US20040035089A1 - Method and installation for packaging a liquid product in a package - Google Patents

Method and installation for packaging a liquid product in a package Download PDF

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Publication number
US20040035089A1
US20040035089A1 US10/415,236 US41523603A US2004035089A1 US 20040035089 A1 US20040035089 A1 US 20040035089A1 US 41523603 A US41523603 A US 41523603A US 2004035089 A1 US2004035089 A1 US 2004035089A1
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
gas
liquid
product
overhead
pressure
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US10/415,236
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English (en)
Inventor
Philippe Guillaume
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
LAir Liquide SA pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
Original Assignee
LAir Liquide SA a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by LAir Liquide SA a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procedes Georges Claude filed Critical LAir Liquide SA a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
Assigned to L'AIR LIQUEIDE, SOCIETE ANONYME A. DIRECTORIE ET CONSEIL DE SURVEILLANCE POUR L ETUDE ET, L'EXPLOITATION DES PPROCEDES GEORGES, CLAUDE reassignment L'AIR LIQUEIDE, SOCIETE ANONYME A. DIRECTORIE ET CONSEIL DE SURVEILLANCE POUR L ETUDE ET, L'EXPLOITATION DES PPROCEDES GEORGES, CLAUDE ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: GUILLAUME, PHILIPPE
Publication of US20040035089A1 publication Critical patent/US20040035089A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B31/00—Packaging articles or materials under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions; Adding propellants to aerosol containers
    • B65B31/006—Adding fluids for preventing deformation of filled and closed containers or wrappers

Definitions

  • the invention relates to the packaging of liquid products in intrinsically deformable packages or containers.
  • the invention therefore relates to a method for packaging liquid product in at least one package, characterized in that an inert gas such as nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide, in the gaseous state, is or are mixed with a liquid so as to form a product consisting of the liquid saturated or supersaturated with gas; this product is stored in a buffer reservoir which is partially filled with product up to a predetermined level; this level is kept approximately constant and, above this level, an overhead of the said gas in the gaseous state, due to the saturation or the supersaturation, at a predetermined approximately constant raised pressure; the said product is transferred on demand from the buffer reservoir to the package, open to atmospheric pressure, keeping the said predetermined level and the said predetermined raised pressure in the buffer reservoir so as to partially fill the package with the said product with an overhead of the said gas at a pressure the value of which is approximately equal to that of the overhead in the buffer reservoir, and the package is sealed.
  • an inert gas such as nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide
  • the method may further have one or more of the following features:
  • this gas is injected into the liquid;
  • the raised pressure in the overhead of the buffer reservoir is set to a value lying in the range of 10 mbar to 3 bar;
  • the raised pressure is set to a value of about 50 mbar.
  • the invention also consists in a plant for packaging liquid product in at least one package, characterized in that it comprises a first circuit in at least part of which a liquid is circulated, a second circuit in at least part of which an inert gas such as nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide, is circulated under pressure in the gaseous state and which at outlet comprises an injector opening into an injection zone of the first circuit so as to form a product consisting of the liquid saturated or supersaturated with gas, the first circuit comprising a buffer reservoir into which the said product is introduced, means for keeping a predetermined level of liquid in this buffer reservoir, control and regulating means for maintaining a predetermined approximately constant raised pressure due to the saturation or supersaturation in the buffer reservoir, and means for tapping from the reservoir in order to transfer the said product from it into the package with an overhead at a pressure the value of which is approximately equal to that of the overhead in the buffer reservoir.
  • an inert gas such as nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide
  • the installation may also have one or more of the following features:
  • the first circuit comprises a transfer pump, the inlet of which is supplied with liquid to be saturated or supersaturated with gas, for circulating this liquid, and a filling line, the upstream end of which is connected to the outlet of the pump, an injector belonging to the second circuit opening into the line downstream of the pump for injecting the pressurized gas in the gaseous state thereinto;
  • control and regulating means comprise a regulator, a pressure transducer measuring the pressure of the gas in the overhead of the reservoir and a level detector detecting the level of the said product in the reservoir, these being connected to the regulator, and a regulator exhaust valve, controlled by the regulator and connected to the overhead in the reservoir so as to discharge excess gas therefrom on the command of the regulator;
  • the second circuit comprises injection equipment supplying the injector, and the control and regulating means comprise a regulator electrically or pneumatically connected to the injection equipment in order to transmit to it a signal that regulates the injection;
  • raised pressure kept approximately constant lies within the range from 10 mbar to 3 bar;
  • the raised pressure has a value of about 50 mbar
  • control and regulating means comprise a calibrated safety valve connected to the top of the reservoir.
  • FIGURE shows a diagram of a plant according to the invention.
  • the plant depicted in this diagram is a plant for transferring nitrogen or some other inert gas and/or carbon dioxide in the gaseous state into an aqueous liquid, for example a food liquid intended to form a beverage; in such an application in the food industry, the gas has been filtered and sterilized beforehand, for example using the method in the French Patent Application published with the number 2 774 006.
  • This plant comprises a first circuit 1 comprising, from the upstream end downstream, a transfer pump 11 , the inlet of which is supplied with liquid to be laden and here more specifically to be saturated or supersaturated with gas, a filling line 12 , the upstream end of which is connected to the outlet of the pump, a valve 13 inserted in the filling line to allow or prevent flow through this line, and a buffer volume forming a reservoir 14 into which the downstream end of the line 12 opens.
  • a transfer pump 11 the inlet of which is supplied with liquid to be laden and here more specifically to be saturated or supersaturated with gas
  • a filling line 12 the upstream end of which is connected to the outlet of the pump
  • a valve 13 inserted in the filling line to allow or prevent flow through this line
  • a buffer volume forming a reservoir 14 into which the downstream end of the line 12 opens.
  • the plant comprises a second circuit 2 supplied with inert gas such as nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide under pressure in the gaseous state; this circuit 2 comprises, at outlet, a gas-injecting device comprising injection equipment 21 such as that marketed under the name “crissat d'injection Carb'Eco” [Carb'Eco injection kit] by the company “Carboxyque füre” supplying an outlet injector 22 with a nonreturn valve opening into a zone situated between the transfer pump 11 and the valve 13 of the filling line 12 pressurized by the pump.
  • the injection equipment 21 is connected electrically to the pump 11 to receive from it a signal authorizing injection slaving the injection equipment to the pump in such a way in particular that injection of gas is interrupted if operation of the pump is stopped.
  • the plant also comprises: means 3 for controlling and regulating the saturation or supersaturation of the liquid with gas, comprising a regulator 31 , such as the one marketed under the name “crissat de régulation Carb'Eco” [Carb'Eco regulating kit] by the company “Carboxyque legale”; a pressure transducer 32 connected by a nozzle 321 to the top of the buffer reservoir 14 to measure the gas pressure therein and which is electrically connected to the regulator 31 to transmit a corresponding measured-pressure signal to it; a level detector 33 for detecting the level in the reservoir of the product consisting of the liquid saturated or supersaturated with gas and which is also electrically connected to the regulator 31 to transmit a corresponding measured-level signal to it; a regulation exhaust valve 34 connected by a pipe 341 to the top of the reservoir to discharge to the outside any excess gas and which is connected by a conductor 342 of electricity to the regulator 31 in order to receive a pressure-regulating signal therefrom; and a calibrated safety valve 35 connected by a regulator
  • the regulator 31 is also electrically or pneumatically connected, on the one hand, to injection equipment 21 to transmit to it a signal that regulates injection as a function of the measured-pressure signal, and, on the other hand, to the pump 11 to transmit to it a level-regulating signal designed to modify the output of the pump according to the fluctuations of the level of the saturated or supersaturated liquid product in the reservoir.
  • the plant also comprises tapping means 4 for tapping off liquid product from the reservoir on demand so as to transfer this liquid product to the packages.
  • tapping means comprise at least one tapping line 41 , in which at least one tapping control valve, not depicted, is inserted.
  • the liquid supplied to the pump 11 is circulated thereby under pressure in the filling line 12 , while the gas supplying the injection equipment 21 is circulated towards the injector 22 by which it is injected in the gaseous state into the injection zone of the line 12 so as to saturate or supersaturate with gas the liquid flowing through this line.
  • valve 13 If the valve 13 is open, the product consisting of the liquid saturated or supersaturated with gas is transmitted to the buffer reservoir 14 where it is kept at a predetermined approximately constant level checked constantly by the level detector 33 by an appropriate command of the pump 11 , so that the reservoir is never completely full and so that above the free surface of the liquid product there is an overhead of the gas in the gaseous state initially introduced into the liquid and which has been desorbed during the return to equilibrium of the gas which initially saturated or supersaturated the liquid in accordance with the part pressure of this gas in the buffer volume and its fraction dissolved in the liquid.
  • This overhead consisting of inert gas such as nitrogen and/or of carbon dioxide, in the gaseous state, is kept at a predetermined approximately constant raised pressure checked constantly by the pressure transducer 32 , by the regulator 31 , by means of the exhaust valve 34 which discharges superfluous gas to outside the plant. If, however, in spite of the regulation, the raised pressure increases above a certain threshold beyond the raised pressure predetermined by the control and regulating means, the calibrated valve 35 opens and itself discharges the surplus gas to outside the plant.
  • inert gas such as nitrogen and/or of carbon dioxide
  • the inert gas and/or the carbon dioxide, in the gaseous state is or are mixed with the liquid flowing through the filling line 12 and a product consisting of the liquid saturated or supersaturated with gas is formed and stored in the buffer reservoir 14 .
  • this buffer reservoir is filled only partially, up to the predetermined level which is kept approximately constant by altering the flow rate through the line 12 ; an overhead consisting of the gas which results from the desorption of the gas previously injected into the line 12 and mixed with the liquid is obtained above the free surface of the product consisting of the liquid saturated or supersaturated with gas; this gaseous overhead is kept at the predetermined approximately constant raised pressure and liquid product is transferred on demand from the reservoir 14 to one or more packages open to atmospheric pressure, keeping the predetermined level and the predetermined pressure in the reservoir so that the packages are partially filled with product. After this, the packages are sealed and a gaseous overhead at a raised pressure close to the aforementioned predetermined raised pressure is obtained in these packages.
  • nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide in the gaseous state is or are injected into the line 12 by means of an injector 22 so as to obtain, in the overhead of the reservoir 14 , a constant raised pressure at a value preferably lying in the range from 10 mbar to 3 bar, for example of more or less 50 mbar, this making it possible to obtain a raised pressure of a similar value in the packages; thanks to this injection of nitrogen and/or of carbon dioxide, not only is the package and its contents stiffened, but the amount of oxygen in contact with the product is also substantially reduced and the risks of the product oxidizing are diminished.
  • the plant according to the invention is inexpensive and, in the current state of the art and of costs, the cost of such a plant is about one fifth or one sixth of the cost of a conventional plant by means of which liquid nitrogen is introduced into the packages before they are sealed.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Dispersion Chemistry (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Vacuum Packaging (AREA)
  • Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
  • Packages (AREA)
  • Food Preservation Except Freezing, Refrigeration, And Drying (AREA)
  • Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
  • Supplying Of Containers To The Packaging Station (AREA)
US10/415,236 2000-10-26 2001-10-23 Method and installation for packaging a liquid product in a package Abandoned US20040035089A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR0013734A FR2815937B1 (fr) 2000-10-26 2000-10-26 Procede et installation et conditionnement de produit liquide dans un emballage
FR00/13734 2000-10-26
PCT/FR2001/003294 WO2002034624A1 (fr) 2000-10-26 2001-10-23 Procede et installation et conditionnement de produit liquide dans un emballage

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20040035089A1 true US20040035089A1 (en) 2004-02-26

Family

ID=8855759

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US10/415,236 Abandoned US20040035089A1 (en) 2000-10-26 2001-10-23 Method and installation for packaging a liquid product in a package

Country Status (11)

Country Link
US (1) US20040035089A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1332087B1 (de)
JP (1) JP2004512235A (de)
AT (1) ATE305411T1 (de)
AU (1) AU2002214090A1 (de)
BR (1) BR0114946B1 (de)
CA (1) CA2427200C (de)
DE (1) DE60113710T2 (de)
ES (1) ES2249487T3 (de)
FR (1) FR2815937B1 (de)
WO (1) WO2002034624A1 (de)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100034934A1 (en) * 2008-08-07 2010-02-11 Conopco, Inc., D/B/A Unilever Packaging for stabilizing consumable products
WO2014045275A1 (en) * 2012-09-20 2014-03-27 The Central Bottling Company Ltd. A method for filling bottles

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE10244802B4 (de) * 2002-09-26 2011-12-22 Henkel Ag & Co. Kgaa Pralle Waschmittelformkörper

Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3643586A (en) * 1970-07-08 1972-02-22 Donald A Rosini Aseptic packaging of foods
US4253502A (en) * 1979-06-25 1981-03-03 Universal Packaging Machinery Sales Corp. Carbonated beverage bottling apparatus
US4499931A (en) * 1982-11-15 1985-02-19 Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc. Nitrogen injector system
US4588000A (en) * 1982-08-26 1986-05-13 Metal Box Public Limited Company Method and apparatus for metering and dispensing volatile liquids
US4655029A (en) * 1984-10-31 1987-04-07 Krones Ag Herman Kronseder Maschinenfabrik Method and apparatus for filling bottles or the like with liquid
US4987726A (en) * 1987-12-04 1991-01-29 Kabivitrum Ab Bottle filling and sealing apparatus
US6192946B1 (en) * 1998-08-12 2001-02-27 Khs Maschinen- Und Anlagenbau Ag Bottling system

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4347695A (en) * 1980-03-26 1982-09-07 General Foods Corporation Beverage bottling method
JPS59152194A (ja) * 1983-02-08 1984-08-30 アサヒビール株式会社 非炭酸飲料の充填方法
FR2636918B1 (fr) * 1988-09-26 1991-01-11 Air Liquide Procede et installation de conditionnement d'un liquide non carbonate dans des emballages
GB9026385D0 (en) * 1990-12-05 1991-01-23 Boc Group Plc Dissolving a gas in a liquid
FR2774006B1 (fr) 1998-01-23 2000-02-18 Air Liquide Installation et procede de filtration en phase liquide d'un fluide cryogenique

Patent Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3643586A (en) * 1970-07-08 1972-02-22 Donald A Rosini Aseptic packaging of foods
US4253502A (en) * 1979-06-25 1981-03-03 Universal Packaging Machinery Sales Corp. Carbonated beverage bottling apparatus
US4588000A (en) * 1982-08-26 1986-05-13 Metal Box Public Limited Company Method and apparatus for metering and dispensing volatile liquids
US4499931A (en) * 1982-11-15 1985-02-19 Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc. Nitrogen injector system
US4655029A (en) * 1984-10-31 1987-04-07 Krones Ag Herman Kronseder Maschinenfabrik Method and apparatus for filling bottles or the like with liquid
US4987726A (en) * 1987-12-04 1991-01-29 Kabivitrum Ab Bottle filling and sealing apparatus
US6192946B1 (en) * 1998-08-12 2001-02-27 Khs Maschinen- Und Anlagenbau Ag Bottling system

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100034934A1 (en) * 2008-08-07 2010-02-11 Conopco, Inc., D/B/A Unilever Packaging for stabilizing consumable products
WO2014045275A1 (en) * 2012-09-20 2014-03-27 The Central Bottling Company Ltd. A method for filling bottles

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2427200A1 (fr) 2002-05-02
ES2249487T3 (es) 2006-04-01
WO2002034624A1 (fr) 2002-05-02
JP2004512235A (ja) 2004-04-22
FR2815937B1 (fr) 2003-01-24
BR0114946A (pt) 2003-09-16
BR0114946B1 (pt) 2011-09-20
AU2002214090A1 (en) 2002-05-06
DE60113710T2 (de) 2006-07-13
FR2815937A1 (fr) 2002-05-03
CA2427200C (fr) 2009-04-14
EP1332087B1 (de) 2005-09-28
EP1332087A1 (de) 2003-08-06
DE60113710D1 (de) 2005-11-03
ATE305411T1 (de) 2005-10-15

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: L'AIR LIQUEIDE, SOCIETE ANONYME A. DIRECTORIE ET C

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:GUILLAUME, PHILIPPE;REEL/FRAME:014397/0755

Effective date: 20030306

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION