JPH03290B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a filling and packaging method, and particularly to a packaging method used for aseptic filling in which a packaging film is sterilized, filled with sterile liquid, and sealed below the surface of the liquid.

Nowadays, powder products such as sugar, instant coffee, and milk powder are commonly used. On the other hand, in the case of sticky liquids, foods with low pH such as ketchup, mayonnaise, and dressings, or foods with low water activity such as jam, syrup, and yokan can be stored for long periods of time by hot-packing. It is distributed as.

However, for products such as coffee cream, which have a neutral pH, high water activity, and high nutritional value, there are no staccato products that can be stored for a long time.

This is because it is technically difficult to aseptically fill and package small-diameter packages such as stick packs.

This is due to the following reasons.

In general, it is very important to control the liquid level when vertical pillow packaging of mucus liquid is carried out to prevent overflow and insufficient content. In order to use a control method using a float or an electrode rod, the float and electrode rod must be installed inside the package, and for this purpose, the inner diameter of the package must be at least a certain value.

However, since static packs do not have an inner diameter to house floats and electrodes, it is impossible to fill and package them using the control method described above, and the control method itself also requires sterility. This is because there were problems with filling and hygiene.

On the other hand, methods that use light, heat, and pressure to control liquid from the outside of the package are possible;
As for heat and pressure, the accuracy is poor and the response is slow because it detects minute differences in temperature or pressure. When using light, the packaging material needs to be transparent or have a certain degree of transparency. Therefore, it is unsuitable for products whose contents deteriorate under the influence of light, such as oil and fat products, and there is also the problem that packaging materials that do not allow light to pass through, such as packaging materials made of aluminum foil, cannot be used. Because it was hot.

The present invention was invented in view of the above points, and its purpose is to provide a packaging method with extremely high aseptic filling properties and high preservation of the contents.

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention employs the following configuration.

In other words, it corresponds to the horizontal sealing part in a method in which a packaging film is folded into a cylindrical shape while vertically sealing, simultaneously filling the cylindrical body with liquid content, and then performing horizontal sealing to seal the liquid content inside the bag. A transparent part that transmits light is provided at a location, and a light emitting part and a light receiving part are arranged opposite to the transparent part to constitute the upper and lower detection parts. The filling method is characterized by detecting the presence or absence of liquid by applying a gas to the liquid, and controlling the amount of liquid to be filled according to the detection signal so that the liquid level is within a certain range to perform a horizontal seal below the liquid level. It is a packaging method.

According to the present invention, the packaging film has a transparent part for each pitch, and the upper and lower limits of the liquid level can be controlled by detecting the upper and lower limits of the liquid level from the outside using a phototube detection device in the transparent part, thus preventing overflow. There is no shortage of content. Further, by sealing the transparent part in a post-process, the sealed contents are shielded from light, and the contents will not deteriorate due to the influence of light. Furthermore, since the liquid level of the contents can be controlled from the outside, it is advantageous for aseptic filling, and the contents have an extremely high shelf life.

In addition, the design of the product according to the method of the present invention can be freely determined, and the shape of the transparent part can be made into a strip, circle, square, etc., or any other design.

The embodiments shown in the drawings will be described below.

First, the entire aseptic filling and packaging machine will be explained. The film-like packaging material a is continuously passed from the roll 1 to the slitter 4 via the drive roll 2 and the dancer roll 3, from the slitter 4 to the sterilizer dipping tank 5, through the immersion roll 6, and to the rubber roll 7 to remove the excess. After removing the sterilizer, the packaging material is sterilized by blowing sterile hot air using the air knife 8 and the second stage air knife 9 to sterilize the packaging material and at the same time eliminate any remaining sterilizer.

The sterilized packaging material a is formed into a cylindrical shape, while
The contents are a sight glass 10, a branch valve 11, and a branch pipe 13 from a sterile surge tank stored after sterilization.
The liquid then reaches a sterile filling valve 14, from which the cylindrical body is filled with a filling nozzle 15.

First chamber 2 with the above-mentioned disinfectant immersion tank 5
1 is kept under negative pressure by an exhaust blower 19, and in the second chamber 22, sterile air is supplied via filters 16, 18 and an air supply blower 17, making it a positive pressure. In the figure, 20 indicates a differential pressure gauge.

By the way, the first chamber 21 is a packaging material sterilization section, and the second chamber 22 is a sterility maintenance section.The internal pressure of each chamber can be controlled, and as a result, leakage of sterilizer is prevented and sterility is maintained. gender is ensured.
That is, the exhaust blower 19 and the supply air blower 17
The exhaust and air supply are variable, respectively, and it is possible to adjust the first chamber 21 to a slight negative pressure and the second chamber 22 to a slight positive pressure.

Therefore, outside air is sucked through the opening 23 of the first chamber 21, and the disinfectant used in the chamber 21 does not leak to the outside. Further, the boundary opening 24 between the first chamber 21 and the second chamber 22 is the second chamber 22.
The airflow flows from the chamber 22 to the first chamber 21 and there is no leakage to the second chamber 22. Of course, in the second chamber 22, there is no inflow from the boundary port 24 or product outlet 25, and sterility is maintained. Further, according to the above-described apparatus, the conditions (temperature, concentration, time) for sterilizing the packaging material with the disinfectant are variable, and it is possible to sterilize the packaging material according to the physical properties of the packaging material used.

Specifically, depending on the chemical resistance of the packaging material used and the degree of initial contamination, the disinfectant temperature is adjusted using a temperature controller, and the disinfectant concentration is adjusted using the sampling port and replenishment tank.
The sterilization time can be varied by adjusting the upper and lower adjusters of the roller immersed in the disinfectant tank. As a result, the amount of disinfectant used is saved and a wide range of packaging materials can be used. Furthermore, according to the above-mentioned apparatus, the air knife is arranged in multiple stages, so that the sterilization efficiency is high.

That is, the packaging material a soaked in the sterilizer is blown off with the hot air from the air knife 8, and is heated. However, since the air knife constricts the hot air, the air volume is small and the amount of hot air is also small. Therefore, by blowing a large amount of hot air from the second stage piping 9, the packaging material is sufficiently heated and the sterilization effect is improved.
In any case, with the above-described apparatus, aseptic filling and packaging can be performed immediately after sterilization of packaging materials, and efficient aseptic filling and packaging is possible.

Now, the present invention is used for aseptic filling packaging as described above. In particular, it relates to a packaging method used for small-diameter bags such as stake packs.

FIG. 2 shows the packaging method of the present invention, in which the sterilized packaging material a is formed into a cylindrical shape by a vertical seal heater 26 and a pressure roller 27 through a folding machine (not shown). The contents are supplied into the cylindrical body from the filling nozzle 15. Quantitativeness of the filling amount is obtained by receiving a signal from the cam 28 from the seal drive in the filling machine, and opening and closing the filling valve 14, which is an aseptic valve, for a certain period of time using the timer 29. Liquid control is performed by, when the upper limit detecting section 30 and the lower limit detecting section 31 detect the presence or absence of the liquid level from the transparent part 32 of the packaging material, feeding back the signal to the timer 29 and controlling the liquid level within a certain range. . Thereafter, the transparent part 32 of the film is subjected to the first horizontal seal 34, second horizontal seal 35, seal cooling 36, and cutter 37 processes at the same pitch by the sealing head 33, and the transparent part 32 is completely transformed into the horizontally sealed product b. It becomes old and is discharged. FIG. 3 shows a case where the transparent part is band-shaped, and FIG. 4 shows a case where the transparent part is round.

In general, fixed-pressure pumping and fixed-time open/close type quantitative filling methods are compact and highly sterile, but quantitative performance becomes unstable if the viscosity changes due to changes in the temperature of the contents, water addition during startup, etc.

Therefore, as the amount of content supplied from the filling nozzle 15 increases, the liquid level rises and overflows from the heat seal portion 26 of the vertical seal.

Furthermore, if the amount of content to be supplied decreases, the liquid level will drop and become lower than the horizontal seal, resulting in defects such as insufficient content or foam formation. However, according to the method described above, the liquid level can be detected aseptically and the contents can be filled aseptically even in a small stake pack, and by adjusting the filling amount to increase or decrease. Control the liquid level within a certain range,
Stable below-the-liquid sealing is possible.

As described above, according to the method of the present invention, it is possible to control the liquid level of the contents from the outside using a phototube detection device consisting of a light emitting part and a light receiving part, and therefore the aseptic filling performance is extremely high. By sealing the container, it is possible to shield the sealed contents from light, and the contents are not unnecessarily deteriorated by light and have a high shelf life.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram of the entire aseptic filling and packaging device, Figure 2
The figure is an explanatory view showing the implementation of the method of the present invention, and Figures 3 and 4 are explanatory views showing modifications of the transparent part. a... Packaging film, 14... Aseptic filling valve, 15... Filling nozzle, 26... Vertical seal, 2
7...Crimping roller, 29...Timer, 30,3
1... Upper and lower limit detection section, 33... Seal head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Corresponds to the horizontal seal part in a method of vertically sealing the packaging film while folding it into a cylinder, simultaneously filling the cylindrical body with liquid content, and then performing horizontal sealing to seal the liquid content inside the bag. A transparent part that transmits light is provided at a location, and a light emitting part and a light receiving part are arranged opposite to the transparent part to constitute an upper and lower limit detection part,
The presence or absence of liquid is detected by shining light on the transparent parts of the upper and lower horizontal seal parts from the detection part, and the amount of filled liquid is controlled according to the detection signal so that the liquid level is within a certain range. A filling and packaging method characterized by performing horizontal sealing below the liquid level.