JPS58173550A - Ultraviolet ray irradiation apparatus for sterilization use - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an ultraviolet irradiation device K for sterilizing cup-shaped or cylindrical containers that also serve as packaging materials for foods, etc.
I'll do it.

As the social goods distribution system becomes more qualitative, the scope of application of the so-called one-way packaging method continues to expand.
Many cup-shaped and cylindrical containers made of plastic, paper, etc. have come into use as simple packaging containers for various foodstuffs.

By the way, packaging materials for such foods require sterilization treatment before use, and for this purpose, conventional methods include sterilization by immersion in hydrogen peroxide (H*Ot) or sterilization with ethylene oxide. Chemical sterilization methods were mainly used.

Among these methods, the method using ethylene oxide has the disadvantage that sterilization must be performed in batches because ethylene oxide is gaseous, making it difficult to sterilize in-line directly connected to automatic packaging machines. Therefore, sterilization treatment from the horse O side has generally been adopted for a long time. According to this method, liquid H! 0! Continuous sterilization is possible because it is simply immersed in heated H2O, which facilitates in-line sterilization.

This is because the cleaning effect of the sterilized material can be expected, and the sterilization process can be carried out reliably including the transport means.

However, since this method is a wet sterilization method,
There is a possibility that H,0, remains in the sterilized article, so it is necessary to dry it thoroughly after soaking in H,O,VC, In the case of dry packaging materials, it is difficult to perform sufficient drying treatment and
, O, is difficult to completely prevent from remaining, and H, 0. Considering the psychological allergy to H, O, etc., there is a problem in that even if it is possible to completely prevent the residual of H, O, this method is quite difficult to adopt.

Therefore, as an alternative to such chemical sterilization methods, R-ray, electron! Sterilization methods using irradiation such as I (EB) and ultraviolet (UV) have been proposed.

Among these, the sterilization method using rlaK allows in-line sterilization at the final factory of the packaging process because rlI has the property of penetrating packaging materials such as plastic, and is an effective sterilization method in principle. There are disadvantages in that irradiation tends to cause deterioration in the physical properties of the packaging material, such as a decrease in the strength of the seal portion of the packaging material and the adhesion of odors. In addition, from a practical standpoint, cobalt-60 (Co60) is often used as a gamma ray source, but as a result, the period of use is limited (
(The cattle killing period is as short as 5 years), so a shielding device is a must! In addition to the disadvantages that it becomes difficult to handle, it also has the problem that it is quite difficult to operate it as a practical machine, considering the general psychological allergy to radioactive materials. .

In addition, in the EB sterilization method, sufficient object penetration ability can be obtained by increasing the acceleration voltage of gB, and it has a sufficient sterilization effect not only on sheet-like packaging materials but also on cup-shaped and cylindrical molded packaging materials. can be expected, and it will be easier to inline, but B
There are 5 problems in that the B generator is expensive, and as the accelerating voltage increases, there are problems such as X-ray interference and ozone exhaust, which tends to increase the cost.

On the other hand, the sterilization method using UV irradiation has the property that UV has less effect on the human body than other radiations, so it is easy to handle and there is no need to consider psychological allergies. There are 5 advantages. However, in the past, it was difficult to obtain a sufficiently powerful UV source, so it was rarely used alone and was mainly used as an auxiliary method, but in recent years, powerful UV sources have been developed. As it has become easier to provide sufficient sterilization power, it has come to be used as one of the most effective sterilization methods.

By the way, since the original purpose of conventional UV lamps is mainly for sterilizing the environment and sea-F-shaped objects, most of them are straight tubes of the general fluorescent lamp type. As a sterilizing UV source for the above-mentioned cup-shaped, cylindrical, etc. shaped packaging materials, there is a drawback that a sufficient sterilizing effect cannot be achieved. This is because the above-mentioned molded packaging materials have a three-dimensional structure, unlike sheet-like packaging materials, so it is difficult to use a straight tube-shaped UV lamp to irradiate each part of the packaging material with a sufficient amount of UV irradiation. This is because it becomes difficult.

For example, if the object to be sterilized is a cup-shaped packaging material, as shown in FIG.
The distance from the lamp l varies greatly. Further, the angle of the inner ms is far away from the direction perpendicular to the UV irradiation direction. On the other hand, the UV irradiation intensity varies greatly depending on the irradiation distance and irradiation angle.

Therefore, if sterilization conditions are set and UV irradiation is performed on the part where the UV illuminance is the lowest, such as the inner part 5, the part where the UV irradiance is the highest, such as the flange part 3, will be exposed excessively. There is a risk that UV irradiation will cause deterioration of the packaging material, and if the opposite is done, a sufficient sterilizing effect will not be obtained. In addition, in this FIG. 1, 1 is a straight tube type UV lamp, and 2 is a cup-shaped packaging material.

Therefore, depending on the conventional ultraviolet irradiation device using a UV lamp, it is only applicable to sheet-like packaging materials or containers that are not deep and have a large opening, such as flat-shaped containers. The drawback was that it couldn't be done.

On the other hand, in order to eliminate such drawbacks, a straight tube-shaped UV lamp is inserted vertically into a molded packaging material such as a cup shape, and the UV lamp is
A method of irradiating the cup-shaped container 2 has also been proposed, but since the straight tube-shaped UV lamp has a cap at each end, and UV irradiation is rarely performed in that direction. Although the inner part 5 can be sufficiently irradiated with UV rays, the bottom part 4 cannot be irradiated with UV rays at all.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an ultraviolet irradiation device that eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art described above and can provide a sufficient sterilizing effect even on cup-shaped and cylindrical shaped packaging materials.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention is characterized in that ultraviolet rays are obtained by a U-shaped UV discharge lamp in which the outer peripheral container of a straight-tube UV lamp is bent into a U-shape.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the ultraviolet irradiation device according to the present invention will be described with reference to a garden surface. FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which lO is a U-shaped UV discharge lamp, and 12 is its base.

The U-shaped UV discharge lamp 10 is made in the same shape as a normal straight tube UV discharge lamp folded into a U-shape, and its two ends are attached to the base 12. A sufficient amount of UV can be emitted from the members as well.

Therefore, as shown in Fig. 3, if this U-shaped discharge lamp IO is inserted 1 into the cup 2 which is the object to be sterilized and radiates UV, the inside part 5 as well as the bottom part 4VC of the cup 2 can be sterilized. The required amount of UV is irradiated to the flange portion 3, so 1. Since the inner diameter of the cup 2 can be completely sterilized and the amount of UV irradiation is kept almost uniform in all parts, there is no risk of the amount of UV irradiation becoming excessive in some areas and causing abnormalities in the quality of the cup 20. Not at all.

In addition, the horizontal light distribution curve (though not light but UV) by the U-shaped discharge lamp 10 at this time is As shown in FIG.
c, with slight UV rays in the X and Y directions.
Since there is only a difference in the amount, sufficiently uniform irradiation can be achieved.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a U-shaped UV discharge lamp 1
A shade-shaped UV reflector 1!14 is provided on the 00 base.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to increase the amount of UV irradiation to the flange portion 3 of the cup 2, and it is also possible to make the amount of KUV irradiation uniform. At this time, regarding the shape of the UV reflecting mirror 14, etc., the U
The amount of V irradiation may be arbitrarily selected so as to be approximately equal to that of other parts.

FIG. 6 shows an example of application of the present invention when the packaging material to be sterilized is an inverted tapered cup 20. As is clear from FIG. Sterilization can be carried out regardless of the situation.

Next, FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which two U-shaped UV discharge lamps XOa and 10b are arranged in parallel to each other in a common base 12.

According to this embodiment, the horizontal light distribution curve is
As shown, it can be made sufficiently uniform and the sterilizing effect can be further improved.

FIG. 9 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the UV reflector 14 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is applied to the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, and a plurality of U-shaped UV discharge lamps are used. Dark UV
In addition to uniformity and increased intensity of irradiation, it is also possible to
It is made of 5K to provide reinforcement for the bactericidal effect on the lunge.

Next, FIG. 10 shows an example of a molded packaging material sterilization device using the UV irradiation device according to the present invention.

This Figure 1θ shows a part of the equipment used in the process of sterilizing the cups 2, which are objects to be sterilized, from their accumulation position to the filling device by means of Kankaku UV irradiation. The support body 22 is a conveying plate constituting a conveyor. FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along n-usK of FIG. 10, and 24 is a hole into which the cup 2 is inserted and supported by the flange portion 3 thereof.

A predetermined number of U-shaped UV discharge lamps 10 are attached to the support 20 and move up and down in the direction of arrow A.

The conveying plate 22 moves intermittently in the direction of the arrow opening, and when it stops at a predetermined position, the support body 20 moves up and down to place the discharge lamp 1 into the cup 2.
K is set so that 0 is inserted.

Therefore, according to this device, UV sterilization can be performed online as a step in the filling operation.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to apply sufficiently uniform UV illumination to a cup-shaped or cylindrical shaped packaging material even as an object to be sterilized. It is possible to provide a UV irradiation device that can provide a sufficient sterilizing effect without causing any changes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the sterilization operation using a conventional UV discharge lamp, Fig. 2 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing its usage state, and Fig. 4 is a FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a white line diagram of the light distribution, FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1θ is an explanatory diagram showing an example of application of the present invention, and FIG. It is a sectional view taken along the line -■. 2...Cup to be sterilized, 1o...
・U-shaped UV discharge lamp, 12...Base, 14...
...UV reflecting mirror.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) In an ultraviolet irradiation device for sterilization using a discharge lamp as an ultraviolet source, a U-shaped ultraviolet discharge lamp is provided as the discharge lamp, and a counter-strip is provided on the inner surface of a cup-shaped or cylindrical object to be sterilized. A sterilizing ultraviolet irradiation device characterized by being configured to uniformize ultraviolet irradiation. (2. The sterilizing ultraviolet irradiation device set forth in claim 1, characterized in that at least two or more of the above U-shaped ultraviolet discharge lamps are installed in parallel. (3) Claim 1 In item 1 or 2, a shade-shaped ultraviolet reflecting mirror is provided at the mounting part of the U-shaped ultraviolet discharge lamp, so as to increase the intensity of ultraviolet irradiation to the flange part and end part of the coating body. Ultraviolet irradiation equipment for sterilization.