hook 19 and slides to the end 26 of the cap chute 13. There, the corresponding cap driver 24 engages into the opening 14 of the supplied sealing cap 12 and removes it from the cap chute 13. Once the cap drivers 24 of the cap strip 22, after removal of the sealing caps 12 from the cap chute 13, are positioned below the associated closing heads 28, the closing heads 28 are lowered into the plane of the cap strip 22 to receive the sealing caps 12. As soon as 6 the sealing caps 12 have engaged sufficiently deeply into the receivers 34, they are attracted from the cap drivers 24 by the magnets 32 and held fast In the receivers 34. The closing heads 28 then return into their raised position, thereby releasing the cap strip 222 and allowing it to be moved back into its starting position below the cap chute 13. As soon as the cap strip 22 has been removed from the area of movement of the closing heads 28, the fumigation frame 37 is moved into its lowered position and fumigation of the top areas 41 of the containers 10 commences through the annular channels 44. At the same time, for screwing of the sealing caps 12, the closing heads 28 are lowered and driven for the purpose of screwing the sealing caps 12 onto the containers 10. The screwing process itself is preferably controlled as a function of angle of rotation or torque.

Once the sealing calps 12 have been screwed on, fumigation of the top areas 41 of the containers 10 is ended. The closing heads 28, the fumigation frame 37 and the clamping holders 50 are then returned into their original positions. For continued transport of the now sealed containers 10, the drive of the worm conveyor 45 is switched on again and the containers 10 are moved on by one cycle, in the embodiment, therefore, by five containers 10. At the same time, the next unsealed containers 10 pass into the region of the sealing device 30, whereupon the process described above is repeated.

It is additionally pointed out that, instead of screw-on sealing caps 12, press-on or crown closures may be used with suitably adapted closing heads 28. If the capacity of the device according to the invention is to be increased, it is also possible for more than five sealing caps 12 to be processed simultaneously per cycle by increasing the number of closing heads 28 and cap drivers 24 on the cap strip 22. By virtue of the compact style of construction of the device according to the invention, it is moreover possible to dispose a plurality of devices in parallel, which operate 7 interconnected by a common control device or, however, operate individually. The compact construction further enables the device to be disposed inside a sealed sterile area, thereby allowing very high standards of sterilization to be met. In said case, locks for the inward and outward transfer of the containers 10 are to be provided.

For simple applications, it is also possible to dispense with the fumigation frame, with the result that the device according to the invention is of a particularly simple construction.

8

Claims

Claims

1. Device for sealing containers (10) with sealing caps (12), having a sealing device (30) with at least one closing head (28), having a conveyor device (45) for transporting the containers (10) to the sealing device (30), having a device (13) for ready-positioning of the sealing caps (12) in a row and having a transfer device (22) for feeding the sealing caps (12) to the closing head (28).of the sealing device (30), characterized in that the transfer device (22) has a plurality of receivers (24) for the sealing caps (12), that the device (13) for ready-positioning of the sealing caps (12) has a controllable lock-out (20) for releasing one sealing cap (12) at a time, and that a sensor (48) is disposed on the conveying path of the containers (10) and controls the lock-out (20) in dependence upon the presence of a container (10).

2.

3.

1 Device according to claim 1, characterized in that a vertically movable fumigation frame (37) is associated with the sealing device (29), the recesses (38) of which frame are adapted to the collar regions (39) of the containers (10) and to the sealing caps (12).

Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the fumigation frame (37) has annular channels (44) which are aligned towards the top areas (41) of the containers (10).

Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the sealing device (29), the conveyor device (45) A 9 for the containers (10), the transfer device (22) for the sealing caps (12) and the device for ready-positioning of the sealing caps (12) are disposed inside a sealed sterile area.

5. A device for sealing a container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.