JPH0455936B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a method for sterilizing container members or container materials, and more specifically to filling and sealing in an aseptic atmosphere,
The present invention relates to a method for sterilizing container members or container materials, which is suitable as a pretreatment for so-called aseptic packaging.

Here, the term "container member" refers to the container body (for example, cup-shaped or cylindrical shape with a bottom) and the lid, and the term "container material" refers to the material of the container body and the lid, such as web-shaped plastic or plastic. It refers to a laminate made of and metal foil, or a laminate made of plastic, metal foil, and paper.

(Prior art) As a method for sterilizing container members for so-called aseptic packaging, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 115220/1983 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11522/1983 are known.
Publication No. 110555 discloses that a sterilizing solution consisting of hydrogen peroxide solution is sprayed onto the container body and the lid, which are transported by a conveyor in a sterilizing chamber, using spray nozzles that face each other from above and below, and then in hot air in a drying chamber. A method of sterilizing container bodies and lids by passing them through and drying is disclosed.

According to the experience of the present inventors, the conventional sterilization method described above has the following problems.

Since the sterilizing liquid is directly sprayed from the spray nozzle onto the container member, it is difficult to uniformly apply the sterilizing liquid to the entire surface of the container member. For example, in the case of a cup-shaped container body 1 of the type shown in FIG. A relatively large amount of sterilizing liquid adheres to the flange part 2, step part 3, bottom part 7, etc. that are approximately perpendicular to the spray flow, but the amount of sterilizing liquid that adheres to the body part 4 that is approximately parallel to the spray flow is comparatively large. Not very accurate. Therefore, if the sterilizing liquid is sprayed so as to form a thin film over the entire surface of the body 4, too much sterilizing liquid will adhere to the flange 2, etc., and it will take too long to completely dry with hot air. If this is insufficient, a problem arises in that the sterilizing liquid remains in the container, leading to oxidative deterioration of the filled contents.

On the other hand, the amount or time of spraying is determined by
If the amount of adhesion is adjusted to be appropriate,
There are parts of the body 4 to which the sterilizing solution does not adhere, causing the problem that bacteria, ie, microorganisms, in these parts are not sterilized, and the filled contents are contaminated with bacteria.

When the container member is a so-called easy-to-open lid 5 equipped with a pull tab 6 as shown in FIGS. , the problem that the back side 6a becomes unsterilized tends to occur.

In addition, in the case of conventional sterilization methods, the injection nozzles are vertically opposed, so when performing continuous injection, the spray liquid from the lower injection nozzle is sent to the upper injection nozzle during the period when the container body does not pass under the upper injection nozzle. When this happens, the liquid becomes droplets, which tend to drip into the container body passing under the upper injection nozzle. These dropped droplets remain even after hot air drying, which tends to cause the problem of oxidative deterioration of the filled contents.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-13897 discloses that a sterilizing liquid mist generated by an ultrasonic sterilizing atomizer is guided into a sterilizing chamber to prevent the sterilizing liquid spray from being directly sprayed onto the container. A sterilization device is described for sterilizing containers that are moved.

In this case, the mist of sterilizing liquid enters the sterilizing chamber, for example from an atomizer, through an inlet on the right side of the sterilizing chamber, passes above and below the container, and then passes through an outlet on the left side of the sterilizing chamber. It is now being excreted after a period of time.

Therefore, the sterilizing liquid mist flows as a laminar flow that flows in a fixed direction within the sterilizing chamber, so if the shape of the container is complex, there may be areas where the laminar flow cannot go around, and there may be areas where the atomized particles do not adhere. This tends to cause the problem that some parts are not sterilized.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention can perform continuous sterilization at high speed over the entire surface of the container member or container material to be transported, even if the shape is complex. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for sterilizing a container member or a container material in which there is no possibility that a sterilizing liquid remains on the surface of the container member or the container material afterwards.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is a method of sterilizing a container member or container material while transporting the container member or container material, in which a sterilizing liquid is applied from a spray nozzle provided in a sterilization chamber to a spray stream of the container member or container material. After the container member or container material is transferred through a sterilization chamber filled with ultra-fine mist particles formed by spraying without directly hitting the material, the sterilization chamber and a sterile gas curtain room are This invention provides a method for sterilizing a container member or container material, which comprises blowing sterile hot air onto the container member or container material in a drying chamber that communicates with the container member or material through the drying chamber to dry and remove the adhered sterilizing liquid film. .

Here, ultrafine particles preferably have an average particle size of
Refers to fog particles of 10 μm or less. Such ultra-fine mist particles can be generated, for example, by a spray nozzle 8 of the type shown in FIG. The spray nozzle 8 is composed of a pair of nozzles 8a, 8a that face each other at an angle, and each nozzle 8a is provided with a sterile liquid spout 9 and a sterile compressed air spout 10. One spout 1
The compressed air 11 (pressure is about 3 to 4 kg/cm ² , for example) ejected from zero at supersonic speed contains mist droplets that are atomized by the shearing action of the sterilizing liquid 12 ejected from the ejection port 9. As it is, the other opposing spout 10
It violently collides with compressed air in the same state ejected from the air, forming an intense spray stream 13. This spray flow 1
3 spreads in the sterilization chamber as ultrafine mist particles 14.

(Function) A spray nozzle that generates ultra-fine mist particles is installed in the sterilization chamber, and the spray nozzle that generates such ultra-fine particles (preferably an average particle size of 10 μm or less) is used as described above. For example, a sterilizing liquid is sheared and ejected by sterile pressurized air ejected at supersonic speed.

Therefore, the sterilization chamber is filled with a turbulent spray stream made up of ultra-fine atomized particles due to the extremely high flow velocity when the atomized particles are generated by the atomizing nozzle. Therefore, even if the spray stream does not directly hit the container member or container material, the turbulent ultrafine mist particles will spread over the entire surface of the container member or container material, even if the container member or material has a complex shape. It also adheres substantially uniformly and continuously to the shaded areas (for example, the back side 6a of the tab 6 in FIG. 4b).

By setting the time for the container member or container material to pass through the sterilization chamber to an appropriately short time, it is possible to apply the sterilizing liquid to the container member or container material as thinly as possible within the sterilizing range, and
Sterilization is performed while this sterilizing liquid is attached.

Next, the sterilizing liquid film that has been formed as thinly, substantially uniformly, continuously, and as thinly as possible is dried and removed by blowing sterile hot air in a drying chamber that communicates with the sterilizing chamber. Because of this, the attached sterilizing solution is completely removed in a very short time.

Since the sterilization room and the drying room are separated by a sterile gas curtain room, the sterile hot air with high positive pressure (usually over 100℃) enters the sterilization room and sterilizes the inside of the sterilization room. There is no risk that the ultra-fine liquid droplets will be vaporized or the concentration of the spray stream will be diluted, resulting in areas where the sterilizing liquid may adhere or leak.

Therefore, even if the shape of the container member or container material to be transferred is complex, continuous sterilization can be performed over the entire surface at high speed, and the sterilization can be applied to the surface of the container member or container material after sterilization. There is no risk of liquid remaining. In addition, when the container parts, etc. are transferred from the sterilization room to the drying room, the gas that comes into contact with them is sterile gas, so there is no risk of the container parts, etc. being contaminated with bacteria (including spores), and the gas curtain room There is no risk that bacteria will flow into the drying chamber and re-contaminate the container member etc. after drying.

(Example) An example will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 20 denotes an aseptic packaging device, which includes a chamber 21, a container body sterilization chamber 22, a container body drying chamber 23, a filling and sealing chamber 24, and a lid processing chamber 25. The lid processing chamber 25 includes a lid sterilization chamber 26, a lid drying chamber 27, and a lid supply and delivery chamber 28.

An endless slot conveyor 29 is provided which intermittently circulates through the chamber 21, the container body sterilization chamber 22, the container body drying chamber 23, and the filling and sealing chamber 24 in the direction of arrow A. Reference numeral 30 denotes a container main body stacker, in which the stacked cup-shaped container main bodies 1 with flange portions 2 are lowered by a screw feeder 19 to each slat 31 of a slat conveyor 29 (see FIG. 2). The flange portion 2 is accommodated in the hole 31a so as to be placed on the slat 31.

Between the chamber 21 and the container body sterilization chamber 22, between the container body sterilization chamber 22 and the container body drying chamber 23, between the container body drying chamber 23 and the filling and sealing chamber 24, and between the filling and sealing chamber 24 and the chamber 21. Gentlemen, sterile gas curtain rooms 32, 33, 34,
and 35 are provided. Furthermore, a communication port is provided between each of these chambers through which the conveyor 29 and the container body 1 pass through the sterile gas curtain room.

The lid processing chamber 25 includes a lid sterilization chamber 26 and a lid drying chamber 2.
7 and through the lid supply and delivery chamber 28, an endless sub-conveyor 36 is provided which moves in a circular manner in the direction of arrow B. A known lid holder (not shown) of the type disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-115220 is attached to the sub-conveyor 36.

A large number of lids 5 are stacked on the lid stacker 37
After being lowered by the vacuum adsorption cup feeder 38 and engaged with the lid holder of the sub-conveyor 28, it passes through the lid sterilization chamber 26 and the lid drying chamber 27, and then opens the communication port 39 with the filling and sealing chamber 24. The container body 1 is placed on the flange portion 2 of the filled container body 1 while passing through the filling and sealing chamber 24 by the rotary vacuum suction feeder 40 . In addition, sterile gas curtain rooms 41 and 4 are provided between the lid supply and delivery chamber 28, the lid sterilization chamber 26, and the lid drying chamber 27, respectively.
2,43 are provided. Note that 18 is an exhaust port.

Chamber 21, container body sterilization chamber 22, filling and sealing chamber 24, lid sterilization chamber 26, and lid supply and delivery chamber 2
8 is provided with a sterilizing liquid spray nozzle 8 (for example, AKI Jet (registered trademark) manufactured by Ikeuchi Co., Ltd.). The spray nozzles 8 in the sterilization chambers 22 and 26 are arranged below the container body 1 or the lid 5 to be transported so that the spray stream 13 is directed in a substantially horizontal direction and does not directly hit the container body 1 or the lid 5. ing. Each spray nozzle 8 is supplied with 35% hydrogen peroxide water, which is a sterilizing liquid 12, from a sterilizing tank 42, and sterile pressurized air 11 is supplied via a sterile filter 43 and a solenoid valve 44.

The sterile gas curtain rooms 32 and 33 on the entrance side and the exit side of the container body sterilization chamber 22 are provided with, respectively,
A light projector 46 and a light receiver 47 (both of which constitute a photoelectric sensor) are provided, and a control mechanism (not shown) controls a solenoid valve for the spray nozzle 8 in the sterilization chamber 22 based on the signal current of the light receiver 47. 44
The concentration of the ultrafine mist particles 14 in the sterilization chamber 22 is controlled to a predetermined value by adjusting the ON/OFF state of the sterilizer and the opening degree of a damper (not shown) provided at the exhaust port 17. . Further, a circulation fan 48 is disposed above the sterilization chamber 22 to make the concentration of the ultrafine mist particles 14 uniform within the sterilization chamber 22. 49 is a heating heater, and the sterilization chamber 22
This is provided to raise the temperature inside the chamber to a predetermined temperature (for example, 50 to 90°C) to enhance the sterilizing effect of the sterilizing liquid.

The lid sterilization chamber 26 is also provided with a light projector 50, a light receiver 51, a circulation fan 52, and a warming heater 53 having similar functions.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the container body 1 passes through the container body sterilization chamber 22 and the drying chamber 23, the container body 1 is raised very slightly and the flange portion 2
A row of guide rollers 54 is provided below the slat conveyor 29 in the sterilization chamber 22 and the drying chamber 23 to create a slight gap 55 between the slats 31 and the slats 31. Because of the gap 55, the ultrafine sterilizing liquid particles 14 also adhere to the lower surface of the flange portion 2, and the formed thin film is easily dried and removed by hot air. Therefore, there is no risk that the filling and sealing chamber 24 will be contaminated by unsterilized bacteria remaining on the lower surface of the flange portion 2.

The upper and lower parts of the container body 1 through which the container body drying chamber 23 passes are heated with sterile hot air (the surface temperature of the container body is approximately 110℃).
A hot air blowing pipe 56 is provided which blows out sterile air (preferably made of sterile air at about 100 to 200°C) so that the temperature is above 120°C, more preferably about 120 to 130°C. Similarly, a hot air blowing pipe 5 blows out sterile hot air 55 above and below the lid 5 passing through the lid drying chamber 27.
7 are arranged.

Aseptic packaging is performed using the above-described apparatus 20 as follows.

Prior to starting work, the entire inside of the device 20 is replaced with sterile air to maintain a slightly positive pressure inside. After that, hydrogen peroxide water, which is a sterilizing liquid, is sprayed from all the spray nozzles 8 in each chamber including the chamber 21, and the entire inside of the device 20 is filled with ultrafine atomized particles 14 of the sterilizing liquid. Sterilize inner walls, parts, etc. Since the ultrafine mist particles 14 form a continuous extremely thin film on the inner wall, etc., sterilization can be achieved without causing a so-called leakage state. After completing the sterilization process, the solenoid valves 44 for all spray nozzles 8 are closed to stop spraying. After that, sterile hot air blowing pipe 1
Hot air is blown out from 5, 56, and 57 to dry and remove the sterilizing liquid adhering to the inner walls, etc. In addition, 16a, 16
b is an exhaust port.

Next, the sterilization chamber 22 at a predetermined temperature of the container body 1 determined by a test in which the container body whose entire surface has been coated with spores is passed through the device 20.
Based on the relationship between the transit time and the minimum concentration of ultrafine mist particles 14 in the sterilization chamber 22 necessary for substantially complete sterilization of the entire surface, the light receiver 47 is set so that a concentration slightly higher than the minimum concentration is obtained. The control value of the control mechanism connected to the container body sterilization chamber 22 is set.
Activate the spray nozzle 8 inside. Similarly, the spray nozzle 8 in the lid sterilization chamber 26 is also activated.

Next, the slat conveyor 29 and sub-conveyor 36 are activated. Container body 1 in stack 30
are stored in the slats 29a in order from the lowest one, and after being substantially entirely covered with a very thin film of hydrogen peroxide in the sterilization chamber 22, they are exposed to sterile hot air 55 in the drying chamber 23. Therefore, the surface is preferably heated to about 110° C. or higher for a short period of time (preferably for 5 seconds or more) to substantially completely sterilize the entire surface.

In the filling and sealing chamber 24, the slat conveyor 2
9 is temporarily stopped, the sterilized container body 1 is filled with sterilized contents from the filling nozzle 58a of the filling device 58.

On the other hand, the lid 5 also passes through the sterilization chamber 26 and the drying chamber 27 from the stacker 37, and is completely sterilized on its entire surface in the same manner as the container body 1. After that, the lid 5 is completely sterilized on its entire surface in the same manner as the container body 1, and then transferred to the corresponding filled container by the rotary vacuum suction feeder 40. It is placed on the flange portion 2 of the main body 1. Next, while the slat conveyor 29 is temporarily stopped, the flange portion 2 and the lid 5 are heat-sealed by the heat sealing device 59, and the obtained sealed container 60 is guided by the guide 61 and passed through the outlet 62. It is sent out from the chamber 21.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention can perform continuous sterilization at high speed over the entire surface even when the shape of the container member or container material to be transferred is complex. This has the effect that there is no risk of sterilizing liquid remaining on the surface of the container material.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory longitudinal cross-sectional view of a sterile packaging device comprising an example of a device for carrying out the method of the present invention;
The figure is an enlarged view of the main part of the container body sterilization chamber shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view of the first example of the container member to which the present invention is applied, and FIGS. Re,
A plan view and a front view of a second example of a container member to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a main part of an example of a spray nozzle to which the present invention is applied. 1... Container body (container member), 5... Easy-to-open lid (container member), 8... Spray nozzle, 13...
Spray flow, 14... Ultra fine mist particles, 22... Container body sterilization chamber, 23... Container body drying chamber, 26... Lid sterilization chamber, 27... Lid drying chamber, 33... Sterile gas curtain room, 55 ...sterile hot air.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a method of sterilizing container members or container materials while transferring them, a sterilizing liquid is sprayed from a spray nozzle installed in a sterilization chamber in such a way that the spray stream does not directly hit the container members or container materials. After the container member or container material is transferred through the sterilization chamber filled with the formed ultrafine mist particles, the container member or container material is transferred to a drying chamber that communicates with the sterilization chamber via a sterile gas curtain room. A method for sterilizing a container member or container material, which comprises blowing sterile hot air onto the material to dry and remove the adhered sterilizing liquid film.