Package making – Methods – With contents treating
Patent
1994-03-15
1996-06-25
Sipos, John
Package making
Methods
With contents treating
53512, 53434, B65B 3102, B65B 3104
Patent
active
055288804
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a process for the packaging of product under a vacuum, in which the product, which is located in a still open wrapper, is introduced into the interior of a vacuum chamber, in which the chamber is then evacuated, and in which the evacuation is terminated and the wrapper of the product is closed as soon as the desired negative pressure has been reached.
In known vacuum-packaging machines, the evacuation of the interior of a vacuum-packaging chamber is terminated after a time span has elapsed. Thereafter, the pack containing the product to be packaged is closed, and the machine can then be opened and the sealed product extracted from the latter.
In the known packaging machines, the end of the evacuation of the packaging chamber is brought about, for example, in that the packaging space is evacuated during a specific previously determined and set time span. The length of this time span is derived from the experience of the person operating the machine. However, considerable problems can arise here. One of these problems is related to the fact that the product to be packaged contains moisture. At the same time, it can quite easily happen that different pieces of the same product to be packaged, for example of meat, have different quantities of moisture. After most of the air has been sucked off from the packaging space, moisture begins increasingly to escape from the product to be packaged. This moisture is likewise sucked off from the vacuum chamber as vapor by means of the vacuum pump. Although the vacuum in the packaging space has already reached the necessary value, because the vacuum pump still continues to run, moisture is still extracted from the product. The latter continues to lose weight during the further running of the pump, and this is undesirable.
In the abovementioned known method of evacuation, there is virtually no possibility of taking into account properties of that particular piece of product to be packaged which is located in the machine.
The object of the present invention is to indicate a process, in which the end of the evacuation can be brought about in dependence on the properties of the particular piece of product to be packaged which is located in the machine.
In the process of the generic type mentioned in the preamble, this object is achieved, according to the invention, as defined in a characterizing clause of claim 1.
A packaging machine for carrying out this process is defined in claim 7.
Embodiments of the present invention are explained in more detail below by means of the accompanying drawing. This drawing shows diagrammatically a machine for carrying out the present process.
The accompanying drawing shows diagrammatically one of the machines, by means of which the present process can be carried out. This machine comprises a vacuum chamber 1 which has a bottom part 2 and a top part 3. The bottom part 2 is stationary and the top part 3 can be articulated on the bottom part 2, for example in the manner of a lid. The bottom part 2 and the top part 3 can be of approximately dish-shaped design. A gasket 4 is located between the end edges of the side walls of the bottom part 2 and of the top part 3, so that a vacuum can be built up in such a chamber 1.
Connected to the interior of the vacuum chamber 1 are, at one end, a working line 5 and a measuring line 6. Connected to the portion 11 of the working line 5 directly adjacent to the vacuum chamber 1 is the outlet of a ventilating valve 7, the inlet 8 of which opens into the surrounding atmosphere. A shut-off valve 10 is interposed in the working line 5, specifically in such a way that one of the orifices of this valve 10 is connected to the first portion 11 of the working line 5. The opposite orifice of the shut-off valve 10 is connected, via a second portion 12 of the working line 5, to a vacuum pump 13. The latter can, for example, be a rotary-slide vacuum pump.
The machine comprises, furthermore, a three-way valve 15. The reversible connection 16 of this valve 15 is connected to a vacuum sensor 17
REFERENCES:
patent: 3928938 (1974-12-01), Burrell
patent: 4027707 (1977-06-01), Maskell
patent: 4132048 (1979-06-01), Day
patent: 4541224 (1985-09-01), Mugnai
patent: 4583347 (1986-04-01), Nielsen
patent: 4684842 (1987-08-01), Maruno et al.
patent: 4922686 (1990-05-01), Segota
patent: 5155971 (1992-10-01), Zopf
Butler Rodney
Inauen Maschinen AG
Sipos John
LandOfFree
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