Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With means to move supply means and/or receiver to – from or... – Relatively receding discharge assistant and receiver...
Patent
1988-07-12
1990-04-03
Cusick, Ernest G.
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With means to move supply means and/or receiver to, from or...
Relatively receding discharge assistant and receiver...
141 90, 141 91, 141104, 141174, 141261, 141259, 222135, 222148, 222255, B65B 332, B65B 5502, B67D 108
Patent
active
049132024
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a machine for filling packaging containers with a flowable product. The product is preferably a mixture of at least two flowable components. Only two components will be mentioned hereinafter for the sake of clarity. The product may consist of a first component in the form of a particulate solid material suspended in a viscous liquid (hereinafter: solids), and a second component in the form of a thin liquid, e.g. water (hereinafter: liquid), each component being supplied from a separate source. Naturally both the components could be liquids but the terms "solids" and "liquid" will be used for simplicity of description. Examples, among foodstuffs, of products suitable for packaging according to the invention include heterogeneous petfood products and soups containing solid matter such as pieces of vegetables.
The invention is very suitable for aseptic filling processes, using containers of synthetic plastics, rigid, semi-rigid or flexible.
The aim of the invention is to avoid or at least to mitigate the disadvantages of known filling machines, some of which will be mentioned hereinafter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a machine for filling packaging containers with a flowable product, the machine comprising a control valve in the form of a plug valve having a body defining a bore forming a frusto-conical valve seat, a plug having a complementary frusto-conical surface, a valve chamber for pressurized fluid being formed at the wider end of the plug, the chamber communicating with the bore, the plug being axially displaceable between a first position, in which its frusto-conical surface seals against the valve seat and in which it is rotatable to control flow through the valve, and a second position, in which it is withdrawn into the chamber to provide clearance between the mating surfaces of the plug and the seat but retaining clearance between its wider end and the opposite surface of the chamber so that all the surfaces of the plug are exposed for cleaning and sterilization.
An important advantage of a filling machine having a valve designed as stated above is that when the plug is in the withdrawn position the whole valve can be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized without having to be dismantled. A further advantage is the ability of the above plug valve to compensate for any differential expansion of the plug and its valve seat by the axial adjustability of the plug built into the design of the valve. This is of particular advantage when the seat defining body and the plug are made of materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion.
A further advantage of the plug valve is that the plug and its seat are able to survive abrasive attack by relatively hard particles in the products being filled by the machine, e.g. bone or gristle. Such particles have a damaging effect on prior art valves sealed by elastomeric O-rings which are vulnerable to the action of such particles, particularly when an "O" ring is slid past a port during dismantling and assembly.
In a preferred embodiment the machine comprises conduit means communicating with the valve chamber for leading the pressurized fluid into and/or out of the chamber. Preferably the conduit means serve for leading the pressurized fluid into the chamber, and the fluid leaves the chamber through the clearance between the plug and its seat.
In a further preferred embodiment the machine comprises a first and a second pump for pumping, respectively, a first and a second component of said product, respective flow paths for the components between the pumps and respective sterile sources of the components and between the pumps and a common outlet for filling the containers, wherein the plug valve is constructed and situated to control the flow of the components through the flow paths and is angularly displaceable between a first position in which the first pump is in a discharge mode and discharges the first component via the plug into the outlet, and the second pump is in a suction mo
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patent: 4437498 (1984-03-01), Pankratz et al.
patent: 4569378 (1986-02-01), Bergandy
patent: 4667709 (1987-05-01), Fischer et al.
patent: 4699297 (1987-10-01), Raque et al.
patent: 4711277 (1987-12-01), Clish
Hardy Peter D.
Miller John D.
CMB Packaging (UK) Limited
Cusick Ernest G.
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