JP2008195428A - Sterilizer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sterilizer capable of surely sterilizing a cap by uniformly irradiating it with an electron beam. <P>SOLUTION: When scanning the electron beam and irradiating the cap 200 with the electron beam, an accelerated voltage E for generating an electron beam and scanning locus of the electron beam are changed during one scan. It is preferable to set up rotation speed of the cap 200 so as to make an angle of the cap 200 different per every scan of the electron beam. Thus, a uniformity in irradiation of the cap 200 with the electron beam is improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cap sterilizer for sealing a mouth of a bottle.

  In filling factories that fill bottles with fillings such as drinking water and liquid seasonings, the bottle mouth is sealed with a cap after filling the bottle, but prior to this sealing, the cap is sterilized. Done.

  Hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet irradiation are often used for sterilization of caps, 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 (for example, patent documents) 1 and 2).

JP 2002-205714 A JP 2002-128030 A JP 2003-66198 A JP-A-11-281798

In order to sterilize the cap, it is necessary to irradiate a sufficient amount of electron beams. This is because if the amount of electron beam irradiation is small, sufficient sterilization cannot be performed, and particularly in the case of a plastic cap, excessive irradiation of the electron beam leads to defects such as discoloration and dissolution of the cap.
Further, it is preferable to irradiate the electron beam as uniformly as possible so that the dose of the electron beam does not vary greatly depending on the part of the cap. Therefore, for example, even in the technique described in Patent Document 2, an attempt is made to equalize the electron beam irradiation amount by irradiating the electron beam while rotating the cap. There are still challenges.

As shown in FIG. 10A, when the cap 1 is sterilized, the opening side 1a of the bottomed cylindrical cap 1 is directed toward the electron beam irradiation side so that the inner peripheral surface of the cap 1 is irradiated with the electron beam. ing. For this reason, although the electron beam is often irradiated to the top surface 1b of the cap 1, the electron beam irradiation direction is also coincident with the height direction of the side surface 1c of the cap 1, Sufficient electron beam irradiation is difficult.
Therefore, conventionally, a reflecting plate is provided to reflect the electron beam so that the side surface 1c of the cap 1 is irradiated (see, for example, Patent Document 3), or the inside of the cap 1 by changing the electron beam by a magnetic field. And the like such that the side surface 1c is irradiated with an electron beam (see, for example, Patent Document 4). However, there is still a need for further improvement.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 10B, the sterilization of the cap 1 with an electron beam is performed by passing the cap 1 through this range while scanning the electron beam within a certain range by applying a magnetic field. Do. At this time, when the electron beam is irradiated perpendicularly to the top surface 1b of the cap 1 at the center of the scan range, the side surface 1c is not easily irradiated with the electron beam to the top surface 1b as described above, and the side surface 1c. Since the electron beam is irradiated from the height direction where the cross-sectional dimension is large, the electron beam irradiation amount on the side surface 1c is small. On the other hand, at both ends of the scan range, the electron beam is applied to the cap 1 from an oblique direction. In this case, since the electron beam is irradiated obliquely onto the side surface 1c of the cap 1, the irradiation amount of the electron beam to the side surface 1c of the cap 1 is increased as compared with the conventional case. On the other hand, the top surface 1b of the cap 1 is irradiated with an electron beam from an oblique direction, so that the amount of electron beam irradiation is reduced as compared with the case of irradiation from an orthogonal direction. Thus, since the irradiation state of the electron beam to the cap 1 is different between the end portion and the central portion of the scan range, the uniformity of irradiation is hindered.

  Further, such sterilization with an electron beam is performed not only on the cap 1 but also on a bottle conveyed in parallel therewith. In this case, the electron beam is deflected and applied to the cap 1 by applying a magnetic field only once to a plurality of pulses while irradiating the bottle with an electron beam generated by one electron beam generation source. That is, the electron beam is intermittently applied to the cap 1. For this reason, even if the cap 1 is transported while rotating for uniform electron beam irradiation, depending on the irradiation timing, the direction of the cap is the same every time the electron beam is irradiated. Only one specific part may be repeatedly irradiated with an electron beam, which impairs the uniformity of irradiation.

In addition, in order to improve the throughput of cap sterilization in the sterilization apparatus, a configuration in which the electron beam is irradiated while the caps 1 are conveyed in parallel in a plurality of rows is also conceivable. As shown in FIG. 10C, for example, when the caps 1 are arranged in two rows, the electron beam is irradiated around the middle portion of the two rows of caps 1. Then, in each column, the electron beam irradiation amount is large on the side close to the electron beam irradiation center, and the electron beam irradiation amount is small on the far side, which also impairs the uniformity of irradiation.
As described above, it is difficult to uniformly irradiate the cap 1 with the electron beam, and there is a demand for a technique that can irradiate the electron beam more uniformly than the present situation.
The present invention has been made based on such a technical problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sterilization apparatus that can sterilize a cap reliably by irradiating an electron beam more uniformly.

The sterilization apparatus of the present invention made for such an object is a sterilization apparatus for sterilizing a cap by irradiating the cap of the container with an electron beam, an electron beam generation source for generating an electron beam, and an electron beam generation An electron beam scanning unit that scans an electron beam generated at a source within a predetermined range, a cap transport unit that passes the above range while rotating the cap, and the uniformity of electron beam irradiation on the cap And a controller that varies the acceleration voltage for generating the electron beam at the electron beam generation source while the electron beam scanning unit scans the electron beam within the above range. By varying the acceleration voltage, the electron beam irradiation amount can be varied while the electron beam scans within the above range.
When the electron beam is scanned, the electron beam is irradiated from the direction orthogonal to the cap at the center of the range, whereas the electron beam is irradiated obliquely at both ends of the range. There are many electron beam irradiations on the side surface. The irradiation of the electron beam to the cap is particularly insufficient on the side surface of the cap. In order to compensate for this, the controller preferably increases the acceleration voltage at both ends of the range. Further, in order to balance the irradiation amount between the top surface and the side surface of the cap, it is preferable to reduce the acceleration voltage at the center of the scan range more than before and relatively suppress the irradiation amount on the top surface.

Further, when the acceleration voltage is changed by the controller in this way, the scan locus of the electron beam irradiated within the above range is changed.
When the caps are transported in parallel in a plurality of rows in the cap transport unit, the uniformity of electron beam irradiation with respect to the caps in each row can be improved using the variation in the scan trajectory of the electron beams. This is because when the caps are transported in parallel to a plurality of rows, the electron beam irradiation center is located at the center between the rows, and therefore the electron beam is particularly intensely irradiated inside the rows. Therefore, it is preferable to set the relative positions of the electron beam scanning unit and the cap transporting unit so that the electron beams whose scan trajectory fluctuates are evenly applied to the caps in each column. In this case, the irradiation amount of the electron beam with respect to the cap of each column may be measured with a dosimeter, and the irradiation amount may be set to be uniform between the columns. At this time, the position on the cap conveyance unit side with respect to the electron beam scanning unit may be mechanically set, or the electron beam scan position on the cap conveyance unit side may be changed by changing the deflection angle of the electron beam. good.

By scanning the electron beam intermittently with the electron beam scanning unit, the cap is irradiated with the electron beam a plurality of times while passing through the range. Even if the cap is rotated and conveyed, if the angle of the cap is the same every time the electron beam is scanned, the electron beam is irradiated to the cap from the same direction (angle with respect to the cap center). . Therefore, it is preferable that the cap conveyance unit rotate the cap so that the angle of the cap is different from that at the previous scan every time the electron beam is scanned. In order to further improve the uniformity of irradiation, it is preferable to rotate the cap at an angle as small as possible every time the electron beam is scanned. However, if the rotation angle is too small, it takes time to irradiate. Therefore, the angle is preferably set to 60 to 120 °, preferably around 90 °.
Moreover, since the irradiation direction of the electron beam with respect to a cap differs in the both ends and center part of the said range, especially the irradiation amount of the electron beam with respect to the side surface of a cap differs. In view of this, it is preferable that the cap transport unit rotate the cap at least three times, that is, at least one rotation at both ends and the center of the range while the cap passes through the range.

  In addition, it is preferable to provide a reflecting member that reflects the electron beam that has passed through the cap without being irradiated to the cap side in the vicinity of the cap conveyance unit.

  The present invention is a sterilization apparatus for sterilizing a cap by irradiating the cap of the container with an electron beam, and the electron beam generating source for generating the electron beam and the electron beam generated by the electron beam generating source are predetermined. An electron beam scanning unit that scans within the range, a cap transport unit that passes through the range while rotating the cap, and an electron beam scanning unit that increases the uniformity of electron beam irradiation to the cap While scanning within the range, the acceleration voltage for generating the electron beam at the electron beam generation source, or the current for deflecting the electron beam in the direction perpendicular to the cap transport direction in the cap transport unit, is changed, It is also possible to provide a sterilizing apparatus comprising a controller that varies the scanning trajectory of the electron beam in the electron beam scanning unit. In this case, the scan trajectory can be various, for example, a wave shape in addition to the character shape of “he”.

  The present invention is also a sterilization apparatus for sterilizing a cap by irradiating the cap of the container with an electron beam, wherein an electron beam generating source for generating an electron beam and an electron beam generated by the electron beam generating source are determined in advance. An electron beam scanning unit that scans within the range, and a cap transport unit that passes the range while rotating the cap, and the cap is scanned by intermittently scanning the electron beam with the electron beam scanning unit. The electron beam is irradiated a plurality of times while passing through the above range, and the cap transport unit increases the uniformity of the electron beam irradiation on the cap. It is also possible to provide a sterilizer characterized in that the cap is rotated differently from the above.

  According to the present invention, when scanning and irradiating an electron beam to a cap, fluctuations in acceleration voltage for generating the electron beam, fluctuations in the scanning trajectory of the electron beam, adjustment of the irradiation timing of the electron beam and the rotation angle of the cap The uniformity of the electron beam irradiation to the cap can be improved by installing a reflector or the like. In particular, the acceleration voltage and scan trajectory can be controlled by changing hardware (wiring) or software in the controller. Therefore, there is an advantage that labor and cost are not required as compared to hardware changes of the apparatus.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a schematic configuration of a bottle cap sterilizer 10 according to the present embodiment.
The sterilizer 10 shown in FIG. 1 is provided on the front side of a filling device that fills a bottle 100 with a beverage. The sterilizer 10 includes a bottle transport mechanism 20 that transports the bottle 100, a cap transport mechanism (cap transport unit) 30 that transports the cap 200, and an electron beam irradiation unit that performs sterilization by irradiating an electron beam (electron beam scan). Part) 40.

  Although there is no intention to limit the configuration of the bottle transport mechanism 20 in the present invention, for example, by indexing the bottle 100 on the transport belt 21 at regular intervals while circulatingly driving the endless transport belt 21. A configuration in which the bottle 100 is transported in a state of being arranged on the transport belt 21 at a predetermined interval can be employed. The bottle transport mechanism 20 may have any configuration other than this. Note that the bottle 100 is held on the transport belt 21 with its center axis aligned with the substantially vertical direction.

The electron beam irradiation unit 40 of the present embodiment includes an electron beam generation source 41, a deflection magnet 42, a scanning magnet 43, a horn 44, and a controller 50.
As shown in FIG. 2, the electron beam generation source 41 generates a beam-shaped electron beam and irradiates the bottle 100 transported by the bottle transport mechanism 20 and the cap 200 transported by the cap transport mechanism 30.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the electron beam generation source 41 generates an electron beam with a low-frequency pulse current I1 such as 60 Hz. The generation of the pulse current I1 for driving the electron beam generation source 41 is controlled by the controller 50. A so-called electron gun can be used as such an electron beam generation source 41, and the controller 50 also controls an acceleration voltage for generating an electron beam in the electron beam generation source 41.

  Here, in the following description, in order to facilitate understanding of the description, the bottle 100 in the bottle transport mechanism 20 and the cap transport mechanism 30 and the transport direction of the cap 200 are orthogonal to the X axis and the X axis, and the bottle in the electron beam generation source 41. The electron beam irradiation direction with respect to 100 is defined as the Z axis, and the X axis and the direction orthogonal to the Z axis are defined as the Y axis.

Each of the deflection magnet 42 and the scanning magnet 43 has a magnetic field generated in accordance with an applied current.
The deflection magnet 42 is provided so as to surround the electron beam irradiated from the electron beam generation source 41, and is arranged to deflect the electron beam around the X axis by a predetermined angle by the generated magnetic field. The deflection magnet 42 is controlled by the controller 50 in synchronism with a pulse current I1 that generates an electron beam from the electron beam generation source 41, and is output every time a predetermined number of pulses are output by the pulse current I1. A strong current I2 is output. The deflecting magnet 42 generates a magnetic field by the output current I2, and deflects the electron beam by this magnetic field. When the magnetic field is not generated by the deflecting magnet 42, the electron beam is applied to the bottle 100 on the bottle transport mechanism 20, and when the magnetic field is generated by the deflecting magnet 42, the electron beam is deflected and the cap transport mechanism 30 is The cap 200 is irradiated.

The scanning magnet 43 is arranged immediately below the deflection magnet 42 so as to surround both the path of the electron beam when the deflection magnet 42 is not deflecting and the path of the electron beam when the deflection is performed. Is provided.
Under the control of the controller 50, a current I3 whose intensity continuously changes with a constant change width is applied to the scanning magnet 43 for each pulse of the pulse current I1 generated by the electron beam generation source 41. The Thus, when the current I3 applied to the scanning magnet 43 changes within a certain time (a time corresponding to one pulse of the pulse current I1), the magnetic field strength generated by the scanning magnet 43 changes. As a result, the deflection amount of the electron beam, that is, the deflection angle of the electron beam continuously changes, and the electron beam scans within a certain range (a certain angle). The scanning magnet 43 is arranged so that the scanning direction of the electron beam at this time coincides with the X-axis direction.
Although there is no intention to limit the change width of the current I3, the current intensity at the start of the change, and the current intensity at the end of the change, the electron beam is initially irradiated in the Z-axis direction. It is preferable to adjust the magnetic field intensity at the start of the change and the magnetic field intensity at the end of the change so that the absolute values are equal to each other so that the scan is performed at an equal angle.
As described above, the electron beam scan performed by the current I3 is performed for each pulse of the pulse current I1 that generates the electron beam by the electron beam generation source 41. That is, not only when the electron beam is irradiated toward the bottle 100 on the bottle transport mechanism 20, but also with the deflection magnet 42 once every several pulses, the electron beam is directed toward the cap 200 on the cap transport mechanism 30. Even when the light is deflected and irradiated, scanning with a constant width of the electron beam is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the horn 44 is provided so as to surround the irradiation range of the electron beam when the deflection by the deflection magnet 42 and the scan by the scan magnet 43 are performed as described above. Accordingly, when the horn 44 is viewed from the side in the X-axis direction, the horn 44 is formed to branch from the first horn portion 44a and the first horn portion 44a extending substantially vertically downward toward the bottle transport mechanism 20, The first horn portion 44a and the second horn portion 44b are viewed from the Y-axis direction as shown in FIG. 1. Sometimes, the width gradually increases as it goes downward from the deflecting magnet 42 and the scanning magnet 43.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the cap transport mechanism 30 transports the caps 200 arranged in two rows, for example. The cap transport mechanism 30 is provided so that two screw members 31 </ b> A and 31 </ b> B are arranged in parallel to each other with a space therebetween and come into contact with the top surface 200 a of the cap 200. Guide members 32, 33, and 34 are provided between both sides of the two rows of caps 200 positioned on the screw members 31 </ b> A and 31 </ b> B and between the two rows of caps 200.

In the guide members 32 and 33 located on both sides, rack gear teeth are continuously formed on the guide surfaces 32a and 33a facing the side surface 200b of the cap 200 on the screw members 31A and 31B.
Then, the movement of the cap 200 to the side is restricted by the guide members 32, 33, and 34 while the cap 200 is housed in the spiral groove 31 a formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the screw members 31 </ b> A and 31 </ b> B. The When the screw members 31A and 31B are rotated and driven by a motor or the like (not shown) in this state, the cap 200 is conveyed in a direction along the guide members 32, 33, and 34. At this time, the screw members 31A and 31B are formed so that the winding direction of the groove 31a is different between the one screw member 31A and the other screw member 31B, and is further rotationally driven in different directions by a motor (not shown), The cap 200 is pressed against the guide members 32 and 33 on both sides on the upper surface side of the screw members 31A and 31B. Since the guide members 32 and 33 have rack gear teeth formed on the guide surfaces 32a and 33a as described above, the cap 200 pressed against the guide members 32 and 33 has a groove formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof. Meshes with the teeth of the guide members 32 and 33, the friction between the guide members 32 and 33 is increased, and the cap 200 is conveyed while being reliably rotated.
The cap transport mechanism 30 may have any configuration other than the above as long as the cap 200 can be transported while being reliably rotated. Of course, the configuration is not limited to the configuration in which the caps 200 are transported in two rows in parallel, and a configuration in which only one row or three or more rows are transported in parallel is also possible.

  In the sterilization apparatus 10, the electron beam irradiation unit 40 scans the electron beam at a certain level by the control of the controller 50 with respect to the cap 200 that is conveyed while being rotated along the guide members 32 and 33 by the cap conveyance mechanism 30. By scanning and irradiating within the region, the entire cap 200 is uniformly irradiated with an electron beam and sterilized. Here, in the controller 50, in order to further improve the uniformity of the electron beam irradiation to the cap 200, it is preferable to adopt the following configuration.

  As described above, the controller 50 controls the acceleration voltage for generating the electron beam in the electron beam generation source 41 together with the pulse current I1 for driving the electron beam generation source 41. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the controller 50 varies the acceleration voltage E while the electron beam generation source 41 irradiates the cap 200 once with the pulse current I1. Specifically, the acceleration voltage E is increased as it approaches the both ends P1, P2 of the electron beam scan range in FIG. 1, and the acceleration voltage E is decreased as it approaches the center P3 of the scan range. Therefore, the acceleration voltage E is continuously changed to a substantially V shape (or a substantially U shape).

As a result, at both ends P1 and P2 of the scan range, the acceleration voltage E is higher than that at the central portion P3, so that the amount of electron beam irradiation is higher than that at the central portion P3. As described above, the cap 200 is irradiated with the electron beam from the direction substantially orthogonal to the inner side of the top surface 200a at the center portion P3 of the scan range. When the amount of electron beam irradiation on the side surface 200b is L2,
L1> L2
It becomes. On the other hand, since both ends P1 and P2 of the scanning range are irradiated with an electron beam obliquely with respect to the cap 200, the irradiation amount L3 of the electron beam is reduced on the top surface 200a here,
L3 <L1
It becomes. On the other hand, on the side surface 200b, the electron beam dose L4 increases,
L4> L2
It becomes. In addition, since the acceleration voltage E increases at both ends P1, P2, the electron beam dose L4 is further increased as compared with the case where the acceleration voltage E is kept constant. That is, in the entire scanning range, the electron beam irradiation amount on the side surface 200b of the cap 200 increases, and the side surface 200b can be sterilized reliably.
At this time, the acceleration voltage E at the central portion P3 is set to be lower than the voltage value when the conventional constant voltage is applied (indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5). The amount of electron beam irradiation with respect to the surface 200a can be suppressed, and the amount of irradiation with the side surface 200b can be easily balanced.

  Further, when the acceleration voltage E is changed as described above, as shown in FIG. 6, the scan trajectory S of the electron beam in the scan range is substantially “to” when the cap transport mechanism 30 is viewed from the electron beam irradiation direction. "". This is because when the electron beam is irradiated onto the cap 200, a magnetic field is generated in the deflecting magnet 42 to deflect the electron beam. However, if the magnetic field strength is constant (that is, the current value of the pulse current I1 is constant), acceleration is performed. This is because the higher the voltage E, the more difficult the electron beam is deflected, and the lower the acceleration voltage E, the easier the electron beam is deflected. That is, the deflection amount is small at both ends P1 and P2 of the scan range where the acceleration voltage E is high, the electron beam irradiation position approaches the bottle transport mechanism 20 side, and the deflection is performed at the center portion P3 of the scan range where the acceleration voltage E is low. The amount of the electron beam irradiation position is far from the bottle transport mechanism 20.

  As a result, in the cap transport mechanism 30 that transports the cap 200 in two rows, the deflection angle of the electron beam can be varied in each of the one row and the other row of the cap 200. Conventionally, the electron beam is irradiated toward the center of the two rows. In each row, the amount of electron beam irradiation is large on the inner side of the row (side closer to the guide member 34), and the outer side of the row. Then, the amount of irradiation decreases. On the other hand, by changing the deflection angle of the electron beam by changing the acceleration voltage E as described above, it is possible to irradiate the electron beam toward the center of the cap 200 of each column during one scan. It becomes. Thereby, it is possible to make the electron beam irradiation uniform on the cap 200 in each row.

  When the scanning trajectory S of the electron beam is substantially "", the electron beam is deflected to one column side at both ends P1 and P2 of the scan range, and to the other column side at the central portion P3. The electron beam is deflected. At this time, the time zone in which the electron beam is irradiated in a concentrated manner is different between one column and the other column, and it is also conceivable that there is a difference in the total amount of electron beam irradiation to the cap 200 between the two columns. . In this case, the scan trajectory S may be offset by raising or lowering the acceleration voltage E as a whole, or the carrying row in the cap carrying mechanism 30 may be offset to one row side or the other row side. Anyway. This makes it possible to equalize the irradiation amount on the cap 200 between the two rows.

It can be said that the electron beam irradiation trajectory can be controlled by varying the acceleration voltage E as described above. Therefore, the trajectory is not limited to the “he” -shaped trajectory as described above, for example, a scan trajectory S that draws a waveform while scanning, a scan trajectory S that crosses the cap 200 obliquely in the conveyance direction, or the like. It is also possible.
Further, from the viewpoint of equalizing the irradiation amount in each row transported in a plurality of rows, not the acceleration voltage E but the intensity of the current I2 flowing for deflecting the electron beam in the deflection magnet 42 is 1 It may be controlled by the controller 50 so as to fluctuate between the scans. This also makes it possible to control the electron beam irradiation trajectory in the same manner as described above. In this case, the present invention allows the acceleration voltage E to be constant. However, it is preferable to vary the acceleration voltage E as shown in FIG. 5 from the viewpoint of uniformizing the electron beam irradiation amount on the cap 200.

  Further, for example, when the cap 200 is transported in a single row, the electron beam is controlled while controlling the irradiation amount of the electron beam at both ends P1, P2 and the central portion P3 of the scan range by changing the acceleration voltage E. When the linear scan locus S is desired without changing the deflection angle, the current I2 for deflection may be changed in conjunction with the change in the acceleration voltage E.

By the way, the scanning irradiation of the electron beam to the cap 200 is performed by deflecting the electron beam once every several pulses of the pulse current I1, as shown in FIG. Accordingly, the cap 200 is intermittently irradiated with an electron beam.
Since the cap 200 is conveyed while being rotated by the cap conveying mechanism 30, if the rotation of the cap 200 and the irradiation timing of the electron beam are synchronized, the cap 200 is in the same direction every time the electron beam is irradiated. Thus, the electron beam is irradiated from the same direction (angle direction with respect to the center of the cap 200). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the transport speed of the cap 200 (the rotational speed of the cap 200) in the cap transport mechanism 30 is adjusted so that the direction of the cap 200 is different every time the electron beam is irradiated intermittently. Is preferred. For example, the transport speed of the cap 200 is set so that the cap 200 rotates 90 ° or 120 ° each time the electron beam is deflected and irradiated. By doing in this way, an electron beam is irradiated with respect to the cap 200 from the perimeter direction, and uniform irradiation can be performed. In FIG. 7, each cap 200 has a black portion, which is a mark for indicating that the cap 200 is rotating. In the actual cap 200, such a mark is not shown. It is unnecessary.

Further, as described above, the irradiation angle of the electron beam with respect to the cap 200 is different between both end portions P1 and P2 and the central portion P3 of the scan range. Therefore, the cap 200 is transported by the cap transport mechanism 30 so that the cap 200 rotates at least once, that is, the cap 200 rotates three times while passing through the scan range, in the respective regions of both end portions P1, P2 and the central portion P3. It is preferable to do this.
Also by this, the uniformity of the electron beam irradiation to the cap 200 can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a reflection plate 60 is provided so as to surround the lower side of the cap transport mechanism 30, and the electron beam that has passed without hitting the cap 200 or the cap transport mechanism 30 is reflected to irradiate the cap 200. Can do. As a result, it is possible to irradiate an electron beam from the outer peripheral surface side of the cap 200, which also contributes to improving the uniformity of the electron beam irradiation. Of course, the irradiated electron beam can be used effectively, and the outside of the apparatus can be prevented from being irradiated with the electron beam, so that the outside of the apparatus can be avoided from being heated by the electron beam.
Further, as shown in FIG. 9, when the scanning locus S of the electron beam has a substantially “h” shape, the reflector 60 is also formed in a substantially “h” shape in plan view accordingly. Is preferred.

In this way, fluctuations in the acceleration voltage for generating an electron beam for scanning irradiation to the cap 200, fluctuations in the scanning trajectory S of the electron beam, adjustment of the irradiation timing of the electron beam and the rotation angle of the cap 200, the reflection plate 60 By performing installation or the like, the uniformity of electron beam irradiation on the cap 200 can be improved.
In particular, control of the acceleration voltage and scan trajectory S requires only changes in hardware (wiring) and adjustment of software contents in the controller 50, so that it does not take time and cost compared to structural changes in the apparatus. There are also benefits.

In the above embodiment, the sterilization state of the cap 200 has been described. However, it is preferable to perform the same monitoring for the bottle 100 as well.
Moreover, although the structure of the sterilizer 10 has been described, there is no problem even if any structure is changed, added, or deleted within the scope of the gist of the present invention.
In addition to this, as long as it does not depart from the gist of the present invention, the configuration described in the above embodiment can be selected or changed to another configuration as appropriate.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the sterilizer in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of an electron beam irradiation part. It is a figure which shows the example of the control current in an electron beam irradiation part. It is a figure which shows an example of a cap conveyance mechanism. It is a figure which shows the example which changed the acceleration voltage. It is a figure which shows the fluctuation | variation of the scanning locus | trajectory of an electron beam. It is a figure which shows that a cap is rotating whenever it irradiates an electron beam. It is a figure which shows the electron beam irradiation part which provided the reflecting plate. It is an example at the time of making a reflecting plate into the shape according to the scanning locus | trajectory of an electron beam. It is a figure which shows the irradiation state of the electron beam with respect to the conventional cap.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Sterilizer, 20 ... Bottle conveyance mechanism, 30 ... Cap conveyance mechanism (cap conveyance part), 40 ... Electron beam irradiation part (electron beam scanning part), 41 ... Electron beam generation source, 42 ... Deflection magnet, 43 ... Scanning magnet, 50 ... controller, 60 ... reflector, 100 ... bottle, 200 ... cap

Claims (9)

A sterilizer for sterilizing the cap by irradiating the cap of the container with an electron beam,
An electron beam generation source for generating the electron beam;
An electron beam scanning unit that scans the electron beam generated by the electron beam generation source within a predetermined range;
A cap transport section that passes through the range while rotating the cap;
Acceleration for generating the electron beam at the electron beam generation source while the electron beam scanning unit scans the electron beam within the range in order to improve the uniformity of irradiation of the electron beam to the cap. A sterilizer comprising: a controller that varies the voltage.   The sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the controller increases the acceleration voltage at both ends of the range.   The sterilization apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a scan locus of the electron beam irradiated within the range is changed by changing the acceleration voltage by the controller. The cap transport unit transports the caps in parallel to a plurality of rows,
The relative position between the electron beam scanning unit and the cap transporting unit is set so that the electron beam whose scanning trajectory fluctuates is evenly applied to the caps in each row. 3. The sterilizer according to 3. By scanning the electron beam intermittently with the electron beam scanning unit, the cap is irradiated with the electron beam multiple times while passing through the range,
The said cap conveyance part rotates the said cap so that the angle of the said cap may differ from the time of the last scan whenever the said electron beam is scanned, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Sterilizer.   The sterilization apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the cap transporting unit rotates the cap at least three times while the cap passes through the range.   The reflection member which reflects the said electron beam which passed without being irradiated to the said cap to the said cap side in the vicinity of the said cap conveyance part is provided. Sterilizer. A sterilizer for sterilizing the cap by irradiating the cap of the container with an electron beam,
An electron beam generation source for generating the electron beam;
An electron beam scanning unit that scans the electron beam generated by the electron beam generation source within a predetermined range;
A cap transport section that passes through the range while rotating the cap;
Acceleration for generating the electron beam at the electron beam generation source while the electron beam scanning unit scans the electron beam within the range in order to improve the uniformity of irradiation of the electron beam to the cap. A controller that varies a voltage or a current for deflecting the electron beam in a direction orthogonal to the cap conveyance direction in the cap conveyance unit, and varies a scan locus of the electron beam in the electron beam scanning unit. A sterilizer characterized by comprising. A sterilizer for sterilizing the cap by irradiating the cap of the container with an electron beam,
An electron beam generation source for generating the electron beam;
An electron beam scanning unit that scans the electron beam generated by the electron beam generation source within a predetermined range;
A cap transport unit that passes through the range while rotating the cap, and
By scanning the electron beam intermittently with the electron beam scanning unit, the cap is irradiated with the electron beam multiple times while passing through the range,
The cap transport unit rotates the cap so that the angle of the cap is different from that at the previous scan every time the electron beam is scanned in order to improve the uniformity of irradiation of the electron beam to the cap. A sterilizer characterized by.

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