JP2001097440A - Liquid filling container and method for detecting opening seal of liquid filling container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid filling container in which a poor sealed state of a seal member can be discriminated by visual inspection of a mark. SOLUTION: An opening part 11 of a pouring-out element 3 fixed to an opening end of a bag-like container 2 made by a flexible film is seal coupled by a seal member 15 provided with a printing layer 16 containing ink of which color is changed by heat and a mark is formed by a discoloration of the printing layer 16 at the seal segment of the seal member 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid container capable of visually confirming the suitability of a mouth seal and a method for detecting a mouth seal of the liquid container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a liquid filling container for filling acidic beverages and foods, there is provided a bag-like container made of a flexible film, and a take-out device integrally formed with a mouth, a joint, and a shaft. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a liquid filling container having a configuration in which a portion is fixed to an opening end of a bag-shaped container and a cap is screwed to a mouth of an extraction tool.

[0003] In the above liquid-filled container, a bag-like container is formed of a laminated film of polyester film / aluminum foil / nylon film / polyethylene film, an ejection tool is formed of polyethylene resin, and a cap is formed of polyethylene resin.

[0004]

When the above-mentioned liquid-filled container is filled with an acidic beverage or food, the acidic beverage or food is filled into the liquid-filled container by a hot pack (hot filling).
Molds and yeasts contained in acidic drinks and foods are sterilized by heat (90 ° C.) applied during hot pack. Therefore, in a liquid-filled container filled with an acidic beverage or food, the opening end of the mouth is not sealed with a sealing material, and the acidic beverage or food filled in the liquid-filled container is sealed by a packing provided in a cap. Long-term storage is possible.

However, beverages such as coffee and tea or foods such as soups have a neutral content.
When filling such contents into a liquid filling container. Microorganisms and the like contained in the contents cannot be completely sterilized by heat (90 ° C.) applied at the time of hot-packing.
C) to completely sterilize microorganisms contained in the contents.

A liquid-filled container having the property of withstanding high-pressure heat sterilization is a bag-like container formed of a laminated film of a polyester film / aluminum foil / nylon film / polypropylene film, a take-out device formed of polypropylene, and a cap formed of polypropylene. And sealing the open end of the removal tool with a sealing material.

In a liquid-filled container filled with the above-mentioned contents (beverage), the filled beverage is often drunk by directly putting a mouth on the mouth of the dispenser, but since the outside diameter of the mouth is put into the mouth, it is large. However, there is a limit to this, and the inside diameter of the mouth must be large in order to efficiently take out the beverage. Therefore, if both are satisfied, the thickness of the mouth becomes thin, and reducing the thickness of the mouth reduces the sealing area at the opening end of the mouth. For this reason, when the sealing material is sealingly connected to the opening end of the mouth, poor sealing of the sealing material occurs. However, since the opening end of the extraction tool has a small diameter, it is difficult to visually determine the sealing failure due to the sealing material. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and a liquid-filled container and a sealing failure of a sealing material can be identified by visually checking a mark formed on the sealing material. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for detecting a mouth seal of a liquid filling container that can be detected by the amount of reflected light.

[0009]

The liquid-filled container of the present invention is provided with a printing layer having heat-discolorable ink on the surface of a sealing material for sealing the opening end of the mouth, and using the sealing material to open the mouth. By forming a ring-shaped portion in the seal portion when the end is sealed, it is possible to visually determine the seal failure of the seal material.

The method for detecting the mouth seal of a liquid-filled container according to the present invention comprises the steps of: providing a seal material provided with a printed layer having an ink which changes color by heat on the surface thereof in opposition to the seal material of the liquid-filled container provided with the mouth. A sensor is disposed, and the light amount sensor detects the amount of light reflected from the surface including the printing layer of the sealing material, compares the detection signal detected by the light amount sensor with a predetermined light amount setting value, and determines whether or not the sealing of the mouth by the sealing material is appropriate. Is determined, and a seal failure due to the seal material can be detected in conjunction with the sealing of the mouth by the seal material.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a liquid-filled container according to the present invention. The liquid-filled container 1 has a bag-shaped container 2 having an open upper end, and a take-out device 3 fixed to the open end of the bag-shaped container 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bag-shaped container 2 comprises a polyester film 4 having a thickness of 12 μm, an aluminum foil 5 having a thickness of 9 μm, and a stretched nylon film 6 having a thickness of 15 μm.
And a flexible structure made of a laminated film 8 of a polypropylene film 7 having a thickness of 60 μm to 120 μm. This laminated film 8 is an example, and other laminated films can be selected as long as the laminated film 8 has a structure having flexibility and resistance to retort processing temperature.

As shown in FIG. 3, the removal tool 3 has a mouth 11 having a threaded portion 10 on the outer surface, and a joining surface and a lower end 12a extending below the joining surface. And a shaft portion 13 rotatably connected to a lower end portion 12a of the joint portion 12 by a pin means. The shaft portion 13 includes a pin 1 protruding outward in the radial direction at the top.
The seal member 15 is heat-sealed to the upper end of the mouth portion 11.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sealing material 15 is
It comprises a surface printing layer 16, a polyester film 17 having a thickness of 12 to 16 .mu., An aluminum foil 18 having a thickness of 9 to 30 .mu., And a polypropylene film 19 having a thickness of 30 to 40 .mu.m. The ink of the surface printing layer 16 has a property of discoloring by applying heat, and the sealing material 15 is
When heat-sealed to the upper end of the ring, a ring-shaped seal is formed. As the ink for the surface printing layer 16, a soluble azo-based gravure printing ink is preferable. Specifically, when a blue ink and a red ink are mixed and printed in purple, the red ink is discolored by applying heat. In the case of a soluble azo compound having the following formula, red is faded by heat applied at the time of sealing, and the sealing portion turns blue.

The sealing material 15 is punched by a filling device and is heat-sealed to the upper end of the mouth portion 11. The thickness of the sealing material 15 is as thin as about 50 to 86 μm, and the peripheral portion of the sealing material 15 is curled. When the stamped sealing material 15 is placed on the upper end of the mouth portion 11, the sealing material 1
The peripheral portion of 5 may be turned up and overlap the central portion. In this state, if the sealing material 15 is heat-sealed to the upper end of the mouth portion 11, heat during heat sealing is not uniformly applied to the sealing material 15, so that the surface printing layer 1
No ring-shaped part was formed on 6. The sealing material 15 becomes a defective seal. When heat is uniformly applied to the sealing material 15, an annular portion is formed in the sealing portion of the sealing material 15. Thereby, the appropriate seal of the sealing material 15 can be visually recognized.

Next, a method of detecting the mouth seal of the liquid filling container will be described with reference to FIGS. Printing layer 1 having an ink on the surface of which the opening end of mouth 11 is discolored by heat
The liquid filling container 1 sealed with the sealing material 15 provided with 6 is provided, and the light amount sensor 20 is disposed so as to face the sealing material 15 at the opening 11 of the liquid filling container 1. The light intensity sensor 20
It has a function of detecting the amount of light reflected from the surface of the sealing material including the printing layer. The light quantity sensor 20 is connected to the control device 21. The control device 21 compares the detection signal sent from the light quantity sensor 20 with a preset light quantity set value. The light amount setting value is a light amount when the sealing material 15 normally seals the mouth portion 11.

Next, light is applied to the mouth portion 11 to seal the sealing material 1.
5 is received by the light quantity sensor 20. in this case,
If the peripheral portion of the seal member 15 is turned up and is a defective seal of the seal member 15, the light amount received by the light amount sensor 20 is:
The light amount fluctuates from that in the case of the normal sealing material 15. The light quantity received by the light quantity sensor 20 is sent to the control device 21 as a detection signal of the light quantity sensor 20. Since the control device 21 incorporates the light amount of the sealing material when sealing is normally performed as a light amount setting value, the detection signal from the light amount sensor 2 is compared with the light amount setting value, and the detection signal from the light amount sensor 20 is determined. When the value is out of the range of the light amount setting value, a control signal is issued as a seal failure of the mouth, and this is displayed as sound or light, and the inspector recognizes the seal failure of the mouth.

In the above-described embodiment, the seal failure at the mouth is detected by the light amount sensor. However, the light amount sensor is replaced with an optical detection device such as a video camera, and the printed layer of the seal material is replaced. A ring-shaped image formed by discoloration may be projected on a display device by an optical detection device, and this image may be compared with a preset image at the time of proper sealing to determine whether or not the mouth seal is appropriate.

[0019]

As described above, in the liquid-filled container according to the present invention, since the surface of the sealing material that seals the opening end of the mouth is provided with a printing layer having an ink that changes color by heat, the sealing material is used. With the annular seal formed when the opening end of the mouth is sealed, defective sealing of the sealing material can be visually observed.

Further, in the method for detecting the mouth seal of a liquid filling container according to the present invention, a sealing material provided with a printing layer having an ink which changes color by heat on its surface is opposed to the sealing material of the liquid filling container provided with the mouth. A light amount sensor is disposed, and the light amount reflected from the surface including the printing layer of the seal material is detected by the light amount sensor. The detection signal detected by the light amount sensor is compared with a predetermined light amount set value, and the mouth seal is formed by the seal material. Is detected, it is possible to detect a seal failure due to the seal material in conjunction with the sealing of the mouth by the seal material.

The method for detecting the mouth seal of a liquid-filled container according to the present invention is such that a seal material provided with a printed layer having an ink which changes color by heat on its surface is opposed to the seal material of the liquid-filled container provided at the mouth. The camera device detects the image formed by the printed layer of the sealing material by the camera device, compares the detection signal with a preset image, and detects whether the mouth seal is appropriate. In conjunction with the mouth seal, a seal failure due to the sealing material can be detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a liquid-filled container in a partially broken state according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a laminated film for making a bag-like container of a liquid filling container according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an ejection tool for a liquid filling container according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a sealing material of a liquid filling container according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method for detecting a mouth seal of a liquid filling container according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a method for detecting a mouth seal of a liquid filling container according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid filling container 2 Bag-shaped container 3 Extraction tool 11 Mouth 13 Shaft 14 Pin 15 Sealing material 16 Surface printing layer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A bag-like container made of a flexible film, an extraction tool having a mouth and a shaft, and a joint between the mouth and the shaft fixed to an open end of the bag-like container; A liquid-filled container having a sealing material for sealing an open end, wherein a printing layer having an ink that changes color by heat is provided on the surface of the sealing material. 2. The liquid-filled container according to claim 1, wherein the shaft is rotatably connected to the joint by pin means. 3. A light quantity sensor is disposed opposite to a sealing material provided at an opening of the liquid filling container according to claim 1, and the quantity of light reflected from a surface of the sealing material including a printing layer is detected by the light quantity sensor.
A method for detecting a mouth seal of a liquid filling container, comprising comparing the detection signal with a predetermined light amount set value and detecting whether the mouth seal is appropriate. 4. A camera device is disposed opposite to the seal member provided at the mouth of the liquid-filled container according to claim 1, wherein an image formed by a printed layer of the seal member is detected by the camera device, and a detection signal is provided. And detecting whether the mouth seal is appropriate or not by comparing the image with a preset image.