JPH0447077Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a spout used in a sealed bag used in an aseptic filling system for storing liquid foods such as dairy products and youth. [Prior art] The container form of the aseptic filling system is usually called a bag-in-box, in which the contents are filled into a bag with heat-sealed edges of two plastic films, and these bags are placed in a cardboard box for distribution. It is attracting attention as a commercial container that can replace cans and bottles. Furthermore, this aseptic filling system is increasingly being used as commercial containers for liquid foods, such as milk, cream, and orange juice, which are particularly susceptible to quality deterioration due to heat. The conventional back-in-box aseptic filling system places the spout of a sealed bag sterilized by gamma rays into a sterile chamber, removes the sealing inner stopper from the outside of the bag, and aseptically fills the contents within this chamber. It was something to do. Therefore, in order to maintain the sterility of the removed inner stopper, it is necessary to place the inner stopper in the chamber, which requires a large chamber, which increases the price of the entire filling machine. . There is also a system in which the spout is sterilized with steam and the inner stopper is removed into the chamber, but this system is expensive as a device and has a low filling capacity, so it is not economically preferable. Therefore, an inner plug to seal the spout is installed on the inside of the bag facing the spout attachment part, and a sealed bag with a spout is used for the spout, with the inner plug fitting from the inside of the bag. Therefore, when filling the contents, a system was developed in which a spout is attached to the lower end of the filling nozzle, the bag is sterilized with steam, and the inner stopper is removed to fill the bag. This system had the advantage of being a conventional sterile chamber under the filling nozzle, making the device smaller and cheaper. An inner stopper is fitted into the spout used here from the inside of the bag, and this fitting part separates the outside and the inside of the bag. The conditions are similar, and the sterility of the bag is maintained after γ plug sterilization. [Problems to be solved by the invention] In order to achieve complete aseptic filling, it is necessary to completely sterilize the narrow gap between the spout and the inner stopper; The space in the vicinity of the plug is narrow and it is difficult for steam to penetrate into the details of the fitting part, resulting in a problem of low sterilization. Therefore, the present invention aims to improve the aseptic filling performance of the spout portion of a sealed bag used in an aseptic system. [Structure of the invention] In the present invention, an upper plastic laminated film and a lower plastic laminated film are overlapped and their peripheries are sealed to form a sealed bag, and spout bodies are placed at appropriate locations on the upper plastic laminated film, and the lower plastic laminated film is placed on top of the upper plastic laminated film. In addition to joining and fixing inner plugs to the parts of the laminated film corresponding to the spout body, a contact protrusion is provided at the upper end of the inner wall of the spout body or an outer wall of the inner plug, and a fitting protrusion is provided below it. A spout for a sealed bag is configured to form a sterile gap between the inner wall of the spout body and the outer wall of the inner plug by fitting the inner plug into the spout main body. . [Function] After the gamma ray sterilized sealed bag is filled with contents, the fitting part between the spout main body and the inner stopper in the sealed bag is shut off from the outside air and the inside of the bag by the fitting of the fitting protrusion. Furthermore, since the contact protrusion prevents outside air from entering, the gap surrounded by the mating protrusion and the contact protrusion maintains a sterile state, and any leakage that comes out to the outside after filling is maintained. By simply sterilizing the outlet body end and the inner stopper end, the inside of the bag can be kept sterile at all times, and the contents can be kept sterile for a long period of time. [Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is an overall view of a sealed bag with a pouring spout, in which a top plastic laminated film 2 and a bottom plastic laminated film 3 are superposed and heat-sealed on all four sides to form a sealed part 4, with dimensions of 470 mm x 470 mm and a capacity of 10.
Sealed bag 1. Upper plastic laminated film 2 and lower plastic laminated film 3
is, for example, a laminated film made of stretched polyamide film (15μ) and medium density polyethylene (40μ) bonded together using a urethane adhesive. A spout main body 5 is attached to the upper plastic laminated film 2 of the sealed bag 1. The spout main body 5 is made of high-density polyethylene, and has an open upper part of a cylindrical body part 6, and a flange-like attachment piece 7 is provided at the lower part. The shaped mounting piece 7 and the periphery of the upper plastic laminated film 2 are heat-sealed and attached. An inner stopper 8 is attached to the bottom plastic laminated film 3 of the sealed bag 1. The inner plug 8 is made of high-density polyethylene, has a hollow protrusion 9 and a flange-like protrusion 10, and the flange-like protrusion 10 is fixed to the inner wall of the lower plastic laminated film 3 by heat sealing.
A fitting protrusion 11 and a contact protrusion 12 are provided along the circumference on the outer circumferential surface of the central and upper end portions of the hollow protrusion 9 . When the hollow protrusion 9 of the inner stopper 8 is inserted into the cylindrical body 6 of the spout body 5, the fitting protrusion 1
1 is pressed against the inner wall of the cylindrical body 6, the spout main body 5 and the inner stopper 8 are fitted in a sealed state, and the inside 13 of the sealed bag 1 is pressed.
and the outside are cut off at this fitting part, and further, the contact protrusion 12 at the upper end of the hollow protrusion 9 of the inner stopper 8,
The inner wall of the cylindrical body 6 of the spout main body 5 contacts, and the interior 13 and exterior of the sealed bag 1 are doubly isolated. A case will be described in which a sealed bag equipped with a spout configured as described above is filled with contents in an aseptic state. The sealed bag 1 is sterilized with gamma rays. A content filling nozzle is applied to the spout main body 5, and the content flows into the bag interior 13. After the flow has finished, insert the inner stopper 8 into the spout main body 5.
Press and seal. At this time, the fitting protrusion 11 and the contact protrusion 12 and the cylindrical body part 6 of the spout main body 5
Since the gap 14 between the bag and the bag is kept in a sterile condition, the inside of the bag 13 is kept in a sterile condition. Furthermore, while the bag is being stored, the contact protrusion 12 at the upper end of the inner stopper 8 blocks the outside air, so there is little possibility that bacteria will enter the sterile gap 14. Next, in order to confirm the effectiveness of the present invention, the following experiment was conducted. Condition 1: Sterilize the sealed bag of the present invention with 15KGy of gamma rays, store it in a normal room for one week with the spout exposed to the outside air, and then use a steam sterilization aseptic bag-in-box filling machine (Dainippon Printing Co., Ltd.) Made in each bag

[Table] From this result, the number of bags carried out in each test
Out of 100 bags, sterility was good under conditions 1 and 3, but under condition 2, 3 bags were defective and complete aseptic filling was not possible. On the other hand, when comparing the filling speeds, Condition 1 has a filling speed of 4 bags per minute, but Condition 3 has a low filling capacity of 2 bags per minute, and is low in economic efficiency. As described above, the maintenance of sterile conditions and filling speed by the sealed bag of the present invention were superior to other conditions. In this example, the fitting protrusion and the contact protrusion are provided on the outer wall of the hollow protrusion of the inner plug, but the fitting protrusion and the contact protrusion are provided on the inner wall of the cylindrical body of the spout body. Similar effects and effects can be expected. [Effect] The spout main body of the sealed bag and the inner stopper are fitted in two ways: the fitting part inside the spout and the contact part by the protrusion on the top surface of the spout. The contact protrusion provides a spout in which there is a very low probability that fallen bacteria will get mixed into the space between the inner stopper and the spout body. As a result, it is necessary to sterilize only the parts of the spout body and the upper part of the inner stopper that are in contact with the outside air, which reduces sterilization time, improves aseptic filling performance, and enables long-term storage, making it economical. It becomes a sealed bag.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the sealed bag of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the fitting portion between the spout body and the inner stopper. 1... sealed bag, 2... top plastic laminated film, 3... top plastic laminated film,
4... Seal portion, 5... Spout main body, 6... Cylindrical body, 8... Inner stopper, 9... Hollow protrusion, 11...
Fitting protrusion, 12... Contact protrusion, 13... Bag interior, 14... Aseptic gap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] The upper plastic laminated film and the lower plastic laminated film are overlapped and their peripheries are sealed to form a sealed bag, and the upper plastic laminated film is provided with a spout body at an appropriate location, and the lower plastic laminated film is located at a location corresponding to the spout body. The inner plugs are respectively connected and fixed, and a contact protrusion is provided at the upper end and a fitting protrusion is provided below the contact protrusion on the inner wall of the spout main body or the outer wall of the inner stopper. A spout for a sealed bag, characterized in that a sterile gap is formed between the inner wall of the spout body and the outer wall of the inner plug by fitting the inner plug.