JPH07313128A - Air-containing food sterilizing system and inert gas packing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent reduction in quality caused by oxidation and to prolong a preservation period by holding a pouch, injecting an inert gas from the mouth of a bag, packing a food material and a liquid into the pouch, replacing air in the bag with an inert gas and sealing the bag. CONSTITUTION:A pouch 3 with its opening side up is sent from a pouch feeder 6 to a space between a pair of arms 2a and both sides of the pouch is gripped by a clipping mechanism 4. The pouch is regularly operated to a next pouch opening and gas injecting device 7 by a revolving device 1, a pair of the arms 2a of an arm device 2 are brought close to the pouch to widen the mouth of a bag, a nozzle 15 is inserted into the mouth of the bag to inject an inert gas to the bag. A constant packing device 8 for a food material is regularly operated, a packing hopper is inserted into the mouth of the bag, the bag is packed with the food material and then sprayed with a liquid by a liquid pouring device 9. The bag is moved to an inert gas filing device 10, the nozzle 10 is dropped and inserted into the mouth of the bag, the arms 2a are moved in the direction to mutually open themselves to stretch the mouth of the bag and the inert gas is sent from the nozzle 15 to the bag. Air is replaced with the inert gas and the bag is welded and sealed by a heat welding heater 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an aerated food sterilization system for an aerated food product and an inert gas filling apparatus for the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In heat sterilization of retort pouch foods, in order to ensure the sterilization after bagging a retort pouch or a packaging material having a barrier property (hereinafter simply referred to as a pouch), the air inside the bag is vacuumed. Or replace it with an inert gas such as nitrogen gas to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria mixed in the air in the bag, and heat-sterilize after sealing to prevent mold and bacteria in the bag. Is sterilized to ensure a long shelf life for food. Conventionally, when the air in the bag is evacuated or when an inert gas is filled, the bag mouth is sealed by a sealing means such as heat seal after filling the food, and the needle-like thin tube is pierced. The air in the bag is pulled out by a vacuum pump, or the air in the bag is pulled out and then an inert gas such as nitrogen gas is injected to seal and replace the holes in the thin tube. Since the replacement is a separate process, the bag mouth is not completely sealed, the bag mouth is left sealed for a long time, or the sealing after vacuuming or inert gas replacement is incomplete. If there is, bacteria will invade while it is standing, bacteria will grow,
Hot water may infiltrate during the sterilization process, which deteriorates the quality of food and cannot guarantee a long shelf life.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an air-containing food sterilization system for continuously performing the steps of injecting a food, enclosing an inert gas, and sealing a pouch. At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inert gas filling device capable of simply and reliably replacing the air in the bag with an inert gas.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, following the pouch supply means of the food filling machine, a pouch opening gas injection means for opening the pouch held by a pair of arms and at the same time injecting an inert gas, After the liquid injection means, an inert gas filling means for filling the pouch with the inert gas is provided. Further, a bottomed cylindrical nozzle having a flat opening end is inserted into the pouch bag mouth with the opening end down, and the both ends of the bag mouth are tightened by the bag mouth tensioning means of the arm mechanism. Injecting an inert gas into the nozzle through the electromagnetic on-off valve to replace the air in the bag with the inert gas, and after the replacement is completed, pull up the nozzle and transfer it to the next process by the transfer means with the bag mouth tensioned. I decided to do it.

[0005]

According to the above construction, both ends of the bag mouth of the pouch are grasped by the pair of arms of the grasping means, and the gap between the opposing arms is narrowed by the bag mouth tensioning means so as to widen the bag mouth to open the bag mouth. At the same time, a pouch opening injection means for injecting an inert gas (for example, nitrogen gas) and a state in which food and food solution are injected from above by food injection means and food solution injection means Insert the nozzle into the bag mouth with an air cylinder that expands and contracts in the vertical direction,
Expand the gap between the opposing arms and tighten both ends of the bag mouth, while injecting a certain amount of inert gas from the tube connected to the nozzle through the electromagnetic on-off valve, expelling the air in the bag to make it an inert gas. When the replacement is completed, the nozzle is pulled out from the bag mouth at the same time as the replacement is completed, and both ends of the bag mouth are tightened by the bag mouth tensioning means to suppress the leakage of the inert gas. The bag mouth is heat-sealed by a sealing means consisting of a mechanism, and by consistently performing an inert gas substitution and heat sterilization treatment, the deterioration of food quality is prevented and the shelf life is guaranteed for a long time. be able to.

[0006]

The details of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a process block diagram of an air-containing food sterilization system equipped with an inert gas filling device according to the present invention, in which a rotating device 1 that moves at a predetermined takt time and rotation angle is provided at the center of the system. The rotating device 1 is provided with a plurality of arm devices 2 radially at equal intervals according to the machining process.
The arm device 2 includes a pair of arms 2a protruding in parallel,
A clip mechanism 4 that faces the tips of the pair of arms 2a to hold the pouch 3, and a tip of the facing arms 2a rotate in opposite directions to open and close the bag mouth of the pouch 3 held by the clip mechanism 4. The bag mouth tensioning mechanism 5 is provided, and while the pouch 3 is gripped, the bag mouth is opened and closed in accordance with the working process by the nodal motion of the rotating device 1 so that the pouch 3 is rotated by nodal motion. A pouch supply device 6, a pouch opening gas injection device 7, a foodstuff constant amount filling device 8, a liquid injection device 9, and an inert gas filling are sequentially circumferentially provided around the rotating device 1 at positions corresponding to the tips of the pair of arms 2a. Arrange the device 10 and the transfer device 11,
Both ends of the pouch 3 are gripped by the pair of arms 2a by the pouch supply device 6, then the opposite arms 2a are brought close to each other to open the pouch 3, and the pouch opening gas injection device 7 injects an inert gas from the pouch to open the pouch. 3 is opened, and the pouch 3 that is opened has a food material quantitative filling device 8 and a liquid injection device 9
To inject food and liquid (cooking liquid, etc.) with the inert gas filling device 10 to replace the air in the bag with the inert gas, and to tighten the mouth of the pouch 3 with the bag mouth tensioning mechanism 5 to tighten the bag mouth. In this state, it is transferred to the heat welding device 12 by the transfer device 11, and the mixed gas in the bag is pulled out to a certain range by the vacuum pump 13 to make sure that only the inert gas is filled and the heat fusion is performed. The bag heater is configured to be heat-sealed and sealed by the heater unit 14.

The arm device 2 grips both ends of the bag mouth of the pouch 3 by the clip mechanism 4, opens and closes the bag mouth by the bag mouth tensioning mechanism 5 in accordance with the sequential steps, and the rotary device 1 rotary-predetermines at a constant angle. Pouch supply device 6, pouch opening gas injection device 7, foodstuff quantitative filling device 8, liquid injection device 9, inert gas filling device 1 in sequence.
After the process of 0, the transfer device 11 transfers to the thermal welding device 12. The tact time is adjusted and set so as to cover the maximum value of the time required for each process. With the above-described structure, first, the pouch feeder 6 feeds the pouches 3 one by one with the opening side up and the both ends of the opening are fed between the pair of arms 2a. Both ends are gripped, and the rotary device 1 moves the pouch opening gas injecting device 7 to the next position to bring the pair of arms 2a of the arm device 2 close to each other to expand the bag mouth and insert the nozzle 15 into the bag mouth. An active gas is injected, and the food constant amount filling device 8 is operated to insert the filling hopper into the bag mouth to fill a certain amount of the food, and the filling hopper is pulled up. (If it is not inserted, it passes.) Then, move to the inert gas filling device 10, insert the nozzle 15 into the bag mouth down to the predetermined depth by the air cylinder 16, and open the pair of left and right arms 2a of the arm device 2 to each other. The bag mouth is tensioned while the nozzle 15 is sandwiched, and the electromagnetic on-off valve (not shown) is opened for a predetermined time in that state, and the inert gas flows out from the nozzle 15 to inactivate the air in the bag. Eject with gas to replace
After a lapse of a predetermined time, the nozzle 15 is pulled out from the bag mouth, and at the same time, the arm device 2 tensions the bag mouth to suppress the leakage of the inert gas, and the pair of left and right transfer arms of the transfer device 11 is kept tensioned at the bag mouth. 17, the transfer arm 17 transfers and fixes it to the heat welding device 12, the vacuum pump 13 sucks excess inert gas in the bag, and the bag mouth is heated by the heat welding heater 14.
The pouch 3 is cooled and sealed by the cooling device 20, and the finished product is removed from the heat welding device 12 by the device 19.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of an inert gas filling apparatus according to the present invention. The inert gas filling apparatus 10 is made of a flexible plastic film or the like and has a cylindrical shape with a bottom and a flat opening side. And a pipe 19 through which an inert gas flows in via a solenoid opening / closing valve (not shown) at a position near the bottom of the nozzle 15 (located at the top in the figure).
An air cylinder 16 which is driven in the vertical direction is connected to the bottom portion with the opening side of the nozzle 15 facing downward. When the pouch 3 arrives at the process of the inert gas filling device 10 with the food material and the liquid material charged and filled, the air cylinder 1
6 operates and extends to move the nozzle 15 downward, insert the tip of the nozzle 15 into the bag mouth of the widened pouch 3, and when the nozzle 15 reaches a predetermined insertion position, the left and right arms 2a.
To widen the bag mouth and tighten the bag mouth, open the electromagnetic on-off valve of the pipe 19 connected to the nozzle 15 in that state, blow a certain amount of inert gas into the pouch 3 through the nozzle 15, and blow the air in the bag. Eject and replace with inert gas. By injecting an inert gas such as nitrogen gas into the pouch 3 vigorously, it reaches the surface of the food in the pouch 3 and expels the air in the bag from the bag mouth. At this time, the pair of left and right arms 2a are opened to the left and right, the bag mouth is tensioned to reduce the leakage of the inert gas, and when the replacement with the inert gas is completed, the air cylinder 16 is contracted to close the tip of the nozzle 15 to the bag. The bag 2 is pulled out from the mouth, and at the same time, the pair of left and right arms 2a is further opened left and right to hold the bag mouth securely closed. By moving the pouch 3 to the transfer arm 17 of the transfer device 11 while keeping the pouch 3 tensioned, transferring it to the heat welding heater device 14, and heat sealing the bag mouth to surely seal the retort food,
A reliable inert gas filling can be performed.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, while the pouch is gripped, an inert gas is injected from the bag mouth to expand the bag mouth, and at the same time the bag is filled with the inert gas to fill the pouch with the food and liquid. After filling and filling, the air in the bag is continuously replaced with an inert gas, and the bag mouth of the pouch is sealed, so that the air inside the bag is reliably replaced by the inert gas and the bag mouth is sealed in successive working steps. In addition to preventing the leakage of inert gas in the bag, it also prevents the deterioration of food quality due to oxidation after replacement with inert gas, without leaving it for a long time until it is filled with inert gas as in the past. Can be guaranteed for a long time. Further, the amount of the inert gas used can be accurately grasped by the continuous working process, and the wasteful discharge of the inert gas can be suppressed to the minimum.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block layout diagram of an aerated food sterilization system for an aerated food according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main part perspective view showing the configuration of an inert gas filling device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Rotating Device 2 Arm Device 3 Pouch 4 Clip Mechanism 5 Bag Tension Mechanism 6 Pouch Supply Device 7 Pouch Opening Gas Injecting Device 8 Food Material Fixed Quantity Injecting Device 9 Liquid Filling Device 10 Inert Gas Filling Device 11 Transfer Device 12 Thermal Welding Device 13 Vacuum Pump 14 Heat Welding Heater Device 15 Nozzle 16 Air Cylinder 17 Transfer Arm 18 Piping 19 Removal Device 20 Cooling Device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A bag mouth by a retort pouch or a gripping means for picking up a packaging material having a barrier property and holding both ends of the bag mouth at the tips of a pair of arms facing each other by the rotation of the same pair of arms in opposite directions. A plurality of arm mechanisms having opening and closing means for opening and closing the bag mouth, a rotating drum holding the plurality of arm mechanisms radially at equal intervals, and a rotating means rotating the rotating drum at an equal angle. On the other hand, a pouch supply means for supplying a retort pouch or a packaging material having a barrier property corresponding to the motion of the rotating means, and a food for injecting a semi-cooked or cooked food into a bag mouth opened corresponding to the tip of the arm. A food filling machine in which a filling means, a liquid injection means for injecting a seasoning liquid, etc., and a transfer means for transferring to the next step with the bag mouth in a tensioned state are sequentially arranged in a circular shape, Seal the pouch on the pouch In a food sterilization system consisting of a heat-sealing machine for heat-sealing and a heat sterilizer for sterilizing the sealed pouch, following the pouch supply means of the food filling machine, at the same time opening the pouch gripped by a pair of arms. A gas-containing food sterilization system comprising: a pouch opening gas injection means for injecting an inert gas; and an inert gas filling means for injecting an inert gas into the pouch, following the liquid injection means. 2. A nozzle having a bottomed cylindrical shape and a flat open end formed into a pouch bag mouth with the open end facing down,
While tensioning both ends of the bag mouth by the bag mouth tensioning means of the arm mechanism, inert gas is injected into the nozzle through the electromagnetic on-off valve, the air in the bag is replaced with the inert gas, and the nozzle is replaced after the replacement is completed. An inert gas filling device, wherein the device is pulled up and transferred to the next step by a transfer device in a state where the bag mouth is strained.