WO2024052873A1

WO2024052873A1 - Device for removing dust from caps and the like

Info

Publication number: WO2024052873A1
Application number: PCT/IB2023/058924
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carlo OTTONELLO; Fabio PREGNO
Original assignee: Arol S.P.A.
Priority date: 2022-09-09
Filing date: 2023-09-08
Publication date: 2024-03-14

Abstract

A device (4) for removing dust from caps and the like (22) in a capping machine (1) is passed through by a section (21) of a channel (2) conveying the caps (22) towards a capping area (3) of the machine (1), and includes means (U) for blowing air towards the caps (22) to cause dust separation therefrom and means (7, 8, 27, 29) for sucking air charged with dust. The sucking means (7, 8, 27, 29) include at least one sucking chamber (27) with a cross-sectional shape varying in the cap advance direction, which chamber communicates with the inside of the channel section (21) passing through the device (4), extends over at least the major part of the length of that section (21) and is arranged to transfer to a first sucking duct (7) air charged with dust removed from at least a first surface of the cap (22) facing, during capping, a container to be capped.

Description

DEVICE FOR REMOVING DUST FROM CAPS AND THE LIKE

Technical Field

This invention relates to capping installations and, more particularly, it concerns a device for removing dust deposited on closures of containers, such as tops, caps and so on (hereinafter referred to as "caps" for the sake of simplicity) while the caps are being conveyed inside one of such installations.

Background Art

It is known that, while caps are being conveyed inside a capping machine, foreign particles, referred to as "dust" in the following description and in the claims, generated e.g. due the cap rubbing against portions of the machine, can become deposited on the caps. Generally, dust adheres to the caps by electrostatic effect. Clearly, said dust is to be removed before closing the container in order to prevent it from falling into the product in the container, in particular for sanitary reasons if the product is a foodstuff.

In order to remove dust, it is known to associate with a cap conveying channel, immediately upstream the capping area, sucking means that often are associated with ionising devices neutralising the static charges of the caps and the dust, thereby making operation of the sucking means easier.

For instance, WO 2021/144532 Al discloses a device for removing dust from bottle caps, comprising sucking means arranged around a cap-conveying channel and ionisation bars longitudinally extending along the channel. The sucking means include a first nozzle longitudinally extending beside the channel and intended to evacuate ionised air charged with dust, and a second nozzle extending along a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the channel in order to clean the inside of the caps. Blowing bars longitudinally extending along the conveying channel allow detaching dust and putting ionised air in contact with the caps. The nozzle intended to clean the inside of the caps substantially faces a single cap. Such an arrangement does not ensure an adequate sucking length and a constant flow rate along the channel section and therefore it is scarcely efficient.

EP 3138780 Al discloses a device for sterilising bottle caps, including a first and a second sterilisation chamber equipped with respective electron emitting units and with emission windows facing a first or a second surface of a cap. Moreover, suction chambers with variable cross-sectional shape are provided, which are associated with a suction duct in order to suck dust from the caps. Removal of the dust from the two faces of a cap takes place in successive instants. A sterilisation path along which dust removal takes place includes vertical sections alternating with oblique sections connected to the vertical sections by curved sections: such oblique and curved sections can be of hindrance to the cap advance and require the provision of means aiding the cap advance. All this makes the system complex and scarcely efficient.

DE 102020129774 Al discloses a device for removing dust deposited on caps and the like, with an ionising nozzle (or a pair of ionising nozzles) supplying ionised air to a plurality of blowing nozzles distributed along the cap advance path, and a pair of sucking chambers with variable cross-sectional shape, in particular a triangular shape. The device allows removing dust only from the cap surface directed towards the inside of the container, and therefore removal in incomplete.

EP 2825323 Bl discloses a system for removing foreign particles from containers, with a plurality of nozzles for sending ionised air jets into the containers and a vacuum system sucking air charged with dust.

Summary of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for removing dust deposited on caps and the like having a high removal efficiency

The object is achieved through a device in which the means sucking air charged with dust include a sucking chamber with a cross-sectional shape varying in the advance direction of the caps, which chamber communicates with the inside of a channel section passing through the device, extends along at least the major part of the length of that section and is arranged to transfer to a first sucking duct air charged with dust removed from at least a first surface of the caps that, during capping, is directed towards the container to be capped..

Preferably, the sucking chamber has a triangular cross-sectional shape, in particular the shape of isosceles triangle

Advantageously, the sucking chamber is formed in a guide member defining in said channel section a passageway for the advance of the caps, which is open both towards the first cap surface and towards a second cap surface, on the opposite side of the first surface, for allowing arrival onto said surfaces of air jets blown by blowing means.

Advantageously, the sucking chamber has an orifice putting the chamber into communication with a connecting member for transferring sucked air to the first sucking duct, which orifice is formed in a zone where the triangular cross-section of the sucking chamber has maximum height. Advantageously, the device may include a pair of sucking chambers, which are formed in respective guide members arranged to cooperate with the first cap surface and which communicate each with a respective first sucking duct.

Preferably, a second pair of guide members arranged to cooperate with the second cap surface is also provided, and the guide members of both pairs are shaped and arranged so as to allow also the jets sent towards the second cap surface to arrive at the sucking chamber(s) by flowing around the caps.

Advantageously, the device further includes at least one second sucking duct for removing from the inside of a housing of the device air charged with dust removed from the cap surfaces and present in said housing.

In a preferred application, the first cap surface is concave and the second surface is convex. However, the invention can be applied also in case the first and the second cap surfaces are parallel.

Advantageously, the channel section passing through the device is made of plastics, preferably chosen in the group including high-density polyethylene; polyamide, e.g. nylon; polyoxymethylene copolymer (acetalic resin); polyether ether ketone.

In a first embodiment, the air blowing means include a first and a second set of ionising nozzles for blowing ionised air towards the first and the second cap surface, respectively

In a second embodiment, the air blowing means include a first and a second set of blowing nozzles for blowing air towards the first and the second cap surface, respectively, and ionising bars for ionising air blown by the first and second sets of blowing nozzles.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided also a capping machine, including a channel conveying container caps towards a capping area and a device as described above for removing dust from the caps while they are advancing along a section of said channel passing through the device.

Brief Description of Drawings

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments made by way of nonlimiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a capping machine equipped with the device according to the invention;

- Fig. 2 is an isometric view in axial cross section showing the connection between the channel sections outside and inside the device according to the invention; - Fig. 3 is a front view in axial cross section showing the channel section inside the device according to the invention and the means sucking air charged with dust;

- Fig. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken along a plane passing through line A - A in Fig. 3

- Fig. 5 is an isometric view in longitudinal cross section of the channel portion where the sucking chamber is formed;

- Fig. 6 is a view of the interior of the device according to the invention, taken from the front side and showing a first embodiment of the means blowing ionised air;

- Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing a second embodiment of the means blowing ionised air; and

- Fig. 8 is a horizontal cross-sectional view illustrating the air flows for removing dust from the concave cap surface.

Description of Embodiments

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown the use of the invention in a turret capping machine, generally denoted 1 i.e. a capping machine that, during the capping operations, moves the containers to be capped according to a rotary movement about a vertical axis. By way of example, reference will be made to a machine for applying caps having a concave internal surface (or front surface, with reference to the direction of cap application) intended to engage the container to be capped, and a convex external (or rear) surface, for instance crown caps, screw caps etc. Generally, the caps will be caps made of plastics, for which the problem of dust is particularly felt, but the description applies also to caps made of different materials, such as aluminium or steel.

The detailed structure of turret 1 is not of interest for the invention and it will not be described in detail. On the other hand, it is wholly conventional.

Turret 1 is associated with a cap-conveying channel 2, which feeds the caps to the cap picking and applying members in turret 1 and extends, over part of its length, inside a dust-removing device 4 forming the subject matter of the invention. More particularly, channel 2 extends inside a housing or box 40 that contains the components of device 4 and that is hermetically closed by a front panel 41 and a similar rear panel. The caps are fed to channel 2 by an orienting device 5, which receives them from a container, not shown, through a hopper 50 and orients them in a manner suitable for the operations of device 4, for instance arranges them with horizontal axis perpendicular to the advance direction.

Dust removing device 4 is of a kind operating by blowing ionised compressed air toward the caps and sucking air charged with dust. The means blowing ionised air and sucking air charged with dust will be described later on. For dust removal, the inside of housing 40 is connected to an extraction fan 6 through at least one sucking duct 7, intended to suck dust from the concave cap surface. Preferably, one or more further sucking ducts (only one of which, denoted 8, is shown in the Figure) are also provided in order to suck air charged with dust from the internal chamber of housing 40. Advantageously, sucking ducts 7, 8 are associated with a vacuum switch 9 for monitoring the vacuum degree in the system and ensuring suction constancy.

In order to maximise the ionising effect, channel 2 (or at least the section thereof inside housing 40) and sucking ducts 7, 8 are made of plastics. Plastics is a very good insulator and it does not disperse the ionising effect, which could be reduced should conducting materials be present in proximity of the electrodes. No particular plastics is required for making channel 2 and sucking ducts 7, 8. Obviously, it is important that the plastics is not charged with conducting materials such as graphite. Among the plastics that can be used, we can mention, by way of examples only: high-density polyethylene (HDPE); polyamide (PA), e.g. nylon; polyoxymethylene copolymer (POM-C, also called acetalic resin); polyether ether ketone (PEEK).

Fig. 1 further shows a supporting rod 10 for device 4 and a casing 11 for the circuits supplying the ionising means with electric power.

Referring to Figs. 2 to 5 (in the first of which housing 40 has been omitted in order to make understanding easier), reference numerals 20 and 21 denote the channel sections outside and inside device 4, respectively. Section 21 is made of plastics, whereas section 20 can be made of metal. In both sections, caps 22 are kept in the position with horizontal axis imparted by orienting device 5 by front and rear guide members 25A, 25B, respectively, cooperating with the concave front surface and the convex rear surface of caps 22, respectively, and defining in section 21 a passageway 23 for the caps.

Guide members 24 in channel section 20 (of which only the rear ones can be seen in the Figures) are wholly conventional. In section 21, the pairs of front and rear guide members 25 A and 25B, made of plastics like the whole of channel section 21, are integral with the inner surfaces of side walls 26 of the channel and are arranged so that passageway 23 is open towards both the concave surface and the convex surface of caps 22 in order to allow dust removal by air jets blown by nozzles U. Side walls 26 have been omitted in Figures 2 and 3 to show the arrangement of caps 22 in channel section 21.

A sucking chamber 27 is formed in one of front guide members 25A and in side wall 26 adjacent thereto, and it communicates with passageway 23 to collect air charged with dust leaving the concave surface of caps 22. Sucking chamber 27 is formed by milling guide member 25 A and side wall 26, the milled areas being denoted 25', 26' in Fig. 5. In order to ensure an adequate suction length and a constant flow rate along channel section 21, sucking chamber 27 extends over the major part of that section and has a longitudinally varying cross-sectional shape, in the example illustrated a substantially triangular cross-sectional shape, in particular a shape of isosceles triangle. Sucking chamber 27 in turn communicates, through an orifice 28 formed in the central zone with maximum height, with the inside of a connecting member 29, it too made of plastics, for transferring sucked air from chamber 27 to sucking duct 7. The latter is connected to connecting member 29 through a fitting 7a.

Figs. 6 and 7 show two possible embodiments of the means blowing ionised air towards caps 22.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, such means include a first and a second set of ionising nozzles 42, distributed along channel section 21 opposite the front and the rear sides of passageway 23, for blowing ionised compressed air towards the front and the rear surface of caps 22, respectively. Dust removed from the front surface mainly passes to sucking chamber 27 and hence to sucking duct 7 through connecting member 29. Dust removed from the rear surface mainly disperses inside housing 40, whence it will be sucked through duct 8, secured to housing 40 through a fitting 8a.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 7, two sets of blowing nozzles 43 are provided, which are arranged like nozzles 42 in Fig. 6 and blow non-ionised air towards both surfaces of caps 22, and ionisation is performed by a pair of ionising bars, which are arranged parallel to channel section 21, at both sides thereof, and ionise air blown by nozzles 43.

Ionising nozzles and ionising bars are well-known and commonly commercially available devices and a description of their structure and operation is not necessary.

Advantageously, in both embodiments, a pressure switch 45 and a pressure regulator 46 will be provided in the compressed air delivery ducts for both nozzle sets to ensure the constancy of the blowing effect.

Fig. 6 also shows sealing gasket 47 ensuring airtight sealing of housing 40 by front closing panel 41. A similar gasket will be provided also for the rear closing panel, if it can be opened.

Fig. 8 shows in greater detail the cooperation between the air blowing means, the cap conveying channel and the means sucking air charged with dust. The Figure relates to the embodiment with ionising bars, but the following description is independent of the manner in which ionisation is obtained. Housing 40 has not been shown in order to make understanding easier. The dashed line arrows denote compressed air jets blown by nozzles 43, the dotted-and-dashed line arrows denote ion emission by bars 44 and the solid line arrows denote the sucked air flow coming from the concave surface of caps 22, which flow enters chamber 27 and is sent to duct 7 through orifice 28, connecting member 29 and fitting 7a. Only sucking towards chamber 27 and duct 7 has been shown in the Figure, since housing 40 has been omitted. The Figure further shows that guide members 25A, 25B are shaped and arranged so as to enable also the jets sent towards the convex surface of caps 22 to arrive at sucking chamber 27 by flowing around caps 22.

The described device actually solves the problems of the prior art. Sucking chamber(s) 27 directly collecting dust removed from the concave surface of caps 22 extend(s) over at least the major part of the length of channel section 21 passing through device 4, and this ensures an adequate suction length and a constant flow rate along channel section 21 and makes removal very effective. Moreover, thanks to the shape and the arrangement of guide members 25A, 25B, dust removal not only concerns both cap surfaces, but it simultaneously takes place for both surfaces and thus it is complete and quick. Moreover, as clearly shown in the drawings, channel section 21 inside housing 40 is rectilinear and vertical over the whole of its length, so that the possible hindrances due to oblique and curved sections are prevented and thus there is no need of members aiding cap advance in correspondence of those sections.

It is clear that the above description has been given only by way of non-limiting example and that changes and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

For instance, even if use of the invention has been disclosed in connection with caps having a convex and a concave surface, it is evident that the invention can also be used with different caps, such as the tops with two substantially parallel surfaces used for wine bottles.

Moreover, to enhance the sucking action, it is also possible to provide a second sucking chamber, similar to the first one, in the second front guide member. In this case, another sucking duct, similar to duct 7 and communicating with passageway 23 in the manner described above will have to be provided.

Claims

1. Device (4) for removing dust from closures (22) of containers in a capping machine (1), where the device (4) is passed through by a section (21) of a channel (2) conveying the closures (22) towards a capping area (3) of the machine (1) and includes means (U; 42; 43, 44) for blowing air towards the closures (22) to cause dust separation therefrom, and means (7, 8, 27, 29) for sucking air charged with dust, characterized in that the sucking means (7, 8, 27, 29) include at least a first sucking chamber (27) with a cross- sectional shape varying in the advance direction of the closures (22), which chamber communicates with the inside of the channel section (21) passing through the device (4), extends along at least the major part of the length of that channel section (21) and is arranged to transfer to a first sucking duct (22) air charged with dust removed from at least a first surface of the closures (22) facing, during capping, the container to be capped.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the first sucking chamber (27) is formed in a first guide member (25 A), which defines in said channel section (21) a passageway (23) for the advance of the closures (22) that is open both towards the first surface of the closures (22) and towards a second surface thereof, on the opposite side of the first surface, for allowing arrival of air jets blown by the blowing means (U; 42; 43, 44) onto said surfaces.

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first sucking chamber (27) has a triangular cross-sectional shape, in particular a shape of isosceles triangle, and has an orifice (28) putting it into communication with a connecting member (29) for transferring sucked air from the sucking chamber (27) to the first sucking duct (22).

4. Device according to claim 3, wherein said orifice (28) is formed in a zone where the triangular cross-section of the sucking chamber (27) has maximum height.

5. Device according to any preceding claim, including a second sucking chamber with variable cross-sectional shape, similar to the first one and formed in a second guide member (25 A) similar to the first one, the first and the second guide members (25 A) being arranged to cooperate with the first surface of the closures (22).

6. Device according to any preceding claim, including a second pair of guide members (25B) arranged to cooperate with the second surface of the closures (22).

7. Device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the guide members (25A, 25B) are shaped and arranged so as to allow also the jets sent towards the second surface of the closures (22) to arrive at the sucking chamber(s) (27) by flowing around the closures.

8 Device according to any preceding claim, including at least a second sucking duct (8) for removing from the inside of a housing (40) of the device (4) air charged with dust removed from the surfaces of the closures (22) and present in said housing (40).

9. Device according to claim 8, wherein said housing (40) has a front closing panel (41) and a rear closing panel of which at least one can be opened and is equipped with a sealing gasket (47) ensuring airtight sealing of the housing (40).

10. Device according to any preceding claim, wherein the channel section (21) passing through the device (4), together with the guide member(s) (25A, 25B) and the connecting member(s) (29), is made of plastics.

11. Device according to claim 10, wherein the plastics used for making the channel section (21) passing through the device (4), together with the guide member(s) (25 A, 25B) and the connecting member(s) (29) is chosen in the group including, among others, high- density polyethylene; polyamide, e.g. nylon; polyoxymethylene copolymer (acetalic resin); polyether ether ketone.

12. Device according to any preceding claim, wherein the blowing means include a first and a second set of ionising nozzles (42) for blowing ionised air towards the first and the second surface of the closures (22), respectively.

13. Device according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the blowing means include a first and a second set of blowing nozzles (43) for blowing air towards the first and the second surface of the closures (22), respectively, and at least one ionising bar (44) for ionising air blown by the first and second sets of blowing nozzles (43).

14. Device according to claim 13, wherein the blowing means include a ionising bar (44) for each set of blowing nozzles (43).

15. Device according to any preceding claim, wherein the first surface of the closures (22) is a concave surface and the second surface is a convex surface.

16. Device according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the first and the second surfaces of the closures (22) are parallel.

17. Capping machine (1), including a channel (2) conveying closures (22) of containers towards a capping area (3) of the machine (1) and a device (4) according to any preceding claim for removing dust from the closures (22) while they are advancing along a section (21) of said channel (2) passing through the device (4).