JP2008056282A - Sterilizing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sterilizing apparatus capable of enhancing the maintainability thereof, reducing the size of a shielding wall, and reducing the installation cost. <P>SOLUTION: The sterilizing apparatus 10A has a semi-underground structure, and uneven floors F1 and F2 are formed on both sides thereof. When performing the maintenance of a bottle conveying unit 30, the maintenance work is performed on the floor F1 formed in an underground pit 11. When performing the maintenance or the like of an electron irradiation device 20, the maintenance work is performed on the ground floor F2. The workability and the maintainability are enhanced thereby. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a sterilization apparatus for containers filled with food, beverages, medicines and the like.

  In the filling step of filling a container with a filling such as food, beverage, or pharmaceutical, the container is sterilized prior to filling the container with the filling.

For the sterilization of containers, peracetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and ultraviolet irradiation are often used, but in recent years, sterilization technology by electron beam irradiation which has superior sterilizing power than ultraviolet rays has attracted attention and has been intensively developed.
In the case of using electron beam irradiation, in the mass production process, the container is conveyed in an aligned state at a substantially constant interval, and the electron beam is irradiated while passing through the irradiation region of the electron beam.
As shown in FIG. 8, in the sterilization apparatus 1 using such an electron beam, a transport line 2 that transports the container, and an electron beam irradiation apparatus 3 that irradiates the container on the transport line 2 with an electron beam. In order to prevent leakage of the electron beam irradiated from the electron beam irradiation device 3 and X-rays generated by the electron beam irradiation to the outside, a shielding wall provided to cover the electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation device 3 4.
The conveyance line 2 is provided so as to penetrate the shielding wall 4 through an opening formed in the shielding wall 4. Here, the transfer line 2 ensures workability when an abnormality occurs in the transfer of the container or when an abnormality occurs in the apparatus itself, and a space for the operator to move around the apparatus. Usually, it is set to a height of about 1.5 m from the floor (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 11-1114030 A

However, as described above, when the transport line 2 is installed at a height of about 1.5 m, the electron beam irradiation device 3 provided above the accelerator line 5 is an accelerator 5 that generates an electron beam and an electron beam generated by the accelerator 5. Since the horns 6 formed so as to cover the irradiation area are about 1 to 1.5 mm in height, the installation height is about 2 to 3 m. For this reason, the maintainability of the electron beam irradiation apparatus 3 is very poor. Of course, in order to perform maintenance of the electron beam irradiation apparatus 3, a maintenance passage is installed above the floor surface. However, since the electron beam irradiation apparatus 3 is heavy, the posture of the worker is restricted from the maintenance passage. It is certain that there is room for improvement in workability.
In addition, as the installation height of the electron beam irradiation device 3 increases, the shielding wall 4 must be large. The shielding wall 4 is made of concrete, iron, lead, or a combination thereof. When an electron gun of about 1 MeV is used to ensure X-ray shielding properties, the thickness of the shielding wall reaches 30 cm or more. Therefore, the installation cost of the shielding wall 4 is very high, and this greatly affects the cost of the entire sterilization apparatus.
In addition, the weight of the shielding wall 4 is very large, which ranges from several tens to several hundreds of tons. Therefore, in the place where the sterilizer 1 is installed, it is necessary to construct the foundation 7 with reinforced concrete or the like in order to support the weight of the entire sterilizer 1. Since the foundation 7 also secures a pressure resistance according to the weight of the support, if the shielding wall 4 is increased in size, the foundation 7 is also increased in size, thereby increasing the installation work and increasing the installation cost. Moreover, since the scale of the sterilizer 1 including the foundation 7 is increased thereby, there may be a case where the installation space for the sterilizer 1 cannot be secured.
This invention is made | formed based on such a technical subject, and it aims at providing the sterilizer which can improve the maintainability of a sterilizer. A further object of the present invention is to reduce the size of the shielding wall and reduce its installation cost.

The present invention made for this purpose is a sterilization apparatus for sterilizing a container by irradiating an electron beam, the electron beam irradiation apparatus for irradiating the container with an electron beam, and an electron beam from the electron beam irradiation apparatus In order to block leakage to the outside of the X-ray generated by irradiation of the electron beam and electron beam emitted from the electron beam irradiation device and the container conveyance unit that conveys the container so that the container passes through And a shielding wall provided so as to surround the electron beam irradiation region in the beam irradiation apparatus. And on one side of the container transport direction in the container transport section, it is formed below the ground surface where the sterilizer is installed, and is provided at a height corresponding to one of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport section. The second floor is formed above the ground surface on the other side of the first floor and the container transport direction in the container transport section, and is provided at a height corresponding to the other of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport section. And a floor.
Here, the height corresponding to the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport unit refers to a height at which maintenance of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport unit can be performed on the first floor and the second floor. By doing in this way, maintenance of one of an electron beam irradiation apparatus and a container conveyance part can be performed in a 1st floor, and the other of an electron beam irradiation apparatus and a container conveyance part is performed in a 2nd floor. Maintenance can be performed. Here, it is preferable that the first floor formed below the ground surface forms an underground pit by excavating the ground on which the sterilizer is installed, and is formed at the bottom of the underground pit. As described above, by forming the first floor and the second floor instead of the passage and the scaffolding, the feet are stabilized and the workability is improved when performing maintenance or the like.
Moreover, it becomes possible to suppress the height of a shielding wall by making a sterilizer into a semi-underground structure.
The electron beam irradiation device and the container transport unit may have any configuration and positional relationship, but the electron beam irradiation device is disposed below the container transport unit and installed at a height corresponding to the first floor, If the container transport unit is installed at a height corresponding to the second floor, the electron beam irradiation device composed of heavy objects can be arranged at a low position, and the height of the entire device can be suppressed. .

  By the way, the shielding wall has, on one side in the container transport direction, an openable first opening / closing part formed at a position corresponding to one of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport part, and a container transport direction. On the other side, it is preferable to provide an openable / closable second opening / closing part formed at a position corresponding to the other of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transporting part. Thereby, by opening the first opening and closing part, on the first floor side, one of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport part can be easily maintained, and by opening the second opening and closing part, On the second floor side, the other maintenance of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport unit can be easily performed.

The container transport unit may have any configuration, but the first transport member that holds one end of the container to be sterilized and passes the container through the electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation apparatus, and the container A second conveying member that holds the other end of the container and passes the container through an electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation apparatus, and a delivery mechanism that delivers the container from the first conveying member to the second conveying member It is possible to make it the structure provided with these.
In such a sterilization apparatus, this container is passed through the electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation apparatus in a state where one end of the container to be sterilized is held by the first transport member. Thereby, the other end side of the container is mainly sterilized by the irradiated electron beam. After this sterilization, the container is transferred from the first transfer member to the second transfer member by the transfer mechanism. And the other end side of a container is hold | maintained with a 2nd conveying member, and the inside of the irradiation area | region of the electron beam in an electron beam irradiation apparatus is allowed to pass through this container. Then, one end side of the container is mainly sterilized. By this, one end side and the other end side of the container, that is, when the container is a plastic bottle, for example, the mouth and bottom of the container having a large thickness and a complicated shape are sufficiently sterilized. Is possible.

Here, each of the first transport member and the second transport member has an endless track that is driven to circulate, and a plurality of the first transport member and the second transport member are arranged at equal intervals along the endless track, and one end side or the other end side of the container. It can comprise by what has a holding tool holding.
In this case, the endless track can be constituted by a belt conveyor, a chain, or the like. Moreover, it can also be set as the structure which runs the holder of a bottle along a rail. Also in this case, an endless track can be formed by looping the rail endlessly.

  The first transport member and the second transport member may be provided so that the endless track of the first transport member and the endless track of the second transport member face each other. In that case, the electron beam irradiation to the container by the electron beam irradiation device in the first transport member and the electron beam irradiation to the container by the electron beam irradiation device in the second transport member are the endless track of the first transport member. It is preferable to carry out in the line on the same side of the endless track of the second conveying member.

  According to the present invention, the maintainability of the sterilizer can be enhanced by adopting a structure in which the sterilizer has a semi-underground structure and can be maintained from the first floor and the second floor. Moreover, by using a semi-underground structure, the shielding wall can be downsized and its installation cost can be reduced.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram for illustrating an overall configuration of a sterilizer 10A according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the sterilizer 10A is supported by a foundation 12 formed at the bottom of an underground pit 11 formed by excavating the ground G, and a support member (not shown) on the foundation 12. An electron beam irradiation device 20 that is installed and sterilizes by irradiating the bottle 100 with an electron beam, a bottle conveyance unit (container conveyance unit) 30 that conveys the bottle 100, and a foundation 12, And a shielding wall 40 that covers an irradiation region of the electron beam in the electron beam irradiation device 20 for the bottle 100 being conveyed.

The electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 of the present embodiment includes an electron beam generation source 21, a horn 22, and a controller (not shown).
A so-called electron gun can be used as the electron beam generation source 21. The electron beam generation source 21 generates a beam-shaped electron beam and irradiates the bottle 100 transported by the bottle transport unit 30. At this time, the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is provided with a scanning magnet (not shown). Each of the scanning magnets changes the magnetic field generated according to the applied current, and changes the magnetic field generated by the control of the controller, thereby changing the electron beam generated by the electron beam generation source 21 to a predetermined level. Scan in the direction. Here, it is preferable to scan the electron beam in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the bottle 100.

  The horn 22 has a cylindrical shape whose cross-sectional dimension increases as the distance from the electron beam generation source 21 increases. The horn 22 is provided so as to surround an electron beam irradiation region when the electron beam is scanned by a scanning magnet.

In such a sterilization apparatus 10 </ b> A, the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is disposed above the bottle transport unit 30.
As described above, the sterilizer 10 </ b> A is provided in a state of being supported on the foundation 12 formed at the bottom of the underground pit 11. And as shown in FIG.1 (b) and FIG. 2, 10 A of sterilizers are installed in the state brought close to the one side of the underground pit 11. As a result, the floor (first floor) F1 that forms the bottom surface of the underground pit 11 located below the surface of the ground G, on one side (side) of the bottle transport unit 30 in the transport direction of the bottle 100. Is formed, and the floor (second floor) F2 on the ground G is formed on the other side (side) of the bottle transport unit 30 in the transport direction of the bottle 100.
And the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is installed so that it may become the height of about 1-2 m from the floor F2, so that the maintenance can be performed from the floor F2. Moreover, the bottle conveyance level in the bottle conveyance part 30 located under the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 becomes a level near the floor F2. In the underground pit 11, the height of the bottle conveyance unit 30 from the floor F <b> 1 is, for example, about 1 to 2 m so that the maintenance of the bottle conveyance unit 30 and the handling of the bottle 100 conveyance abnormality and the like can be performed from the floor F <b> 1. It is formed with an appropriate depth.
In the underground pit 11, during normal production operation, a floor surface is formed at the same height as the floor F <b> 2 by a cover 15 such as a plate or grating so that normal work is not hindered.

The bottle transport unit 30 is provided so as to cross the lower part of the electron beam irradiation device 20 so that the bottle 100 is irradiated with the electron beam from the electron beam irradiation device 20 while transporting the bottle 100 in a predetermined direction. To do.
The bottle transport unit 30 includes a bottom guide 30a and side guides 30b provided on both upper sides of the bottom guide 30a, so that the bottle 100 is transported in a predetermined direction while being guided downward and on both sides. It is like that.
Thus, the configuration of the bottle transport unit 30 for transporting the bottle 100 is not intended to be limited in any way in the present invention. For example, while the endless transport belt is circulated and driven in the bottom guide 30a, The bottle 100 is indexed at regular intervals so that the bottle 100 is transported in a state where the bottles 100 are arranged at predetermined intervals on the conveyor belt, and a screw having a spiral guide pipe is provided. Can be used such that the bottle 100 is transported while being slid on the bottom guide 30a. In addition, the bottle transport unit 30 may have any other configuration, for example, the bottle 100 may be transported by blowing air onto the bottle 100, or the bottom guide 30a may be By tilting, the bottle 100 may be moved on the bottom guide 30a by its own weight.

  The shielding wall 40 is provided with a supply port 41 for putting the bottle 100 to be sterilized into the shielding wall 40 and a discharge port 42 for discharging the sterilized bottle 100 out of the shielding wall 40. . The supply port 41 and the discharge port 42 are appropriately provided with a labyrinth structure, an openable / closable shutter, a rotary door, and the like in order to prevent leakage of electron beams and X-rays generated by electron beam irradiation to the outside. preferable.

  Further, an opening / closing door (first opening / closing portion) 43 is formed on the shielding wall 40 on one side of the bottle conveying unit 30 and is aligned with the floor F1. The other side of the bottle conveying unit 30 is on the floor F2. A combined opening / closing door (second opening / closing portion) 44 is formed. The opening and closing door 43 is for opening and closing when the maintenance of the bottle conveyance unit 30 is performed from the floor F1, and the opening and closing door 44 is for opening and closing when the maintenance of the electron beam irradiation device 20 is performed from the floor F2.

  Such a shielding wall 40 is formed of concrete, iron, lead, or a combination of these materials, and has a thickness determined according to acceleration energy in an electron gun used for generating an electron beam, It exhibits the required shielding performance against X-rays generated by electron beam irradiation. However, in the portion of the shielding wall 40 whose outer peripheral side faces the ground G, the shielding performance is lowered compared to the portion whose outer peripheral side faces the room (including the space in the underground pit 11). Is also possible. For this purpose, the combination of the materials constituting the shielding wall 40 may be reduced, or the thickness thereof may be reduced so as to have the same level as the foundation 12. As a result, the material cost required to form the shielding wall 40 can be suppressed. Moreover, since the load supported by the foundation 12 is also reduced, it is possible to reduce the size and thickness of the foundation 12, thereby reducing the installation cost of the foundation 12. Thus, it can be expected to reduce the cost of the entire sterilizer 10A.

  According to such a configuration, when the maintenance of the bottle transport unit 30 is performed, the work can be performed from the floor F1 formed in the underground pit 11, and when performing maintenance of the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20, the ground Since the work can be performed from the floor F <b> 2, the workability is excellent, and even when handling heavy objects, the work can be performed with a stable foot. By forming the uneven floors F1 and F2 in this way, it becomes possible to improve the maintainability of the sterilizer 10A.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a sterilizer 10B according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, components common to the sterilizer 10 </ b> A shown in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.
The sterilization apparatus 10 </ b> B is greatly different in that the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is disposed below the bottle conveyance unit 30. And in the bottle conveyance part 30, it conveys in the state which turned the bottle 100 upside down.
Although there is no intention to limit the configuration of the bottle transport unit 30 in the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. 3B, the bottle 100 is turned upside down on both sides in the transport direction of the bottle 100. A configuration in which a guide member 30a that supports the shoulder portion of the bottle 100 and a guide member 30b that supports the body portion of the bottle 100 are provided, and a spiral screw member 30c is disposed along the guide members 30a and 30b. can do. When the bottle 100 is held by the groove of the screw member 30c and the screw member 30c is rotated by a motor or the like (not shown), the bottle 100 is conveyed along the guide members 30a and 30b while being upside down.

The electron beam irradiation device 20 is installed so as to have a height of about 1 to 2 m from the floor F1, for example, so that the maintenance can be performed from the floor F1 of the underground pit 11. Accordingly, the bottle conveyance level in the bottle conveyance unit 30 located above the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is in the vicinity of the floor F2.
In this case as well, the floor surface of the underground pit 11 is formed at the same height as the floor F2 by a cover 15 such as a plate or grating during normal production operation, so that normal work is not hindered. .

  On the shielding wall 40, an opening / closing door 43 is formed on one side of the bottle transport unit 30 according to the floor F 1, and an opening / closing door 44 is formed on the other side of the bottle transport unit 30 according to the floor F 2. Yes. In the present embodiment, the opening / closing door 43 opens and closes when maintenance of the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is performed from the floor F1, and the opening / closing door 44 opens and closes when maintenance of the bottle transport unit 30 is performed from the floor F2. Because.

Such a shielding wall 40 has a lower shielding performance in a portion where the outer peripheral side faces the ground G than in a portion where the outer peripheral side faces the room (including the space in the underground pit 11). It is also possible. Thereby, compared with 1st embodiment, the area (volume) of the shielding wall 40 which comprises the part which the outer peripheral side faces indoors can be reduced significantly, and the shielding wall 40 is formed. It is possible to reduce the material cost required for the process. Moreover, since the load supported by the foundation 12 is also reduced, it is possible to reduce the size and thickness of the foundation 12, thereby reducing the installation cost of the foundation 12.
Moreover, when the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is arrange | positioned under the bottle conveyance part 30, the height of the shielding wall 40 can be suppressed. For example, if the height of the space required for installation of the electron beam irradiation device 20 is 2 m, in the configuration of the sterilization device 10A in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. Whereas H1 is about 3.5 m, in the configuration of the sterilizer 10B according to the second embodiment, the height H2 of the shielding wall 40 is about 1.5 m.
By suppressing the height of the entire shielding wall 40 in this way, the shielding wall 40 can be reduced in size and the material cost can be greatly reduced. Further, since the shielding wall 40 is reduced in weight, the foundation 12 is further increased. The size can be reduced, and the cost reduction in the sterilization apparatus 10B is very large.

  According to such a configuration, when the maintenance of the bottle transport unit 30 is performed, the work can be performed from the ground floor F2, and when the maintenance of the electron beam irradiation device 20 is performed, the work is formed in the underground pit 11. The work can be performed from the floor F1. By forming the uneven floors F1 and F2 in this way, it becomes possible to improve the maintainability of the sterilizer 10B. In particular, since the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is a heavy object, the heavy object can be reliably handled by arranging the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 below.

  By the way, in each said embodiment, it is also possible for the bottle conveyance part 30 to convey, while rolling the bottle 100 in the state which fell down sideways.

Further, in the sterilization apparatus 10B shown in the second embodiment, the bottle transport unit 30 may be a bottle transport unit (container transport unit) 30S having a configuration as shown in FIG.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the bottle transport unit 30 </ b> S has two sets of chains 31 and 32. The chains 31 and 32 are endless and are circulated by a drive mechanism such as a motor (not shown). These chains 31 and 32 are made into a U-turned track by the sprockets 33 and 34, and one chain 31 and the other chain 32 are positioned in parallel at substantially the same height.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the chains 31 and 32 have a structure in which a plurality of pairs of link plates 50 arranged opposite to each other are connected by a joint pin 51, like a normal chain. The joint pin 51 is a roller. 52, the roller 52 is engaged with the sprockets 33 and 34 shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, every other joint pin 51 is provided so as to protrude from both sides of the pair of link plates 50. A pinion gear 53 is integrally provided at one end of the joint pin 51, and a bottle holder 54 is provided at the other end.

A rack gear 55 that meshes with the pinion gear 53 is at least disposed on the upper line 31U of one chain (first transport member) 31 and the upper line 32U of the other chain (second transport member) 32. In the electron beam irradiation area. Thus, when the chains 31 and 32 are driven to circulate, the pinion gear 53 meshes with the rack gear 55 at the portion where the rack gear 55 is provided, and the pinion gear 53 rotates.
Since the bottle holder 54 is connected to the pinion gear 53 via the joint pin 51, the bottle holder 54 rotates in conjunction with the pinion gear 53.

The bottle holder 54 can hold the mouth part 100 a or the bottom part 100 b of the bottle 100. For this reason, the bottle holder 54 has three or more claw portions 54a, and these claw portions 54a are provided with a spring member such as a spring (not shown) or the elasticity of the claw portion 54a itself. When the bottle is inserted, the bottle 100 can be held. At this time, in order to smoothly perform the operation of inserting and removing the bottle 100 with respect to the bottle holder 54, it is preferable to chamfer the tip on the inner peripheral side of the claw portion 54a. Moreover, it is preferable that the claw portion 54a appropriately sets the insertion depth of the bottle 100 and the elasticity of the spring and the claw portion 54a itself (not shown) so that the held bottle 100 does not fall.
The configuration of the bottle holder 54 is not limited to the configuration described above as long as the bottle 100 can be held on the mouth 100a side or the bottom 100b side, and any other configuration may be used.

Now, as shown in FIG. 4, the bottles 100 are positioned between the chains 31 and 32 in a state where the bottles 100 are held by the bottle holder 54.
And the bottle 100 which should irradiate the electron beam sent from the upstream side is mounted | worn with the bottle holder 54 in the lower line 31L of one chain 31, and the opening part 100a side is hold | maintained. The bottle 100 is conveyed in the circulation drive direction by the chain 31, and is irradiated with an electron beam in the electron beam irradiation region A of the electron beam irradiation device 20 on the bottom line 100L side of the bottle 100 in the lower line 31L. . When the bottle 100 moves to the upper line 31U of one chain 31, it is transferred from one chain 31 to the upper line 32U of the other chain 32, and its bottom 100b is held. Then, the bottle 100 moves to the lower line 32L of the other chain 32 in a state where the bottom 100b side is held by the bottle holder 54, and in the electron beam irradiation region A on the mouth 100a side of the bottle 100. The electron beam irradiation device 20 receives the electron beam irradiation. Thereafter, the bottle 100 irradiated with the electron beam is pulled out from the bottle holder 54 in the lower line 32L of the other chain 32 and is transported to a subsequent process.
The series of operations are continuously performed while the chains 31 and 32 are circulated and driven at a constant speed.

In order to perform the flow as described above, a mechanism for inserting the bottle 100 to be irradiated with the electron beam into the bottle holder 54 of one chain 31, and for transferring the bottle 100 from one chain 31 to the other chain 32. The mechanism for pulling out the bottle 100 after the electron beam irradiation from the bottle holder 54 of the other chain 32 and delivering it to the downstream side of the sterilizer 10B is required.
As these mechanisms, any mechanism may be employed as long as the bottle 100 can be inserted into and removed from the bottle holder 54. For example, there is a mechanism in which the body 100c of the bottle 100 is sandwiched by an openable / closable chuck or a clamper, and the bottle 100 is inserted into and removed from the bottle holder 54 by moving it in the axial direction of the bottle 100. Other than this, any configuration may be used as long as a required function can be achieved.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a bottle delivery mechanism (delivery mechanism) 60 that delivers the bottle 100 from one chain 31 to the other chain 32. The bottle delivery mechanism 60 includes a holder 61 provided to be slidable between one chain 31 and the other chain 32. The holder 61 has a substantially U-shaped receptacle 61 a that holds the body 100 c of the bottle 100 and a mouth holder 61 b that holds the mouth 100 a of the bottle 100. The holder 61 is made to approach the bottle 100 held by the bottle holder 54 of one chain 31 from below, and the barrel 100c of the bottle 100 is held by the receiver 61a, and the mouth holder 61b is attached to the mouth of the bottle 100. When the bottle 100 is slid to the other chain 32 side after being engaged with the portion 100a, the bottle 100 is pulled out from the bottle holder 54 of the one chain 31. Then, after the holder 61 is further slid to the other chain 32 side and the bottom portion 100 b of the bottle is inserted into the bottle holder 54 of the other chain 32, the holder 61 is separated to the lower side of the bottle 100, whereby the bottle 100 The transfer from one chain 31 to the other chain 32 is completed.

Such an operation of the holder 61 is preferably performed in synchronization with and interlocking with the driving speed of the chains 31 and 32. That is, the bottle 100 is delivered by the bottle delivery mechanism 60 while the bottle 100 is being conveyed at a constant speed by the chains 31 and 32 that are circulated. For this reason, the bottle delivery mechanism 60 also includes chains 63 and 64 that are circulated, and a holder 61 is slidably provided along a plate 65 provided between the chains 63 and 64. A cam 66 is provided at a portion where the bottle 100 is transferred, and a cam follower 61 c is formed on the holder 61. When the plate 65 moves at the same speed as the bottle 100 by the circulation drive of the chains 63 and 64 and the cam follower 61c of the holder 61 hits the cam 66, the holder 61 is moved along the cam 66 from the one chain 31 side to the other chain 32. Can be moved to the side.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the holder 61 moves up and down in the sprockets (not shown) at both ends of the chains 31 and 32, as shown in FIG. This may be used, or the holder 61 may be displaced in the vertical direction by a separate sprocket or guide.

  Now, as described above, with the bottle holder 54 of one chain 31 holding the mouth 100a side of the bottle 100, the bottom 100b side of the bottle 100 is irradiated with an electron beam by the electron beam irradiation device 20, and the other With the bottle holder 54 of the chain 32 holding the bottom 100b side of the bottle 100, the electron beam irradiation device 20 irradiates the mouth 100a side with an electron beam. For this reason, in the electron beam irradiation region A of the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20, the chain 31 is located on one side of the irradiation center line of the electron beam, and the chain 32 is located on the other side across the irradiation center line, Each is irradiated with an electron beam.

  Here, in the sterilizer 10B according to the second embodiment, the electron beam irradiation device 20 is disposed below the bottle transport unit 30S. Therefore, the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 is installed so that the maintenance can be performed from the floor F1 of the underground pit 11, and the bottle conveyance unit 30S located above the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20 has a bottle conveyance level of the floor F2. It will be installed in the vicinity.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, a reflection member 25 that reflects the electron beam is provided above the bottle 100 conveyed by the chains 31 and 32 in the electron beam irradiation region A of the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20. Yes. The reflecting member 25 irradiates the reflected electron beam to the bottom 100b of the bottle 100 held by the bottle holder 54 of one chain 31 and the mouth 100a of the bottle 100 held by the bottle holder 54 of the other chain 32. It is formed as follows.
Thereby, the electron beam is directly irradiated on the outer surfaces of the mouth portion 100a, the trunk portion 100c, and the bottom portion 100b of the bottle 100, and is reflected and reflected by the reflecting member 25, and on the inner surfaces of the trunk portion 100c and the bottom portion 100b of the bottle 100. Through the transmission, the inner surface of the mouth portion 100a of the bottle 100 is reflected by the reflecting member 25 and transmitted through the bottle 100 itself.
In this way, the mouth portion 100a of the bottle 100 can be irradiated not only with a strong electron beam but also with a larger amount of electron beams than the body portion 100c and the bottom portion 100b.

  By the way, the electron beam has a parabolic distribution in which the intensity is the strongest in the central portion in the scanning direction of the electron beam. Therefore, when the bottle 100 is held by the bottle holder 54 of one chain 31, the strongest electron beam is irradiated to the bottom 100b of the bottle 100, and the weaker electron beam is irradiated to the body 100c of the bottle 100. Is done. When the bottle 100 is held by the bottle holder 54 of the other chain 32, the mouth 100a of the bottle 100 is irradiated with the strongest electron beam, and the barrel 100c of the bottle 100 is irradiated with a weaker electron beam. . As a result, a single bottle 100 is irradiated with a strong electron beam at the mouth portion 100a and the bottom portion 100b, and a weaker electron beam is irradiated twice at the body portion 100c. As a result, even in the length direction of the bottle 100, the electron beam can be irradiated almost uniformly.

Further, in both the one chain 31 and the other chain 32, the bottle holder 54 rotates in the electron beam irradiation area A due to the engagement of the pinion gear 53 and the rack gear 55, so that the bottle 100 held by the bottle holder 54 rotates. Therefore, the electron beam can be irradiated uniformly over the entire circumference of the bottle 100.
In this way, it becomes possible to irradiate the bottle 100 with an electron beam more uniformly, and in particular, the electron beam is applied to the mouth portion 100a and the bottom portion 100b of the bottle 100 having a complicated shape or a large thickness. Can be sufficiently irradiated, and the bactericidal effect can be enhanced.

By the way, when an electron beam is irradiated in the electron beam irradiation apparatus 20, not only the bottle 100 but also the bottle holder 54 and the chains 31 and 32 are irradiated. Thereby, since the bottle holder 54 and the chains 31 and 32 are heated, it is preferable to include a cooling unit 70 for cooling them as shown in FIG. The cooling unit 70 may have any configuration. For example, the cooling unit 70 is formed in a tunnel shape so as to surround the tracks of the chains 31 and 32, and cool air is applied to the chains 31 and 32 and the bottle holder 54 that pass through the inside. It can be set as the structure which sprays.
Thereby, it can suppress that the chains 31 and 32, the bottle holder 54, etc. which are irradiated with an electron beam repeatedly many times by circulating driving are heated.

  In the bottle transport unit 30S having such a configuration, it is possible to sufficiently irradiate an electron beam to the mouth part 100a and the bottom part 100b of the bottle 100, which has a particularly complicated shape or a large thickness. 100 can be more uniformly irradiated with an electron beam to enhance the bactericidal effect.

By the way, the bottle conveyance part 30S of such a structure can be used also as the bottle conveyance part 30 of 10 A of sterilizers shown in said 1st embodiment by turning upside down.
In addition to this, as long as it does not deviate from the gist of the present invention, the above-described configuration may be appropriately changed, another configuration may be added, or a part of the configuration may be omitted.

It is the front sectional view and side sectional view which show the structure of the sterilizer in 1st embodiment. It is a perspective view of the sterilizer shown in FIG. It is the front sectional view and side sectional view which show the structure of the sterilizer in 2nd embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the other form of a bottle conveyance part. It is a figure which shows the structure for the structure of a chain, and a bottle for rotating. It is a figure which shows the delivery mechanism of a bottle. It is a figure which shows the mode of the delivery of the bottle between a chain and a bottle delivery mechanism. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the conventional sterilizer.

Explanation of symbols

  10A, 10B ... sterilizer, 11 ... underground pit, 12 ... foundation, 20 ... electron beam irradiation device, 30, 30S ... bottle transport section (container transport section), 31 ... chain (first transport member), 32 ... chain (Second conveying member), 40 ... shielding wall, 43 ... opening / closing door (first opening / closing portion), 44 ... opening / closing door (second opening / closing portion), 60 ... bottle delivery mechanism (delivery mechanism), 70 ... cooling Part, 100 ... bottle, 100a ... mouth part, 100b ... bottom part, A ... electron beam irradiation area, F1 ... floor (first floor), F2 ... floor (second floor), G ... ground

Claims (4)

A sterilization device that sterilizes a container by irradiating an electron beam,
An electron beam irradiation device for irradiating the container with an electron beam;
A container transport unit that transports the container so that the container passes through an irradiation region of the electron beam from the electron beam irradiation device;
A shielding wall provided so as to surround an electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation device in order to block leakage of the electron beam irradiated from the electron beam irradiation device and X-ray leakage caused by the electron beam irradiation;
On one side of the container transporting portion in the container transporting direction, it is formed below the ground surface on which the sterilizing device is installed, and has a height corresponding to one of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transporting unit. The first floor provided,
On the other side of the container transporting direction in the container transporting unit, a second side formed above the ground surface and provided at a height corresponding to the other of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transporting unit. And a floor. The electron beam irradiation device is disposed below the container transport unit and installed at a height corresponding to the first floor,
The sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the container transport unit is installed at a height corresponding to the second floor. On the one side in the transport direction of the container on the shielding wall, a first openable / closable part that can be opened and closed formed at a position corresponding to one of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport part,
On the other side in the transport direction of the container, a second openable / closable part formed at a position corresponding to the other of the electron beam irradiation device and the container transport part is provided. The sterilizer according to claim 1 or 2. The container transport section is
A first conveying member that holds one end of the container to be sterilized and allows the container to pass through an electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation apparatus;
Holding the other end of the container, a second transport member that passes the container through the electron beam irradiation region in the electron beam irradiation apparatus;
The sterilizer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a delivery mechanism that delivers the container from the first transport member to the second transport member.

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