JP2500700B2 - Liquid filling device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid filling device for injecting a liquid content such as liquor, juice, milk into a cylindrical container made of paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above liquid filling device is used as one device constituting a so-called filling and packaging device. The filling and packaging apparatus referred to here is generally the following processing steps, that is, one end of a cylindrical material with both ends open, a so-called sleeve material, is folded, and this portion is sealed to close the container bottom. Forming a container bottom, forming a container having a bottom, that is, a container top temporary folding step of temporarily folding the top opening of the bottomed container, a liquid filling step of injecting a liquid content into the bottomed container, and the contents Container top heating step of heating the top of the container into which the substance is injected to give tackiness to the part, and sealing the top of the container by applying pressure to the top of the container that has become sticky and sealing the top of the container And a stop step.

The liquid filling apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for performing the liquid filling step of the above series of steps. This liquid filling device generally has a filling cylinder device and a filling nozzle arranged so as to communicate with a liquid tank containing a liquid content. This filling cylinder device has a tubular filling cylinder and a filling piston that slides inside the filling cylinder. The suction stroke movement of the filling piston causes the filling tank to fill a certain amount of the content in the liquid tank. By sucking into the cylinder and further moving the discharge stroke of the filling piston, a certain amount of the sucked content is discharged to the outside through the filling nozzle. The discharged fixed amount of content is poured into the inside of the bottomed container placed under the filling nozzle. The reciprocating movement of the filling piston between the suction and discharge strokes is repeated, while the bottomed container is intermittently and continuously conveyed below the filling nozzle. Therefore, the above-mentioned operation of injecting the contents into the container is continuously and automatically performed.

In such a liquid filling apparatus, in order to automatically convey the container, in order to prevent the conveyed container and the filling nozzle arranged above the container from colliding with each other, It is necessary to provide an appropriate space in. However, if such a space is provided, the distance between the content discharge end of the filling nozzle (usually the lower end of the filling nozzle) and the bottom surface of the container becomes too long, and it is discharged from the filling nozzle and injected into the container. The injected contents vigorously hit the bottom surface of the container or the liquid surface of the contents in the container, and as a result, the injected contents bounce up inside the container. When such a content bounces up, there is a problem that the inner surface of the container is contaminated by the content bounced up, or it bounces out of the container and stains the surroundings.

In order to solve such a problem, conventionally, when the contents are discharged from the filling nozzle and the contents are injected into the container, the discharge of the contents from the filling nozzle is started before the start of the contents. Then, once the container is lifted in the direction in which the filling nozzle is arranged (usually upward), discharge of the contents from the filling nozzle is started, and then the container is gradually returned to the original normal conveying height. The action of lowering is often performed. This is intended to prevent the above-mentioned splashing of the content by shortening the distance until the content discharged from the filling nozzle reaches the inner bottom surface of the container or the liquid level of the content in the container.

As a means for moving the container up and down in order to prevent the contents from jumping up, conventionally, a container push-up member is provided below the container transport path, while on the other hand, above the container transport path, that is, near the filling nozzle. Some have a push-down member. In this container elevating / lowering device, the container conveyed below the filling nozzle is lifted in the direction of the filling nozzle by the container pushing member prior to injecting the contents. On the other hand, when the injection of the contents is started, the container is lowered by the container pushing member.

By the way, as a process performed on the liquid filling device, there is a process called CIP (Cleaning In Place) process. This is a process for performing a sterilization cleaning process on the filling pipe system from the liquid tank to the filling nozzle in the liquid filling device. Specifically, the filling nozzle is connected to a liquid discharge pipe for discharging the sterilizing liquid, A work is performed in which a sterilizing liquid is poured from a tank and guided to a filling nozzle, and the sterilizing liquid is recovered to the outside through the liquid discharge pipe.

In the conventional liquid filling device, there is a wide free space around the filling nozzle even when the container elevating device for preventing the contents from jumping up is arranged in the vicinity of the filling nozzle. It was possible to easily perform the operation for connecting the liquid discharge pipe to the filling nozzle for performing the treatment. However, in recent years, for the purpose of completely ensuring the aseptic state of the container containing the content as a product, the entire filling and packaging apparatus is airtightly covered with a closed chamber, and the inside thereof is kept in an aseptic state,
A so-called aseptic filling and packaging apparatus has been developed, which is configured to mold a container, inject contents, and the like. In such an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus, since the filling nozzle is also housed in the closed chamber, the space formed around it is very narrow. As a result, if a container elevating device for preventing the content from jumping up is placed in the narrow space, the container elevating device becomes an obstacle, and a mechanism for connecting the liquid discharge pipe to the filling nozzle during CIP processing is filled. There was a problem that it could not be installed near the nozzle. Therefore, in a conventional liquid filling device, particularly a device used for an aseptic filling and packaging device, a container elevating device for preventing content jumping up and a mechanism for connecting a liquid discharge pipe to a filling nozzle at the time of CIP processing are also installed. However, one of them is selected and stored in the closed chamber.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems in the conventional liquid filling device, and a container elevating device for preventing the contents from jumping up is provided near the filling nozzle. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid filling device that can easily connect a liquid discharge pipe to a filling nozzle during CIP processing even when installed. In particular, in an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus having a structure in which a filling nozzle is housed in a closed chamber, a liquid filling device capable of performing both a container elevating function by a container elevating device and a CIP function performed by connecting a liquid discharge pipe is provided. The purpose is to do.

[0010]

A liquid filling apparatus according to the present invention comprises a filling nozzle (20, 21) for discharging contents.
Container conveying means (container conveying chain 13, conveying piece 14) for conveying the container (15) to a position below the filling nozzle, which is a position where the contents discharged from the filling nozzle are poured.
And a container elevating means (container lifter 87, claw member 83, lift swing arm 90, center rod 81, outer tube 84) for elevating and lowering the container conveyed to the position below the filling nozzle. The container elevating / lowering means has a container pushing-up member (container lifter 87) for pushing up the container from below, and a container pushing-down member (claw member 83) arranged near the filling nozzle. The container pushing-down member pushes down the container once pushed up by the container pushing-up member to the container carrying height carried by the container carrying means. According to the present invention, in the above liquid filling device, a pushing-down member retracting means (C) for retracting and moving the container pushing-down member in a direction away from the filling nozzle.
An IP air cylinder 94) is provided.

[0011]

The bottomed container (15) is filled with the filling nozzle (2) by the container carrying means (the container carrying chain 13, the carrying piece 14).
It is transported to the bottom of 0,21) and stopped temporarily. The stopped container is pushed upward by the container pushing-up member (container lifter 87), that is, toward the filling nozzle. When the container is lifted up to a predetermined position (C1, C2), the filling nozzle starts discharging the content and the content is injected into the container. When the contents start to be injected, the container pushing member (claw member 83) gradually pushes the container to its original height, that is, the height at which it is conveyed by the container conveying means. The above-described container elevating operation prevents the contents from jumping up inside the container. The pushing-up member retreating means (CIP air cylinder 94) is used when the CIP process is performed on the liquid filling device (18). In this case, the container pressing member (claw member 83) is driven by the retracting means (CIP air cylinder 94) and largely retracts in the direction away from the filling nozzle, for example, in the downward direction. By this retreat movement, the vicinity of the filling cylinder is largely opened spatially. The liquid discharge pipe (103) for collecting the sterilizing liquid for CIP treatment is naturally connected to the filling nozzle through the space which is largely opened in this way.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing the liquid filling apparatus according to the present invention, first, a filling and packaging apparatus provided with the liquid filling apparatus, particularly an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus will be briefly described.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the aseptic filling and packaging apparatus as a whole. The aseptic filling and packaging apparatus is roughly divided into a sleeve material sterilizing unit 1, a container bottom forming unit 2, and a molding filling unit 3. Each of these parts is entirely covered with closed chambers 4 and 5 formed of a stainless steel plate or the like, and the inside thereof is kept sterile or sterilized (hereinafter, simply referred to as sterile). There is.

Various methods are conceivable for maintaining the inside of the closed chambers 4 and 5 in a sterile condition.
Disinfectant spray nozzles (not shown) are arranged in various places in the closed chambers 4 and 5, and the disinfectant is sprayed evenly throughout the closed chambers 4 and 5 through these nozzles, and then a blower ( The inside of the closed chambers 4 and 5 is dried by flowing hot dry air into the closed chambers 4 and 5 (not shown). Then, aseptic air is flown into the closed chambers 4 and 5, and the inside of each chamber is maintained at a positive pressure, that is, a state higher than the external pressure by the air flow. By maintaining this positive pressure state, bacteria are prevented from entering the closed chambers 4 and 5, and the inside of each chamber is kept sterile.

The sleeve material sterilization section 1 is a portion for sterilizing the outer and inner surfaces of the sleeve material 6, that is, the cylindrical container material, which is formed of a laminated material mainly composed of paper and has both ends open. Since a specific method for performing this sterilization treatment is already known, detailed description thereof will be omitted. For example, a sleeve material is provided in a sterilization liquid tank (not shown) in which a sterilization liquid such as hydrogen peroxide solution is stored. It is possible to employ a sterilizing treatment in which the whole of 6 is soaked and then hot dry air is blown to perform a drying treatment.

The sleeve material 6 thus sterilized
Is the eight mandrels 7 installed in the container bottom forming part 2.
It is pushed into the outer circumference of one of them and fitted into the outer circumference. Each mandrel 7 rotates intermittently around the center block 8 in the arrow A direction. During this intermittent rotation, the outer open end P of the sleeve member 6 fitted in the one mandrel 7 is sequentially arranged in the first heater 9 and the second heater 1.
It is heated by 0 to give tackiness, and the open end P is folded by the bottom folding device 11, and the folded portion is pressed by the bottom pressing device 12. During this pressing process, the end portions of the sleeve material are adhered to each other by the adhesiveness imparted to the open end portion P of the sleeve material 6 as described above, and the container bottom portion is formed at the end portion.

The bottomed container thus formed is pulled out below the mandrel 7 by a container take-out device (not shown) when the mandrel 7 is rotationally moved to a position facing vertically downward and stopped.

Inside the molding and filling section 3, the mandrel 7
An annular container transport chain 13 is stretched at a lower position of. The transport chain 13 is configured to rotate in the direction of arrow D, and a large number of transport pieces 14 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the transport chain 13 at appropriate intervals slightly wider than the container width. It is installed.

The bottomed container 15 pulled out from the mandrel 7 is sequentially lowered with its bottom face down between the two transport pieces 14 and transported in accordance with the circumferential rotation of the transport chain 13 in the D direction. While being pushed by the piece 14, it is intermittently conveyed linearly in the direction of arrow D. In this case, a transportation rail 16 formed of a plate material having an appropriate width narrower than the width of the container 15 is installed in advance at a position below one side surface on the forward side of the transportation chain 13. The container 15 with a bottom portion, which is transported by the circumferential rotation of the transport chain 13 while being pushed by the transport piece 14, moves with the bottom portion thereof resting on the transport rail 16.

The top of the container 15 thus conveyed is temporarily tentatively folded by the first top breaker 17 having a pair of triangular press pieces. The container 15 whose top is temporarily folded is then sent to the liquid filling device 18. The liquid filling device 18 has a liquid tank 19 in which contents such as sake, juice and milk are stored, a first filling nozzle 20 and a second filling nozzle 21. The container 15 sent to the liquid filling device 18 is filled with the contents in the liquid tank 19 discharged from the filling nozzles 20 and 21.

The container 15 filled with the contents is then
Second top breaker 22 having a pair of triangular press pieces
Secondary temporary folding is performed by the heater 23, and then the top portion of the secondary temporary folding is heated by the heater 23. This heating imparts tackiness to the top of the container. The container 15 after the heat treatment is subjected to folding and pressure treatment by the top press device 24, and as a result, a container 25 containing the content as a product having the top sealed in a mountain shape is manufactured.
The product container 25 is taken out to the outside of the closed chamber 4 through a container taking-out opening 26 provided in the left end portion (front side in the drawing) of the closed chamber 4 in advance.

In the above apparatus, all the devices except the liquid filling device 18 are stored inside the sealed chamber 4 which is kept in a sterile condition. As for the liquid filling device 18, the filling nozzles 20 and 21 are housed in the closed chamber 4. Therefore, all steps from the introduction of the sleeve material 6 to the production of the container 25 containing the product as a product are performed inside the sealed chambers 4 and 5 which are kept in an aseptic state. The inside of 25 is reliably kept sterile.

The liquid filling device 18 will be described in detail below. 1 and 2 both correspond to the case where the liquid filling device 18 is viewed from the direction of arrow I in FIG. 7. FIG.
Particularly shows a mechanism that has a function of injecting the contents of the liquid filling device 18, and FIG. 2 particularly shows a mechanism that has a function of raising and lowering a container described later. Since these figures are all viewed from the same direction from the same direction, they are basically shown as overlapping, but in the present specification,
In order to explain each of the above functions in an easy-to-understand manner, for convenience, parts that perform both functions are shown separately in the two drawings of FIGS. 1 and 2, and members that are unnecessary for explanation are omitted.

Prior to explaining each of the above functions, the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described first. As shown in both figures, the liquid filling device 18 is provided between a base 27, an intermediate machine frame 28, and an upper machine frame 29, which are fixedly installed. The closed chamber 4 for maintaining the aseptic state described above is arranged between the intermediate machine casing 28 and the upper machine casing 29.

First, the structure involved in the content injection process will be described. Above the upper machine casing 29, the filling cylinder 3
There is provided a filling cylinder device 33 constituted by 0 and a discharge cylinder 32 which communicates with the filling cylinder 30 via a communication pipe 31. A content supply pipe 34 that communicates with the liquid tank 19 (FIG. 7) is connected to the upper portion of the filling cylinder 30. Then, below the discharge cylinder 32, the first filling nozzle 20 projecting into the closed chamber 4 is connected. Regarding the filling nozzle,
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 4, in addition to the first filling nozzle 20, a second filling nozzle 21 is installed downstream of the container 15 in the transport direction (D direction). This second filling nozzle 21
Since the structure associated with the first filling nozzle 20 is exactly the same as the structure associated with the first filling nozzle 20, the following description will be given by exemplifying the one associated with the first filling nozzle 20.

In FIG. 1, a valve seat 35 is formed at the center of the filling cylinder 30, and a filling piston 36 is provided inside the cylinder 30 so as to be vertically slidable. As shown in FIG. 3, the compression spring 3 is attached to the valve seat 35.
The suction valve 38 contacts from below under the spring force of 7. The filling piston 36 is fixed to the upper end of a piston rod 39, and the piston rod 39 is attached to the upper machine frame 29.
And extends downward. As shown in FIG. 1, on the intermediate machine frame 28, a filling air cylinder 40 that also has some functions described later is fixedly installed,
The lower end of the piston rod 39 on the filling cylinder 30 side is rotatably connected to the upper end of an actuator rod 41 that penetrates the air cylinder 40 in the axial direction. A piston 42 is fixed to the intermediate portion of the actuator rod 41. The piston 42 is urged upward or downward by sucking or discharging air through the air port 43 or 44 of the filling air cylinder 40.

A bracket 45 extending downward is fixedly attached to the lower surface of the intermediate machine frame 28, and the filling swing arm 46 is supported by the bracket 45. The filling swing arm 46 can freely rotate about a support shaft 47. Filling swing arm 4
A first gear 48 and a feed screw 49 integral with the first gear 48 are attached to the left end portion of 6. The upper end of a moving arm 51 having a screw block 50 that meshes with the feed screw 49 is rotatably connected to the lower end of the actuator rod 41.

A second gear 52 meshing with the first gear 48 is attached to the left end of the filling swing arm 46. The second gear 52 is fixed to the tip (left end) of a drive rod 53 extending in parallel with the filling swing arm 46, and the right end of the drive rod 53 has an output shaft of a servo motor 55 via a coupling 54. Are linked to. The servo motor 55 is fixed to a bracket 56 protruding from the filling swing arm 46 to the rear side in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and is integrated with the filling swing arm 46. Further, the filling swing arm 46 is rotated by an appropriate rotation angle or rotation number at appropriate times based on a command from a control device (not shown).

In the filling swing arm 46, a cam follower as a cam follower is provided at a substantially central position between a screw block 50 which is a connecting point of the moving arm 51 and the filling swing arm 46 and a support shaft 47 which is a swing center. A roller 57 is rotatably provided. Also, under this cam follower 57,
Eccentric disk cam 5 fixed on the axis of rotation drive shaft 58 extending in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing, that is, parallel to the container transport direction.
9 are provided. The cam follower 57 contacts the cam 59 under the pressure applied by the filling air cylinder 40.

In the liquid filling apparatus according to this embodiment,
It is set so that the containers can be filled with different contents, for example, both containers having a capacity of 1000 ml and a capacity of 500 ml. Therefore, another disc cam 60 is provided on the back side of the above-mentioned cam 59 in the plane of the drawing so that the discharge amount of the contents can be changed according to the change in the capacity of the container. The mechanism indicated by reference numeral 61 is a cam follower 57, and hence a filling rocking cylinder 46.
It is a cam switching device for switching the cam for driving the motor between the cam 59 and the cam 60.

Below the right end of the filling swing arm 46,
A stopper mechanism 62 is provided. As shown in FIG. 6, the stopper mechanism 62 is connected to an air cylinder 63 fixed to the base 27 and an output shaft of the air cylinder 63, and is rotatable about a pin 65 of a support block 64. The stopper arm 66 has a stopper arm 66, and a cylindrical stopper 67 integrally provided with the arm at the tip of the stopper arm 66. Air cylinder 63 is off
In the state (when the output shaft is projecting), the projecting member 68 provided integrally with the filling swing arm 46 hits the stopper 67, and the filling swing arm 46 is prevented from swinging further downward. On the other hand, when the air cylinder 63 is in the ON state (when the output shaft is sucked), the stopper arm 66 moves in the direction of arrow B.
Then, the stopper 67 moves out of the swinging range of the filling swinging arm 46. Therefore, the filling swing arm 46 is in a state of being able to swing further downward. This retreat movement of the stopper 67 is not always necessary at the time of injecting the contents, but the sterilizing and cleaning process of the filling pipe system, so-called C
This is an operation required during IP (Cleaning In Place) processing. Details will be described later.

In FIG. 3, a valve seat 69 is provided below the discharge cylinder 32 connected to the filling cylinder 30 via a communication pipe 31, and a filling nozzle 20 is provided below the valve seat 69. The discharge valve 71 is pressed against the valve seat 69 from below under the spring force of the compression spring 70.

In addition, inside the filling cylinder 30,
Around the piston rod 39, an expandable / contractible body that is expandable / contractible in the axial direction of the rod 39 and that hermetically shields the inside and the outside with itself as a boundary, for example, a bellows member 7 made of rubber.
2 are provided. Further, the lower block 73 of the filling cylinder 30 is provided with an air passage 74 that connects the inside of the bellows member 72 and the outside air. The bellows member 72 described above
When the piston rod 39, and hence the filling piston 36, reciprocates in the vertical direction, it expands and contracts following the reciprocal movement. Even during this expansion / contraction operation, the airtight state inside and outside the bellows member 72 is maintained with the bellows member 72 as a boundary. Air passage 74
Is for allowing the bellows member 72 to contract and move in the axial direction so that the internal air escapes to the outside air to smoothly perform the contracting and moving.

The above is a description of the structure of the part relating to the liquid filling device 18 involved in the process of injecting the contents. less than,
The structure of the part related to the container elevating function, which is another function of the liquid filling device 18, will be described.

The container elevating function will be described in detail later, but when the contents are injected into the container by the filling nozzles 20 and 21 (see FIGS. 4 and 7), the injected contents are kept inside the container. To prevent it from bouncing back,
As shown in FIG. 5, the container 15 transported to the bottom of the filling nozzles 20 and 21 is lifted from the normal transport height shown by the solid line to the upper position shown by the chain lines C1 and C2, and each nozzle 2
After the discharge of the contents from 0 and 21 is started, the positions of the containers 15 are gradually lowered. The container lifting height for the first filling nozzle 20 and the container lifting height for the second filling nozzle 21 are not necessarily the same, and the lifting height is appropriately set according to the content discharge amount of each nozzle. However, since there is no difference in the structure itself of the mechanism for lifting the container 15, the following description will be given by taking the container elevating mechanism for the first filling nozzle 20 as an example.

In FIG. 2, on the right end side of the intermediate machine frame 28,
A column structure 80 for raising and lowering the container is fixed. As shown in FIG. 4, the column structure 80 is provided for each of the two filling nozzles 20 and 21. Note that, in FIG. 7, these pillar structures 80 are omitted for convenience.

As shown in FIG. 5, the column structure 80 is a cylindrical center rod 81 that extends vertically through the intermediate machine frame 28, and is fixed to the upper end of the center rod 81 to push down the container. Cap 82 to which claw member 83 is fixed
A cylindrical outer tube 84 extending vertically so as to cover the center rod 81, and a sleeve 85 fixed to the intermediate machine frame 28 while supporting the outer tube 84 slidably in the vertical direction.
And an intermediate lifting member 86 fixed to the upper end of the outer tube 84 and fixed to the container lifter 87. A long groove 88 extending in the vertical direction is provided at the center of the container lifter 87, and the transfer rail 16 for transferring the container is housed in the groove 88.

As shown in FIG. 2, the center rod 81 passes through an air cylinder 89 for raising and lowering the container arranged below the intermediate machine frame 28, and a lift swing arm 90 attached to the base 27. Is rotatably connected to the right end of the. The lift swing arm 90 is rotatable about a support shaft 91 fixed to the left side of the base 27. The upper end of the casing of the air cylinder 89 for raising and lowering the container is fixed to the lower end of an outer pipe 84 that covers the center rod 81, and the air cylinder 89 and the outer pipe 84 move up and down integrally with each other. ing.

In FIG. 2, an eccentric disc cam 92 fixed on the rotary drive shaft 58 is arranged at the swing center of the lift swing arm 90, that is, on the right side of the support shaft 91. A roller 93 as a cam follower is rotatably provided on the front side surface of the lift swing arm 90 so as to hit the cam 92. Further, on the right side of the cam 92, there are provided a CIP air cylinder 94 hanging down from the lower surface of the intermediate machine frame 28 and a cam pressure contact air cylinder 95 fixed to the bottom surface of the CIP air cylinder 94. There is. The cylinder rod 96 of the air cylinder 95 for cam pressure contact is rotatably connected to the lift swing arm 90.

As mentioned above, in the liquid filling apparatus according to this embodiment, different volumes, for example, 1000 ml are used.
It is set so that the contents can be filled in both containers with a capacity of 500 ml. Containers with different capacities have different heights from the bottom to the top. Therefore, when changing the capacity of the container, it is also necessary to change the lifting height of the container during the filling process. In order to make it possible to change the container lifting height, another eccentric disc cam 97 is provided on the back side of the cam 92 in the drawing. A mechanism denoted by reference numeral 98 is a cam switching device for switching a cam for driving the cam follower 93 between the cam 92 and the cam 97.

In FIG. 5, between the cap 82 at the upper end of the center rod 81 and the intermediate elevating member 86 at the upper end of the outer tube 84, it is possible to extend and contract along the axial direction of the center rod 81, and the inside thereof. An elastic body that hermetically shields the outside and the outside, for example, a bellows member 99 is attached. Also,
The sleeve 85 at the position where the above-mentioned closed chamber 4 crosses.
A similar elastic body is also provided between the upper part of the
For example, the bellows member 100 is attached.

In FIG. 2, when the cam 92 or 97 is rotationally driven by the drive shaft 58, the cam follower 93 moves up and down accordingly, and as a result, the lift swing arm 90 swings as indicated by arrow E-E '. Rotate dynamically. At this time, due to the action of the cam pressure contact air cylinder 95, the cam follower 93 is constantly pressed against the cam 92 or 97 from below under a constant pressure, and the cam follower moves accurately following the cam. When the lift swing arm 90 swings as described above, the center rod 81 and the air cylinder 89 connected to the right end of the arm 90 integrally move up and down. During this lifting movement,
At the same time, the intermediate lifting body 86 and the upper end cap 82 simultaneously move up and down, and as a result, the container lifter 87 and the claw member 83 fixed to them move up and down. When the container lifter 87 moves upward,
The container 15 is lifted upward as shown by the chain line C1,
The lower tip of the filling nozzle 20 is inserted into the container 15.

The claw member 83 that has once risen with the rise of the container lifter 87 descends in response to the downward swing (E 'direction) of the lift swing arm 90 (FIG. 2), and is lifted by the container lifter 87. The container 15 is pushed down by the claw member 83, and the bottom of the container 15 is conveyed by the transport rail 16.
It is lowered to the normal conveying height which hits.

As already mentioned briefly, this liquid filling device has a content injection function, a container elevating function and a CIP function. In addition, it has a volume adjustment function related to the content injection function. The content injecting function is a function of injecting sake or other content into the container.
The container elevating function means that the container located under the filling nozzle is temporarily lifted up before the discharge of the contents from the filling nozzle is started, and the contents are discharged from the filling nozzle. By gradually lowering
It is a function of preventing the contents injected into the container from jumping up in the container. The specific gravity of the contents changes when the type of contents injected into the container changes. If the specific gravity of the contents changes or the ambient temperature around the device changes, even if the initial setting conditions of each part of the device are kept constant, the contents injected into the container The contents change subtly. The above-mentioned quantity adjusting function is a function of correcting such a change in the internal volume of the contents and always injecting a desired fixed amount of the contents into the container. The CIP function means that before the contents are stored in the liquid tank 19 (see FIG. 7), the liquid tank 19
The function of sterilizing and cleaning the filling pipe system from the filling nozzles 20 to 21 to the filling nozzles 20 and 21.

The operation of the liquid filling device having the above structure will be described below for each of the above functions.

Content Injection Function In FIG. 7 or 4, the container 15 is a filling nozzle 20.
Alternatively, when it is conveyed to a position below 21 and stopped, the contents are discharged from these filling nozzles and the contents are injected into the container 15. This contents injection processing is executed as follows.

In FIG. 1, the cam 59 or 6 at the bottom of the apparatus
0 is driven by the drive shaft 58 to rotate, and the cam follower 57, which is pressed against the cam 59 and the like with a predetermined pressure by the action of the filling air cylinder 40, moves up and down.
When the cam follower 57 moves up and down, the filling swing arm 4
6 oscillates and rotates about the support shaft 47, and its rotational movement is transmitted to the filling piston 36 via the moving arm 51, the actuator rod 41, and the piston rod 39, and the filling piston 36 moves in the filling cylinder 30. Move up and down. In this case, the filling piston 36 is
As shown in FIG. 5, the reciprocating movement is between the top dead position indicated by the solid line F and the bottom dead position indicated by the broken line G. As described above, in this device, a plurality of types of containers having different capacities, for example, 1000 m
It is possible to inject the contents into containers having two kinds of volumes such as 1 and 500 ml. When changing the container capacity in this way, in FIG. 1, the cam corresponding to the cam follower 57 is switched from the cam 59 to another cam 60 by the cam switching device 61, whereby the top dead position F of the filling piston 36 is changed. The stroke between the bottom dead center position G and the bottom dead position G is changed.

In any of the containers having different capacities, in FIG. 3, while the filling piston 36 moves from the top dead position F to the bottom dead position G, the suction valve 38 moves downward against the spring force of the spring 37. When the liquid tank 19 (FIG. 7) is opened, the contents in the liquid tank 19 (FIG. 7) are sucked into the liquid chamber 30a in the filling cylinder 30 through the contents supply pipe 34. When the filling piston 36 reaches the bottom dead position G and a certain amount of content is sucked into the liquid chamber 30a, the filling piston 3
6 then starts to rise toward the top dead position F. When the filling piston 36 rises, the suction valve 38 moves to the valve seat 35.
The contents in the liquid chamber 30 a are sent to the discharge cylinder 32 via the communication pipe 31. In the discharge cylinder 32, the discharge valve 7 is provided only while the filling piston 36 in the filling cylinder 30 is in the ascending process.
1 is in an open state, and at this time, a certain amount of the content sent from the liquid chamber 30a of the filling cylinder 30 passes through the opened discharge valve 71 and is discharged from the lower end open end of the filling nozzle 20. The discharged contents are injected into the container 15 placed below the filling nozzle 20.

While the above-described content injection process is being performed, as for the stopper mechanism 62 shown in the lower portion of FIG. 1, the stopper 67 swings the filling swing arm 46 downward as shown in FIG. It is set to a position that prevents dynamic rotation. The position at which the swing of the swing arm 46 is stopped by the stopper 67 is set to the filling piston 3 in the filling cylinder 30.
6 corresponds to the position which has reached the top dead position F (FIG. 3),
Therefore, the top dead position F of the filling piston 36 is set to the stopper 67.
It is always held in a fixed position by no variation. As a result, the amount of contents discharged from the filling nozzle 20 is always kept accurately and constantly.

When the swing of the filling swing arm 46 is stopped by the stopper 67, that is, the filling piston 3
When 6 is at the top dead position F (FIG. 3), the piston 42 in the filling air cylinder 40 in FIG. 1 is located at the intermediate position M shown by the solid line, and the auxiliary space is still above it. N is provided. This space N is used when performing CIP processing, and its function will be described later.

As described in FIG. 7, the product container 2
The manufacturing operation of 5 is automatically and continuously performed. However, the various devices that form the filling and packaging apparatus do not always operate normally, and some abnormality may occur. For example, there is a case where the container 15 that should be continuously transported should not be transported for some reason. In such a case, the filling nozzles 20, 2
If the discharge of the contents is continued from 1, the contents will be discharged wastefully and the device will be soiled. Therefore, if some reason occurs that the operation of the filling and packaging apparatus should not be continued, in FIG. 1, air is sent from the lower port 44 of the filling air cylinder 40 to force the piston 42 to the intermediate position. It is held at M, that is, the right end of the filling swing arm 46 is forcibly biased and pressed against the stopper 67. As a result, the swing arm 46 is not swung and rotated, and as a result, the content injection processing by the filling cylinder device 33 is stopped, and wasteful discharge of the content and contamination of the device can be prevented.

In FIG. 3, in the bellows member 72 provided all over the circumference of the piston rod 39, bacteria that enter through the sliding portion between the filling cylinder lower block 73 and the piston rod 39 enter the filling cylinder 30. Is being prevented. As a means for preventing bacteria from entering the inside of the filling cylinder 30, a method called a steam barrier has been often used in the past. The steam barrier method is to form a barrier by spraying steam on the sliding portion between the piston rod 39 and the cylinder lower portion 73, that is, the boundary portion between the inside and the outside of the filling cylinder 30, and the bacteria from the outside are formed by this barrier. Is to prevent the invasion of.

However, in this steam barrier method, the contents of the piston rod 39 are burnt or deformed due to high temperature steam, and the piston rod 3
There was a problem that the vertical sliding movement of 9 became worse. Further, since a device for spraying steam has to be prepared separately, there is a problem that a larger space and a higher cost are required. On the other hand, in the present device using the bellows member 72 as the elastic body,
Without impairing the slidability of the piston rod 39, at a low cost, and without requiring a large space, the invasion of bacteria can be reliably prevented, and the filling cylinder 30
The inside of the can be kept sterile.

Container Elevating Function With the above-described content injection function, the content is injected into the container 15. At this time, before the discharge of the contents from the filling nozzle 20 is started, the cam 92 rotates and the lift swing arm 90 rotates upward as indicated by arrow E in FIG. As a result, both the center rod 81 and the air cylinder 89 for raising and lowering the container integrally move. As the air cylinder 89 rises, the outer tube 84 integrated with the air cylinder 89 also rises in FIG. Since the container lifter 87 is attached to the intermediate elevating member 86 fixed to the upper end of the outer tube 84, the container lifter 87 rises due to the rise of the air cylinder 89, and as a result, the container 15 is indicated by the chain line C1. So that the filling nozzle 20 is lifted to the raised container 15
Inserted in At this time, since the center rod 81 also rises by the same stroke as the air cylinder 89, the pawl member 83 extending from the cap 82 at the upper end of the center rod 81.
Also rises integrally with the container lifter 87 and the container 15 lifted thereby. The discharge of the contents from the filling nozzle 20 is started after the container 15 is lifted to a predetermined height by the container lifter 87. When the discharge of the contents is started, in FIG.
0 rotates downward as indicated by arrow E '. By this downward rotation, the container lifter 87 and the claw member 83 are integrally lowered. By the lowering of the claw member 83, the container 15 is pushed down from above, and the bottom thereof is gradually lowered to the normal carrying height where it hits the upper surface of the carrying rail 16.

As described above, when the content discharged from the filling nozzle 20 is poured into the container 15, the container 15 is temporarily lifted up, and the container 1 is changed over time.
5 gradually descends. By such lifting operation of the container 15, it is possible to prevent the contents discharged from the filling nozzle 20 from vigorously hitting the inner wall of the container and the liquid level of the contents, and as a result, the contents in the container at the time of pouring the contents. The bounce is eliminated, and the inconvenience that the contents bounce out of the container 15 and the container top is soiled by the contents is avoided.

When the capacity of the container 15 is changed, for example, when the capacity of the container is changed from 1000 ml to 500 ml, the height of the container 15 becomes low. In this case,
As indicated by the chain line K, the facility position of the container transport rail 16 is changed upward. With this, even when the height of the container 15 becomes low, the upper end position of the container 15 does not change. In this way, when the facility position of the container transport rail 16 is changed, that is, when the position of the bottom of the container 15 is changed, air is sent into the container elevating air cylinder 89 in FIG. The casing of the air cylinder 89 is appropriately moved upward with respect to the center rod 81 without moving. As a result, in FIG. 5, the outer tube 84 and the intermediate lifting member 86, which are integrated with the casing of the air cylinder 89, move upward relative to the center rod 81. By moving the intermediate lifting member 86, a container lifter 87 integrated with it
Moves until it contacts the bottom of the container 15 placed on the transport rail 16. In this way, the position of the container lifter 87 can be freely changed to a desired position by adapting to various containers having different capacities, that is, different heights.

The bellows members 99 and 100 mounted between the upper end cap 82 and the intermediate elevating member 86 and between the intermediate elevating member 86 and the upper end of the sleeve 85 are the container lifters 8.
When the 7 and the claw member 83 move up and down as described above, they expand and contract following the up and down motion. Even when the center rod 81 and the outer tube 84 reciprocate inside and outside the closed chamber 4 by the bellows member that expands and contracts in this way, the bellows members 99 and 100 maintain the airtight state inside the closed chamber 4. You can

CIP Function This function is executed prior to the content injection function described above, and it is performed from the liquid tank 19 to the filling nozzle 2
It is a function for sterilizing and cleaning the inside of the liquid filling piping system up to zero. This function is achieved as follows.

In the stopper mechanism 62 provided on the right side of the bottom of FIG. 1, the air cylinder 63 is turned on, and the stopper 67 moves in the direction of arrow B in FIG.
The stopper 67 stops releasing the rocking movement of the filling rocking arm 46. At the same time, in the filling air cylinder 40 of FIG. 1, the piston 42 is pushed up to the auxiliary space N which is higher than the intermediate position M. As a result, in FIG. 3, the filling piston 36 in the filling cylinder 30 rises to the CIP position (chain line) Q, which is a position higher than the top dead position F, and stops. When the piston 36 rises to this position, the bottom surface of the piston 36 and the cylinder 3
A gap is formed between the inner wall of 0 and the inner wall. Next, in FIG. 2, the CIP air cylinder 94 hung from the intermediate machine frame 28 is operated, and the lift swing arm 90 is pushed down to the lower position shown by the chain line together with the cam pressure contact air cylinder 95. Then, both the container elevating air cylinder 89 and the center rod 81 are integrated and descend downward by the amount of lowering of the arm 90. This allows the filling nozzle 2
The claw member 83 located on the front surface of 0 (right side surface in FIG. 2) is lowered, and the front surface of the filling nozzle 20 is largely opened.

Although not particularly mentioned in the above description,
As shown in FIG. 2, in front of the filling nozzle 20 (right side of the drawing).
Includes a nozzle adapter 10 which is used especially during CIP processing.
1 is provided. This nozzle adapter 101 is also housed inside the closed chamber 4 and is placed under aseptic conditions. This nozzle adapter 101 is used for the filling nozzle 2
It has a recess 102 having a size into which the lower end of 0 can be inserted, and a liquid discharge pipe 103 extending from the recess 102. Then, the nozzle adapter 101 moves forward to the left in the drawing as indicated by an arrow R, moves to a position below the filling nozzle 20, and further slightly rises from that position as indicated by an arrow T, so that the recess 102 is formed. Can be moved so as to fit into the lower end of the filling nozzle 20. The mechanism for moving the nozzle adapter 101 forward and upward as described above may be configured in any manner, and the description thereof will be omitted. As described above, the lift swing arm 90 is largely lowered by the CIP air cylinder 94, and the front surface of the filling nozzle 20 (the right side surface in FIG. 2).
Is largely opened because when the nozzle adapter 101 is advanced and raised to be connected to the lower end of the filling nozzle 20 as described above, the nozzle adapter 1 is provided due to the presence of the claw member 83.
This is because the movement of 01 is not disturbed. When executing the CIP process, the nozzle adapter 101 is connected to the lower end of the filling nozzle 20 with the front surface of the filling nozzle 20 largely opened as described above. At the time of this CIP processing, of course,
The container 15 has not been conveyed below the filling nozzle 20.

Under the above conditions, the liquid tank 19 (FIG. 7)
Sterilizing solution is poured from. The sterilizing liquid poured in this way is sent into the inside of the filling cylinder 30 via the contents supply pipe 34 in FIG. At this time, intake valve 3
8 is set to an open state in advance, and the sterilizing liquid fed into the liquid chamber 30a passes through the valve 38 of the sterilizing liquid 8 and the filling piston 36 lifted to the upper position Q for the CIP process. It is poured into the lower portion of the cylinder 30 through the space between the inner wall surface of the cylinder and the entire inner surface of the cylinder 30 is sterilized. The sterilizing liquid that has sterilized the inside of the cylinder 30 in this way is discharged to the outside through the drainage pipe 30b provided in the lower portion of the cylinder 30. When the sterilization process is completed, the drainage pipe 30b is shielded from the outside and bacteria are prevented from entering through the portion. When the inside of the filling cylinder 30 is sterilized in this way, the aseptic state inside the filling cylinder 30 is maintained by the bellows member 72 while the above-described content injection process is performed thereafter.

While the sterilizing liquid poured from the liquid tank 19 (FIG. 7) flows down inside the filling cylinder 30 as described above, on the other hand, the sterilizing liquid is also sent to the discharge cylinder 32 via the communication pipe 31. Be done. At this time, the discharge valve 71 in the discharge cylinder 32 has been set to an open state in advance, and the sterilizing liquid poured in has its discharge valve 71.
To flow through the filling nozzle 20 to sterilize the part. As described above, the nozzle adapter 101 (FIG. 2) is connected to the lower open end of the filling nozzle 20 during this CIP process. Therefore, the sterilizing liquid that has flowed down the filling nozzle 20 is discharged to the outside through the recess 102 and the liquid discharge pipe 103 provided in the nozzle adapter 101. In this way, the discharge valve 32 and the filling nozzle 20 are sterilized.

After the CIP processing is completed as described above, the content filling processing already described is executed.

When the capacity of the quantity adjusting function container is changed, in FIG. 1, the cam used for swinging the filling swing arm 46 is changed between the cam 59 and the cam 60. The amount of contents to be poured into the container is changed as described above. Once the cam to be used is decided, the filling cylinder 3
The stroke of the vertical reciprocating movement of the filling piston 36 within 0 is also uniquely determined, so that the amount of the content injected into the container should be kept constant. However, in reality, the injection amount of the contents, that is, the discharge amount of the contents from the filling nozzle 20 slightly changes due to the specific gravity of the contents, a change in the environmental temperature around the filling cylinder device 33, and the like. Is common. In this case, the purpose of the volume adjustment function is to finely adjust the discharge amount of the contents and always keep the discharge amount constant. In order to achieve this function, the following operation is executed.

In FIG. 1, a servo motor 55 arranged below the intermediate machine frame 28 operates based on a command from a controller (not shown), and its output shaft rotates by a predetermined angle or a predetermined number of revolutions. This rotation is due to the drive rod 53,
Feed screw 4 through second gear 52 and first gear 48
9 and the feed screw 49 rotates by the designated angle or number of revolutions. When the feed screw 49 is rotated, the screw block 50 meshing with the feed screw 49 is moved by a desired minute amount in any one of left and right directions in the drawing. By moving the screw block 50 to the left and right, the distance from the pivot shaft 47, that is, the swing center of the filling swing arm 46 to the screw block 50, that is, the lever ratio of the swing lever 46 changes by an arbitrary minute amount. Correspondingly, the stroke of the reciprocating up and down of the filling piston 36 in the filling cylinder 30 also changes by an arbitrary minute amount. In this way, by appropriately rotating the motor 55 and changing the stroke of the filling piston 36 by an arbitrary minute amount, the amount of the content sucked from the liquid tank 19 into the liquid chamber 30a is adjusted, and the filling nozzle 2
Fine adjustment of the amount of the content discharged from 0, that is, the fine adjustment can be performed.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. For example, although the claw member 83 is retracted downward in the embodiment, it may be configured to retract in any other direction.

According to the present invention, the filling nozzle (20, 2)
1) A container pushing member (nail member 8) arranged in the vicinity of
3) is largely retracted from the filling nozzle by the pushing member retracting means (CIP air cylinder 94). Therefore, during the CIP process, the liquid discharge pipe (103) for discharging the sterilizing liquid can be easily connected to the filling nozzle. In particular, even when there is little space around the filling nozzle, such as an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus in which the filling nozzle is stored by the closed chamber (4), the container elevating means (container lifter 87, claw). The member 83, the lift swing arm 90, the center rod 81, the outer tube 84) and the CIP processing means (nozzle adapter 101, liquid discharge tube 103) are stored together in a small closed chamber, and the closed chamber (4) CIP processing can now be executed based on an operation from the outside.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a liquid filling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the liquid filling device seen from another cross section.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing an enlarged main part of the liquid filling device, particularly a filling cylinder device.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the vicinity of a filling nozzle of the filling and packaging device according to the arrow IV in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing in detail a strut structure which is a main part of FIG.

6 is a perspective view showing a stopper mechanism that is a main part of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an entire filling and packaging apparatus in which the liquid filling apparatus according to the present invention is used, particularly an aseptic filling and packaging apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

13 Container Transport Chain 14 Transport Piece 15 Container with Bottom 16 Transport Rails 20, 21 Filling Nozzle 81 Center Rod 82 Top Cap 83 Claw Member 84 Outer Tube 86 Intermediate Elevating Member 87 Container Lifter 89 Container Elevating Air Cylinder 90 Lift Swing Rail 92 , 97
Eccentric disc cam 93 Cam follower 94 CI
Air cylinder for P

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A filling nozzle for discharging contents, a container conveying means for conveying a container to a position below the filling nozzle where the contents discharged from the filling nozzle are poured, and a container to a position below the filling nozzle. A liquid filling device having container elevating means for elevating and lowering the container, wherein the container elevating means is arranged in the vicinity of a container pushing-up member for pushing up the container from below and a filling nozzle, and is pushed up. In a liquid filling device having a container pushing-down member that pushes down a container to a container-conveying height conveyed by the container-conveying means, a pressing-down member retracting means for retracting and moving the container pressing-down member in a direction away from the filling nozzle is provided. Characteristic liquid filling device.