JP6407679B2 - Beverage container sterilizer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for sterilizing beverage containers by irradiating them with ultraviolet rays.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a beverage is filled in a beverage container represented by a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a container), the inside and outside of the container are sterilized. Moreover, it may be sterilized in the preform stage before the bottle molding.
To sterilize before and after forming the container, after injecting a sterilizing drug solution such as hydrogen peroxide or sodium hypochlorite into the container, the drug solution is discharged, and the inside of the container The work of washing with water was performed.

  However, the sterilization treatment with a chemical solution has a problem that the environmental load is large and the cost of chemical treatment and waste liquid treatment is high, and so-called dry sterilization methods have been proposed. As a dry sterilization method, a method of irradiating ultraviolet rays (for example, Patent Document 1) and a method of irradiating an electron beam are known. However, the method of irradiating with an electron beam has a large and heavy shielding structure for preventing X-rays generated secondary by electron beam irradiation from leaking outside. Moreover, since the sterilization apparatus which irradiates an electron beam to a container produces ozone by electron beam irradiation, the apparatus which exhausts it is required, and this ozone collection | recovery apparatus tends to become a large-scale thing also helping. Compared with this, the method of irradiating ultraviolet rays has a simple sterilization apparatus.

JP-A-10-24092

In the sterilization of a container by ultraviolet irradiation, it is not easy to irradiate the container with ultraviolet light without unevenness. As described in Patent Document 1, a linear or rod-shaped light guide can be used to guide ultraviolet light emitted from the light source to the container. However, since the ultraviolet light is emitted from the tip of the light guide, the container When the inside of the container is sterilized, the bottom of the container can be sufficiently irradiated with ultraviolet rays, but it is difficult to irradiate the side surfaces with ultraviolet rays sufficient for sterilization.
The present invention has been made on the basis of such a technical problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a container sterilization apparatus that can irradiate ultraviolet rays uniformly on the side surface in addition to the bottom of the container.

  The container sterilization apparatus of the present invention made for such a purpose is provided with a light source that emits ultraviolet rays upon receiving power, a light guide that guides the ultraviolet rays emitted from the light source, and a tip of the light guide A first light path for emitting a part of the ultraviolet light guided by the light guide in the direction guided by the light guide, and the light guide. And a second optical path for emitting another part of the ultraviolet light that has been emitted in a direction crossing the direction guided by the light guide.

In the sterilization apparatus of the present invention, there are at least three forms for realizing the light distributor.
In the first form, the first optical path is constituted by an optical member through which a part of the ultraviolet rays passes straight, and the second optical path includes an optical member provided with a reflecting surface that reflects the other part of the ultraviolet rays; And a reflector that reflects the ultraviolet rays reflected from the reflecting surface and emitted from the optical member in a crossing direction.

  In the second form, the first optical path is configured by a first optical member that allows a part of the ultraviolet rays to pass straight through, and the second optical path includes a reflection surface that reflects the other part of the ultraviolet rays around the first optical path. A first optical member and a second optical member that surrounds the first optical member and guides and emits ultraviolet rays reflected by the reflecting surface in a crossing direction. In the second embodiment, the reflecting surface of the first optical member is provided when the refractive index of the first optical member is larger than the refractive index of the second optical member.

  The third form is a third optical member in which the first optical path is configured by a third optical member that allows a part of the ultraviolet rays to pass straight through and the second optical path reflects the other part of the ultraviolet rays. It is comprised by the reflective surface which has the glossiness formed.

  According to the present invention, the first optical path for emitting a part of the ultraviolet light guided by the light guide in the direction guided by the light guide, and the other ultraviolet light guided by the light guide. A second optical path that emits the part in a direction crossing the direction guided by the light guide. Therefore, according to the present invention, since the bottom of the container can be sterilized by the ultraviolet light emitted from the first optical path and the side surface of the container can be sterilized by the ultraviolet light emitted from the second optical path, the container can be irradiated with ultraviolet light evenly. Can do.

It is a figure which shows the structure outline of the sterilizer of the container in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the sterilizer in 1st embodiment. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the sterilizer in 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the sterilizer in the modification of 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the sterilizer in 3rd embodiment.

[First embodiment]
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the minimum components of a container sterilizer 1 according to the present embodiment.
The sterilizer 1 includes a power source 2, a light source 4 that receives power from the power source 2 and emits ultraviolet UV, a light guide 6 that guides the ultraviolet UV emitted from the light source 4, and a light guide 6. And a prism 10 as an optical member provided at the front end of the light guide 6. The sterilization apparatus 1 is an apparatus that sterilizes the interior of the preform 40, which is a precursor of a PET bottle, with ultraviolet rays UV. The prism 10 is inserted into the preform 40 through the opening 41 of the preform 40 supported by the gripper 3 by operating the light guide 6 during the sterilization process, and is reciprocated back and forth. The prism 10 irradiates the bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 of the preform 40 with the ultraviolet light UV guided through the light guide 6 while moving back and forth inside the preform 40. The prism 10 has a configuration described below in order to irradiate ultraviolet rays UV toward two orthogonal surfaces, a bottom surface 43 and a side surface 45. The bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 refer to the inner surface of the preform 40.

  In the present embodiment, as the light source 4, various low-pressure to high-pressure UV lamps can be used. Further, the light guide 6 is arbitrary, for example, an optical fiber or a combination of an optical fiber and a quartz crow.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the prism 10 is in contact with the emission surface 7 located at the tip of the light guide 6 and is fixed to the tip of the light guide 6 by, for example, bonding. The light exit surface 7 of the light guide 6 is formed so as to be orthogonal to the optical axis of ultraviolet UV guided to the light guide 6 (see FIG. 2B).
The prism 10 is a member to which a brilliant cut applied to diamond, particularly a round brilliant cut, is applied, and can be composed of quartz (SiO ₂ ) glass or fluorite (CaF ₂ ) glass.
The prism 10 includes a crown 12 and a pavilion 15 with a girdle 11 as a boundary. A circular table surface 13 is formed on the top of the crown 12, and a circular culet surface 16 is formed on the top of the pavilion 15 facing the table surface 13. The crown 12 includes a generally tapered first inclined surface 14 excluding the table surface 13, and the pavilion 15 includes a tapered second inclined surface 17 excluding the curette surface 16. Here, the table surface 13 has a diameter larger than that of the light guide 6, while the culet surface 16 has a diameter smaller than that of the light guide 6. In addition, although the cut is formed also in the surface of the crown 12 and the pavilion 15, the specific description here is abbreviate | omitted.

The reflection plate 8 is provided in front of the light guide 6 than the prism 10 (in front of the direction in which the ultraviolet ray UV proceeds). The spectroscope of the present invention is constituted by the reflector 8 and the prism 10.
In FIG. 2B, the reflecting plate 8 receives the ultraviolet rays UV emitted from the table surface 13 of the prism 10 by the reflecting surface 9 and reflects them radially to the periphery. The reflector 8 has a disk shape, but the form is not limited as long as it has a function of receiving the ultraviolet UV from the prism 10 and reflecting it to the surroundings. For example, the reflecting surface 9 may have a tapered shape or a spherical surface.

When the ultraviolet light UV is irradiated from the light guide 6 toward the prism 10, the ultraviolet light UV is reflected and emitted as described below with reference to FIG.
The ultraviolet rays UV that have traveled through the light guide 6 are emitted from the emission surface 7 and are incident on the table surface 13 of the prism 10. Since the table surface 13 is orthogonal to the optical axis of the ultraviolet UV, it is directly incident on the prism 10 without being refracted, and sequentially passes through the crown 12 and the girdle 11 to reach the pavilion 15.

  The UV UV that travels through the pavilion 15 reaches a culet surface 16 at a portion near the center, but the culet surface 16 also passes through the culet surface 16 because it is orthogonal to the optical axis of the UV UV that travels through the pavilion 15. And go straight ahead. However, in the ultraviolet UV traveling through the pavilion 15, a part (other part) near the outer periphery reaches the second inclined surface 17 outside the curette surface 16, and is totally reflected and changed its direction here. , Proceed with the pavilion 15 and the crown 12 and exit from the table surface 13 or the first inclined surface 14 toward the outside. The ultraviolet rays UV emitted from the table surface 13 or the first inclined surface 14 reach the reflecting surface 9 of the reflecting plate 8 and are reflected radially around here.

  As described above, the sterilizing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has the first optical path that allows the prism 10 to pass a part of the ultraviolet light UV guided from the light guide 6 in the straight direction, and the light guide 6. And a second optical path for changing the other part of the ultraviolet light UV guided from the crossing direction to radiate to the surroundings. Therefore, it is possible to irradiate the ultraviolet rays UV evenly toward the two orthogonal surfaces of the bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 of the preform 40 by only a single combination of the light guide 6 and the prism 10.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, the prism 20 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The prism 20 is also provided at the front end of the light guide 6, but is directed toward two orthogonal surfaces, that is, the bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 of the preform 40 without using the reflector 8 provided in the first embodiment. It has a configuration that can irradiate ultraviolet rays UV evenly.

The prism 20 is provided with a spectroscope composed of a combination of a first member 21 and a second member 26, each of which is an optical member. As shown in FIGS. One member 21 is fixed in contact with the first member 21, and the second member 26 is fixed in contact with the first member 21. The first member 21 and the second member 26 are arranged on the same axis. Here, assuming that the refractive index of the material constituting the first member 21 is n ₂₁ , and the refractive index of the material constituting the second member 26 is n ₂₅ , n ₂₁ > n ₂₅ holds. As the first member 21, for example, quartz glass is used, and as the second member 26, for example, fluorite glass is used. In addition, both refractive indexes (near 250 nm) n ₂₁ and n ₂₅ are n ₂₁ = about 1.50 and n ₂₅ = about 1.46.

The first member 21 has a middle-high cylindrical shape, an incident surface 22 that faces the exit surface 7 of the light guide 6, a first inclined surface 23 that spreads downward from the incident surface 22, A second emission surface 24 that narrows downward from the lower end of the one inclined surface 23, and an accommodation gap 25 that opens to the lower end and accommodates the second member 26.
The second member 26 has a truncated cone shape, an incident surface 27 corresponding to the upper base, a first output surface 28 corresponding to the lower base and facing the incident surface 27, and the incident surface 27. And a reflection surface 29 that connects the first emission surface 28. The second member 26 is accommodated in the accommodation gap 25 of the first member 21 without a gap.

  Here, the incident surface 22 of the first member 21 is orthogonal to the optical axis of the ultraviolet UV, and the incident surface 27 and the first emission surface 28 of the second member 26 are orthogonal to the optical axis of the ultraviolet UV. Yes. Further, the incident surface 27 of the second member 26 is set to have a diameter smaller than that of the emission surface 7 of the light guide 6.

The reflection and emission of the ultraviolet rays UV in the prism 20 will be described with reference to FIG.
The ultraviolet UV that has traveled through the light guide 6 is emitted from the emission surface 7 and is incident on the incident surface 22 of the prism 20 (first member 21). Since the incident surface 22 is orthogonal to the optical axis of the ultraviolet ray UV, it proceeds straight without being refracted, passes through the first member 21, and reaches the second member 26.

  Among the ultraviolet rays UV reaching the second member 26, the portion near the center has the incident surface 27 orthogonal to the optical axis, and thus proceeds straight through the second member 26 as it is from the first emission surface 28. It is emitted toward the outside. The ultraviolet rays UV emitted from here are exclusively used to sterilize the bottom surface 43 of the preform 40. However, in the ultraviolet UV reaching the second member 26, a part near the outer periphery reaches the reflecting surface 29 outside the incident surface 27, where the first member 21 is changed while being totally reflected and changing its direction. The light travels radially from the second light exit surface 24 toward the outside. The ultraviolet UV emitted from here is exclusively used to sterilize the side surface 45 of the preform 40.

  As described above, the prism 20 of the present embodiment has been guided from the light guide 6 and the first optical path through which a part of the ultraviolet UV UV guided from the light guide 6 passes straight in the same direction. A second optical path that changes the other part of the ultraviolet rays UV to cross and emits them to the surroundings. Therefore, the ultraviolet rays UV can be evenly irradiated toward two orthogonal surfaces, that is, the bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 of the preform 40, only by the combination of the light guide 6 and the prism 20. In addition, unlike the first embodiment, this embodiment does not require the reflector 8 to be provided.

  In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, by providing the reflecting surface 29 of the second member 26 with a curvature, the ultraviolet rays UV emitted radially from the first member 21 are directed to the light guide 6. The light can be emitted in an orthogonal direction.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a prism 30 according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The prism 30 is also provided at the tip of the light guide 6. However, the prism 30 is formed on two orthogonal surfaces such as the bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 of the preform 40 without using the reflector 8 provided in the first embodiment. It has a structure that can irradiate ultraviolet rays UV uniformly.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the prism 30 that is an optical member has a truncated cone shape, and corresponds to the incident surface 31 corresponding to the upper base, the lower surface corresponding to the incident surface 31. And an reflecting surface 35 that connects the incident surface 31 and the emitting surface 33. The reflecting surface 35 can be configured by forming a metal film, for example. The prism 30 is provided coaxially with the light guide 6, and the incident surface 31 is joined to the output surface 7 of the light guide 6. The incident surface 31 of the prism 30 is set to have a smaller diameter than the exit surface 7 of the light guide 6, and the exit surface 33 is set to have a larger diameter than the exit surface 7 of the light guide 6.

The reflection and emission of the ultraviolet rays UV in the prism 30 will be described with reference to FIG.
The ultraviolet rays UV that have traveled through the light guide 6 are emitted from the emission surface 7 and are incident on the incident surface 31 of the prism 30. Since the incident surface 31 is orthogonal to the optical axis of the ultraviolet UV, the light advances straight without being refracted, passes through the prism 30 and reaches the output surface 33. Since the emission surface 33 is orthogonal to the optical axis, the ultraviolet ray UV proceeds straight and is emitted toward the outside. The ultraviolet rays UV emitted from here are exclusively used to sterilize the bottom surface 43 of the preform 40.

  Among the ultraviolet UVs emitted from the emission surface 7 of the light guide 6, the ultraviolet UV that travels outside the incident surface 31 of the prism 30 reaches the reflection surface 35, which is the outer peripheral surface of the prism 30, where Reflected and emitted radially while changing direction. The ultraviolet UV reflected from here is used exclusively to sterilize the side surface 45 of the preform 40.

  As described above, the prism 30 of the present embodiment has been guided from the light guide 6 and the first optical path that allows a part of the ultraviolet light UV guided from the light guide 6 to pass straight in the same direction. A second optical path that changes the other part of the ultraviolet rays UV to cross and emits them to the surroundings. Therefore, the ultraviolet rays UV can be evenly irradiated toward two orthogonal surfaces, that is, the bottom surface 43 and the side surface 45 of the preform 40, only by the combination of the light guide 6 and the prism 20. Moreover, it is only necessary to provide a single prism 30 in this embodiment.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the configurations listed above can be selected or changed to other configurations as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present invention.
For example, although the light source 4 of the above-described first embodiment assumes a lamp, an LED can also be used as the light source. In this case, the LED light source can be directly fixed to the light guide 6.
Moreover, raising / lowering of the light guide 6 can be grasped as a relative relationship with the preform 40 (container), and the light guide 6 may be raised or lowered, or the preform 40 (container) is raised or lowered. Also good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sterilization apparatus 2 Power supply 3 Grasping tool 4 Light source 6 Light guide 7 Output surface 8 Reflection plate 9 Reflection surface 10 Prism 11 Girdle 12 Crown 13 Table surface 14 First inclined surface 15 Pavilion 16 Curette surface 17 Second inclined surface 20 Prism 21 first member 22 entrance surface 23 first inclined surface 24 second exit surface 25 accommodating gap 26 second member 27 entrance surface 28 first exit surface 29 reflecting surface 30 prism 31 entrance surface 33 exit surface 35 reflecting surface 40 preform 41 Opening 43 Bottom 45 Side UV UV

Claims (2)

A light source that emits ultraviolet light when supplied with power;
A light guide for guiding the ultraviolet light emitted by the light source;
A light distributor provided at a tip of the light guide,
The light distributor is
A first optical path for emitting a part of the ultraviolet light guided by the light guide in the direction guided by the light guide;
A second optical path for emitting the other part of the ultraviolet light guided by the light guide in a direction crossing the direction guided by the light guide,
The light distributor is
The first optical path is
It is constituted by an optical member through which a part of the ultraviolet rays passes straight through,
The second optical path is
The optical member including a reflection surface that reflects the other part of the ultraviolet rays, and a reflector that reflects the ultraviolet rays reflected by the reflection surface and emitted from the optical member in the intersecting direction. A sterilizer characterized by that. A light source that emits ultraviolet light when supplied with power;
A light guide for guiding the ultraviolet light emitted by the light source;
A light distributor provided at a tip of the light guide,
The light distributor is
A first optical path for emitting a part of the ultraviolet light guided by the light guide in the direction guided by the light guide;
A second optical path for emitting the other part of the ultraviolet light guided by the light guide in a direction crossing the direction guided by the light guide,
The light distributor is
The first optical path is
A first optical member through which a part of the ultraviolet light passes straight and transmits; and a second optical member through which the ultraviolet light transmitted through the first optical member is transmitted ; and
The second optical path is
The second optical member provided with a reflection surface in the periphery for reflecting the other part of the ultraviolet rays;
The first optical member that surrounds the second optical member and guides and emits the ultraviolet rays reflected by the reflecting surface in the intersecting direction, and
The sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting surface of the second optical member is provided when a refractive index of the first optical member is larger than a refractive index of the second optical member.

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