Package making – Methods – Sterilizing complete package
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-16
2002-03-05
Vo, Peter (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Sterilizing complete package
C053S426000, C053S432000, C053S510000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06351924
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for sterilizing, filling and closing packaging containers open on one side, wherein during clock-controlled transportation in a processing line through different processing stations, the packaging containers are firstly exposed to a sterilizing agent, which is subsequently removed with sterile hot air, the packaging containers are then filled with a sterile, flowable product, and are then provided with a sterile closure. The invention further relates to a device with an intermittently driven linear conveyor with container carriers arranged one behind another, at a distance apart, in a line in the direction of conveyance, which can be positioned in front of the outlet for supply lines such that the aperture of the respective packaging container comes to lie adjacent to the outlet of the respective supply line, and with a hygienic chamber at least partially surrounding the linear conveyor.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There are many methods and devices for sterilizing and filling packaging containers, which have at least some of the features described hereinabove. Rotation fillers are also known, the construction and functioning of which are complex compared to linear fillers, and only have a satisfactory level of output with high capacity when there are large numbers of pieces. PET bottles, that is to say polyester bottles, for example made from polyethylene terephthalate, are processed and, for example, also sterilized in such fillers.
Other known devices, in which bottles of a similar type are sterilized, supply the bottles to a continuous conveyor with individual chambers, and the whole conveyor is arranged in a sterile chamber, which is connected by a tunnel to a sterile atmosphere for the further transportation of the then sterilized bottles.
In general a clean room or a sterile room is expensive, as locks and seals must be provided, wholly in addition to the normal measures, in order to keep such a clean room sterile, even though conveyor equipment with lubricated bearings and so forth is included. To keep such a sterile room clean, expensive measures are necessary which are undesirable in the implementation of such methods and also the construction and operation of such devices.
The object of the invention is to configure a method and a device for sterilizing of the type described in the introduction such that the sterilization and the sterile filling and closing can be carried out without an expensive clean room and in a technically simple manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The solution of this object with respect to the method is in that during sterilization, the respective flowable medium is introduced through the center of the aperture of each individual packaging container in the respective processing station by means of pressure above atmospheric pressure to approximately in the area between the center and base of the packaging container, or possibly as far as its base, is deflected in the interior of the container towards the aperture and is pressed out of this such that a first part of the exiting flowable medium is suctioned away from the surroundings of the aperture and a second part is allowed to leave in the space around the aperture of the packaging container. In order to explain some terms to understand the invention, one can easily imagine clock-controlled transportation, even when a continuous conveyor is driven intermittently with an approximately horizontal upper strand. The direction of conveyance of such a linear conveyor is in a processing line. In this line, one packaging container after another is conveyed in the direction of transportation, stopped, processed, conveyed further, and so forth.
Processing can be understood as pre-treating, sterilizing, removal of sterilizing agent, filling, and also closure. These are the individual processing stations which are located along a processing line. In accordance with the invention, output can be increased in that several processing lines are adjacently arranged parallel to one another, and the packaging containers standing on these lines are moved forward intermittently at the same rhythm. At right-angles to the direction of conveyance, and consequently at right-angles to the processing line, there can thus be a series of processing stations, as indeed with sterilizing, the sterilizing station can be arranged adjacent to the other ones. If, for example, eight adjacently arranged packaging containers are arranged on eight adjacently arranged parallel processing lines, these packaging containers move from one processing station to the next, whether a single or a plurality of adjacently arranged processing lines are involved.
Different flowable media can be used for sterilizing, for example gases, liquids or mixtures of these. Hot air or warm air at different temperatures, for example, can be used as gases. As sterilizing means, hydrogen peroxide (H
2
O
2
) is sprayed in liquid form, or introduced as an H
2
O
2
-air mixture or in a gaseous state. By means of the drying procedure described, any residual amount of sterilizing agent remaining in the package is removed using sterile hot air. This hot air is also such a flowable medium.
In contrast to filling, where flowable products are indeed also introduced, in the case of the invention interest is particularly in the flowable medium for sterilizing, the preparation thereof, and also the removal of any residues after introduction of the sterilizing means. In a preferred embodiment, the flowable media are at least partially gaseous substances for sterilizing, and sterile hot air for preparation and/or drying.
According to the invention, the aperture of the packaging container to be sterilized is placed in front of a stream of flowable medium in each individual processing station, which medium is introduced through the center of the container aperture under low pressure. In this way the gas located in the container is pressed out, wherein increasingly more flowable medium is pressed in through the center of the aperture into the container, as the flowable medium is at a higher pressure than atmospheric pressure because the packaging container to be processed is not only open but is also in the atmosphere. Flowable medium introduced into the aperture therefore penetrates approximately as far as the area between the center and the base, preferably as far as the base of the packaging container, and is then deflected by the walls of the container, to again flow towards the aperture. As the inflow is very much focused through the center of the opening, the outflow after the deflection towards the aperture is non-central, preferably along the internal walls of the packaging container, as far as the aperture. The flowable medium is pressed out of said aperture as a result of the pressure being above atmospheric pressure. This occurs at the same time as new flowable medium is continuously pressed into the interior through the center of the aperture. In order for the pressing out to be supported, a part of the exiting flowable medium is suctioned away from the surroundings of the aperture, and another part which is not affected by this suctioning power, and does not need to be affected, flows laterally into the space around the aperture of the packaging container.
It has been shown that in this way, no expensive clean rooms with locks, seals and the like are required. Nevertheless, by pressing out the flowable medium concerned, for example the sterilizing agent, contamination with germs of the area of the aperture, both inside and outside, is avoided, as the surfaces in the area of the aperture of the packaging container are continuously swept by the respective flowable medium. Means for directing such a flowable medium stream or a patterns of a flow stream can technically be produced with moderate expenditure, as will be proposed hereinafter. The sterilizing and filling of packaging containers in accordance with the method according to the invention is thus also technically
Fontanazzi Paolo
Gustafsson Per
Paul & Paul
Tawfik Sam
Tetra-Laval Holdings & Finance, S.A.
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
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