JPH05147623A - Sterilizing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a sterilizing apparatus for sterilizing carton to be formed into a paper container for beverage. CONSTITUTION:The title sterilizing apparatus 10 operates wet pit type turrets 30, 32 arranged in a bactericidal bath 26 and washing bath 28, a bactericide- removing turret 42 arranged on the side opposite to the washing bath 28 side relative to the sterilizing bath 26 and having a plurality of radial mandrels 44, and a carton-feeding mechanism 50 for successively delivering the carton 9 between respective these turrets 30, 32, 42 while synchronizing these parts with each other by one main drive shaft 78. In this manner, the steilizing apparatus can be manufactured at a low cost and can be handled easily.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention sterilizes cartons formed in various liquid paper containers such as milk or juice, which is called a gelbel top type, and the sterilized cartons are used in a liquid filling device. The present invention relates to a sterilizing device for delivery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a paper container containing a liquid beverage is
It is formed from a laminated material in which paper is the main material and polyethylene, aluminum, etc. are laminated. When manufacturing such a paper container, a tubular carton having a square cross section with both ends opened is formed. Then, after completely sterilizing the carton, one end of the carton is heated, temporarily folded and sealed by a molding and filling device to mold the bottom into a flat bottom shape. After this, the required liquid beverage is filled and the upper end portion is formed into a gabled shape to complete the paper container.

An example of a sterilization device for sterilizing such a carton is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-43330. This conventional sterilizer is placed in a completely closed sterile room. In this sterile room, a sterilization tank containing a sterilizing agent and a cleaning tank containing sterile water for cleaning are juxtaposed with each other, and inside these sterilization tanks and cleaning tanks, wrap around a drive sprocket above the sterile room. And the lower end of the hanging endless chain enters. On the outer periphery of these endless chains,
A large number of carton holders for holding the carton in a state of being slightly inclined with respect to the horizontal direction are mounted, and are intermittently rotated in synchronization with each other by a drive sprocket.

Further, above the sterilization tank and the cleaning tank, they are arranged at an angle equal to the inclination angle of the carton holder and reciprocate in synchronization with the endless chain, and one end of the carton is stopped when the endless chain stops. A carrying rod provided with a plurality of pawl members that are locked and sent to the next step is arranged.

When the endless chain of the sterilization tank is rotated, the cartons held by the carton holder are successively immersed in the sterilization tank to sterilize the entire inner and outer surfaces, and then pulled up. The sterilized carton is pushed from one end side by the pawl member of the transport rod and pushed out from the carton holder when the endless chain is stopped, and is further mounted on the carton holder of the endless chain traveling in the washing tank. It Similarly, the carton that has been immersed in the washing tank and pulled up from this is washed off of the bactericide.

According to this conventional sterilization apparatus, each carton holder is successively immersed in the sterilization tank and the cleaning tank in a state of being inclined with respect to the horizontal direction. The disinfectant and sterile water flow down from the lower end side, the carry-in of the disinfectant into the cleaning tank is reduced, and water drops in the carton are easily removed, and the carton can be disinfected and the disinfectant can be efficiently removed.

[0007]

However, in this conventional sterilization device, each endless chain in which the carton is immersed in the sterilization tank and the cleaning tank and pulled up from this is driven by an independent servomotor, and the carton is also removed. The transport rod for the next process is also reciprocated by a separate servo motor. Therefore, when starting the sterilizer, it is necessary to match the origins of a large number of servomotors to each other, and the preparation for starting the sterilizer becomes complicated. Further, since a large number of expensive servo motors are used, the entire sterilization device becomes expensive.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive sterilizing apparatus which can efficiently sterilize a carton and remove a sterilizing agent and can be easily started.

[0009]

A sterilizing device for solving the above-mentioned problems is a sterilizing device for sterilizing a carton formed on a liquid paper container and delivering the sterilized carton to a liquid filling device. A sterilization tank for immersing and sterilizing the carton, a cleaning tank that is placed in parallel with this sterilization tank to wash off the sterilizing agent adhering to the carton, and a sterilization tank and a cleaning tank that are respectively placed inside to hold the carton. A sterilizer that removes the sterilizer by spraying sterile air on the inner surface of the washed carton by radially arranging the in-tank turret having a plurality of carton holders and a mandrel having a sterile air jet nozzle at each tip. A removing turret, a carton feeding mechanism in which a plurality of feeding pawls are pivotally mounted at equal intervals on an endless chain extending from the sterilizing tank along the sterilizing agent removing turret, and one drive source Respectively and connected and each intracisternal turret and fungicides removed turret carton feeding mechanism and a first drive shaft that is connected through the indexing device,
It is characterized in that the carton is moved by the carton feeding mechanism when the turrets in the respective tanks and the sterilizer removal turret are stopped.

[0010]

According to the sterilizing apparatus of the present invention, the carton is immersed in the sterilizing tank and the whole is sterilized with the sterilizing agent. When the turret in the tank stops, the carton pulled up from the sterilization tank is sent to the carton holder of the turret in the tank that circulates in the cleaning tank when the turret in the tank is stopped. It is sent from the inner turret to the sterilizer removal turret. The disinfectant and the cleaning liquid flow down from both open ends of the carton when it is pulled up from the disinfectant tank and the cleaning tank, and the disinfectant is blown from the inner surface of the carton by the aseptic air ejected from the aseptic air ejection nozzle of the disinfectant removal turret. Be done. The in-tank turret and the germicide-removing turret are driven by the drive shaft 1 together with the endless chain of the feed mechanism, so that when the sterilizer is stopped, the turret is maintained in a predetermined arrangement state for restarting. Eliminates the need for alignment adjustments.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0012]

1 and 2 show a sterilizing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
0, the sterilization apparatus 10 is, for example, the above-mentioned gate
It is used for an aseptic filling and packaging machine for filling and packaging a bell-top type container.

The sterilization apparatus 10 includes a housing 12 and is entirely contained in a sterile room formed in the housing 12. The carton 9 formed in the beverage paper container is supplied from the supply station 14 on the right side of the figure, sterilized by the sterilization station 16, and then washed by the cleaning station 18 and the water drop removing station 20. And the germicide is blown away with the water drops. The carton sterilized by the sterilizer 10 is dried with hot air and then carried out to the next molding device, where one end is heated, temporarily folded, and sealed to mold the bottom into a flat bottom shape. Further, in the subsequent packaging device, the required liquid beverage is filled and the upper end portion is formed into a gabled shape, thus completing the paper container.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a double structure in which a series of stations from the supply station 14 to the water drop removal station 20 are arranged in pairs along the longitudinal direction of the housing 12 of the sterilizer 10. The aseptic apparatus 10 may have such a double-structured configuration, and may be a single-type sterilizer in which each station is arranged in the sterile chamber one by one, or a sterilizer in which three or more stations are arranged in parallel.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the supply station 14 of the sterilizing apparatus 10, a large number of cartons 9 are placed in a flat shape in a hopper 11 by a suction device (not shown). The lower carton 9 is sequentially withdrawn to the supply position and expanded into a hollow shape. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the carton 9 thus developed into the hollow shape is fed to the carton feeding mechanism described later by the claw member 25 of the chain 24 driven by the pair of horizontally arranged sprockets 22a and 22b. .. This claw member 25 is
With a guide rail (not shown) placed at the supply position,
When the carton 9 approaches the rear end of the carton 9, that is, the right end of FIG.
Is drawn in after being sent to the carton feeding mechanism so that the carton 9 is not damaged.

The sterilization station 16 is provided with a sterilization tank 26 containing, as a sterilizing agent, 35% by weight of hydrogen peroxide solution heated to about 80 ° C., for example. A washing tank 28 is arranged in the washing station 18, and sterile water completely sterilized by an aseptic filter is stored in the washing tank 28 as a washing liquid. In order to make the removal of the bactericide more complete, this cleaning solution is maintained at 60 ° C or higher and 80 ° C or so, and while maintaining the concentration of the bactericide at a small value below a predetermined value while newly supplying sterile hot water. preferable.

The sterilization tank 26 receives the carton 9 sent from the supply station 14, and rotates in the sterilization tank 26 with both open ends of the carton being inclined at, for example, 2 to 5 degrees with respect to the horizontal direction. The in-tank turret 30 is arranged. Further, an in-tank turret 32 having the same structure as this is also arranged in the cleaning tank 28.

In-tank turrets 30 and 3 in this embodiment
2 is a vertical drive shaft 34 above the sterilization tank 26 and the cleaning tank 28.
A pair of drive sprockets 36, 36, endless chains 38, 38 wound around these drive sprockets 36, 36 and extending at the lower end into the sterilization tank 26 or the cleaning tank 28, and these endless chains 38. , 38
And a plurality of carton holders 40 mounted at equal intervals. These carton holders 40 are formed by four guide rails having an L-shaped cross section for holding the four corners of the carton 9, and the entrance side thereof, that is, the right end of FIG. 1 is for facilitating insertion of the carton 9. And is attached to the endless chains 38, 38 in a state of being inclined at, for example, 2 to 5 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. Further, when the in-tank turrets 30 and 32 are stopped, the carton holders 40 mounted on these in-tank turrets 30 and 32 are not shown in FIG.
They are arranged on the same straight line as shown in FIG.

When the in-tank turret 30 is intermittently rotated by the vertical drive shaft 34 in the direction indicated by the arrow X in FIG. 1, the carton 9 is successively immersed in the sterilization tank 26 and pulled up from the sterilization tank 26. Be done. Since the carton 9 is immersed in the sterilization tank 26 with both ends open and inclined with respect to the horizontal axis, the sterilizing agent is completely spread to the inner surface of the carton 9, and bactericidal unevenness due to adhesion of bubbles and the like does not occur. , The bactericide flows from the inside of the blank, and the remaining amount inside becomes small.

The carton 9 which has been sterilized in this way is sent to the washing station 18 and is then fed to the same tank turret 32.
Thus, the carton 9 is successively dipped in the cleaning tank 28, and then the carton 9 is pulled up and the germicide attached to the surface is washed off together with the cleaning liquid. The carton 9 which has been cleaned with the disinfectant in the cleaning station 18 has the disinfectant removing station 20.
Sent to.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each cleaning station is
A sterilizer removal turret 42 for blowing aseptic air to the inner surface of the carton 9 is arranged in the section 20. The sterilizer removal turret 42 of this embodiment includes six mandrels 44 arranged radially at equal intervals. Four guide rails 46 having an L-shaped cross section for guiding and holding the carton 9 along the mandrel 44 are arranged around the mandrels 44. These guide rails 46 are widened at the tip side, that is, at the outer peripheral side end of the sterilizing agent removal turret 42, and facilitate the insertion of the carton 9. Note that FIG. 1 shows only one of these mandrels 44, but other five mandrels 44 are similarly formed.

The mandrels 44 of the disinfectant removing turret 42 are radially arranged at equal intervals around the lateral drive shaft 48, and are the same as the downward traveling path where the carton holder 40 of the in-tank turret 32 moves downward. The inside of the plane is intermittently turned in the direction of the arrow Y in FIG. 1 in synchronization with the in-tank turret 32. When the disinfectant removal turret 42 is stopped, the mandrel 44 is inclined by 2 to 5 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane, and the carton holder 4 of the in-tank turret 32 is rotated.
It is arranged coaxially with 0.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tip of the mandrel 44 is formed in a rectangular shape, and the carton 9 mounted from this tip is held by a guide rail 46 at the peripheral portion. A sterile air jet nozzle is continuously opened on the outer circumference of the tip portion, and when the carton 9 is mounted on the mandrel 44, the inner surface of the carton 9 is blown by the sterile air jetted from the sterile air jet nozzle. Water droplets of bactericide are blown out from. The carton 9 from which the sterilizing agent on the inner surface has been removed by the sterilizing agent removing turret 42 is sent to the next step, which is, for example, a hot air drying station, and further sent to the packaging and filling step to drink beverages such as alcoholic beverages and milk. Is filled.

As schematically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sterilizer 10 has a carton feeding mechanism 50 for transporting each carton 9 to the next station. It extends over the agent removing station 20.

The carton feeding mechanism 50 includes an endless chain 54 wound between a pair of sprockets 52a and 52b, and each endless chain 54 has a claw member for locking one end of the carton 9 at its tip. 56 are attached at equal intervals.

As shown in FIG. 3, the endless chain 54 is guided by a chain guide 53 extending along a traveling path near the carton 9. A plurality of L-shaped mounting members 58 are fixed to the endless chain 54 at predetermined intervals, and the claw members 56 are pivotally attached to the mounting members 58, respectively. Further, a pin 60 extends from these claw members 56, and by operating this pin 60, the claw member 56 can be pivoted with respect to the attachment member 58, that is, the endless chain 54. As described above, in order to pivot the claw member 56 via the pin 60, the two guide rods 62, 62 are extended along the upper side of the chain guide 53.

FIG. 4 shows such guide rods 62, 62 and their operating mechanism 66.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide rods 62, 62
Is integrally formed by an inverted U-shaped connecting member 64, and the pin 60 of the claw member can move together with the endless chain 54 between these guide rods 62, 62. The actuating mechanism 66 includes actuating rods 68, 68 connected to one of the guide rods 62, 62 and a groove cam 70.
And the operating rods 68, 68 and the groove cam 7
0 is mounted on the support base 72. The groove cam 70 is eccentrically mounted on the support base 72, and the cam follower 69 fixed to the operating rods 68, 68 is accommodated in the groove 71. Then, when the grooved cam 70 is rotated, the operating rods 68, 68 reciprocate via the cam followers 69 between a position close to the endless chain 54 and a position separated therefrom. As a result, the pin 60 is rotated with respect to the endless chain 54, and at the same time, the claw member 56 is swung between a projecting position in which the carton 9 is engaged and a retracted position in which the carton 9 is not engaged. The operating rods 62, 62 of the operating mechanism 66 may be operated by, for example, an air cylinder or the like instead of the groove cam 70.

The carton feeding mechanism 50 is the vertical drive shaft 3
It is driven by one main drive shaft together with four and lateral drive shafts 48.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the main drive shaft 74
Is located underneath the housing 12 on this side,
It is connected to a power source such as a servo motor (not shown).
The main drive shaft 74 is connected to the indexer 8 via miter gear boxes 76 and 78 and auxiliary drive shafts 77 and 79 extending upward, respectively.
6 and 88, these indexers 86 and 88
Is converted from continuous rotation to intermittent rotation. A horizontal drive shaft 87 extends from the output side of the indexer 86, and the vertical drive shafts 34, 34 for driving the in-tank turrets 30, 32 (FIG. 1) are coupled to the horizontal drive shaft 87. Further, a lateral drive shaft 48 on which the sterilizing agent removing turret 42 is mounted is extended from the output side of the indexer 88.

Further, the main drive shaft 74 is connected to the input side of the parallel indexer 90 via a miter gear box 80 and an endless chain 81 extending therefrom. The output of the parallel indexer 90 is connected to a sprocket 94 integrally connected to the sprocket 52a of the carton feeding mechanism 50 via a lateral drive shaft 91, a sprocket 92 attached to the horizontal drive shaft 91, and an endless chain 93. And the endless chain 53 of the carton feeding mechanism 50 is also the main drive shaft 74.
Driven by. Further, the main drive shaft 74 of the present embodiment can also drive the delivery mechanism 96 that delivers the carton 9 from the sterilizer removal turret 42 to the next step, and the indexer 85 via the miter gear box 82 and the endless chain 83.
Connected to the input side of. The lateral drive shaft 84 is connected to the output side of the indexer 85.
Thus, the endless chain 98 is driven intermittently. The endless chain 98 is the claw member 5 of the carton feeding mechanism 50.
The carton 9 is delivered to the next step from the mandrel of the disinfectant removing turret 42, which has a claw member similar to that of No. 6.

According to this sterilization device 10, the main drive shaft 74
The horizontal drive shafts 87, 48, 91, 84 are intermittently driven by the rotation of the.

The in-tank turret 30, which is driven by the horizontal drive shaft 87 via the vertical drive shafts 34, 34, immerses the carton 9 in the sterilization tank 26 and pulls it up therefrom. Also, the horizontal drive shaft 9
The carton feeding mechanism 50 driven by 1 operates the operating mechanism 66 as shown in FIG. 4 when the in-tank turret 30 is stopped.
The endless chains 54, 54 are rotated in a state where the claw member 56 is projected to the projecting position, and the carton 9 is removed from the carton holder 40, and at the same time, a new carton 9 is fed into the carton holder 40.

In this way, the carton 9 sterilized in the sterilization tank 26 is circulated in the cleaning tank 28 by the in-tank turret 32, the cleaning liquid is washed off, and then mounted on the mandrel 44 of the sterilizer removal turret 42. It Then, the carton 9 from which the germicide has been removed together with water droplets by the sterile air ejected from the mandrel 44 is delivered to the next step by the delivery mechanism 96 driven by the lateral drive shaft 84.

This sterilization device 10 includes a turret 30 in the tank,
32, sterilizer removal turret 42, and carton feeding mechanism 5
Since 0 and the feeding mechanism 96 are driven by the single main drive shaft 74, it is possible to re-start extremely easily even after stopping once. That is, these in-tank turrets 30,
32, sterilizer removal turret 42, and carton feeding mechanism 5
Since 0 and the feed mechanism 96 are not driven by independent servo motors or the like, it is not necessary to match the origins of the drive axes.

In the above embodiment, the sprockets 22a and 22b for driving the chain 24 in the carton supply station 14 are driven separately, but even if the sprockets 22a and 22b are driven by the main drive shaft 74, the sprockets 22a and 22b are driven separately. Good.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above, according to the sterilizing apparatus of the present invention, both open ends of the carton in the sterilizing tank and the cleaning tank are vertically immersed in the sterilizing tank and rotated, thereby sterilizing the carton. The disinfectant can be efficiently washed from the carton, and it is not necessary to use a large number of expensive servomotors, which is extremely inexpensive and easy to handle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a sterilizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view taken along line II-II in FIG.

3 is a schematic view of a carton feeding mechanism of the sterilizer of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an operation of the carton feeding mechanism of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

9 ... Carton, 10 ... Sterilizer, 26 ... Sterilization tank, 28 ...
Cleaning tank, 30, 32 ... In-tank turret, 40 ... Carton holder, 42 ... Sterilizer removal turret, 44 ... Mandrel, 50 ... Carton feeding mechanism, 54 ... Endless chain, 5
6 ... Claw member, 74 ... Main drive shaft.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sterilizing device for sterilizing a carton formed on a liquid paper container and delivering the sterilized carton to a liquid filling device, and a sterilizing tank for immersing the carton with its both ends opened for sterilization. A cleaning tank that is placed side by side in a sterilization tank, and a cleaning tank for washing off the disinfectant adhering to the carton, and a turret in the tank having a plurality of carton holders for holding the cartons, which are respectively placed inside the sterilization tank and the cleaning tank. Radially arranged a mandrel with a sterile air jet nozzle at the tip, and a sterilizer removal turret that removes the sterilizer by spraying sterile air on the inner surface of the washed carton, and from the sterilizer tank to the sterilizer removal turret. A carton feeding mechanism in which a plurality of feeding claws are pivotally mounted at equal intervals on an endless chain extending along the same, and a turret in each tank and removal of a sterilizing agent connected to one drive source A turret and a carton feed mechanism each having one drive shaft connected via an indexer, and moving the carton by the carton feed mechanism when the turrets in each tank and the sterilizer removal turret are stopped. Sterilizer characterized by.