JPH11152194A - Filling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a filling apparatus in an aseptic chamber to be deaerated without contaminating surroundings by discharging filling liquid from a filling nozzle with a discharging tub advanced and by spouting cleaning liquid from a cleaning nozzle with the discharging tub retreated. SOLUTION: A horizontal rod 24 which can advance/retreat is attached to a bottom of a liquid storage 22b of a discharging tub 22, wherein the discharging tub 22 can advance/retreat between a position below a filling nozzle 12 and a position distant from below the filling nozzle 12. At the time of deaeration, the discharging tub 22 is advanced, and a rotating body is rotated. Then a liquid valve of the discharging tub 22 is opened to discharge filling liquid from the filling nozzle 12. In addition, a cleaning nozzle 44 for spouting cleaning liquid into the discharging tub 22 for cleaning is provided above a retreat position of the discharging tub 22. At the time of cleaning, a shield plate 46 formed above a front end of the discharging tub 22 is used to prevent the cleaning liquid from scattering toward the filling nozzle 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filling apparatus and, more particularly, to a filling apparatus having a drain gutter used for bleeding air from a filling liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a filling apparatus is provided with a bottle base on which a container supplied from a conveyor is placed and moved, a filling nozzle for filling a liquid in the container on the bottle base by opening and closing a liquid valve, and the like. I have. In such a filling apparatus, it is necessary to remove air mixed in the filling liquid in each pipe or the like before starting production (filling the liquid in the container). If the air is not vented, for example, in the case of a weight-type filling device, the amount of drop due to air mixed in the liquid (the amount of liquid that falls into the container from the filling nozzle after closing the liquid valve) In the case of a quantitative filling device, the volume of the measured liquid varies due to the air mixed in the liquid, and accurate filling can be performed in any case. Can not. For this reason, the filling device always vents air before starting operation.

[0003]

Conventionally, prior to the start of production, (1) air is released by opening a liquid valve to discharge a fixed amount of filling liquid, or (2) a container is placed on a bottle stand. , And each container is filled and evacuated, and then these containers are discarded. In the first air bleeding method, since the filling liquid is substantially in a dripping state, there is a problem that bacteria may be generated and propagate in the filling liquid attached to each part of the filling device, which is not preferable. In particular, in an aseptic filling system in which a filling device or the like is accommodated in an aseptic chamber and filling is performed in a sterile environment, direct release as described above is impossible because of a large effect on maintaining the sterile environment. . In the second air bleeding method, in the case of a large container such as 1.5 liters or 2 liters, the air bleeding is completed by performing a single filling for each filling nozzle, but a small size such as 500 ml. In the case of the container described above, it is necessary to perform filling a plurality of times for each filling nozzle, and there is a problem that the number of containers to be discarded increases.

Furthermore, in the case of a mouth filling nozzle which performs filling from above without inserting the tip of the filling nozzle into the container, if air is mixed in the filling liquid, the liquid scatters around during filling. As a result, it was impossible to release the air inside the aseptic chamber.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and provides a filling device which can be applied to an aseptic filling system, and which can release air without loss such as discarding a container. It is intended for.

[0006]

A filling device according to the present invention is provided in a chamber, and fills a liquid into a supplied container, a filling position below the filling nozzle, and a filling position of the filling nozzle. A drain gutter capable of moving back and forth between a retreat position deviated from below, a reciprocating means for moving the drain gutter forward and backward, a drain pipe discharging the liquid in the drain gutter to the outside of the chamber, An opening / closing valve provided outside the chamber of the liquid pipe to open and close the liquid passage in the drain pipe, and a cleaning nozzle provided above the retreat position of the drain gutter and injecting the cleaning liquid into the gutter. I have.

In the above-mentioned filling apparatus, when air is to be removed from the filling liquid, the drainage gutter is advanced below the filling nozzle, and the filling liquid is discharged from the filling nozzle into the trough to release the air. . Thereafter, the drainage gutter is retracted to start production, and the cleaning liquid is sprayed onto the drainage gutter from a cleaning nozzle to wash the filling liquid. When performing the cleaning, first, the cleaning liquid is sprayed for a certain period of time with the open / close valve opened. During this time, the cleaning liquid is discharged to the outside through the drain pipe. After a certain period of time and the cleaning of the drainage gutter is completed, the opening / closing valve is closed and the cleaning nozzle continues to spray the cleaning liquid. When a predetermined amount of cleaning liquid has accumulated in the drain gutter, the injection of the cleaning liquid is stopped. This state is maintained during production operation.
The cleaning liquid in the drain gutter and the drain pipe serves as a water seal, so that there is no possibility that bacteria and the like enter the aseptic chamber from the outside. Further, the drain gutter can be used for cleaning the inside of a filling device such as a filling valve, or when heating each part in hot filling.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a filling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the filling device is housed in an aseptic chamber 2 and is used for normal production (into a container). When carrying out (filling of liquid), the container continuously transported by the transport conveyor 4 is placed on the wall 2 a of the aseptic chamber 2.
Is introduced into the chamber 2 through the inlet formed at
After being separated at a predetermined interval by the screw 6, it is supplied to the inside of the filling device via the inlet starwheel 8. The filling device includes a rotating body 16 provided with a large number of filling nozzles 12 and bottle bases 14 (see FIGS. 2 and 4 described later) at equal intervals near the outer periphery, and while the rotating body 16 rotates. After the containers 20 have been filled with liquid, the containers 20 are discharged onto the conveyor 4 through the outlet starwheel 18 and are discharged from the outlet of the other wall surface 2c of the aseptic chamber 2 by the conveyor 4. Is done.

FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 are enlarged views of the main part of the filling device, and are respectively a plan view, a front view, a right side view and a sectional view taken along line V--V of FIG. It is. As described above, this filling device is provided with a large number of filling nozzles 12 provided at equal intervals near the outer periphery of the rotating body 16, and under each of these filling nozzles 12, a bottle base 14 for mounting the container 20 at a corresponding position. Are arranged (see FIG. 4). Each filling nozzle 12 can be moved up and down, descends toward the container 20 on the bottle base 14, and opens a liquid valve (not shown) with its tip inserted into the container 20 to fill the container 20. Perform

An arc-shaped drainage gutter 22 is arranged in the aseptic chamber 2 on the outer peripheral side of the rotating body 16 provided with the filling nozzle 12. The drainage gutter 22 has a liquid receiving part 22a having a shallow bottom surface on the front side, and a liquid receiving part 2 having a deep bottom part on the rear side.
2b. The drainage gutter 22 has the liquid container 2
2b, the wall 2b of the aseptic chamber 2
Are mounted two parallel horizontal rods 24 which pass through the. These horizontal rods 24, as described later,
When the rod 24 moves forward and backward, the drainage gutter 22 moves backward from the forward position below the filling nozzle 12 (see the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2) and from below the filling nozzle 12. It can move forward and backward between the position (see the solid line in FIG. 2). The wall 2b of the aseptic chamber 2 through which both rods 24 penetrate and each rod 24
A bellows 26 is attached to the tip of the aseptic chamber 2 so that the outside atmosphere does not enter the aseptic chamber 2 from the hole through which the rod 24 passes.

[0011] Outside the aseptic chamber 2,
A frame 28 is fixed, and two sets of upper and lower rollers 30 corresponding to the rods 24 are provided on the frame 28.
Are rotatably mounted via a bracket 32. Both rods 24 are moved between the upper and lower rollers 30 while moving forward and backward. A connecting bar 34 in the orthogonal direction is fixed to outer ends of both rods 24. A cylinder 36 parallel to the rod 24 is fixed between the brackets 32 on both sides.
The piston rod 36a of the cylinder 36 is fixed to the connection bar 34, and both rods 24 and the drain gutter 22 move forward and backward integrally by the operation of the cylinder 36.

A drain pipe 38 for discharging the liquid in the liquid storage portion 22b of the gutter 22 to the outside of the aseptic chamber 2 is connected to the bottom surface of the end of the drain gutter 22 (the left end in FIG. 2). ing. The drainage pipe 38 extends through the wall surface 2 b of the aseptic chamber 2 and out of the chamber 2 in parallel with the rods 24. A bellows 40 similar to the rod 24 is mounted between the wall surface 2b through which the drain pipe 38 penetrates and the inner end of the drain pipe 38 to shut off the inside and outside of the aseptic chamber 2. I have. The outer end of the drainage pipe 38 is connected to the end of a connecting bar 34 to which the rods 24 are fixed.
It moves forward and backward together with 2.

The drain pipe 38 has a straight pipe 38a parallel to the rod 24 and a flexible tube 38b connected to the pipe 38a (see FIG. 5).
An opening / closing valve 42 for opening and closing a liquid passage in the drain pipe 38 is provided at an outer end of the pipe 38a. When the open / close valve 42 is opened, the liquid in the liquid storage portion 22b of the drain gutter 22 arranged inside the aseptic chamber 2 passes through the drain pipe 38 having the pipe 38a and the flexible tube 38b. It is discharged outside the aseptic chamber 2. When the open / close valve 42 is closed, the liquid in the drain gutter 22 stays in the pipe 38a. further,
When the on-off valve 42 is closed in a state where there is no liquid in the drain gutter 22, it is possible to prevent the atmosphere outside the aseptic chamber 2 from entering the inside through the drain pipe 38.

Above the retreat position of the drain gutter 22 which moves forward and backward in the aseptic chamber 2, a cleaning nozzle 44 for spraying a cleaning liquid into the gutter 22 for cleaning is provided (see FIG. 4). The number of the cleaning nozzles 44 is not limited, but the width direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2) and the length direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 2) of the drain gutter 22 so that the cleaning liquid can be sprayed on the entire area of the drain gutter 22. Are arranged as appropriate.

A shielding plate 46 is provided above the front end of the drainage gutter 22 when the drainage gutter 22 is at the retracted position. It is configured to prevent scattering to the filling nozzle 12 side. As shown in FIG. 2, the shielding plate 46 has an arc shape concentric with the drain gutter 22 and is located slightly inside (the center side of the rotating body 16) from the tip of the gutter 2. . Further, a small gap is formed between the upper surface of the drain gutter 22 and the lower surface of the shield plate 46 so that the drain gutter 22 does not interfere with the shield plate 46 when the drain gutter 22 moves forward and backward. The shielding plate 46 is fixed to the wall surface 2b of the aseptic chamber 2 via a bracket 48.

The operation of the filling device according to the above configuration will be described. First, the general sequence of operation of the filling device will be briefly described. (1) After the production is completed, (2) all the filling liquid inside the tank and the piping is discharged,
(3) Wash the entire interior of the filling device. Next, (4) the filling liquid is supplied into the tank, (5) the air in the filling liquid is evacuated, and then (6) the production is started.

The air bleeding operation as the fifth step will be described with reference to FIGS. When bleeding air, the cylinder 36 is operated to advance the drain gutter 22 toward the rotating body 16. When the drainage gutter 22 advances, the liquid receiving portion 22a on the tip side thereof is located below each filling nozzle 12, as shown in FIG. In this state, the rotating body 16 is continuously operated at a low speed. The filling nozzle 12 which has rotated and moved above the drainage gutter 22 with the rotation of the rotating body 16 is confirmed by the encoder, and a liquid valve (not shown) is opened. The liquid valve is opened only in the section above the drain gutter 22, and the filling liquid is discharged from the filling nozzle 12 into the drain gutter 22. The air bleeding is completed by rotating the rotating body 16 three or four times and repeating the discharge of the filling liquid. Thereafter, the drain gutter 22 is moved backward by the operation of the cylinder 36.

The drainage gutter 22 is retracted and the filling valve 1
After the container 2 and the container 20 on the bottle base 14 are prevented from interfering with each other when the container 20 is relatively moved up and down, the production operation is started. On the other hand, on the drain gutter 22 side, cleaning liquid is sprayed from the cleaning nozzle 44 into the gutter 22 for cleaning. At this time, the opening / closing valve 42 is open, and the cleaning liquid after cleaning the filling liquid sprayed into the drain gutter 22 and attached to the gutter 22 is:
The liquid is discharged to the outside through the drain pipe 38. After a certain period of time (ie, after the drain gutter 22 has been washed),
The injection of the cleaning liquid from the cleaning nozzle 44 is continued, and the opening / closing valve 42 is closed. The cleaning liquid injected into the drain gutter 22 gradually accumulates in the cylindrical body 38 a of the drain pipe 38 and the drain gutter 22. Thereafter, the opening / closing valve 42 is closed when a predetermined amount of cleaning water has accumulated in the drain gutter 22. After the cleaning of the drainage gutter 22 is completed and the on-off valve 42 is closed, and after the on-off valve 42 is closed, a predetermined amount of the cleaning liquid is stored in the drainage gutter 22 and the injection from the cleaning nozzle 44 is performed. The stop time is measured in advance, and based on this time, the opening and closing valve 42 is opened and closed by timer control.

As described above, the drainage gutter 22 is disposed so as to be able to move forward and backward, and at the advanced position, the drainage gutter 22 is
The cleaning liquid is discharged into the aseptic chamber 2 and the drainage gutter 22 is moved to the retracted position, and the cleaning liquid is ejected from the cleaning nozzle 44 to perform the cleaning. With the filling device provided in the above, air mixed in the filling liquid can be removed without contaminating each part and without discarding a large amount of containers. Further, even in the case of a mouth filling nozzle, air can be vented without scattering the filling liquid around. Further, during the filling as described above, the opening / closing valve 42 of the drain pipe 38 is closed, and the drain pipe 3 is closed.
By filling the inside of the cylindrical body 38a and the drain gutter 22 with the cleaning liquid, a function as a water seal can be achieved, and the inside and the outside of the aseptic chamber 2 can be completely shut off.

In the above embodiment, the case where the drain gutter 22 is used to receive the filling liquid discharged from the filling nozzle 12 at the time of bleeding air has been described. Can also be applied. For example, at the start of hot filling operation, it can be used to receive a filling liquid flowing to raise the temperature of each part,
It can also be used for collecting a cleaning liquid when cleaning a filling valve or the like. Although the filling device of the above embodiment is a rotary type, it goes without saying that the filling device can be applied to a line type filling device.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, a filling nozzle provided in a chamber for filling a supplied container with a liquid, an advanced position below the filling nozzle, and a position below the filling nozzle A drain gutter capable of moving back and forth between a retreat position and a drainage pipe for discharging liquid in the drain gutter to the outside of the chamber; A structure provided with an opening / closing valve provided outside the chamber of the pipe to open and close the liquid passage in the drain pipe, and a cleaning nozzle provided above the retreat position of the drainage gutter and spraying the cleaning liquid into the gutter. When performing air release, the drainage gutter was advanced to discharge the cleaning liquid from the filling nozzle, and then the drainage gutter was retracted, and the cleaning nozzle was sprayed with the cleaning liquid to wash the gutter. So of the aseptic chamber Even filling device provided parts, without performing the filling into the container, and without contaminating the surroundings, it is possible to set the air vent. In addition to the air bleeding, when the hot filling is started or when the inside of the filling device is cleaned, the filling liquid and the cleaning liquid can be collected without contaminating the surroundings.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view showing a filling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing a main part of the filling device.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a right side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line VV in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Chamber 12 Filling nozzle 20 Container 22 Drain gutter 36 Advance / retreat means (cylinder) 38 Drainage pipe 42 Opening / closing valve 44 Cleaning nozzle

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A filling nozzle provided in a chamber for filling a supplied container with liquid, a reciprocating position between a forward position below the filling nozzle and a retracted position disengaged from below the filling nozzle. A drainage gutter capable of moving the drainage gutter forward and backward, a drainage pipe for discharging the liquid in the drainage gutter to the outside of the chamber, and a drainage pipe provided outside the chamber of the drainage pipe. A filling device comprising: an opening / closing valve for opening and closing a liquid passage in a pipe; and a cleaning nozzle provided above a retreat position of the drainage gutter, and spraying a cleaning liquid into the gutter.