JPH10218103A - Filling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a filling device undergoing no liquid drip, and having a simple structure and high reliability. SOLUTION: The device is formed by providing a nozzle tip end valve 41 at the bead end of a filling nozzle 40, and a control circuit 44 for giving a predetermined time delay to open and close signals outputted to a valve open and close driving mechanism 42 and force feed signals outputted to a piston- configured force feed pump mechanism 43, so that an actual valve open timing of the nozzle tip end valve 41 and an actual discharge timing of the force feed pump mechanism 43 are accorded with each other by setting the time delay, thus preventing liquid drip.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filling device used for filling a container with juice, milk drink, liquor and the like under aseptic conditions. More specifically, the present invention is to provide a filling device capable of preventing a dripping of a filling material from a filling nozzle at the start or end of filling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been a so-called aseptic filling device for filling beverages such as juice, milk drinks and alcoholic beverages in an aseptic state. There are various types of such devices corresponding to the type of container for filling the beverage and the like, the type of beverage to be filled, and the like.

In these apparatuses, the inside of the above-mentioned container is sterilized by, for example, a gas of hydrogen peroxide or the like, and a sterilized container is filled with a sterilized beverage and sealed. Such an apparatus is capable of aseptically filling beverages and the like into not only containers such as cans and bottles but also paper containers that cannot be heated and have low pressure resistance.

Incidentally, such an apparatus is provided with an apparatus for filling the above-mentioned container with a filler such as a beverage. There are various types of such conventional filling devices. For example, there is a type in which the filling material is supplied by gravity to a filling nozzle for filling the filling material into the container, an opening / closing valve is provided in the middle of the filling nozzle, and the inside of the container is filled by opening / closing the opening / closing valve. But something like this
It is difficult to fill a highly viscous filler, and a mechanism for measuring the filling amount of the filler is required.

Further, there is a filling device of a type in which the filling material is pressure-fed to a filling nozzle by a piston mechanism. This filling device can fill even a highly viscous filling material, and can control the stroke of the piston mechanism to control the filling. The filling amount can be set at

However, in such a filling device using a piston mechanism, it is difficult to match the operation timings of the two mechanisms when combined with a nozzle end valve for forcibly stopping the liquid, and therefore, pressure feeding of the filling material is performed. At the start and end, the pressure of the filling material changes continuously, causing a so-called dripping of the filling material undesirably dripping from the tip of the filling nozzle, which easily causes a problem that the outer surface of the container and the device are soiled.

In order to solve such a problem, a filling device using such a piston mechanism has conventionally been provided with a differential pressure opening / closing valve at the tip of a filling nozzle. This differential pressure on-off valve has a valve body urged by a spring or the like, and opens only when the pressure of the internal filling material becomes a predetermined pressure or more, and starts the operation of the piston mechanism as described above. It is configured to prevent liquid dripping at the time of stop.

However, even in such a device, a mesh or the like is provided at the tip of the nozzle in order to hold the filling liquid below the differential pressure on-off valve, and the dripping is prevented by the surface tension. It is difficult to prevent sagging. Further, in the case of a liquid containing a solid substance such as pulp, filling with such a mesh-equipped nozzle is not possible.

When the pressure of the filler continuously changes at the time of starting and stopping the operation of the piston mechanism as described above, the opening / closing operation is not always performed accurately on and off, and liquid dripping may also occur. Was.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can reliably prevent liquid dripping at the start and stop of filling.
An object of the present invention is to provide a filling device having a simple structure and high reliability.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nozzle tip valve provided at a tip of a filling nozzle for injecting a filling material into the container from an opening of the container, and a nozzle tip valve provided at the tip of the nozzle. A valve opening / closing drive mechanism using an air cylinder for opening / closing the valve, a piston-type pumping pump mechanism driven by a motor for metering and feeding the filling material to the filling nozzle, and an opening / closing signal output to the valve opening / closing drive mechanism. And a control circuit for outputting a pumping signal to the pumping pump mechanism and outputting the pumping signal and the opening / closing signal with a predetermined time delay.

Accordingly, the delay time of the operation of the pumping pump mechanism and the nozzle tip valve with respect to the pumping signal and the opening / closing signal is adjusted, for example, the time at which the piston of the pumping pump mechanism actually starts and stops, the nozzle tip The time at which the valve actually opens and closes can be accurately matched, and liquid dripping can be reliably prevented. In addition, since this filling device basically uses a pumping pump mechanism, it can be filled with highly viscous filling material, and the filling amount can be accurately controlled, and the structure is simple and highly reliable.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the control circuit, a time delay of the opening / closing signal with respect to the pumping signal can be changed. It is difficult to accurately match the time at which the piston of the pumping pump mechanism actually starts and stops operating with the time at which the nozzle tip valve actually opens and closes. This is because there is a delay in the operation of the valve opening / closing drive mechanism using the air cylinder with respect to the operation of the pumping mechanism driven by the motor. In such a case, by giving an optimal time difference in advance between the time when the piston of the pumping pump mechanism actually starts and stops operating and the time when the nozzle tip valve actually opens and closes, two operations are performed. The timing coincides with the approximate droplet, and the dripping can be prevented. In the present invention, this time difference can be arbitrarily changed. An optimum time difference can be given in accordance with the properties of the filling material, the shape of the filling nozzle, the structure of the pressure feeding pipeline, and the like.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the pressure pumping mechanism has a diaphragm type piston mechanism. Since the diaphragm type piston mechanism has a small change in sliding resistance and the like and has stable operation characteristics, it is possible to more reliably prevent liquid dripping.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The device of this embodiment is a filling device used for a device for aseptically filling a beverage or the like into a cylindrical paper container, for example.

First, the structure of a paper container to be filled by the aseptic filling device will be described with reference to FIGS. This container 1 has a cylindrical shape, and has a peripheral wall portion 2, an upper end wall portion 3, and a lower end wall portion 4, which are obtained by applying a resin coating or other treatment to the surface of a paper board and having high impermeability. The upper end wall 3 has an opening, that is, a drinking port 5.
A sealing lid 6 made of a laminated sheet of aluminum foil and resin is heat-welded to the upper surface of the upper end wall 3 to seal the drinking opening 5.

Next, an embodiment of an apparatus for aseptically filling a beverage into such a container 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. The apparatus has a sterile chamber 10, and sterile air is supplied from a sterile air supply mechanism 11 at a predetermined pressure into the sterile chamber 10. It is configured to maintain.

A container transfer mechanism 12 is provided in the aseptic chamber 10. This container transport mechanism 1
Numeral 2 transports the container 1 in the sterile chamber 10. Reference numeral 13 is a guide member for preventing the container 1 from overturning.

Then, an agent for sterilization, for example, a hydrogen peroxide gas is injected into the inside of the drinking port 5 of the container 1 along the transfer path of the container transfer mechanism 12 to sterilize the inner surface. A mechanism 21 is provided with a drying mechanism 22 for blowing high-temperature air into the container 1 to dry the container.
Further, a filling device 23 for filling the container 1 with a sterile beverage or the like is provided along the container transport mechanism 12. At the time of this filling, the container 1 is
And the filling nozzle of the filling mechanism 23 is inserted into the drinking opening 5.

A nitrogen gas replacement mechanism 24 is provided at the rear side of the filling device 23 to supply nitrogen gas into a space above the liquid level of the filled beverage or the like, and to convert the air in this space into nitrogen gas. Replace with Further, a sealing mechanism 25 is further provided behind the nitrogen gas replacing mechanism 23.

The sealing mechanism 25 heat seals a sealing lid 6 made of a laminated film of aluminum foil and resin on the upper surface of the upper end wall 3 of the container 1 to seal the opening of the container 1, that is, the drinking opening 5. Things. The seal lid 6 is configured such that a strip-shaped blank material 27 is supplied from an external roll 26, cut into a predetermined shape, and thermally welded. A nozzle 29 is provided at the introduction portion of the blank material 27. A sterilization process is performed by injecting a hydrogen peroxide gas into the blank material 27, and the hot air for drying blown out from the hot air nozzle 19 is used. Dried.

In FIG. 3, the aseptic chamber 10 and the container transport mechanism 12 are drawn in a straight line for ease of illustration, but they are not limited to a straight line, and for example, in order to save space. The aseptic chamber 10 may be formed in a cylindrical shape, and a container transport mechanism 12 for transporting the container along an arc-shaped locus may be provided therein.

Next, a container carrying-in chamber 30 is formed at one end of the sterile chamber 10 as described above, or at one place around the sterile chamber 10 when the sterile chamber 10 is cylindrical. When the aseptic chamber 10 is cylindrical, a container discharge chamber 35 is formed at a peripheral portion adjacent to the container transfer chamber 30.

Then, for example, the container 1 conveyed by the external conveyor 31 is rotated by being held by the positioning mechanism 32 and positioned so that the drinking port 5 is positioned in a predetermined direction. It is carried into the aseptic chamber 10 through the chamber 30. Further, the container 1 in which the beverage or the like is aseptically filled and sealed in the aseptic chamber 10 is transferred to the container unloading chamber 35 by a container unloading transfer mechanism such as a lift mechanism 36, and the container unloading chamber 35 is Is carried out to the outside.

Next, the structure of the filling device 23 used in the aseptic filling device as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. First, a schematic configuration of the filling device 23 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 40 denotes a filling nozzle, which injects a filling material from its tip and fills the inside of the container 1. Then, the filling material is supplied to the filling nozzle 40 from the pressure feed pump mechanism 43 at a predetermined pressure for each filling amount. At the tip of the filling nozzle 40, a nozzle tip valve 41, which is an opening / closing valve, is provided. The nozzle tip valve 41 is opened and closed by a valve opening / closing drive mechanism. Further, the pumping pump mechanism 43 and the valve opening / closing drive mechanism 42 are operated at a predetermined timing by a pumping signal and an opening / closing signal from the control circuit 44.

Next, referring to FIG.
The part of 0 will be described. That is, for example, a plurality of ejection ports 52 are formed at the tip of the filling nozzle 40, and a valve element 51 for opening and closing the discharge port 52 is provided at the tip, and the nozzle tip valve 41 as described above is provided. Make up.

A valve shaft 53 is connected to the valve body 51. The valve shaft 53 is extended to a rear end of the filling nozzle 40, and an air cylinder 54 and the like provided at the rear end are provided. And the valve opening / closing drive mechanism 42 described above. 55 is the filling nozzle 4
This is a supply port for the filling material supplied in the area 0.

The above-mentioned pressure feed pump mechanism 43 is configured as shown in FIG. This pumping pump mechanism 43
Has a cylinder 60 and a piston 61, and the gap between the cylinder 60 and the piston 61 is sealed by diaphragms 62 and 63 made of a synthetic rubber material to constitute a piston mechanism using the diaphragm. It should be noted that the piston mechanism using the diaphragm is characterized in that the sliding resistance of the piston 61 is small, the fluctuation of the sliding resistance is small, and the operating characteristics are stable.

The cylinder 60 has a filler inlet 64 and a filler outlet 65 formed therein. The suction port 64 and the discharge port 65 are connected to a check valve (not shown) and an opening / closing valve that is selectively opened / closed, and a predetermined amount of filler is sucked from the suction port 64 every time the piston 61 reciprocates. A predetermined amount of the filling is discharged from the discharge port 65.

The piston 61 is reciprocated by a drive mechanism via a piston rod 66. In this embodiment, the driving device is of a screw type, and the piston rod 66 is a screw rod 67.
Is connected to a nut member 68 screwed into the nut. And
The screw rod 67 is connected to a stepping motor or a servomotor 72 by pulleys 69 and 71 and a timing belt 70. Therefore, when the motor 72 rotates forward, for example, the piston 61 advances, and when the motor 72 rotates reversely, the piston 6 moves forward.
1 is configured to retreat, and the stroke of the piston 61 is changed by adjusting the rotation amount of the motor 72, so that the amount of the discharged filler can be arbitrarily adjusted. .

Next, the configuration and operation of the control circuit 44 will be described. The control circuit 44 outputs an open / close signal of the nozzle tip valve 41 to the valve opening / closing drive mechanism 42 of the filling nozzle 40 to open and close the same, and outputs a pressure feed signal to the pressure pump mechanism 43 to output the signal. The piston 61 is reciprocated, and a predetermined amount of the filler is fed to the above-described filling nozzle 40 by pressure.

The control circuit 44 is provided with a timing setting section 45 so that a predetermined time delay can be given between the opening / closing signal and the pressure feed signal. Further, the timing setting section 45 is configured to be able to arbitrarily set the time delay amount.

The time delay between the open / close signal and the pressure feed signal is set, for example, as shown in FIG. First, after the above open / close signal is output, the nozzle tip valve 4
There is a predetermined time delay due to electrical and mechanical causes before 1 is actually opened and closed. Similarly,
After the above pumping signal is output, the piston 61
There is a predetermined time delay due to electrical and mechanical causes before the movement actually starts or ends.

In this embodiment, a predetermined time difference, that is, a time delay is provided between the opening / closing signal and the pumping signal in accordance with the difference between the time delay of the nozzle tip valve 41 and the time delay of the piston 61. It is set to be.

Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG.
Even if a time delay D occurs in the actual opening / closing of the nozzle tip valve 41 with respect to the opening / closing signal, this is offset and the actual opening / closing of the nozzle tip valve 41 and the actual start and stop of the movement of the piston 61, that is, the discharge operation. Are set to exactly match the timing of

By the coincidence of the operation timings, the time when the piston starts moving and the pressurization of the filling material is started coincides with the time when the opening of the nozzle tip valve 41 is started. In addition, the time when the movement of the piston 61 is completely stopped and the pressure of the filling material becomes zero coincides with the time when the closing of the nozzle tip valve 41 is completed, whereby liquid dripping is reliably prevented.

Although this phenomenon and its effects have been obtained based on various experiments, the cause of the liquid dripping is that the valves such as the nozzle end valve 41 are opened when the filling is not actually pressurized. It is explained that the cause is that the cause of such dripping is eliminated according to the operation timing as described above.

In an actual apparatus, the nozzle tip valve 41
The time delay of the opening and closing of the device is determined by the configuration, parts, and the like of each unit constituting the apparatus.

In an actual apparatus, the time at which the piston starts moving and the time at which pressurization of the filling material is started depends on the properties of the filling material, the shape of the filling nozzle, and the configuration of the piping for pressure feeding of the filling material. By intentionally giving a time difference between the start of the opening of the nozzle tip valve 41 and the time at which the nozzle tip valve 41 starts to open, the two operation timings coincide with each other, and liquid dripping can be prevented. Therefore, it is practical to set the timing as described above to an optimum value by repeating a test in an actual apparatus.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the filling device of the present invention can be applied not only to the above-described aseptic filling device but also to various filling devices in general. In addition, the setting of the time delay of the opening / closing signal and the pressure feed signal in the control circuit does not necessarily need to be arbitrarily set, and for example, when mass-producing a dedicated filling device in which the type of filling material is limited, The determined optimal value may be fixedly set.

The construction of the pressure pump mechanism is not necessarily limited to the diaphragm type piston mechanism as described above, and other types can be employed.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, the delay time of the operation of the pumping pump mechanism and the nozzle tip valve with respect to the pumping signal and the opening / closing signal is adjusted, for example, the piston of the pumping pump mechanism actually starts operating. In addition, the time at which the nozzle tip valve actually stops and the time at which the nozzle tip valve actually opens and closes can be matched exactly, and dripping can be reliably prevented. In addition, since this filling device basically uses a pumping pump mechanism, it can be filled with highly viscous packing material, and its filling amount can be accurately controlled and its structure is simple and highly reliable. Is great.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container to be filled by an apparatus according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an aseptic filling device in which the filling device of the present invention is used.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the filling device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a filling nozzle of the filling device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a pumping pump mechanism of the filling device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the tip of the filling nozzle of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing an example of operation timing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 container 10 sterile chamber 23 filling device 40 filling nozzle 41 nozzle tip valve 42 valve opening / closing drive mechanism 43 pumping pump mechanism 44 control circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for filling a predetermined amount of a liquid filling material into a container, comprising: a nozzle tip valve provided at a tip portion of a filling nozzle for injecting the filling material into the container from an opening of the container. A valve opening / closing drive mechanism using an air cylinder that drives the opening and closing of the nozzle tip valve, a motor-driven piston-type pumping pump mechanism that weighs and pumps the filling material to the filling nozzle, and a valve opening / closing drive mechanism that opens and closes the valve A filling device, comprising: a control circuit that outputs a signal, outputs a pumping signal to the pumping mechanism, and outputs the pumping signal and the opening / closing signal with a predetermined time delay. 2. The filling device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit is capable of changing a time delay of the opening / closing signal with respect to the pumping signal. 3. The filling device according to claim 1, wherein said pumping pump mechanism includes a piston mechanism using a diaphragm.