JP2000281183A - Capping device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a rotary type capper capable of improving the cleanness of cap feeding means and arranging the cap feeding means on a container conveyance passage in a stacked manner. SOLUTION: In the capping device comprising a conveying means to convey a container 2, a capping head to cap a cap 5 moved with the container 2 and holding an upper portion of the container 2 on the container 2, an introduction wheel 3 to introduce the container 2 to a conveying means, and a cap feeding means 10 to feed the cap to the capping head, the cap feeding means 10 comprises a capping disk 7 which is rotated in the horizontal direction around a rotary shaft 12 to rotate and transfer the cap 5 below the capping head, and a holding member 17 which is provided on the cap disk 7 and holds the cap 5, and an irradiation means 11 to irradiate the sterilizing light toward a lower surface of the cap disk 7 avoiding a conveyance passage of the container 2 is provided, and the lower surface of the cap disk 7 is sterilized by irradiating the sterilizing light when the cap disk 7 is rotated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a capping apparatus having a cap supplying means for supplying a cap to a capper, and more particularly to cleaning the capping apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, there has been no apparatus which takes measures for cleaning a cap supply apparatus.

[0003]

In an aseptic filling line for filling and capping sterilized containers under aseptic conditions, sterilization of the apparatus is important. In particular, in the case of a capper that caps a container after filling, it is necessary to prevent various bacteria from entering the container before capping.
However, the cap supply device for supplying the cap to the capper has a problem in that it is difficult to wash and germs can easily propagate, although the cap supply device is arranged at a position higher than the mouth of the container and its lower surface faces the mouth.

[0004] In the case of a rotary type capper, in order to prevent germs from falling into the container, a means is used in which a cap supply device is arranged at a position where the container is not transported between the inlet starwheel and the outlet starwheel. However, for that purpose, the distance between the inlet starwheel and the outlet starwheel must be increased, and the capping section is shortened by that much, so that the capper itself becomes large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a capping device which can easily prevent germs from adhering to the mouth of a container by providing a sterilizing means on a part of the back surface of the rotating cap disk. It is the purpose.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention employs the following technical means. According to the first aspect of the present invention, a conveying means for rotating and conveying the container, a capping head for moving the container above the conveyed container together with the container and capping the cap on the container, and introducing the container to the conveying means In a capping apparatus provided with a wheel and cap supply means for supplying a cap to a capping head, the cap supply means rotates in a horizontal direction about a rotation axis and rotates and transfers the cap below the capping head. And a holding member provided on the cap disk for holding the cap, and irradiating means for irradiating sterilizing light toward the lower surface of the cap disk avoiding the transport path of the container, and sterilizing the cap disk when rotating. To sterilize the lower surface of the cap disk by irradiating light It adopted the technical means.

[0007] According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
In addition to the described invention, a technical means is adopted in which the cap supply means is arranged to supply the cap to the capping head on the transport path of the container.

[0008] The invention described in claim 3 employs, in addition to the invention described in claim 1 or 2, a technical means in which the cap supply means is arranged so as to overlap above the introduction wheel. did.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cap supplying means for rotating and transporting a cap, wherein an irradiating means (ultraviolet lamp) is provided so as to irradiate a part of the cap disk on which the cap is mounted with sterilizing light. Is rotated so that the entire lower surface, at least the portion located above the container, is sterilized.

[0010] Further, even in the case where the cap supply means is disposed between the introduction wheel and the discharge wheel, the cleanliness can be enhanced. In addition, the cap supply means may be disposed at a position overlapping the conveyance path of the container such as on the introduction wheel. It becomes possible. Moreover,
By constructing the device with a material such as an antibacterial resin or a stainless steel rope, the cleanliness is further improved. The contact portion of the cap may be sterilized by irradiating the upper surface side at the same time.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, a container 2 transported by a transport conveyor 1A is a capper 4
Is transferred to a transporting means (not shown) provided in the capper 4 by the introduction wheel 3 synchronized with the above. On the other hand, the cap 5 capped by the container 2 is supplied from the cap supply chute 6 to the cap disk 7 of the cap supply means 10 provided above the introduction wheel 3, Are transferred between the capping head 8 (see FIG. 3) which moves together with the container 2 in synchronization with these movements. The transferred cap 5 is held by the capping head 8, and while the capper 4 rotates clockwise in FIG.
Is capped at the mouth. Then, the container 2 with the cap 5 capped is discharged from the discharge wheel 9 that is rotating in synchronization, and is transferred from the transfer conveyor 1B to the next step. A section from the position where the container 2 is received from the introduction wheel 3 to the position where the container 2 is delivered to the discharge wheel 9 in the transport conveyor 1A, the introduction wheel 3, and the capper 4, and the transport path of the container 2 by the discharge wheel 9 and the transport conveyor 1B Are formed.

Next, based on FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, sterilization light is applied to a part of the back surface of the cap disk 7 of the cap supply means 10 for rotatingly transporting the cap 5 of the present invention (namely, the mouth side of the container). A description will be given of a case in which the irradiation unit 11 is provided to improve the cleanliness of the cap supply unit 10.

As the germicidal light irradiating means 11, there is an ultraviolet germicidal lamp or the like, but various germicidal means can be adopted as well as germicidal light irradiation, such as providing a heat source such as heat sterilization.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cap disk 7 for rotating and transferring the cap 5 is fitted to the rotating shaft 12 via the key 13 engaging with the key groove 14, and is rotated integrally with the rotating shaft 12. The screw shaft 16 provided on the rotating shaft 12 is screwed into a screw hole 16 so as to be supported so as to be able to move up and down. The rotating shaft 12 is provided coaxially with the introduction wheel 3, and the cap disk 7 is arranged above the introduction wheel 3 so as to overlap with the capping head 8 at the receiving position of the container 2 of the capper 4.
The cap 5 is delivered.

On the upper surface of the cap disk 7, a holding member 17 in which pockets 17A for holding the cap 5 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction is fixed. Further, the cap disk 7 is provided with a support member 19 via a bearing 18 such as a bearing, and the support member 19 is provided with a transfer guide 20 at an end thereof for guiding the cap 5 so as not to fall from the outside. 21 is fixed. Furthermore, container 2
A fixing member 22 for fixing the supporting member 19 by using a portion where is not conveyed is provided, and the fixing member 22 is attached to a column (not shown) so as to be able to move up and down. A bracket 23 is attached to the lower surface of the fixing member 22 so as not to interfere with the rotation of the cap disk 7, and the ultraviolet germicidal lamp 11 irradiates sterilizing light to the lower surface of the cap disk 7 with the bracket 23 avoiding the transport path of the container 2. Is provided. In the present embodiment, an ultraviolet germicidal lamp 11 is provided at a position indicated by a phantom line in FIG. 1, and the lower surface of the upper cap disk 7 is irradiated with germicidal light. With the above configuration, by irradiating the germicidal light with the ultraviolet germicidal lamp 11 when the cap disk 7 rotates, almost the entire lower surface of the cap disk 7 is sterilized.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the cap supply means 10 is provided in an intermediate space between the introduction wheel 3 and the discharge wheel 9 instead of the cap supply means 10 provided above the introduction wheel 3, and the introduction wheel 3 and the discharge wheel 9 are provided. The cap 5 is delivered to the capping head 8 passing through the gap. In this case, the cap disk 7 itself is provided so as to avoid the transport path of the container 2, and the ultraviolet germicidal lamp 11 can be provided at any place on the lower surface side thereof, as in the first embodiment. Almost the entire lower surface of the cap disk 7 can be sterilized.

[0017]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained based on the above configuration. (1) The cleanliness of the cap supply means can be improved. (2) Since the cap supply means can be arranged so as to overlap the transport path of the container, the rotary type capper can be made compact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1A. 1B Conveyor 2 Container 3 Introducing wheel 4 Capper 5 Cap 6 Cap supply chute 7 Cap disk 8 Capping head 9 Discharge wheel 10 Cap supply means 11 ‥‥ Irradiation means 12 ‥‥ Rotating shaft 13 ‥‥ Key 14 ‥‥ Key groove 15 ‥‥ Screw shaft 16 ‥‥ Screw hole 17 ‥‥ Holding member 17A ‥‥ Pocket 18 ‥‥ Bearing 19 ‥‥ Support member 20 ‥‥ Transport Guide 21 ‥‥ Mounting member 22 ‥‥ Fixing member 23 ‥‥ Bracket

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A conveying means for rotating and conveying a container, a capping head for moving the container above the conveyed container together with the container and capping the cap held by the container, an introduction wheel for introducing the container to the conveying means, and capping. A cap disk that includes a cap supply unit that supplies a cap to a head, wherein the cap supply unit rotates in a horizontal direction about a rotation axis to rotate and transfer the cap below the capping head; A holding member for holding the cap provided on the disk, and irradiating means for irradiating sterilizing light toward the lower surface of the cap disk avoiding the transport path of the container, and irradiating the sterilizing light when the cap disk rotates. The lower surface of the cap disk. Ping device. 2. The capping apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cap supply means is arranged to supply a cap to a capping head on a container transport path. 3. The capping device according to claim 1, wherein the cap supply unit is disposed so as to overlap above the introduction wheel.