JPH0323211B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable mixing and filling device for test packs that can test pack a wide variety of beverages in small quantities at various filling temperatures into various containers for test packs of beverages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When developing a beverage product, small batches are often used to evaluate the formulation of the contents by observing the change in flavor of the new beverage after a certain period of time, or to select a suitable container for the beverage. A so-called test pack is carried out in which test samples are filled into various types of containers under the same conditions as on an actual mixing and filling line (hereinafter referred to as an actual line) and evaluated after a certain period of time.

Conventionally, the above-mentioned test packs have been produced using an actual line or a compounding and filling line for test packs which is a miniaturized version of the actual line.

The conventional blending and filling line for test packs has a line dedicated to hot packs and a line dedicated to cold packs installed separately, just like the actual line, and its size has to be reduced in order to maintain the same conditions as the actual line. However, the 10-ton tank on the actual production line was downsized to about a 1-ton tank, and it required fairly large-scale equipment. Therefore, not only a large amount of sample liquid was required to flow into the line for filling, but also a large amount of sample liquid was required to be flowed to remove residual moisture in the line before starting the test pack, resulting in a large amount of line loss. . Therefore, conventional test pack lines require at least 600 sample solutions.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The conventional test pack line described above is a large-scale facility that requires at least 600 sample liquids, which not only increases the cost of producing sample liquids but also There was a problem that it could not be applied to high-mix, low-volume testing of prototypes. Also,
The conventional test pack line is hot pack (85
The line is dedicated to the cold pack (10°C or higher) line and the cold pack (10°C or lower) line, making it impossible to perform test packs at intermediate temperatures. However, recently there has been a demand for a device that can be filled with liquid at a temperature in the range of 40 to 60°C, and the conventional test pack line described above has the disadvantage that it cannot be applied to these liquids.

Furthermore, conventional test pack lines not only require separate management of hot pack and cold pack lines, but are also cumbersome to handle, require specialized personnel, and take a long time.

Furthermore, because the conventional test packing line is large-sized and expensive, it is difficult to install it in each filling factory. Therefore, it is not possible to easily conduct test packs at each filling site.
It was not possible to respond quickly to new product development.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to use small equipment, to be able to perform test packs of a wide variety of products in small quantities, to be easy to handle, and to use a single device. To provide a portable mixing and filling device which can perform filling at any temperature and can be transported to a filling site to quickly and effectively perform a test pack.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention connects the equipment necessary for blending and filling, such as a blending tank, a carbonator (in the case of carbonated drinks), and a filling machine, via a heat exchanger that can be connected to an external heat source. This allows for maximum thermal efficiency by freely controlling the temperature of the liquid content to enable filling at a wide range of temperatures, and by detecting temperature differences between each process and correcting them by feeding them to subsequent processes. This made it possible to downsize the equipment by ensuring the following.

That is, in the portable mixing and filling device for test packs of the present invention, a mixing tank 2, a carbonator 4, a filling machine 5, and a heat exchanger 3 are arranged and fixed on a machine stand 6. A feed pipe constituting a first content liquid supply pipeline system for supplying the content liquid to the carbonator 4 and filling machine 5 via the heat exchanger 3 is installed, and a supply pipe is connected from the mixing tank 2 to the heat exchanger. 3, a supply pipe constituting a second content liquid supply pipeline system for supplying the content liquid to the filling machine 5 is installed, and a chiller device and a hot water device can be connected to the heat exchanger 3. , the mixing tank 2 and the carbonator 4 are provided with jackets for circulating refrigerant or hot water to stabilize the set temperature of the contents, so that at least hot pack and cold pack test packs can be performed. .

Function When blending and filling carbonated beverages, the chiller device 10 is connected to the heat exchanger 3, the raw materials are stirred and blended in the blending tank 2, and the liquid content is sent to the carbonator 4 via the heat exchanger using the liquid feed pump. supply. The content liquid is cooled to a desired temperature by a heat exchanger. The carbonator 4 absorbs carbon dioxide gas into the liquid content, feeds it to a filling machine, and the filling machine fills it into a desired container.

In the case of a hot pack, a hot water device 15 is connected to the heat exchanger 3, and the content liquid stirred and mixed in the mixing tank 2 is heated to a desired temperature by the heat exchanger, and sent to the filling machine 5 and poured into the desired container. Filled.

In the above test pack, the temperature of the liquid in the mixing tank, carbonator, and filling machine is detected by temperature sensors installed in each device, and if there is a temperature difference between these processes, a By controlling the flow rate of refrigerant or hot water circulating through the jacket, the liquid content is maintained at a desired set temperature. Further, the hot water device has a wide temperature control range, and can set any temperature above room temperature (for example, 50° C.) in addition to the hot pack, so it is possible to set an intermediate temperature in addition to the cold pack and hot pack. Therefore, according to the apparatus of the present invention, a single apparatus can perform cold packs, hot packs, and intermediate temperature packs, and test packs at any temperature are possible.

On the other hand, in the case of test packs, the liquid content handled in the equipment is small lots, so the capacity is much smaller than in the actual line, and it is difficult to stabilize the temperature of the liquid content.However, in the present invention, as described above, each process Since it detects the temperature and maintains the set temperature,
The set temperature of the contents is stable, compounding and filling can be done at the desired temperature, and test packs can be made under the same conditions as on the actual line.

Furthermore, since the present invention is portable and can be transported by truck to a desired location, for example, even if each filling factory is not equipped with a test pack device, the test pack can be easily carried out by moving between factories as necessary. can.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the mixing and filling device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 4 show a chiller device, a hot water device, and a seaming device attached to the mixing and filling device.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a mixing and filling device, which is composed of a mixing tank 2, a heat exchanger 3, a carbonator 4, and a filling machine 5, and is mounted on a base 6 so that it can be transported as a unit. Each device is fixed in position. Reference numerals 7 and 8 indicate wheels appropriately provided on the base 6.

Preferred embodiments of each of the above devices will be described in detail below.

Mixing Tank FIG. 5 shows the mixing tank 2. In the figure, 200 is a main body of a mixing tank, which is provided with a raw material input port 201 having a lid 202 at the top and a liquid content delivery port 203 at the bottom. Outlet port 203
is connected to the heat exchanger 3 via the pump 204 (Fig. 1).
is connected to. In the case of a cold pack, the tank body 200 is designed so that the liquid inside can be precooled to a desired temperature by circulating a refrigerant from a chiller device through the jacket 205 of the tank body 200. Further, in the case of a hot pack, if necessary, the jacket may be provided with piping for circulating hot water to preheat the contents.

206 is a stirrer for stirring and blending the content liquid, and is rotationally driven by a variable speed motor via a transmission 207. Therefore, according to this apparatus, the stirring speed can be freely selected depending on the contents, and stirring can be performed under optimal conditions. Reference numeral 210 denotes a bubbling nozzle which performs bubbling by blowing nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide gas as necessary to remove oxygen from the content liquid or prevent oxygen from being mixed into the content liquid. 2
Reference numeral 11 denotes a temperature sensor, which detects the temperature of the liquid content, and based on the detection result, controls the flow rate of refrigerant to the jacket 205 by a circuit described later to maintain the liquid content at a desired temperature. Reference numeral 212 denotes a spray ball, which sprays hot water from the peripheral side to clean the inside of the tank when cleaning the tank. Also, 21
4 is a safety valve that prevents the internal pressure of the tank from exceeding a predetermined pressure, and 215 is a liquid return port. Further, the tank body 200 can be removed from the bottom plate 216 and cleaned.

Heat Exchanger As shown in FIG. 1, the heat exchanger 3 is for heating or cooling the content liquid fed from the mixing tank 2, and is a unit separate from the mixing and filling device as a heat source. The provided chiller device 10 or hot water device 15 is connected.

The chiller device 10 consists of a brine tank 12 installed on a trolley 11 and a refrigerator 13. In the case of cold backing such as carbonated drinks, the chiller device 10 connects pipes A and B to a heat exchanger and supplies refrigerant to the heat exchanger. In addition to circulating the refrigerant, it can also be connected to a pipe line that circulates the refrigerant to the mixing tank 2 and carbonator 4, as will be described later.

The hot water device 15 is composed of an in-line heater 17, a pump 18, and a controller 19 installed on a trolley 16, and in the case of a hot pack, pipes A and B are connected to a heat exchanger to circulate hot water through the heat exchanger. .

Carbonator FIG. 6 shows the carbonator 4. In the figure, 400 is the main body of the pressure tank of the carbonator, and there are liquid supply ports 401 at the top and bottom.
402, and a content liquid outlet 403 is provided at the bottom.

The outer periphery of the tank 400 is kept warm by a heat insulating material 404, and a jacket 405 is provided in the lower half where the internal solution is stored, so that a refrigerant is circulated from a chiller device to cool the content liquid. There is.

406 is a carbon dioxide gas supply port, 407 is a showering plate, 408 is a saturation plate, 409 is a saturation pan, 410
is a temperature sensor, and 411 is a relief valve.

For regular carbonated drinks, the upper supply port 401
The content liquid that has been further cooled by a heat exchanger is introduced, dispersed by a shearing plate 407, and allowed to flow down along a saturating plate 408 in a carbon dioxide atmosphere. During this time, the content liquid is collected by the saturating van 409 and stored in the lower part of the tank, and is supplied to the filling machine from the liquid outlet 403.

In addition, the carbonator 4 of this embodiment is provided with an internal solution supply port 402 especially at the bottom of the tank, so if you want to obtain a beverage with a small amount of dissolved carbon dioxide, the content liquid is supplied through the supply port 402 at the bottom. By doing so, the amount of carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the content liquid can be reduced. Therefore, compared to conventional carbonators, the control range of the gas volume is wider.

Furthermore, in addition to being used as an original carbonator, the carbonator 4 of this embodiment can also be used when it is desired to temporarily store the liquid content to be supplied to a filling machine for non-carbonated beverages etc. By supplying the contents from the tank, it can also be used as a buffer tank.

Filling Machine FIG. 7 shows the filling machine 6. The filling machine 6 of this embodiment is capable of filling contents under all filling conditions such as cold packs for carbonated drinks and hot packs for non-carbonated drinks, can be filled regardless of the form of the container such as cans and bottles, and can fill liquid contents. It is characterized by the ability to control temperature.

In the figure, 600 is a filler bowl;
A heater 601 is attached to the peripheral side of the bowl, and the temperature of the liquid inside is detected by a temperature sensor 603, and the operation of the heater 601 is controlled based on the detection signal from the sensor to bring the liquid inside to a predetermined temperature. I'm learning to keep it. 610 is a two-stage valve opening/closing cylinder, as shown in FIG.
An air valve 61 is attached to the lower end of the charge lever 616 fixed to the tip of the cylinder rod 611.
2, and is connected to the charge valve stem 612 so that the gas passage hole 626 of the charge valve stem 613 can be opened and closed. Charge valve 614
In this case, the valve head 615 is connected to the downstream nozzle 617.
The annular recess 6 of the valve seat 618 provided in the upper part of the valve seat 618
18 to control the flow of the content liquid.
Further, a vent tube 620 passing through the nozzle hole 619 of the downstream nozzle 617 is screwed to the lower end of the charge valve 614 . A level adjustment screw 621, which has a gas passage hole formed through it, is screwed into the lower end of the vent tube 620. By adjusting the position of the level adjustment screw 621, the contents of the container can be filled with liquid. Adjust amount.

At the lower end of the downstream nozzle, a can pad 623 that engages with the opening of the container is held by a pad holder 624. The pad holder 624 is screwed onto the lower end of the nozzle, and the can pad 623 and pad holder 624 can be replaced depending on the container.

To fill a container with liquid by the filling machine, the container is held in engagement with the cap 623 so that the level adjustment screw 621 is located within the container opening, and the air cylinder 610 is actuated.
When the cylinder 610 is actuated to the first stage, the air valve 612 rises to open the gas supply hole of the charge valve 612 and the bowl 6 as shown.
The gas in the head space 01 is supplied into the container to equalize the pressure in the bowl and the pressure in the container. At this point, the charge valve 614 is still closed, so no liquid is supplied into the container. When the cylinder 610 rises to the second stage, the charge valve is opened and the liquid content naturally falls through the downflow nozzle 619 and fills the container. Even if it is a carbonated beverage, since the internal pressure of the bowl and the container are equalized when filling, the contents will flow down by themselves and will not foam during filling.
When the content liquid in the container reaches the level adjustment screw 621, the gas passage hole is blocked by the content liquid, and the communication with the upper part of the bowl is cut off.At the same time, the cylinder 6
10 is activated, the valve head 615 of the charge valve 614 engages the annular recess 618 to prevent the contents from flowing down. At the same time, the sniff valve 625 is activated to evacuate the gas in the container headspace.

If the shape of the container changes, use Canpad 623.
and replace the pad holder 624 with one that fits the container. At this time, since the charge valve 614 is in a closed state, the charging can be carried out freely while the liquid content is stored in the bowl.

In addition, in FIG. 7, 602 is a heat insulating material, and 60
4 is a content liquid inlet, and 605 is a content liquid level meter.

The container filled with liquid by the filling machine is seamed by a separately provided seaming device 20.

The seaming device 20 is configured such that a seaming machine is installed on a base 21 and is movable. The seaming machine 22 employs a semi-trosima suitable for seaming a small number of seams.

In order to enable the seamer to seal carbonated beverage cans, the seamer is provided with an undercover gassing device for replacing carbon dioxide gas in the container head space.

Control of blending and filling using the portable blending and filling apparatus configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the piping diagram in Figure 9, the solid line is the supply line for the liquid content, and the dashed line is the return line for the liquid content.
As shown in the figure, the content liquid supply line runs from the mixing tank 2 via the pump 204 to the cooling section C ₁ of the heat exchanger 3, the carbonator 4, and the supply pipes 701, 702, between the filling machine 5, 703,704,
705 and 706 to form a first content liquid supply pipeline system for the cold pack, and also to connect between the heating section H of the heat exchanger 3 and the filling machine 5 from the mixing tank 2 via the pump 204. Feed pipes 701, 702,
707, 708, and 706 are connected to form a second content liquid supply pipe system for the hot pack and intermediate pack. In addition, the feed pipes 701, 702, 706
In this case, three-way packs 710 and 711 are provided at the pipe branching part, and all or part of them are used for a cold pack, a hot pack, and an intermediate temperature pack.

Moreover, the broken line shows the flow of refrigerant, and the two-dot broken line shows the flow of hot water. In addition, MV is a motor valve,
OV indicates auto valve, S indicates temperature sensor, indicates heater, and indicates water. Next, the operations of cold pack and hot pack will be explained.

About Codle Pack (carbonated drink) The content liquid mixed in the mixing tank 2 is pumped into the pump 2.
04 to the heat exchanger 3 at a constant flow rate.
There, it is cooled to a preset temperature and sent to the carbonator 4 for the next process. If the cooling temperature deviates from the set value, the temperature sensor 410 (S1)
Upon detection of this, autovalve OV1 operates and the content liquid is returned to the mixing tank. At the same time, the motor valve MV1 is operated to control the flow rate of refrigerant to the heat exchanger 3.

The temperature of the liquid sent to the carbonator 4 is further detected by a temperature sensor 411 (S4).
If the liquid temperature in the carbonator 4 increases significantly, the MV4 is activated to control the flow rate of refrigerant to the carbonator body. The liquid is then sent to the filling machine for the next process while maintaining a constant temperature. In addition, since the refrigerant is also circulated to the adjustment tank 2 and the temperature is controlled, a stable liquid temperature can be obtained in a short time.

Hot pack (for non-carbonated beverages) The content liquid mixed in the mixing tank 2 is sent to the heat exchanger 3 at a constant flow rate by a pump. There, it is heated to a certain temperature and sent to a filling machine for the next process. If the liquid temperature does not reach the set value, temperature sensor S2 will activate the auto valve OV.
From step 2, the content liquid is returned to the mixing tank. In that case, it is once cooled to room temperature through heat exchange C2 and then returned to the mixing tank. At the same time, sensor S2 operates MV2 of the hot water system to control the steam flow rate.

Note that in order to avoid a drop in liquid temperature at the filler ball, the heater 601 is controlled to maintain the temperature within a predetermined range.

I have explained two typical patterns above,
In addition, it is possible to mix and fill a wide variety of beverages at any temperature. According to this example configured as described above, it was possible to perform a test pack of the same high quality as in the actual line using a small amount of test sample liquid of 150 ml or less.

Effects As is clear from the above explanation, the present invention has the following remarkable effects.

(b) Since it is possible to produce high-quality test packs of the contents of small lots at the actual line level, evaluation can be carried out at minimum cost and in a short period of time.

(b) Since it is portable, it can be transported anywhere and test packs can be carried out quickly and efficiently.

(c) It can be used in various beverages such as carbonated, non-carbonated, and alcoholic beverages.

(d) A wide range of filling temperature conditions can be set.

(e) It is easy to handle and operate, and can be operated by a small number of people.

(f) Each device can be used alone.

(g) It is possible to fill various containers.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a mixing and filling device, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a chiller device, and FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a hot water device.
Figure 4 is a schematic side view of the seaming device, Figure 5 is a side sectional view of the mixing tank, Figure 6 is a side sectional view of the carbonator, Figure 7 is a side sectional view of the filling device, and Figure 8 is the charge valve. A side sectional view of the device, and FIG. 9 is a piping line diagram. 1: Mixing and filling device, 2: Mixing tank, 3: Heat exchanger, 4: Carbonator, 5: Filling machine, 6: Machine stand, 10: Chiller device, 15: Hot water device, 20:
Sealing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A blending tank, a carbonator, a filling machine, and a heat exchanger are arranged and fixed on a machine base, and the blending tank is connected to the carbonator and the filling machine via the heat exchanger. In addition to piping a feed pipe constituting a first content liquid supply pipeline system for supplying the content liquid, a second content liquid supply pipe is provided to supply the content liquid from the mixing tank to the filling machine via a heat exchanger. A feed pipe constituting the supply pipeline system is installed to enable connection of a chiller device and a hot water device to the heat exchanger, and a refrigerant or A portable mixing and filling device for test packs, characterized in that it is equipped with a jacket for hot water circulation and is capable of performing at least hot pack and cold pack test packs. 2. The portable mixing and filling device for test packs according to claim 1, wherein the filling machine is provided with a heater for stabilizing the contact temperature of the contents. 3. A temperature sensor is provided in the blending tank, the carbonator, and the filling machine, and the temperature of the blending tank, the carbonator, and the filling machine is controlled based on the temperature measurement value of the temperature sensor. A portable mixing and filling device for test packs according to item 1 or 2.