JPS59164063A - Ultraviolet ray sterilizing method and apparatus - 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 relates to a sterilization method and apparatus for inserting into a cylindrical container (carn) to sterilize the inner surface of the carn.

The sterilization method using ultraviolet rays leaves no residue after sterilization compared to conventional chemical sterilization methods using hydrogen peroxide, ethylene oxide gas, etc., and is an effective means.

By the way, does ultraviolet sterilization fall into the category of physical sterilization?
Its effectiveness is lower than that of line sterilization and EB sterilization. but,
On the contrary, Ln is easy to handle and can be easily accessed into a general food filling machine. The effectiveness of ultraviolet sterilization is said to be due to its wavelength of 254 nm, and it is not effective unless the light hits the object. For this reason, when sterilizing the inside of a cylindrical container, etc., simply applying ultraviolet rays from above cannot be expected to be effective.

Conventionally, when sterilizing containers and packaging materials with ultraviolet rays, a straight tube-shaped ultraviolet lamp was placed close to the object and irradiated the object face-to-face. An example of this is B.

Strong UV manufactured by B, C (Brown Boveri Company)
Various aseptic filling machines using lamps are commonly used in Europe.

However, when using this method, it has been found that although there are few problems with planar objects, in the case of cylindrical objects, especially gable-top type cars with deep bottoms, the inner wall is hardly irradiated.

The present invention aims to improve such conventional drawbacks by forming an ultraviolet germicidal lamp into a U-shape and making it possible to insert the lever into the inside of a cylindrical container, thereby increasing the illuminance of each part [11 In addition, a cooling device is provided to prevent a decrease in illuminance due to an increase in temperature due to insertion of the germicidal lamp into the container.

This will be explained below according to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows fixed positions 11-(6
). As container 1, 7X7X25CI
No. 11 cable top carton containers were used. As the ultraviolet germicidal lamp 2, we used a Sankyo Denki UV lamp with a shape as shown in Figure 2, or a type that uses two J-shaped lamps with a lighting part length of 3Q cm. It is.

As outlined in 3rd UA (a)-(c), the method for determining the illumination is to irradiate from the upper part of the opening of the container 1. (a) Figure (Δ method) (b) Diagram (B method), irradiation by inserting a straight tube type germicidal lamp (see Figure 4) instead of the U-shaped type (C) Diagram (C method) This was done using three methods: The results are shown in the following table and FIG. The illuminance of the lamp used on the wall was 60 m'A/. n(is.

Measurement position @ A method B method C method Illuminance (ml +
'/Cl6) +l+ 5 25 25+21
1. 2.5 25 (3+
1. 2525fli)l 20
20 +1. + 0.5 15 Around 15+
2 20 5 From this data, it is clear that the method of sterilizing by inserting a sterilizing lamp inside the cylindrical container is superior. In addition, in the C method using a straight tube germicidal lamp, the illuminance at the button position is reduced because the tip is coated.

Next, in the method of inserting a germicidal lamp inside a cylindrical container, the heat dissipated by the germicidal lamp itself is affected, causing the temperature of the germicidal lamp to rise, and as a result, the illuminance of the germicidal lamp decreases.
In the present invention, in order to stabilize the germicidal lamp illuminance,
I thought it would be a good idea to cool the germicidal lamp with air,
Using a cooling device as shown in Fig. 6, the germicidal lamp was cooled with air to determine the relationship between the illuminance and the surface temperature for sterilization, and the following results were obtained.

Time if no cooling operation is performed: 0.5 mi, n 10
m], nSurface temperature Top (℃) 5090 Center (0C) 50 150UV illuminance (m
W/aif) , 63 30 In other words, if you do not let out air to cool it down, ff1J will drop after 10 minutes.
ffi decreases from 63 to 30111s/CIK.

When this was combined with a cooling effect using air, the following results were obtained.

Surface temperature 2 parts (℃) 40 40 46 56
89 center ('C) 72 56 67 55 55U
V illuminance (mW/co() 50 62 55 63
65 Accordingly, if only the upper part of the ultraviolet germicidal lamp is cooled, the illuminance will decrease, but if the central part is kept at about 55°C or less, the illuminance will not decrease regardless of the upper temperature.

To explain the germicidal lamp cooling device shown in FIG. 6, the U-shaped lamp 2 held in the socket 1-3 is inserted into the cylindrical container from its U-shaped bent end. Air blow pipe 4 placed around the upper socket
The nostle 5 provided in the sterilizing lamp is arranged so as not to interfere with the insertion of the germicidal lamp into the cylindrical container. Note that the reference numeral 6 in the figure is a valve.

In addition, in order to use the ultraviolet germicidal lamp safely, in this device, when inserting the germicidal lamp into the cylindrical container, instead of moving the germicidal lamp, as shown in Figure 7, the carton is inserted. A system was adopted in which it was moved by placing it on a stationary stand 7. By fixing the germicidal lamp in this way, the safety of the glass used in the germicidal lamp itself can be increased. That is,
When sterilizing a carton, the time required for the ultraviolet germicidal lamp to enter the carn is normally only about 1 second in the case of a sterilizing and filling machine. In this case, when the germicidal lamp is moved up and down into a carton with a depth of about 30 cm, the glass of the germicidal lamp part may sometimes be damaged by the movement. However, in this case, if the sterilizing lamp is fixed and the carn is moved up and down, no shock is applied to the sterilizing lamp due to the vertical movement, and there is no possibility of the crow breaking and falling into the carn.

Next, using this ultraviolet sterilizing device, we actually infected Bacillus subtilis spores (t3 u I; j, l ], us s
u b I; j, ], 1 is S l)O
The results of testing the bactericidal effect of R e ) were as follows.

A method 13 method C method (Number of Bacillus subtilis spores / 5 x 5 cm) Before sterilization After sterilization Before sterilization After sterilization Before sterilization After sterilization (:
j+ 1.0'lXIO2]0' 0
10' (1 trial ■1033XlO"10'
OIn' 0 experience + 3 + 10' 4X10210
30 10' 0 place violation 110'3X10210'
0 10" 0 place t, ri+ 10" 6xl
O"10' 0 1.015■ 1.032x1.
O''10jO10j1.o' Since the number of Bacillus subtilis spores remaining according to the wooden sword method is O at 5 cm x 5 cm, it is clear that the method and apparatus of the present invention are fully usable and suitable.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the inside of a cylindrical container, which has been difficult to sterilize with ultraviolet rays, can be easily, reliably and safely sterilized. A removal effect can also be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the location of illuminance measurement inside the cylindrical container, Figure 2
The figure shows an example of a UV type lamp, and Figures 3 (a) to (c)
) is an explanatory diagram showing an example of how a germicidal lamp is used for sterilizing inside a container.
The figure shows an example of a straight tube lamp, where (a) is a side view and (b)
) is a plan view, FIG. 5 is a graph showing the measurement results of the usage example in FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the ultraviolet sterilizer according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how the cylindrical container is raised and lowered. It is an explanatory diagram of an example. 1... Cylindrical container (carton), 2... Ultraviolet sterilization and cauterization, 4... Blow pipe, 5... Nozzle. Agent Patent Attorney Makoto Kon 1st Figure 3 413 Figure 2 Figure 4 (0)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An ultraviolet germicidal lamp formed in a U-shape is inserted into a cylindrical container, and cold air is blown into the germicidal lamp from one side of the lamp to perform ultraviolet sterilization. Sterilization method. (2) An ultraviolet sterilizing device characterized in that an ultraviolet sterilizing lamp is formed into a U-shape, and a blower device for blowing cold air onto the sterilizing lamp is provided on one side.