KR20170086260A - Sterilizer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an article sterilizing apparatus for putting an article such as packaged food such as instant rice or instant noodles into a sterilization chamber and performing a predetermined sterilization treatment. In the article sterilizing apparatus according to the present invention, And a sterilizing chamber for sterilizing the articles inserted through the openings; A sterilizing unit for sterilizing the articles put into the sterilizing chamber; A door that is vertically movable from the outside of the opening of the main body and opens and closes the opening; A door closing unit installed in the main body and pressing the door inward from the outside of the main body to perform a closing operation of the opening by the door; An actuator for moving the door upward and downward with respect to the main body; And a control unit.

Description

{Sterilizer}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for heating and sterilizing articles, and more particularly, to an article sterilizing apparatus for putting an article such as instant rice or a packaged food container such as instant ramen into a sterilization chamber and performing a predetermined sterilization process .

Recently, so-called aseptically packaged foods in which foods such as rice flour and noodles are put into heat-resistant containers and aseptically packed are being developed. Aseptically packaged foods are used by many consumers because they can be easily cooked in a microwave oven without damaging the flavor even when stored at room temperature for a long period of time.

These aseptically packaged foods are manufactured through a sterilization process to preserve or store foods for a long period of time. A food sterilizing apparatus for sterilizing food normally includes a sterilization chamber for containing a plurality of foods, a steam supply unit for supplying a high temperature steam into the sterilization chamber, an opening for performing an entrance / exit function of the sterilization chamber, As shown in Fig.

The conventional door device is configured to open and close the opening while the circular door rotates about the eccentric shaft inside the opening and closing part adjacent to the opening as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Nos. 10-0874332 and 10-1231997.

The sealing member is provided on the outer side of the opening to seal the door, and friction occurs between the sealing member and the door as the door rotates. As time elapses, the sealing member needs to be worn and replaced. There is a problem that it takes a lot of time and effort to replace the sealing material because the opening and closing part is very difficult to perform.

In addition, the rotating cylinder is used to rotate the door. Due to the weight of the door, the rotating cylinder is subjected to a great amount of force for lifting the door, so that the parts inside the rotating cylinder are damaged or damaged, causing frequent failures and durability problems have.

In addition, since the opening of the sterilizing chamber is circular and the size of the conventional sterilizing apparatus is limited, there is a problem that the number of articles that can be injected into the sterilizing chamber is small.

Registration No. 10-0874332 (Registered on December, 2008) Registration No. 10-1231997 (Registered on April 2, 2014)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a disinfecting chamber which minimizes friction between a door and a sealant when the door is opened and closed, Which can minimize damage and breakage, improve durability, and improve the productivity by increasing the opening and closing speed of the door.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an article sterilizing apparatus capable of sterilizing a large number of articles at a time by allowing the width of the sterilizing chamber to be wider than the conventional one.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article sterilizer comprising: a main body having a sterilizing chamber in which an opening through which an article passes is opened and sterilizing an article inserted through the opening; A sterilizing unit for sterilizing the articles put into the sterilizing chamber; A door that is vertically movable from the outside of the opening of the main body and opens and closes the opening; A door closing unit installed in the main body and pressing the door inward from the outside of the main body to perform a closing operation of the opening by the door; An actuator for moving the door upward and downward with respect to the main body; And a control unit.

According to the present invention, it is possible to vertically move the door without rotating the door, press the edge portion of the door strongly with the clamp to seal the sterilization chamber, and perform heat sterilization by steam.

Therefore, friction between the sealing member and the sealing member hardly occurs during the opening and closing operation of the door, so that the replacement period of the sealing member can be greatly increased, and replacement of the sealing member can be performed very easily.

In addition, an excessive force is not applied to the actuator for operating the door, thereby reducing the risk of damaging or damaging the actuator, and improving the durability.

In addition, the opening and closing operation of the door is performed very quickly, and a large number of articles can be sterilized at one time, thereby significantly improving the productivity.

1 is a plan view showing an article sterilizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the door closes the sterilizing chamber.
2 is a side sectional view of the article sterilizing apparatus of Fig. 1;
3 is a front view of the article sterilizing apparatus of Fig. 1;
4 is a plan view showing a state where a door constructed in the article sterilizing apparatus according to the present invention is opened in a sterilizing chamber.
5 is a sectional view of the door constructed in the article sterilizing apparatus according to the present invention, with the sterilizing chamber opened.
6 is a front view of the door constructed in the article sterilizing apparatus according to the present invention, with the sterilizing chamber opened.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an article sterilizing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3, an article sterilizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 10 having an opening 11 communicating with a sterilizing chamber 12 and a sterilizing chamber 12, A sterilizing unit for sterilizing the articles put into the sterilization chamber 12; a door 30 installed vertically movably outside the opening 11 of the main body 10 to open and close the opening; A door closing unit installed on both sides of the door 10 to press the door 30 from the outside to the inside of the main body 10 to perform closing operation of the opening 11 by the door 30, An actuator 40 for moving the door 30 upward and downward with respect to the main body 10 and a movable connecting member 60 for connecting the door 30 to the actuator 40 in a fluid- .

For the sake of understanding, the left side in the drawing is designated to the front of the main body 10, and the right side in the drawing is designated to the rear side of the main body 10.

The main body 10 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing made of a metal such as stainless steel and has a sterilizing chamber 12 in which the sterilization process of the articles proceeds. Each of the front and rear surfaces of the sterilizing chamber 12 The two openings 11 through which the product A is inserted and discharged are formed so as to communicate with the sterilizing chamber 12. The opening 11 formed in the front surface of the main body 10 of the two openings 11 serves as an inlet into which the article is inserted and has an opening 11 formed in the rear surface of the main body 10, But is not limited to, the function of the outlet from which the article is drawn out.

In this embodiment, the sterilizing chamber 12 and the opening 11 have a rectangular shape that is longer than the transverse length, so that a large number of articles can be inserted and sterilized at one time. That is, since the sterilization chamber 12 and the opening 11 have a rectangular shape longer than the transverse dimension, the articles A are arranged in a plurality of rows (three rows in this embodiment) instead of one row, (12). Therefore, the number of articles that can be put into the sterilization chamber 12 at a time can be increased more than before, and the productivity can be doubled. The reason why the opening 11 of the main body 10 and the sterilizing chamber 12 can be formed into a rectangular shape having a large left and right width is that the door 30 is opened / It is possible to open and close the opening 11 while linearly moving it upward and downward.

On the front and rear surfaces of the main body 10, flexible and heat-resistant sealing materials 70 such as rubber or silicone are provided along the outer edges of the openings 11, 11, it is possible to prevent the high-temperature and high-pressure gas in the sterilization chamber 12 from leaking to the outside while being compressed by the door 30.

The sterilization unit is configured to sterilize the article by repeatedly supplying and discharging high-temperature steam into the sterilization chamber 12. In this embodiment, the sterilization unit is installed on the top of the main body 10, A supply line 21 and an inlet valve 22 for supplying steam into the chamber 12 and a discharge line 23 and outlet valve 24 for discharging the steam in the sterilization chamber 12 valve. The supply pipe 21 and the inlet valve 22, the discharge pipe 23 and the outlet valve 24 are preferably arranged alternately.

The door 30 is configured to open and close the opening 11 while moving up and down by an actuator 40 at a front side and a rear side of the main body 10. The door 30 is made of a metal having excellent heat resistance, and has a rectangular flat plate shape slightly larger than the opening 11.

The actuator 40 is installed on a mount block 15 extending upward from a front portion and a rear portion of the main body 10 so as to move the door 30 up and down by a predetermined distance. The actuator 40 may be constructed using a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder.

When the door 30 is moved downward by the actuator 40, the door 30 must be closed by the door closing unit while moving horizontally by a certain distance from the outside to the inside of the main body 10, . Therefore, the door 30 is connected to the actuator 40 through the movable connecting member 60 so as to be able to flow in the forward and backward directions to some extent.

The movable connecting member 60 includes a link rod 61 whose upper end is rotatably connected to the lower end of the piston rod 41 of the actuator 40 through a first hinge pin 62, And a connecting bracket 63 whose upper end is rotatably connected to the lower end of the link rod 61 through a second hinge pin 64 and whose lower end is coupled to the upper end of the door 30.

When the door 30 is lowered and aligned just outside the opening 11, when the door closing unit presses the door 30 toward the opening 11 of the main body 10, the link rod 61 and the connecting bracket The door 30 moves in the forward and backward directions with respect to the actuator 40 to open and close the opening 11 while the relative rotational movement of the door 30 is generated.

The door closing unit performs an action of pressing the door 30 toward the opening 11 to close the opening 11 when the door 30 is lowered and positioned outside the opening 11. The door closing unit includes a plurality of clamps 51 which are horizontally reciprocally movable outside the front and rear surfaces of the main body 10 to press the edge portions of the door 30 toward the inside of the main body 10, And a clamp operation member (52) for reciprocating the respective clamps (51) horizontally. In this embodiment, the clamp 51 and the clamp operating member 52 are each provided at the front portion and the rear portion of the main body 10 so as to press the edge portion of the door 30 against the main body 10 .

It is preferable that the clamp actuating member 52 use a hydraulic cylinder so as to provide a force for pressing the door 30 without being touched by the high pressure inside the sterilization chamber 12. [

When the clamp 51 does not press the door 30, the clamps 51 are closed so that the article A passing through the opening 11 or the carrier C loaded with the article A does not interfere with the clamp 51 It is preferable that the rotor 51 rotates at a predetermined angle, for example, 90 degrees. To this end, the door closing unit includes clamp rotating means for rotating the clamp 51 at a predetermined angle about a horizontal axis.

In this embodiment, the clamp rotating means is provided on the outer surface of the main body 10, and a pneumatic or hydraulic pressure applied from outside or a rotating shaft (not shown) rotating at a predetermined angle by a power source is applied to the clamp operating member 52 The clamp operating member 52 and the clamp 51 rotate together at a predetermined angle (90 °) as the rotating shaft rotates. The rotary actuator 53 may be constructed by applying a rotary cylinder for generating a rotary force by hydraulic pressure or air pressure, or a motor for generating a rotary force by an electric force.

In this embodiment, on the other hand, the clamp operation member 52 is coupled to the rotation axis of the rotation driver 53 so that the clamp operation member 52 is rotated so that the clamp 51 rotates together. Alternatively, the clamp operation member 52 And the clamp 51 is engaged with the rotary shaft of the rotary actuator 53 so that the door 30 is rotated by the rotation of the door 30 When the rotary actuator 53 and the clamp 51 are horizontally moved together to press the door 30 and the rotary shaft of the rotary actuator 53 rotates, only the clamp 51 may be rotated There will be.

The thus constructed product sterilizing apparatus of the present invention operates as follows.

The piston rod 41 of the actuator 40 is contracted and the door 30 is lifted and the opening 11 of the main body 10 is opened as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 before the article is sterilized. At this time, the clamp 51 is in a state of being escaped to the outside of the opening 11 by the operation of the rotation driver 53. [

The article transfer robot pushes the carrier C loaded with the plurality of articles A into the sterilizing chamber 12 through the opening 11 formed in the front portion of the main body 10. [

2 and 3, the piston rod 41 of the actuator 40 is lowered, and the door 30 is moved to the right of the opening 11, Respectively. The clamp actuating member 52 and the clamp 51 are rotated by 90 degrees by the operation of the rotary actuator 53 so that the clamp 51 is switched to a state in which the door 30 can be pressed. The clamp 51 is horizontally moved by the clamp operating member 52 to urge the door 30 toward the opening 11. [ The door 30 is moved toward the opening 11 by the clamp 51 because the door 30 is connected to the actuator 40 by a certain degree to the door 40 by the movable connecting member 60 Can move naturally.

At this time, the door 30 closes the opening 11 and pressurizes the sealing material 70 provided outside the opening 11 to completely seal the inside of the sterilizing chamber 12.

The opening and closing operation of the door 30 proceeds simultaneously in the front portion and the rear portion of the main body 10. [

When the front and rear openings 11 of the main body 10 are completely closed by the door 30, the inlet valve 22 of the sterilizing unit is opened, and hot steam, which is supplied through the supply pipe 21, And the steam is discharged to the outside while the outlet valve 24 is opened after a lapse of a predetermined time. The sterilization unit performs the sterilization process by advancing the process of supplying and discharging the steam into the sterilization chamber 12 a predetermined number of times.

When the sterilizing process is completed, the clamping operation member 52 horizontally moves in the outward direction of the opening 11 of the clamp 51, and then rotated 90 degrees by the rotary actuator 53, Lt; / RTI > The piston rod 41 of the actuator 40 is contracted and the door 30 is raised to return to the initial open position.

When the door 30 is lifted and the front and rear side openings 11 of the main body 10 are all opened, the carrier C on which the article A is loaded is pulled out to the outside through the opening 11 on the rear side do. Then, the sterilization process for the new product proceeds while repeating the above-described process.

As described above, the product sterilizing apparatus of the present invention moves the door 30 up and down without rotating the door 30, and strongly pressurizes the edge portion of the door 30 with the clamp 51 to seal the sterilizing chamber 12, Can be performed.

Therefore, friction between the door 30 and the sealing member 70 hardly occurs during the opening and closing operation of the door 30, so that the replacement period of the sealing member 70 can be greatly increased, and replacement of the sealing member 70 can be performed easily.

The actuator 40 for operating the door 30 is not subjected to an excessive force, so that there is little risk of damage or breakage of the actuator 40, and durability can be improved.

In addition, the opening and closing operation of the door 30 is performed very quickly, and a large number of articles can be sterilized at one time, which is an advantage that productivity can be greatly improved.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. And it is to be understood that such modified embodiments belong to the scope of protection of the present invention defined by the appended claims.

10: main body 11: opening
12: sterilization chamber 15: mount block
21: Supply piping 22: Inlet valve
23: discharge piping 24: outlet valve
30: Door 40: Actuator
41: Piston rod 51: Clamp
52: Clamp operating member 53: Rotary actuator
61: Link load 63: Connecting bracket
70: sealing material A: article
C: Carrier

Claims (10)

A main body having a sterilizing chamber in which an opening through which the article passes is opened and sterilizing the articles inserted through the opening;
A sterilizing unit for sterilizing the articles put into the sterilizing chamber;
A door that is vertically movable from the outside of the opening of the main body and opens and closes the opening;
A door closing unit installed in the main body and pressing the door inward from the outside of the main body to perform a closing operation of the opening by the door;
An actuator for moving the door upward and downward with respect to the main body;
And an outlet for discharging the sterilized product. The article sterilizer of claim 1, further comprising a movable connecting member for fluidly connecting the door to the actuator. The door closing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the door closing unit comprises: a plurality of clamps which are horizontally reciprocable on the outside of the main body and press the edge portion of the door to the inside of the main body; And a clamp operating member for horizontally reciprocating the clamping member. The article sterilizing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the clamp operating member is a hydraulic cylinder. The article sterilizer according to claim 3, further comprising a clamp rotating means for rotating the clamp at a predetermined angle about one axis. The clamping device according to claim 5, wherein the clamp rotating means includes a rotation driver installed on an outer surface of the main body, wherein a pneumatic or hydraulic pressure applied from the outside, or a rotating shaft rotating at a predetermined angle by a power source is coupled to the clamp operating member And the clamp operating member and the clamp rotate together at a predetermined angle as the rotating shaft rotates. The clamping device according to claim 5, wherein the clamp rotating means comprises: a pneumatic or hydraulic pressure applied from the outside, connected to the clamp operating member, horizontally reciprocated by the clamp operating member, or rotated by a power source to rotate the clamp at a predetermined angle And a drive unit. The article sterilizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sealing material of a flexible material is provided on the outer side of the opening to prevent gas from being leaked while being compressed by the door. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the movable connecting member comprises: a link rod having an upper end rotatably connected to one end of the actuator; an upper end rotatably connected to a lower end of the link rod, And a connecting bracket to be connected to the connecting member. The article sterilizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating chamber and the opening have a rectangular shape longer than a width.

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