JPS5819559B2 - How to fill gas-containing solutions - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved filling force method for gas-containing solutions.

Conventionally, filling a gas-containing solution involves (1) (sealing) sealing the bottle mouth, (2) (back pressure) introducing pressurized gas from the bottling tank into the bottle via a vent tube, and (3) (Stand) Wait until the pressure inside the bottle becomes the same as the pressure inside the bottling tank, then
) (Filling) Fill the bottle with the gas-containing solution in the bottling tank, (5) (Stay still) Wait until the pressure inside the bottle becomes the same as the pressure inside the bottling tank, and (6) (Relieve pressure). Lower the pressure inside the empty part of the bottle to atmospheric pressure, (7) (open) open the bottle mouth, (8)
(Closing the lid) A method consisting of eight steps of closing the lid is adopted.

In this conventional method, the residual solution adhering to the inner wall of the vent tube during the filling process is blown into the bottle during the backpressure process of the next filling cycle, becoming droplets that adhere to the inner wall of the bottle, and after filling up, foaming occurs. Since this can become a core of bubbles and cause spillage, it is necessary to carry out a so-called bubble blowing step to blow away the residual solution in the vent tube before the bottle mouth sealing step of the next filling cycle.

Furthermore, when filling a gas-containing solution with a high gas volume, it is necessary to increase the number of depressurization steps in order to prevent boiling over after depressurization.

In addition, in order to maintain the quality of gas-containing solutions, the same gas as the gas contained in the solution is put into the bottling tank as a back pressure gas, and the partial pressure of the gas caused by this back pressure gas is used to bottle the solution. Although foaming of the gas-containing solution in the tank is suppressed, the air inside the bottle is discharged into the bottling tank through the vent tube during the backpressure process, so each time the backpressure process is performed during a repeated filling cycle. The amount of air mixed in the bottling tank increases, the concentration of backpressure gas changes, and the partial pressure of the gas that suppresses foaming changes, so the foaming state inside the bottle after filling is maintained uniform throughout each filling cycle. I can't keep it.

For the reasons mentioned above, it is not possible to quickly and accurately fill a gas-containing solution with a high gas volume and which tends to foam.

The present invention provides a filling force method for gas-containing solutions that can quickly and accurately fill not only gas-containing solutions with a low gas volume but also gas-containing solutions with a high gas volume that are easy to foam without a bubble blowing step. This is the purpose.

In order to achieve the object, the present invention introduces high-pressure gas with a pressure higher than the gas pressure in the bottling tank into the bottle from a separate system other than the bottling tank in the back pressure process, and Generate an airflow from the inside of the bottle to the inside of the bottling tank in the vent tube that communicates with the inside of the bottle, and introduce high-pressure gas into the narrow part of the bottle from the separate system as necessary after the filling process,
Returning excess solution in the vent tube and bottle beyond the large taste line into the bottling tank through the vent tube,
This method is characterized by performing a so-called gas pressing process.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to schematic diagrams for explaining the operation of essential parts of a filling machine that implements the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a bottle, which is placed on a liftable bottle support (not shown).

2 is a bottling tank, and 3 is a bottle mouth sealing member formed at the bottom of the bottling tank 2.

4 is a filling passage passing through the bottle mouth sealing member 3,
Reference numeral 5 designates a valve seat formed at a portion where the filling passage 4 opens at the bottom of the bottling tank 2.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a vent tube that is supported in the filling passageway 4 so as to be able to rise and fall, and its upper and lower ends extend into the space of the bottling tank 2 and into the bottle 1, respectively.

7 is a main valve attached to the vent tube 6, and the valve seat 5 is opened and closed by raising and lowering the vent tube 6.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an on-off valve device disposed at the upper end of the vent tube 6 so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and a spherical check valve 9 is further provided inside the valve device.
It is equipped with

10 is a filling passage 4 for introducing high pressure air or gas into the bottle 1 from a tank (not shown) other than the bottling tank 2.
11 is a pressure relief passage communicating with the filling passage 4 in order to communicate with the atmosphere and relieve pressure from the empty space 12 formed at the mouth of the bottle during filling. be.

In order to fill a gas-containing solution using the filling machine configured as described above, (1) bottle mouth sealing, (2) back pressure, (
3) Stand still, (4) Fill, (5) Stand still, (6) Pressure release, (
Eight steps of 7) opening the bottle mouth and (8) closing the bottle are performed, or nine steps are performed in which a gas pressing step is added after the above-mentioned filling step.

In order to fill a gas-containing solution with a high gas volume and easy to foam, for example, a solution with a CO2 gas volume of 4 to 5, the CO2 gas contained in the solution and the high pressure gas in the back pressure step and the gas pushing step are used. The same CO2 gas may be used.

Next, the above nine steps will be explained with reference to the drawings.

First, after raising the bottle support and sealing the bottle mouth with the bottle mouth sealing member 3, high-pressure gas with a pressure higher than the gas pressure in the bottling tank 2 is introduced into the bottle 1 through another system other than the bottling tank 2. When gas is introduced through the gas introduction path 10 and the filling path 4, the pressure inside the vent tube 6 that communicates the inside of the bottle 1 and the inside of the bottling tank 2 increases, as shown in FIG. 9 is opened, an airflow from the bottle 1 toward the bottling tank 2 is generated in the vent tube 6, and a backpressure process is performed.

The introduction of high pressure gas is stopped and the back pressure process is completed.

When the bottle is left still in this state, the internal pressure of the bottle 1 and the internal pressure of the bottling tank 2 become equal through the spherical check valve 9, and the spherical check valve 9 is closed.

As a result, no airflow from the inside of the bottling tank 2 toward the inside of the bottle 1 is generated in the vent tube 6 during the backpressure process.

That is, during the backpressure process, air that entered the bottling tank 2 from inside the bottle 1 returns to the inside of the bottle 1, as shown in FIG.
There is no change in the concentration of the gas introduced into the bottle, or even in the partial pressure of the gas that suppresses foaming.

Therefore, if the same gas as that contained in the solution is used as the high-pressure gas, only the high-pressure gas will be introduced into the bottle 1 in the backpressure step, and the concentration of the high-pressure gas in the bottle, and eventually the scum partial pressure, will be reduced. Since it can be maintained constant, the filling time schedule can be shortened and set when filling with a gas-containing solution that has a high gas volume and is easy to foam.

Next, the main valve 7 is opened by raising the vent tube 6, and the on-off valve device 8 is raised more than the rise of the vent tube 6 with the spherical check valve 9 closed.
When opened, the gas-containing solution in the bottling tank 2 is filled into the bottle 1, as shown by the white arrow in FIG.

When the liquid level reaches the lower edge of the vent tube 6, that is, the large taste line, the main valve 7 and the on-off valve device 8 are closed together, and the filling process is completed.

When filling a gas-containing solution with a high gas volume, excess solution in the bottle that exceeds the flavor line in the filling process flows into the gas introduction path 10 and remains, and is removed in the back pressure process of the next filling cycle. The gas is blown into the bottle 1 in the form of droplets, adheres to the inner wall of the bottle, and after being filled up, becomes the nucleus of foaming and causes spills.To eliminate this cause, the gas introduction channel 10 is opened and a separate High-pressure gas with a pressure higher than the internal pressure of the bottling tank 2 is introduced from the system into the nitrous part 12 of the bottle 1, and the excess gas in the vent tube 6, the bottle 1, and the gas introduction path 10 is The solution is returned to the bottling tank 2 via the vent tube 6 and the spherical check valve 9, and the valve of the gas introduction path 10 is closed to complete the gas pushing process.

Even if the return action of the solution into the bottling tank 2 due to the gas pushing process is incomplete and some of the solution adheres to and remains inside the vent tube 6, the vent tube will be removed during the back pressure process of the next filling cycle. By creating a gas flow in the bottle 6 from the bottle 1 to the bottling tank 2, the residual solution can be completely returned to the bottling tank 2.

When filling with a gas-containing solution having a low gas volume, the high-pressure gas can be replaced with high-pressure metal gas, or the gas pressing step can be omitted.

By using the back pressure step or the back pressure step and gas pushing step described above, the bubble blowing step that is necessary in the conventional filling force method for gas-containing solutions can be omitted.

After the gas pressing process is completed, wait until the pressure inside the bottle 1 becomes the same as the pressure inside the bottling tank 2 via the spherical check valve 9, and then open the valve of the pressure relief passage 11 as shown in FIG. Then, the inside of the empty part 12 of the bottle 1 is communicated with the atmosphere, the pressure inside the empty part 12 is lowered to atmospheric pressure, and the valve of the pressure relief passage 11 is closed to complete the pressure relief process.

After the pressure release step is completed, the bottle support is lowered to open the bottle mouth, and the bottle 1 is transferred to the capping device and capped, completing the filling cycle.

The inventors used a 98-bottle filling machine, set the internal pressure of the bottling tank to 3.5 kg/crl, the back pressure pressure and gas push pressure to 4.3 kg/i, and used CO2 gas as the back pressure and gas push gas. When a 120 ml bottle was filled with a carbonated beverage liquid with a gas volume of 4.84 to 5.17 according to the method of the present invention described above, an experiment was conducted using air instead of the CO2 gas. The height of the bubbles shown in Figure 4, and (i) of the following CI) and J],
The filling time schedule shown in (ii) was obtained.

CI) Filling time schedule when CO2 gas is used for back pressure If CO2 gas is used for back pressure and filling is performed according to the filling time schedule in [■] above, experiment numbers ■, ■,
■ Filling is possible as shown in ', o, and o.

When filling according to the filling time schedule described in [Eng.] above using metal gas for back pressure, Experiment No. 1 in Fig. 4 was obtained.

(As shown in φ, bubbles are spilling out from the mouth of the bottle, making it impossible to fill the bottle.

Incidentally, experiment number 0 in FIG. 4 indicates that when the gas volume is set to 3.90, it is possible to fill according to the cD filling time schedule described above even if air is used for back pressure.

(3) When using metallic material for back pressure (1) When filling static time is increased (1i
) Filling time schedule when pressure relief is performed in two stages As can be easily understood from the experimental results above, when using the present invention, gas-containing solutions with a low gas volume and gas-containing solutions with a high gas volume that easily foam Both can be filled quickly and accurately.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings are sectional views schematically showing the main parts of a filling machine used in carrying out the present invention, with FIG. 1 being an explanatory diagram of the back pressure process, FIG. 2 being an explanatory diagram of the filling process, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the pressure relief process, and FIG. 4 is a chart showing the results of the first experiment. 1...Bottle, 2...Bottling tank, 3...
... Bottle mouth sealing member, 4... Filling passage,
5... Valve seat, 6... Vent tube,
7...Main valve, 8...Opening/closing valve device, 9.
... Spherical check valve, 10 ... Gas introduction path,
11...Pressure relief passage, 12...Empty section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The mouth of the bottle is sealed, and high-pressure gas with a pressure higher than the gas pressure in the bottling tank is introduced into the bottle from a separate system other than the bottling tank, so that the inside of the bottle and the inside of the bottling tank are connected. After creating an airflow from the bottle to the bottling tank in the vent tube that leads, wait until the pressure inside the bottle becomes the same as the pressure inside the bottling tank, then fill the bottle with the gas-containing solution in the bottling tank. A filling force method for gas-containing solutions, which is characterized by lowering the pressure in the empty space of the bottle to atmospheric pressure, opening the bottle mouth, and closing the bottle. 2. Seal the bottle mouth, introduce high-pressure gas with a pressure higher than the gas pressure in the bottling tank into the bottle from a separate system other than the bottling tank, and insert the bottle into the vent tube that communicates the inside of the bottle with the inside of the bottling tank. After generating an airflow from inside the tank to the inside of the bottling tank, wait until the pressure inside the bottle becomes the same as the pressure inside the bottling tank, then fill the bottle with the gas-containing solution in the bottling tank, and then pump the high pressure from the separate system. Gas is introduced into the empty space of the bottle, and the excess solution in the vent tube and bottle is returned to the bottling tank through the vent tube, so that the pressure inside the bottle is equal to the pressure inside the bottling tank. A filling force method for gas-containing solutions, which is characterized by waiting until the pressure reaches atmospheric pressure, lowering the pressure inside the empty part of the bottle to atmospheric pressure, opening the bottle mouth, and closing the bottle. 3. Foaming characterized by using the same gas as the gas contained in the solution as the high-pressure gas in the filling force method for a gas-containing solution described in the first or second paragraph of the claims. Easy filling force method for gas-containing solutions.