JPH03124527A - Method and apparatus for cleaning filling and packing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To completely clean a carry conveyer by a method wherein primary cleaning is done by permitting the carry conveyer of a filling and packing apparatus to pass through cleaning solution in a return route and secondary cleaning is done by spraying the cleaning solution against a carrier jig from a nozzle having a shape or nozzles arrayed in a shape according to the shape of the carrier jig which has come out of the cleaning solution. CONSTITUTION:A shower device 12 is provided with nozzle plates 13 and 13a with a carrier jig 25 interposed between them in a return route of a carry conveyer, wherein the lower nozzle plate 13 is formed with nozzle holes 14 by the number of sets matching the number of grooves of the carrier jig placed on a circumference which has a diameter approximately equal to the circular groove formed on the carrier jig 25. The carrier jig 25 enters cleaning solution l in a chamber 11 in the return route and is subjected to primary cleaning with the cleaning solution. Further the cleaning solution is sprayed against both faces of the carrier jig 25 from the nozzle holes 14 of the shower device 12 to perform secondary cleaning and deposits on the carrier jig 25 are washed out. The cleaning solution on the carrier jig is dried by a heater 17, and the carrier jig is subjected to supply of a container, putting of contents, sealing, etc., when it comes to an approach route of the carry conveyer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning a container transport conveyor of a filling and packaging machine.

(b) Prior art A conventional device for cleaning the container transport conveyor of a filling and packaging machine is Utility Model Application No. 62-107400 filed by the present applicant.
There is a "Cleaning device for filling and packaging machines". This cleaning device passes the container conveyor through a cleaning and sterilizing liquid stored at the bottom of the chamber on the return path of the conveyor, thereby washing away food and other fillers that have adhered to the conveyor.

However, if the filling spills out of the container and adheres to the conveyor, depending on the shape of the conveyor's conveyor jig or the nature of the item (e.g. viscosity) (e.g. jelly-like items), it may be necessary to simply wash and sterilize it once. Sufficient cleaning may not be possible just by passing it through the liquid.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention The problems to be solved by the present invention are to provide a cleaning method and apparatus for a filling and packaging machine in which the shape of the conveyor jig is adjusted to the shape of the conveyor after passing the conveyor through the cleaning liquid. The purpose of the present invention is to completely clean the conveyor by spraying cleaning liquid onto the conveyor jig from nozzles of a particular shape or arrangement.

(d) Means for solving the problem One of the inventions of the present application is a method for cleaning a filling and packaging machine.
The conveyor of the filling and packaging machine is passed through the cleaning liquid on the return trip for primary cleaning, and after the conveyor comes out of the cleaning liquid, the shape matches the shape of the conveyor jig. Alternatively, the secondary cleaning is performed by spraying cleaning liquid onto the conveying jig from an array of nozzle holes.

Another invention of the present application is a cleaning device for a filling and packaging machine, in which a chamber is provided at the bottom of the conveyor of the filling and packaging machine through which the conveyor can pass on the return trip, and the conveyor is immersed in the chamber. A sufficient amount of cleaning liquid is filled, and the conveyor has a nozzle hole in a shape or arrangement that matches the shape of the conveyance jig of the conveyor at a position near where the cleaning liquid exits, and water is discharged from the nozzle hole. It is constructed by providing a shower device that sprays cleaning liquid toward the transport jig to clean it.

(e) Effect In the above configuration, when the conveyor of the filling and packaging machine moves on the return path, it first passes through the cleaning liquid in the chamber, and the conveyor and its conveying jig are primarily cleaned by the cleaning liquid. When the conveyor comes out of the cleaning liquid, the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the nozzle hole of the shower device toward the conveying jig, thereby performing secondary cleaning of the conveying jig. therefore,
Even items that cannot be washed away simply by passing through the washing liquid can be almost completely washed away by secondary washing.

(F) Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a filling and packaging machine 1 equipped with a cleaning device 10 according to the invention is schematically shown. In the figure, 2 is a conveyor that conveys containers.

On the outward path of the conveyor, there is a container feeding device 3 that supplies a container r with seven lunges as shown in FIG. Upstream is a filling device 4 for sealing a container and a band-shaped cover film f placed over the container, a sealing device 5 for adhesively sealing the container and a band-shaped cover film f placed over the container, and a punching device 6 for punching out the packaging container sealed by the sealing device 5 from the band-shaped cover film. They are arranged in order from the side.

The conveyor consists of a pair of chain conveyors consisting of one drive sprocket 21, two idle sprockets 22 and 23, and chains hooked to these sprockets, and is arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval. Rectangular plate-shaped conveyance jig 2 as shown in 2
5 are attached at predetermined intervals, which is a conventionally known structure. In the conveying jig 25, a plurality of holes (circular holes in this embodiment) 26 are formed vertically through the container. Further, an annular groove 27 surrounding each hole 26 is formed on the upper surface of the conveyance jig 25 (when the conveyance jig is on the outward path of the conveyor). This groove 27 is adapted to receive a circular punching blade of the punching device 6. As is clear from FIG. 1, the return path of the conveyor runs diagonally, with the upstream side of the conveyor being higher and the downstream side being lower. Note that 71 is a frame of the filling and packaging machine 1, and 72 is a leg portion that supports the frame.

Since the container feeding device 3, filling device 4, sealing device 5, and punching device 6 have known structures, detailed explanations of their structures and operations will be omitted.

The cleaning device 10 has a long tunnel-shaped chamber 11 that is disposed diagonally along the return path of the transfer conveyor 2 below the transfer conveyor 2 and is supported by legs 72, and a long tunnel-shaped chamber 11 located approximately in the middle of the return path of the transfer conveyor. chamber 1
1, a shower device 12 disposed in the chamber 11, and a shower device 12 disposed in the chamber 11
A heater 1 of a known structure is disposed between the shower device and the upstream side of the conveyor (the tin rocket 22 side).
It is equipped with 7. In this embodiment, the chamber 11 extends over almost the entire length of the return path of the conveyor 2, and has a conveyor inlet formed on the upper surface of one end (the right end in FIG. 1) and a conveyor outlet formed on the upper surface of the other end. ing.

As shown in detail in FIG. 4, the shower device 12 includes nozzle plates 13 and 13g arranged one above the other with a conveyance jig 25 in between on the return path of the conveyor. As shown in FIG. 5, one (lower) nozzle plate 13 is provided with a circle on the circumference having approximately the same diameter as the annular groove formed in the conveying jig 25. Nozzle holes 14 arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction are formed in sets corresponding to the number of grooves in the conveyance jig. In addition, the other nozzle plate 13a has nozzle holes regularly arranged in the stacking direction when the surface of the conveying jig facing the nozzle plate is flat, and the surface of the conveying jig has nozzle holes for use as guide rails of the conveyor. When grooves are formed, nozzle holes are formed in alignment with the grooves I (the illustration is omitted since the only difference is the arrangement of the nozzle holes from the nozzle plate in FIG. 6). A passage is formed in the nozzle plate 13.13a that communicates with the nozzle hole 14 and is connected via a conduit 15.15a to a source of cleaning liquid (not shown).

The cleaning liquid a is supplied into the chamber 11 by a shower device 12.
The liquid level of the cleaning liquid in the chamber, which is covered by the injection from the nozzle hole, is determined by pumping an amount of cleaning liquid α corresponding to the injection amount through the discharge pipe 18 connected to the rear end of the chamber 11 (the right end in FIG. 1). It is kept constant by discharging it through.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the nozzle hole has a plurality of small diameter round holes arranged on the circumference, but the nozzle hole is made into a slit shape extending in the circumferential direction, and a plurality of slit-shaped nozzle holes are arranged in the circumferential direction. They may be placed separately.

In the above configuration, the conveyor 2 is rotated in the direction of the arrow on the outward path, and at position A, the container of the conveyor jig 25 is fed into the hole 26 from the container supply device 3.
At position B, items are filled from the filling device 4 into the container held on the conveyor, at position C, a band-shaped cover film f is placed over the container, and at position C, the container and the cover film f are sealed by a sealing device. Adhesively sealed,
At position E, the cover film is punched out for each individual container by a punching device. Then, a packaging container sealed by a known method at the downstream end (left end in FIG. 1) of the transport conveyor is taken out from the transport jig.

When the conveyance jig passes around the sprocket 23 and is on the return trip, the conveyance jig is turned upside down compared to when it was on the outward trip. Then, on the return trip, it immediately enters the cleaning liquid e in the chamber 11 and moves while being immersed, and is first cleaned by the cleaning liquid. When the conveyance jig continues on its return path, the shower device 1
As shown in FIG.
A cleaning liquid is strongly sprayed onto both sides of the conveyor jig 5 for secondary cleaning to wash away the deposits on the conveying jig that could not be washed away in the first cleaning.

When the conveying jig that has been cleaned by the shower device 12 advances further on its return trip and reaches the position of the heater 17, the cleaning liquid adhering to the conveyor is dried by the heater. When the transport jig thus cleaned is placed on the forward path of the transport conveyor, the container supply, product filling, sealing, etc. are performed in sequence as described above.

Although not specifically explained in the above embodiments, an exhaust pipe connected to a filter or an air cleaner is connected to the chamber 11, and air is sucked from inside the chamber through the exhaust pipe to remove the cleaning liquid in the form of mist. It goes without saying that it is preferable to prevent the liquid from leaking to the outside from the exit or entrance of the conveyor.

(g) Effects According to the present invention, since the cleaning liquid is sprayed onto the alignment jig from the nozzle holes arranged or shaped to match the shape of the conveyance jig of the conveyor, it cannot be washed away by simply passing through the cleaning liquid. This is extremely beneficial as it is possible to reliably clean the deposits on the conveyor while the machine is operating.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a filling and packaging machine equipped with a cleaning device of the present invention, showing a part of a chamber in cross section. Figure 2 is a plan view of the conveyor jig, Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the shower device, and Figure 5 is one nozzle plate. FIG. 6 is a side view of the container. 1: Filling and packaging machine 2: Conveyor conveyor 25: Conveyance jig 10: Cleaning device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The conveyor of the filling and packaging machine is passed through the cleaning liquid on the return trip to perform primary cleaning, and after the conveyor comes out of the cleaning liquid, it is conveyed to the conveyor jig of the conveyor. A cleaning method for a filling and packaging machine, characterized in that secondary cleaning is performed by spraying a cleaning liquid onto a conveying jig from nozzle holes of a shape or arrangement matching the shape of the jig. 2. Provide a chamber at the bottom of the conveyor of the filling and packaging machine through which the conveyor can pass on the return trip, fill the chamber with enough cleaning liquid to submerge the conveyor, and clean the conveyor in the chamber. The conveyor has nozzle holes in a shape or arrangement matching the shape of the conveyance jig of the conveyor at a position near where the cleaning liquid comes out, and the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the nozzle holes toward the conveyance jig. A cleaning device for a filling and packaging machine, characterized in that it is equipped with a shower device for cleaning the filling and packaging machine.