JP4699890B2 - Packaging equipment and transport equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a packaging facility for filling a container with a beverage and packaging the container, and a transport apparatus suitable for the packaging facility.

In the beverage filling process, there is a method of filling a container in a heated state for sterilization. Conventionally, in a facility for filling a container with a heated beverage, the container is cooled with a cooling device for several tens of minutes to an hour after filling, and then sent to a subsequent device such as a shrink wrapping device or a caser. It was.
JP 2002-337988 A

  However, in the facilities as described above, a large cooling device is required so that the throughput is not reduced due to the residence time in the cooling device, and considerable labor is required for maintenance and purification of such a cooling device. . Further, a large amount of water droplets adhering to the container in the cooling device is sent to the subsequent apparatus while adhering to the container. Even when the container discharged from the cooling device is packaged by the shrink wrapping device, the water droplet is not removed only by passing through the heat tunnel (heater) of the shrink wrapping device, and the water droplet can be brought into the caser. Moreover, when covering a shrink film on a container in a shrink wrapping apparatus, water may be pinched | interposed between a container and a shrink film.

  On the other hand, when using a container that is sealed by melting the sealing material by heating, if the melted sealing material is transported to a subsequent device without being cured, the sealing portion is peeled off by heat and causes a defective product. sell.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of recognition of the above-mentioned problems. For example, the container is prevented from being transported with water droplets attached thereto, or a large-sized cooling device for obtaining high throughput is not required. The purpose is to do.

  A first aspect of the present invention relates to a packaging facility for filling a container with a beverage and packaging the container. The packaging facility includes a filling device for filling the container with a heated beverage, and a sealing material for a seal portion of the container. A sealing device that cools and solidifies by sandwiching a seal portion between cooling members after heating and melting, a caser that wraps a container, and a transport device that transports the container from the filling device to the caser via the sealing device The container is maintained in a room temperature environment in a path until the container that has been filled by the filling device is supplied to the caser.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, for example, the cooling member is cooled to a temperature lower than room temperature to cause condensation, thereby allowing water droplets to adhere to the container.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the temperature of the beverage filled in the container by the filling device is provided to the caser without lowering by 10 ° C. or more.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the cooling time of the sealing portion of one container by the cooling member is a time within a range of 0.2 to 5 seconds.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the packaging facility is disposed between the sealing device and the caser on a path until a container that has been filled by the filling device is supplied to the caser. The apparatus may further comprise a shrink wrapping device. The shrink wrapping device preferably shrinks the shrink film by heat after the shrink film is put on the container.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transport device includes a conveyor that transports containers, a pair of guides that guide both sides of the containers on the conveyor, a detection unit that detects the width of the containers, It is preferable to include an adjustment mechanism that adjusts an interval between the pair of guides according to a detection result by the detection unit.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the detection unit preferably includes an optical sensor that optically detects the width of the container.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the detection unit preferably includes a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the container and a conversion unit that converts the temperature measured by the temperature sensor into a width of the container.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the container may include a paper pack, for example.

  A second aspect of the present invention relates to a transport device, wherein the transport device is a conveyor that transports containers, a pair of guides that guide both sides of the containers on the conveyor, and a detection unit that detects the width of the containers. And an adjustment mechanism that adjusts an interval between the pair of guides according to a detection result by the detection unit.

  According to the present invention, for example, the container is prevented from being transported with water droplets attached thereto, or a large cooling device for obtaining high throughput is not required.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a packaging facility according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The packaging facility 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is configured to fill a container with a beverage and package the container. The packaging facility 100 includes, for example, a filling device 10 that fills a container with a beverage, a sealing device 20 that seals the container filled with the beverage, and the shrink film is shrunk by heat after the shrink film is placed on the sealed container. A shrink wrapping device 30, a caser 40 for wrapping one or a plurality of containers wrapped in a shrink film with a wrapping material such as a box, and a palletizer 50 for loading a packaged product wrapped by the caser 40 onto a pallet. sell. Here, the filling device 10 fills the container with the heated beverage. The heating temperature of the beverage can be a temperature sufficient for sterilization, for example, 60 ° C. or higher, typically about 65 ° C.

  The packaging facility 100 further includes a transport device 60 that transports the container from the filling device 10 to the caser 40 via the seal device 20 and the shrink packaging device 30, and a transport device 70 that transports the packaged goods from the caser 40 to the palletizer 50. Can be provided. The transfer device 60 is typically not a single conveyor but can be configured by arranging a plurality of conveyors along the transfer path.

  In addition, the packaging facility 100 may include an inspection device for inspecting the filling amount (containment) of beverages into the container and the exterior quality in place.

  The container is maintained in a normal temperature environment (for example, 10 ° C. to 40 ° C.) until the container that has been filled by the filling device 10 is supplied to the caser 40. That is, the packaging facility 100 does not include a conventional cooling device between the filling device 10 and the caser 40, and the beverage filled in the container in the filling device 10 is supplied to the caser 40 without being cooled. The

  The packaging facility 10 is preferably configured to be provided to the caser 40 without, for example, the temperature of the beverage filled in the container by the filling device 10 falling by 10 ° C. or more. This is based on the temperature at which the beverage to be filled is heated, the annual minimum temperature, etc., and determines the length of the path until the container filled with the filling device 10 is supplied to the caser 40, the conveyance speed, and the like. Can be done.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a container filled with a beverage. The container 1 can include, for example, a paper pack. The container 1 may include, for example, a body portion 3 having four surfaces, a bottom portion 6, two triangular top surface portions 5, a top seal portion (seal portion) 4, a spout and a cap 7 attached thereto. . Although not shown, the container 1 can typically be packaged with a shrink film.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing a state of filling by the filling device 10. The filling device 10 may include a conveyor 12 and a filling nozzle 14 that fills the container 1 with a beverage through the opening of the container 1. As described above, the filling device 10 fills the container 1 with the heated beverage. The container 1 filled with the heated beverage is sent to the sealing device 20 by the conveyor 60 without being cooled.

  The sealing device 20 includes a forming unit that forms the state illustrated in FIG. 2 so as to sandwich the two triangular top surfaces 5 of the container 1 in the state illustrated in FIG. 4 is heated to melt a sealing material inside thereof (for example, a sealing material containing polyethylene as a main component) to seal the container 1, and the sealed top seal portion 5 is sandwiched between cooling members to cool it. And a cooling unit for solidifying.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the cooling unit of the sealing device 20. The cooling unit includes two cooling members 24 and 26 that selectively cool the top seal portion 4 by sandwiching the top seal portion 4 of the container 1 being conveyed by the conveyor 22. Here, the cooling members 24 and 26 are configured to cool only the top seal portion 4, and are configured not to cool other portions, particularly the trunk portion 3. The time for sandwiching the top seal portion 4 of one container 1 between the two cooling members 24, 26, that is, the time for cooling the top seal portion 4 is, for example, a time within the range of 0.2 to 5 seconds.

  The cooling members 24 and 26 may be configured to open and close by rotating around a shaft 27, for example. Refrigerant (for example, cold water) is supplied to the cooling members 24 and 26 through supply lines 28a and 29a, respectively, and the refrigerant is recovered through the recovery lines 28 and 29b. Since the cooling members 24 and 26 are disposed in a space maintained in a room temperature environment, water droplets 80 may be generated on the surface due to condensation. The water droplets 80 that can be generated in this manner can fall and adhere to the surface of the container 1.

  However, since the packaging facility 100 transports or processes the container 1 without filling it with a cooling device after filling the heated beverage, the water droplets 80 on the surface of the container 1 can easily evaporate due to the heat of the beverage. Here, when the whole container, that is, the beverage itself is cooled by a cooling device, a large amount of water droplets can adhere to the container by spraying water or the like. On the other hand, in this packaging facility 100, the water droplets 80 that can adhere to the container 1 are only a small amount of water droplets dripping from the cooling unit (cooling members 24 and 26) for cooling the top seal portion 4, and thus are very small.

  Therefore, according to this packaging facility 100, the possibility that water droplets are brought into the apparatus 1 on the downstream side of the filling apparatus 10 or the sealing apparatus 20, for example, the shrink packaging apparatus 30 or the caser 40 by the container 1 is extremely low. Therefore, in the shrink wrapping apparatus 30, the possibility that the container 1 is covered with the shrink film in the state where water droplets are present on the surface of the container 1 is significantly reduced. In addition, problems such as contamination of the packaging material due to the caseer 40 getting wet with water and the suspension of the operation of the caser 40 are also solved.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the state of shrink film packaging in the shrink wrapping apparatus 30. First, as shown in (a), the shrink film 8 is put on the container 1 from above. Next, as shown in (b), the shrink film 8 is formed into a bag shape so that the body portion of the container 1 is completely wrapped, and the top seal portion side and the bottom portion side are cut by a hot wire heater or the like. Next, as shown in (c), the shrink film 8 is contracted by heating to, for example, about 150 ° C. in a heat tunnel.

  Here, the container filled with the heated beverage is expanded by the heat. The amount of swelling differs depending on the container manufacturer or product type. Therefore, when a container that has not been cooled by the cooling device is transported after filling, the width of the container 1 is detected, and the interval between the guides in the transport device (that is, the transport of the container 1) according to the detection result. It is preferable to adjust the width of the path).

  If the width of the transport path is too wide, the container 1 may be inclined (the surface of the body portion is tilted with respect to the guide or the transport direction) to block the transport path. On the other hand, if the width of the transport path is too narrow, the body portion of the container 1 may be rubbed and caught on the guide surface of the guide. Therefore, the width of the conveyance path should be adjusted according to the width of the container 1.

  FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a configuration example of the transport device 60. The transport device 60 includes a conveyor (for example, an endless conveyor such as a belt conveyor or a table top chain conveyor) 61 that transports the container 1, a pair of guides 62 and 64 that guide both sides of the container 1 on the conveyor 61, and a container 1 may be included, and an adjustment mechanism that adjusts the distance between the pair of guides 62 and 64 according to the detection result of the detection unit 90. For example, the adjustment mechanism determines the optimum interval between the actuators 62 and 64 for positioning the guide 64 and the pair of guides 62 and 64 based on the detection result provided from the detection unit 90, and becomes the determined interval. And a control unit 68 that sends a command to the actuator 66.

  The detection unit 90 can include, for example, an optical sensor that optically detects the width of the container 1. As an optical sensor, for example, a sensor that images a container with an imaging device and calculates the width of the container by image processing, or a plurality of photointerrupters arranged and the width of the container according to the number of optical paths that are simultaneously blocked A sensor or the like for calculating is preferable.

  Alternatively, the detection unit 90 may include a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the container 1 and a conversion unit that converts the temperature measured by the temperature sensor into the width of the container 1.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the packaging equipment of suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the container with which the drink was filled. It is a perspective view which shows the mode of filling with a filling apparatus typically. It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the cooling unit of a sealing device. It is a figure which shows typically the mode of the shrink film packaging in a shrink wrapping apparatus. It is a top view which shows the structural example of a conveying apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1 Container (for example, paper pack)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Body part 4 Top seal part 5 Triangular top part 6 Bottom part 7 Cap 8 Shrink film 10 Filling device 12 Conveyor 14 Filling nozzle 20 Sealing device 22 Conveyor 24, 26 Cooling member 27 Shaft 28a, 29a Supply line 28b, 29b Recovery line 30 Shrink Packaging device 40 Caser 50 Palletizer 60 Conveying device 61 Conveyor 62, 64 Guide 66 Actuator 68 Control unit 70 Conveying device 80 Water drop 90 Detection unit

Claims (12)

A packaging facility for filling a container with a beverage and packaging the container,
A filling device for filling the container with the heated beverage;
A sealing device for cooling and solidifying by sandwiching the sealing portion with a cooling member after heating and melting the sealing material of the sealing portion of the container;
A caser that wraps the container;
A transport device for transporting a container from the filling device to the caser via the sealing device;
The packaging equipment is characterized in that the container is maintained in a room temperature environment until the container that has been filled by the filling device is supplied to the caser.   The packaging equipment according to claim 1, wherein the cooling member is cooled to a temperature lower than normal temperature to cause condensation, whereby water droplets can adhere to the container.   The packaging equipment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a temperature of a beverage filled in a container by the filling device is provided to the caser without lowering by 10 ° C or more.   The packaging equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cooling time of the sealing portion of one container by the cooling member is a time within a range of 0.2 to 5 seconds.   The apparatus further comprises a shrink wrapping device disposed between the seal device and the caser on a path until a container that has been filled by the filling device is supplied to the caser. The packaging equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the shrink film is shrunk by heat after being covered with the shrink film. The transfer device
A conveyor for conveying containers;
A pair of guides for guiding both sides of the container on the conveyor;
A detector for detecting the width of the container;
An adjustment mechanism that adjusts an interval between the pair of guides according to a detection result by the detection unit;
The packaging equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by comprising:   The packaging facility according to claim 6, wherein the detection unit includes an optical sensor that optically detects the width of the container.   The packaging facility according to claim 6, wherein the detection unit includes a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the container, and a conversion unit that converts the temperature measured by the temperature sensor into a width of the container.   The packaging facility according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the container includes a paper pack. A conveyor for conveying containers;
A pair of guides for guiding both sides of the container on the conveyor;
A detector for detecting the width of the container;
An adjustment mechanism that adjusts an interval between the pair of guides according to a detection result by the detection unit;
A conveying device comprising:   The transport apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the detection unit includes an optical sensor that optically detects a width of the container.   The said detection part contains the temperature sensor which measures the temperature of a container, and the conversion part which converts the temperature measured by the said temperature sensor into the width | variety of a container, The conveying apparatus of Claim 10 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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