JP3545066B2 - Liquid level control method for tank for liquid food filling device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to a liquid level control method for a liquid food filling device tank used in a liquid food filling device that continuously and automatically fills a liquid packaging container with liquid food.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a liquid food filling apparatus for sequentially filling liquid foods such as juice into a liquid packaging container which is continuously transferred has been developed and used.
[0003]
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a liquid food container is filled with liquid food using a liquid food filling apparatus of this type.
[0004]
In the figure, a large number of liquid packaging containers 200 (position a1) stacked in a magazine (not shown) are taken out one by one (position a2), opened in a square pillar shape (position a3), and sent into the mandrel 201. The bottom surface of the liquid packaging container 200 is heated, folded, and sealed while the mandrel 201 rotates (position a4).
[0005]
Then, a predetermined amount of liquid food is sequentially supplied from the filling tube 123 of the liquid food filling apparatus 100 into the liquid packaging containers 200 which are arranged in a line and transported at a predetermined speed (position a5). Thereafter, although not shown, the upper end of the liquid packaging container 200 is folded and sealed in a roof shape, and the date and the like are printed.
[0006]
Here, FIG. 5 is a partial side sectional view showing the entire configuration of the conventional liquid food filling apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid food filling apparatus 100 includes a liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism 20 for filling a predetermined amount of liquid food into the liquid packaging container 200, and a liquid for supplying the liquid food to the liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism 20. The food filling device tank 30 is provided.
[0007]
Here, the liquid fixed amount filling mechanism 20 has a structure in which a predetermined amount of liquid food is discharged from the nozzle 25 at the lower end of the filling tube 23 every time the rod 22 of the piston mechanism 21 is moved up and down.
[0008]
On the other hand, a pipe 31 for supplying the liquid food is attached to the liquid food filling device tank 30, and an open / close valve 33 for opening and closing the pipe 31 is provided in the pipe 31. Further, inside the tank 30, level sensors 35 and 37 for detecting an upper level a and a lower level b of the liquid level of the liquid food to be filled in the tank 30, respectively, are attached. The control device 40 inputs the detection outputs of the level sensors 35 and 37 and outputs a control signal to the opening / closing valve 33 according to the input signal.
[0009]
When the liquid metering and filling mechanism 20 continues to operate, the level of the liquid food in the tank 30 gradually decreases and falls below the lower level b, and the level sensor 37 detects this and outputs an output signal. Is sent to the control device 40, and the control device 40 outputs a signal to the opening / closing valve 33 to open the valve 331.
[0010]
As a result, the liquid food is supplied from the pipe 31 into the tank 30, so that the liquid level in the tank 30 rises and reaches the upper level a. A signal to close the valve 331 is output to the opening / closing valve 33, and the rise of the liquid level is stopped.
[0011]
That is, the liquid level of the liquid food in the conventional tank 30 is controlled so that the liquid level is always located between the upper level a and the lower level b.
[0012]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, recently, in liquid foods, for example, a mixture of solids in a liquid, such as a juice containing fruit fibers, has appeared. However, in such liquid foods, a stationary state continues for a predetermined time. Then, there is a property that the solids precipitate or float and separate.
[0013]
Therefore, when the liquid food filling apparatus 100 is used for this kind of liquid food, and the liquid food filling apparatus 100 is stopped and a predetermined time has elapsed, the liquid food is separated in the tank 30. . For this reason, at the start of the next production, only the components separated on the bottom side in the tank 30 are filled in the liquid packaging container 200. Therefore, the solid product is not formed between the product at the beginning of production and the subsequent product. There was a problem that the mixing ratio was different and uniformity could not be achieved.
[0014]
For example, specifically, in the case of a juice containing fiber of a certain fruit, when the production stop time is 10 minutes or more, the fruit fiber mixing ratio of about 12 liquid packaging containers 200 at the beginning of subsequent remanufacturing is higher than that of a normal product. There were few.
[0015]
As a method for solving this problem, there is a method in which a stirrer is installed in the tank 30 and the liquid food in the tank 30 is stirred by the stirrer at the start of production. However, there is a problem that the cost for mounting the stirrer is high, the stirrer must be driven every time the production is started, which is troublesome, and that the washing of the stirrer and the like are troublesome.
[0016]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to control the liquid level in a tank even for a liquid food in which a solid is mixed in a liquid such as fruit fiber juice. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid level control method for a liquid food filling apparatus tank, which can easily equalize the solids of the liquid food in the tank at the start of production.
[0017]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention comprises a tank for a liquid food filling apparatus for supplying a liquid food to a liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism for filling a predetermined amount of liquid food into a liquid packaging container, and the tank for the liquid food filling apparatus. The liquid in the liquid food filling device tank controls the liquid food filling device tank level inside the liquid food filling device tank to a predetermined liquid level by opening and closing an open / close valve provided in a pipe for supplying the liquid food to the liquid food filling device tank. In the surface level control method, three types of level sensors for detecting different upper, middle and lower liquid levels are installed in the liquid food filling device tank, and an opening / closing valve is provided when the liquid food filling device is started. By opening it, the liquid level is once raised to the position of the upper level sensor, and thereafter, the liquid level is moved between the position of the middle level sensor and the position of the lower level sensor. Level was the allowed to open and close the opening and closing valve so as to move up and down.
[0018]
[Action]
When starting the liquid food filling device, the open / close valve is opened to raise the liquid level in the liquid food filling device tank once to the upper level, so that a large amount of liquid food is introduced from the pipe into the liquid food filling device tank. Is done. Therefore, the liquid food in the liquid food filling device tank is stirred, and the solids in the liquid food that have settled or floated in the liquid food filling device tank are uniformly mixed. Therefore, the mixing ratio of the solid can be made uniform between the product at the beginning of the production and the subsequent product.
[0019]
【Example】
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a partial side sectional view showing the entire configuration of a liquid food filling apparatus 10 configured by using the present invention.
[0020]
In the liquid food filling apparatus 10 as well, similarly to the liquid food filling apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 5, a liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism 20 for filling a predetermined amount of liquid food into the liquid packaging container 200, and a liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism. A liquid food filling device tank 30 for supplying the liquid food to the apparatus 20 is provided. The same portions as those described in the conventional example of FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.
[0021]
The present invention is different from the conventional example in that the liquid food filling device tank 30 has three types of levels for detecting different liquid levels of an upper level A, a middle level B, and a lower level C. The point is that the sensors 1, 2, 3 are attached, their output signals are input to the control device 40, and the open / close state of the open / close valve 33 is controlled based on the signals as follows.
[0022]
That is, the content of the control is to control the open / close valve 33 so that the liquid level in the tank 30 moves up and down between the middle level B and the lower level C during the operation of the normal liquid food filling apparatus 10.
[0023]
On the other hand, when the liquid food filling apparatus 10 is restarted after being stopped, the opening and closing valve 33 is opened at the same time as the start, and the liquid level in the tank 30 is once increased to the upper level A. As a result, a large amount of liquid food is introduced into the tank 30 from the pipe 31, so that the liquid food in the tank 30 is agitated, and solids such as fruit fibers in the liquid food settled or floated in the tank 30 are removed. Evenly mixed.
[0024]
Thereafter, the normal control method described above, that is, control is performed so that the liquid level moves up and down between the middle level B and the lower level C.
[0025]
By controlling the liquid level as described above, the mixing ratio of the solids can be made uniform between the product at the beginning of the production and the subsequent product.
[0026]
According to the experimental results actually performed by the inventor of the present application, when the liquid food filling apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is stopped for 20 minutes and then restarted using the control method according to the present invention, the product at the start and the subsequent product There was almost no variation in the mixing ratio of solids among the products.
[0027]
Hereinafter, a specific control method of the opening / closing valve 33 will be described.
Here, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the control device 40 that performs control as described above. As shown in the figure, the control device 40 includes a CPU 401 for performing comparison / arithmetic processing, a memory 403 for storing a control program and various data, and an I / O port 405.
[0028]
The control device 40 controls the open / close valve 33 according to the control program stored in the memory 403, for example, as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
[0029]
That is, as shown in FIG. 2, it is first determined whether or not the start / stop switch of the liquid food filling device 10 has been turned on (step 1). When the start / stop switch has been turned on, the level sensor 1 is first turned on, that is, the liquid food is ranked higher. It is determined whether the level has reached the level A (step 2).
[0030]
If the level sensor 1 is not turned on, the open / close valve 33 is opened until the level sensor 1 is turned on (step 3), and liquid food is introduced into the tank 30 shown in FIG. Mix liquid foods and make the distribution of solids uniform.
[0031]
When the level sensor 1 is turned on, the open / close valve 33 is closed (step 4), and normal liquid level control is performed in the following steps.
[0032]
That is, when the level sensor 2 and the level sensor 3 are both turned off, that is, when the liquid level becomes lower than the lower level C, the opening / closing valve 33 is opened (steps 5, 6, 7), and vice versa. When both the level sensor 3 and the level sensor 2 are turned on, that is, when the liquid level becomes equal to or higher than the middle level B, the open / close valve 33 is closed (steps 8, 9, and 10).
[0033]
Steps 5 to 10 are continued until the start / stop switch of the liquid food filling apparatus 10 is turned off. When the start / stop switch is turned off, the process returns to step 1 (step 11), and then the start / stop switch is turned off. Wait for it to be turned on.
[0034]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the liquid level control method for a liquid food filling device tank according to the present invention, a liquid food in which a solid is mixed in a liquid, such as a juice containing fruit fiber, is provided. Also, by simply changing the number of level sensors to three and changing the opening and closing control method of the opening and closing valve by the control device, it is extremely simple and easy to install the liquid food in the tank at the start of production without the need to attach a special device. Has an excellent effect of mixing and homogenizing the solids.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a partial side sectional view showing the entire configuration of a liquid food filling apparatus 10 configured by using the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view showing a flowchart of a control method of an opening / closing valve 33.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control device 40.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which liquid food is filled into a roof-type liquid packaging container 200 using the liquid food filling apparatus 100.
FIG. 5 is a partial side sectional view showing the entire configuration of a conventional liquid food filling apparatus 100.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 2, 3 Level sensor 10 Liquid food filling device 20 Liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism 30 Liquid food filling device tank 31 Pipe 33 Opening / closing valve 40 Control device 200 Liquid packaging container

Claims (1)

A liquid food filling device tank for supplying the liquid food to the liquid fixed quantity filling mechanism for filling the liquid packaging container with the liquid food by a predetermined amount is provided in a pipe for supplying the liquid food to the liquid food filling device tank. A liquid food filling device tank level control method for controlling the liquid food level inside the liquid food filling device tank to a predetermined level by opening and closing the open / close valve,
In the liquid food filling device tank, three types of level sensors for detecting different upper, middle, and lower liquid levels are attached,
When the liquid food filling device is started, the liquid level is once raised to the position of the upper level sensor by opening the open / close valve, and thereafter, between the position of the middle level sensor and the position of the lower level sensor. Opening and closing the opening and closing valve so that the liquid level moves up and down in the step (a).

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