JP6535183B2 - Filling valve device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a filling valve device used when filling a beverage into a container.

  Conventionally, beverage filling machines are classified into those for filling carbonated beverages and those for aseptically filling beverages other than carbonated beverages (non-carbonated beverages), and respective dedicated machines have been used. The difference between the two is that aseptic filling is by non-seal filling to fill the beverage without contacting the filling valve device and the container in order to avoid the growth of bacteria, whereas carbonated beverage contacts and fills the container with the filling valve device It is in the point by seal filling. However, recently, aseptic filling and carbonated beverage filling are in common use.

  For example, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, the filling valve device that has been used for beverage filling up to this point is closed by lowering the valve body provided so as to be able to move up and down and striking the valve seat. The valve is opened by raising and separating from the valve seat. Therefore, in the aseptic filling, when the valve is closed when the fixed amount of beverage filling is finished, the valve body pushes out the product liquid as the beverage, so that the diameter of the jet flow toward the container increases along with the valve closing. Do. When it rushes into the liquid surface of the container in a state where the jet diameter is expanded, a space is created in the liquid surface, a droplet is generated when the space returns to the original state, and the droplet further flies out of the container and the valve May adhere to the tip surface of the Since there is a concern that bacteria may grow in the adhesion liquid, it is necessary to prevent the liquid from bouncing back in aseptic filling.

  On the other hand, what is concerned when filling carbonated beverages is the phenomenon of dripping of the liquid. That is, a liquid pool where carbonated beverage remains in the space from the seal where the valve body contacts the valve seat to the tip of the valve is generated, and when the seal is opened to atmospheric pressure and depressurized after filling, the product liquid foams, Fall into the container. As the amount of liquid pool increases and the amount of dripping increases, the time until the end of dripping is unstable and some may remain in the space, so the amount of filling in the container is Variation will occur. Therefore, in carbonated beverages, it is desirable to reduce the amount of liquid pool by reducing the space from the seal portion to the tip of the valve.

Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2010-52780 JP, 2010-189035, A JP, 2012-176783, A JP, 2014-73855, A

  Therefore, the present invention presupposes a beverage filling machine which is used both for aseptic filling of non-carbonated beverages and for filling carbonated beverages, suppressing the rebound of the liquid in the case of aseptic filling and in the case of carbonated beverages filling. It is an object of the present invention to provide a filling valve device capable of reducing the amount of liquid pool.

In order to suppress the rebound of the aseptic filling liquid, it is necessary to suppress the expansion of the diameter of the jet at the time of closing the valve. For this purpose, a valve of the type that drives and seals the valve body in the upstream direction (hereinafter referred to as reverse operation) It is effective to adopt a valve). However, when the reverse operation valve is used, the space from the seal portion to the tip portion of the valve is expanded, and therefore, the amount of liquid pool increases when the carbonated beverage is filled. Therefore, for carbonation, it is preferable to adopt a valve (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a positive operation valve) that drives and seals the valve body in the downstream direction.
Therefore, the present invention proposes a filling valve device having a function as a forward operation valve and a function as a reverse operation valve, provided in the flow path, a valve body provided in the flow path through which the product liquid flows, It presupposes having the valve seat which stops that a product liquid flows by contact | connecting a valve body.
In the filling valve device according to the present invention, the valve body and the valve seat stop the flow of the product liquid in the first closed state where the flow of the product liquid is stopped in the upstream position and the flow of the product liquid in the position downstream of the first closed state. It is possible to select one of two closed states and an open state in which the product liquid flows without contact between the valve body and the valve seat,
It is characterized by

  The filling valve device of the present invention can be in the first closed state on the upstream side or in the second closed state on the downstream side. Therefore, when the first closed state is selected when the non-carbonated beverage is filled in the open state where the product liquid flows, the portion related to the seal of the valve moves from the open state toward the upstream side, so the product liquid Never push out On the other hand, when the second closed state is selected when the carbonated beverage is being filled in the open state, the portion related to the seal of the valve moves from the open state toward the downstream side, and the valve seat is correspondingly Since the space from the seal portion to the tip of the valve can be narrowed, the amount of liquid pool can be reduced.

In the filling valve device of the present invention, in the case where the valve body is provided so as to be able to move up and down in the flow path, the valve body is a first seal portion provided on the upstream side of the product liquid flow, and a downstream side from the first seal portion And the valve seat corresponds to the first seal portion, and corresponds to the first valve seat and the second seal portion provided on the upstream side of the flow of the product liquid; And a second valve seat provided on the downstream side of the flow of
In the filling valve device, the valve body moves upward in the vertical direction from the open state, and the first seal portion contacts the first valve seat, whereby the first closed state is selected. Further, the valve body moves downward in the vertical direction from the open state, and the second seal portion contacts the second valve seat, whereby the second closed state is selected.
According to this filling valve device, since the first closed state, the second closed state and the open state can be selected simply by raising and lowering the valve body, its control is easy.

In the filling valve device of the present invention, a pneumatic cylinder driven by being supplied with operating air can be used as a drive source for moving the valve body up and down. The pneumatic cylinder includes a first piston capable of moving up and down in the vertical direction and a second piston capable of moving up and down independently of the first piston, and the valve body is pushed up by the second piston being pushed up by working air. The first closed position is located, and the second piston is pushed down by the working air, so that the valve body is placed in the second closed position, and the working air pushes down the first piston and the force that pushes up the second piston. Can be made to be in the open position between the first position and the second position.
According to this filling valve device, by adjusting the operation of the two pistons with the working air, the valve body can be in the first closed position corresponding to the first closed state, and the second closed position corresponding to the second closed state, And, it can be easily moved to the open position corresponding to the open state.

Although the present invention provides a method for filling a beverage in which the product liquid is filled into each of a plurality of containers transported continuously via the filling valve, this filling method uses non-carbonated beverages as the product liquid in the container. An aseptic filling mode for filling and a carbonate filling mode for filling a container with a carbonated beverage as a product liquid are selectively performed.
In the filling method of the present invention, in the case of using the filling valve device described above, when filling the product liquid, the open state is selected in both the sterile filling mode and the carbonate filling mode. In the aseptic filling mode, the first closed position is selected when stopping the filling of the product liquid, and the second closed state is selected when stopping the filling of the product liquid in the carbonic acid filling mode.

  According to the present invention, by using the valve body on both sides seal structure, when the non-carbonated beverage is aseptically filled, the valve body is driven in the upstream direction to close the valve, thereby suppressing the expansion of the jet diameter by the extrusion of the liquid. At the time of beverage filling, the valve body is driven in the downstream direction to close the valve, thereby reducing liquid accumulation and suppressing liquid dripping. Therefore, by using the filling valve device of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the growth of bacteria and realize stable production of a beverage.

It is front sectional drawing of the filling valve apparatus in this embodiment. It is a figure which decomposes | disassembles and shows the principal part of the filling valve apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement of the filling valve apparatus of FIG. 1, (a) shows the state of valve opening in aseptic filling and carbonated beverage filling, (b) shows the state of closing valve in aseptic filling, (c) shows. The state of the valve closing in carbonated beverage filling is shown.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiment shown in the attached drawings.
The filling valve device 1 shown in FIG. 1 receives the supply of the product liquid for beverage from the supply device of the product liquid (not shown) and is driven by the attached pneumatic cylinder 3 so that the product liquid can be delivered to the container. Stop filling and filling. Moreover, the beverage filling installation which concerns on this embodiment respond | corresponds to the combined use which can handle both non-carbonated beverages and carbonated beverages, and the filling valve apparatus 1 is equipped with the structure corresponding to this combined use. Hereinafter, the configuration of the filling valve device 1 will be described, and then the action and effect of the filling valve device 1 will be mentioned.

  The filling valve device 1 includes a valve body 2 for charging and stopping the filling of the product liquid, and a pneumatic cylinder 3 for driving the valve body 2. The valve body 2 and the pneumatic cylinder 3 are connected structure 4 Are integrated.

The valve body 2 is provided with a hollow cylindrical valve box 10 and a valve mechanism 20 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The valve box 10 is provided at the downstream end, and is connected to the discharge port 11 for discharging the product liquid toward the container, the liquid flow path 13 connected to the upstream from the discharge port 11, and the discharge port 11 And a valve body containing area 15 which is a part of 13 and whose opening diameter is larger than that of the other liquid flow paths 13. A liquid supply pipe 12 receiving the supply of the product liquid from the filling liquid supply device is connected to the valve box 10, and the product liquid received by the liquid supply pipe 12 is supplied to the liquid flow path 13 through the liquid supply pipe 12 Ru. The upstream end of the liquid flow path 13 is sealed by a valve shaft guide 27.
As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the valve body accommodation area 15 is continuous with an equal diameter range 15A in which the diameter increases from the upstream toward the downstream, an equal diameter range 15B continuous with the diameter increase range, And a diameter reduction range 15C in which the diameter decreases toward the downstream. Although mentioned later in detail, the 1st valve seat 17 is formed in diameter expansion range 15A, and the 2nd valve seat 19 is formed in diameter reduction range 15C.
In the present invention, including the present embodiment, the upstream and the downstream are specified based on the flow of the product liquid when the product liquid is filled by the filling valve device 1.

The valve mechanism 20 is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a valve body 21 provided at the downstream end, a valve shaft 25 connected to the valve body 21 and transmitting the driving force of the pneumatic cylinder 3 to the valve body 21 And 25 a valve shaft guide 27 for guiding the vertical movement.
In the valve mechanism 20, the valve body 21 and a part of the valve shaft 25 are inserted into the liquid flow path 13 of the valve box 10 and move up and down the liquid flow path 13 with the operation of the pneumatic cylinder 3. The valve stem 25 exposed from the valve housing 10 is slidably supported by a valve stem guide 27 provided on the upstream side of the valve housing 10. The upper end of the valve stem 25 is directly or indirectly connected closely to the second piston rod 34 C of the pneumatic cylinder 3.

  The valve body 21 has two valve bodies: a first seal portion 22 provided upward in the vertical direction, and a second seal portion 24 provided downstream of the first seal portion 22 and downward in the vertical direction. It has an element. The first seal portion 22 corresponds to the first valve seat 17 and forms a valve mechanism that closes or opens the liquid flow path 13 by closely contacting or facing the first valve seat 17. Further, the second seal portion 24 corresponds to the second valve seat 19 and forms a valve mechanism that closes or opens the liquid flow path 13 by bringing the second valve seat 19 into close contact or facing a gap. The valve mechanism consisting of the first valve seat 17 and the first seal portion 22 functions at the time of stopping the filling of non-carbonated beverages, and the valve mechanism consisting of the second valve seat 19 and the second seal portion 24 Acts on shutdown.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the pneumatic cylinder 3 is provided downstream of the cylinder body 30, the first working chamber 31 provided inside the cylinder body 30, and the first working chamber 31. The second working chamber 33 is provided. The first working chamber 31 and the second working chamber 33 are provided with a partition 35 between them, but working air can flow between the first working chamber 31 and the second working chamber 33.
The cylinder body 30 has a bottom wall 37 on the downstream side, and the bottom wall 37 is formed with a guide hole 38 through which the second piston rod 34C is slidably inserted.

A first piston 32 is fitted into the first working chamber 31, and a second piston 34 is fitted into the second working chamber 33. The first piston 32 and the second piston 34 can independently raise and lower the inside of the first working chamber 31 and the second working chamber 33 from the lower end to the upper end by the supplied working air.
The first piston 32 includes a piston body 32A and a piston rod 32B projecting from the lower surface of the piston body 32A. The piston rod 32B has a projecting amount that can interfere with the first piston rod 324 of the second piston 34.
The second piston 34 includes a piston body 34A, a first piston rod 34B projecting from the upper surface of the piston body 34A, and a second piston rod 34C projecting from the lower surface of the piston body 34A. The first piston rod 34B has a projecting amount that can interfere with the piston rod 32B of the first piston 32. The second piston rod 34 </ b> C penetrates the guide hole 38 of the bottom wall 37 and further extends to the inside of the connection structure 4 and is connected to the valve stem 25.

Next, the cylinder body 30 is provided with three ports, a first port A, a second port B, and a third port C, which introduce the working air into the first working chamber 31 and the second working chamber 33. Operating air is selectively supplied to one or two of the first port A, the second port B and the third port C from an air supply source (not shown). In FIGS. 1 and 2, no working air is supplied to any of the first port A, the second port B and the third port C, and the first piston 32 and the second piston 34 are both unloaded. In the state of
The first port A supplies operating air to the first operating chamber 31. When the operating air is supplied to the first port A, the first port A is directed downward to the first piston 32 provided in the first operating chamber 31. Force is applied and pushed down.
The second port B is provided at the boundary between the first working chamber 31 and the second working chamber 33, and supplies working air to both the first working chamber 31 and the second working chamber 33. When the working air is supplied to the second port B, an upward force is applied to the first piston 32 provided in the first working chamber 31 to push it upward, and the second piston 34 of the second working chamber 33 faces downward. Force is applied and pushed down.
The third port C is for supplying operating air to the second operating chamber 33, and when the operating air is supplied to the third port C, the third port C is directed upward to the second piston 34 provided in the second operating chamber 33. Force is applied and pushed up.

  Next, the operation of the filling valve device 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2 (a) shows the open state (open state, open position) in aseptic filling and carbonated beverage filling, and FIG. 2 (b) shows the closed state in aseptic filling (first closed state, second) The closed position) is shown, and FIG. 2 (c) shows the closed state (second closed state, second closed position) in the carbonated beverage filling.

First, in both the aseptic filling and the carbonated beverage filling, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), when the product liquid is supplied to the container by opening the valve, the pneumatic cylinder 3 has the first port A and the third port A Port C is supplied with operating air. Then, the first piston 32 is pushed down to the lower end of the first working chamber 31, while the second piston 34 is pushed up in the second working chamber 33, but the first piston rod 34B of the second piston 34 It interferes with the piston rod 32B of the piston 32. Here, since the force pushing down the first piston 32 and the force pushing up the second piston 34 are set to be balanced by the working air, the second piston 34 is at an intermediate position in the height direction of the second working chamber 33. Maintained. Thereby, the valve body 21 provided at the tip of the valve shaft 25 connected to the second piston rod 34C is also maintained at the intermediate position (open position) in the valve body accommodation area 15. Therefore, since a gap is provided between the first seal portion 22 and the first valve seat 17 and between the second seal portion 24 and the second valve seat 19, the non-carbonated beverage having flowed through the liquid flow path 13 Alternatively, the carbonated beverage is discharged from the discharge port 11 toward the container through the periphery of the valve body 21.
In order to balance the force that pushes down the first piston 32 and the force that pushes up the second piston 34, the Pascal's principle may be followed.

  When the container is filled with a predetermined amount of product liquid, the pneumatic cylinder 3 is operated to close the valve, thereby completing the product liquid filling operation. Although this embodiment realizes two different valve closing methods depending on whether the product liquid is a non-carbonated beverage or a carbonated beverage, the case of a non-carbonated beverage will be described below and then the carbonated beverage The case of

  In order to aseptically fill the non-carbonated beverage and to stop the filling, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the supply of the working air to the pneumatic cylinder 3 is made only to the third port C. Then, as a result of the second piston 34 being pushed up to the uppermost position of the second working chamber 33, the first seal portion 22 of the valve body 21 comes in close contact with the first valve seat 17 via the second piston rod 34C and the valve shaft 25. , The non-carbonated beverage filling is stopped. At the time of the stop of the filling, the pushing force is not applied to the non-carbonated beverage product liquid discharged from the discharge port 11, so there is no possibility that the diameter of the jet flow is expanded.

  In order to stop the filling of the carbonated beverage, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), the supply of working air to the pneumatic cylinder 3 is made only to the second port B. Then, while the first piston 32 is pushed up to the top of the first working chamber 31, the second piston 34 is pushed up to the bottom of the second working chamber 33, and as a result, through the second piston rod 34C and the valve shaft 25. The second seal portion 24 of the valve body 21 is pressed against the second valve seat 19, and the filling of the carbonated beverage is stopped. At the time of this filling stop, the space from the seal portion where the second seal portion 24 is pressed against the second valve seat 19 to the tip of the discharge port 11 is narrow.

  As described above, when the non-carbonated beverage filling is closed, the valve body 2 functions as a reverse operation valve to suppress the expansion of the jet flow diameter due to the extrusion of the product liquid, thereby filling the carbonated product liquid. At the time of closing the valve to stop, by making the valve body 2 function as a positive operation valve, the liquid accumulation is reduced and the liquid drip is suppressed. Therefore, if the filling valve device 1 of the present embodiment is used for a beverage filling machine which combines non-carbonated beverage and carbonated beverage, it is possible to prevent the growth of bacteria and realize stable production of the beverage.

  In the filling valve device 1, the valve body 21 moves upward in the vertical direction from the open state, and the first seal portion 22 contacts the first valve seat 17 to select the first closed state, and The valve body 21 moves downward in the vertical direction from the open state, and the second seal portion 24 contacts the second valve seat 19, whereby the second closed state is selected. As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the first closed state, the second closed state, and the open state can be selected simply by moving the valve body 21 up and down, the control thereof is easy.

  In addition, the filling valve device 1 adjusts the operation of the two pistons of the first piston 32 and the second piston 34 with the working air, so that the valve body 21 is in the first closed position corresponding to the first closed state, The second closed position corresponding to the two closed state and the open position corresponding to the open state can be easily moved.

As mentioned above, although the present invention was explained based on a suitable embodiment, unless it deviates from the main point of the present invention, it is possible to sort out the composition quoted by the above-mentioned embodiment, or to change suitably to other composition. It is.
In the present embodiment, the pneumatic cylinder 3 is used to selectively move the valve body 21 to three positions of the first closed position, the open position and the second closed position. For example, as shown in Patent Document 3 The motorized cylinder can also be used to selectively move the three positions.
Further, in the present embodiment, the valve body 21 is moved up and down to bring the first seal portion 22 into close contact with the first valve seat 17 and bring the second seal portion 24 into contact with the second valve seat 19. The invention is not limited to this. For example, the valve seat (first valve seat 17, second valve seat 19) can be obtained by selectively moving only the seal portion (the first seal portion 22, the second seal portion 24) without raising and lowering the valve body itself. It is possible to make close contact), and the present invention includes this form.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 filling valve apparatus 2 valve main body 3 pneumatic cylinder 4 connection structure 10 valve box 11 discharge port 12 liquid supply pipe 13 liquid flow path 15 valve body accommodation area 15A diameter expansion range 15B equal diameter range 15C diameter reduction range 17 first valve seat 19 second valve seat 20 valve mechanism 21 valve body 22 first seal portion 24 second seal portion 25 valve shaft 27 valve shaft guide 30 cylinder main body 31 first working chamber 32 first piston 32A piston main body 32B piston rod 33 second operation Chamber 34 Second piston 34A Piston body 34B First piston rod 34C Second piston rod 37 Guide wall 38 Guide hole A First port B Second port C Third port

Claims (4)

A valve body provided in a flow path through which product liquid flows,
And a valve seat provided in the flow path to stop the flow of the product liquid when the valve body contacts.
The valve body and the valve seat are
A first closed state in which the flow of the liquid product is stopped at an upstream position;
A second closed state in which the flow of the liquid product is stopped at a position downstream of the first closed state;
It is possible to select one of open states in which the product liquid flows without the valve body and the valve seat coming into contact with each other.
Filling valve device characterized in that. The valve body is provided to be able to move up and down in the flow path,
A first seal portion provided upstream of the flow of the product liquid;
A second seal portion provided downstream of the first seal portion;
The valve seat is
A first valve seat provided on the upstream side of the flow of the product liquid, corresponding to the first seal portion;
A second valve seat provided on the downstream side of the flow of the product liquid corresponding to the second seal portion;
Equipped with
The valve body moves upward in the vertical direction from the open state, and the first seal portion contacts the first valve seat, whereby the first closed state is selected.
The second closed state is selected by the valve body moving downward in the vertical direction from the open state, and the second seal portion coming into contact with the second valve seat.
A fill valve device according to claim 1. It has a drive source for raising and lowering the valve body,
The drive source comprises a pneumatic cylinder driven by supply of operating air,
The pneumatic cylinder is
A first piston which can be vertically moved up and down,
And a second piston capable of moving up and down independently of the first piston,
When the second piston is pushed up by the working air, the first seal portion is placed in a first closed position in contact with the first valve seat.
When the second piston is pushed down by the working air, the first seal portion is placed in a second closed position in contact with the second valve seat.
The valve body is placed in the open position between the first closed position and the second closed position by balancing the force by which the first piston is pushed down by the working air and the force by which the second piston is pushed up. ,
A fill valve device according to claim 2. A method for filling a beverage, wherein each of a plurality of continuously transported containers is filled with a product liquid via a filling valve,
An aseptic filling mode in which the container is filled with a non-carbonated beverage as the product liquid;
Selectively performing a carbonate filling mode in which the container is filled with a carbonated beverage as the product liquid;
The filling valve device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is used as the filling valve.
In the aseptic filling mode, when stopping the filling of the product liquid, the first closed state is selected,
In the carbonic acid filling mode, the second closed state is selected when stopping the filling of the product liquid.
A method of filling a beverage characterized by

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