JPH1120812A - Ozone water sterilizer for containers - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a container sterilization apparatus using ozone water, which can sufficiently sterilize the container at room temperature in a short time. SOLUTION: A container 15 filled with contents such as medicines.
In an apparatus for sterilizing containers with ozone water for sterilizing water with ozone water, a gripping part 38 of an ozone water immersion machine 16 grips a container row 15a filled with ozone water, and sequentially holds the gripped container rows 15a in an ozone water tank. By immersing in the container 17, a container holder for holding the container 15 becomes unnecessary. Therefore, the container holder and the container do not come into close contact with each other, and the inner and outer surfaces of the container are sufficiently sterilized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sterilizer for sterilizing a container with ozone water before filling the container with contents such as medicines and foods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For sterilization of containers containing pharmaceuticals and foods, a steam sterilization method of steaming the containers with steam is used.
In order to sterilize a container made of a material weak to heat such as T (polyethylene terephthalate), a method of fumigating the container with hydrogen peroxide gas or irradiating the container with radiation is used.

[0003] When a container made of a heat-sensitive material such as PET is sterilized by a steam sterilization method, the container is deformed, which is inappropriate. In the case of sterilization using a hydrogen peroxide solution, hydrogen peroxide may be adsorbed and remained in a PET container or the like, and if the container is used as it is, it is harmful to the human body. Furthermore, in the case of sterilizing a container using radiation, there is a problem that the equipment scale becomes large and radiation management specialists and equipment are required, which complicates the management.

Accordingly, the present inventors filed a method and an apparatus for sterilizing containers with ozone water (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-60742).
issue).

In this method, a nozzle is inserted into a container, and the container is filled with ozone water from the nozzle, and the container is immersed in ozone water to sterilize the inner and outer surfaces of the container.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-60742), a plurality of containers are held in a container holder, and an ozone water filling machine, an ozone water tank, an ozone water discharger, Since the container is transferred into the dryer and the container is sterilized together with the container holder, if the shapes of the containers to be handled are various, it is difficult to share the container holder, and the container holder needs to be replaced. Therefore, especially in a production line in which the production type changes every day, there is a problem in that a lot of time and work is spent for the holder exchange work accompanying the type exchange.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a container sterilizing apparatus using ozone water which can sufficiently sterilize the container at room temperature in a short time.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an apparatus for sterilizing containers with ozone water for sterilizing containers filled with contents such as pharmaceuticals with ozone water. A container aligning machine for aligning a predetermined number of containers to be filled, a first transfer robot for gripping a container row aligned by the container aligning machine and moving it to a filling position for injecting ozone water, and at the filling position. An ozone water filling machine that injects ozone water into each container, and an ozone water immersion machine that has a container gripping conveyor that grips a row of containers filled with ozone water and sequentially immerses and moves the gripped row of containers into an ozone water tank. And a second transfer robot for holding the row of containers immersed in ozone water by the ozone water immersion machine and moving it to the ozone water discharge position, and holding the row of containers in the ozone water immersion machine to remove Water was drained, in which a ozone water discharged washing dryer for drying after washing the inside of the container.

In addition to the above configuration, the present invention provides a container aligning machine,
A hopper into which a large number of containers before the sterilization process are charged, a feeder that receives the containers discharged from the hopper and discharges the containers by a predetermined number, a belt conveyor that randomly transports the containers discharged from the feeder, and a container on the belt conveyor An image processing camera that detects the orientation of the image, and an alignment transfer robot that is arranged near the belt conveyor, takes out containers one by one based on information from the image processing camera, and transfers the containers to a predetermined delivery position. And a container conveyor arranged substantially parallel to the belt conveyor and configured to receive the containers delivered from the aligning transfer robot and transport the aligned containers.

In addition to the above structure, the present invention provides an ozone water filling machine comprising: a frame provided at a filling position, wherein a row of containers can be freely taken in and out, and movable vertically; And a nozzle for injecting.

In addition to the above structure, the present invention provides an ozone water discharge washing / drying machine comprising: a box-shaped conveyor frame having openings formed at both upper ends; a roller provided inside the conveyor frame and above both openings. A conveyor having an intermittent operation every predetermined time, a belt-side gripping mechanism provided on the belt of the conveyor and receiving and gripping the container from the second transfer robot while inverting the container, A conveyor frame-side gripping mechanism provided on the upper side of the frame so as to cross the belt, gripping the container delivered from the belt-side gripping mechanism, lowering and ascending, and then transferring the container to the belt-side gripping mechanism, and each conveyor frame side A nozzle that is installed upward in the lower part of the gripping mechanism and is inserted into the container, and a discharge air that supplies air to the nozzle at the previous stage and discharges ozone water from the container A supply device, a cleaning device that supplies ozone water or sterile water for cleaning from the middle nozzle to clean the inside of the container, and a drying device that supplies air to the second nozzle to remove moisture in the container and dry. It is preferable to have an air supply device.

According to the above configuration, the container row filled with ozone water is gripped, and the gripped container row is sequentially immersed in the ozone water tank, so that a container holder for holding the container is not required. The container holder does not need to be replaced when the container type is changed, and the container holder is not required to be changed when the production type is changed, so that a sterilization process without a setup change due to the production type change can be realized.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective plan view showing an embodiment of a container sterilizing apparatus using ozone water according to the present invention.
FIG. 1A shows a container aligning machine and a first transfer robot, and FIG. 1B shows an ozone water filling machine, an ozone water immersion machine, and an ozone water discharge cleaning dryer. FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of FIG. 1 (b), and FIG. 3 is an enlarged side perspective view of the first transfer robot, the ozone water filling machine, and the ozone water immersion machine shown in FIG. 1 (b). FIG. 4 is a plan perspective view of FIG. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of the second transfer robot and the ozone water discharge cleaning dryer shown in FIG. 1B, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG.

The container aligner 1 shown in FIG. 1A has a hopper 2 into which a large number of containers are randomly placed, and a predetermined number (for example, three) in a state where the loaded containers are laid down so as not to overlap. Feeder 3 for transporting the containers one by one, a plurality of belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c (three rows in the figure, but not limited to) for transporting the containers in the direction of arrow A, and the orientation of the containers on each of the belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c. Processing cameras 5a, 5b, 5c for detecting the
b, 4c, two rows of container conveyors 6 arranged in parallel to the direction of arrow B at predetermined time intervals (eg, 9 seconds).
a, 6b and the containers on each of the belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c based on information from the image processing cameras 5a, 5b, 5c, are gripped by hands 7a, 7b, 7c with suction cups and inverted to a predetermined position. Three alignment transfer robots 8a, 8b, 8c arranged in a line on the container conveyor 6a (for example, 10 containers) when the container conveyor 6a is filled with containers (3). Row of belt conveyor 4
a return plate 9 provided on the downstream side of the a, 4b, 4c for removing containers and defective containers that the transfer robots 8a, 8b, 8c for alignment have failed to hold from the belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c; A return conveyor 10 is provided between the plate 9 and the hopper 2 and returns the containers removed from the belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c by the return plate 9 to the hopper 2.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a hand of a first transfer robot (the main body is omitted in the figure) 12, which is a container conveyor 6a (or 6) continuously aligned and transported by the container aligning machine 1.
b) A plurality of containers (for example, 30
The hand 11 is rotated approximately 90 degrees counterclockwise to move it to a predetermined position, that is, a receiving position of the ozone water filling machine 13 described later. The hand 11 of the first transfer robot 12 is formed with a linear grip portion 14 having 30 sets of grippers. Transfer robot 1
Numeral 2 is such that the container row 15a (or 15b) is gripped by the gripping portion 14.

Here, on the right side of the transfer robot 12 shown in FIG. 1A, an ozone water filling machine 13 shown in FIG.
And an apparatus such as an ozone water immersion machine 16 are arranged.

The ozone water filling machine 13 shown in FIG.
This is a device for simultaneously inserting a nozzle into the mouth of each container received from the hand 11 of the transfer robot 12 at the filling position, and filling each container with ozone water via the nozzle. An ozone water immersion machine 16 is disposed adjacent to the ozone water filling machine 13. The ozone water immersion machine 16 moves the container rows filled with ozone water one row at a time for a predetermined time (for example, 9
This is a device that is immersed in the ozone water tank 17 while being intermittently moved every second).

Reference numeral 18 denotes a hand of a second transfer robot (the main body is omitted in the figure) for taking out the rows of containers immersed in the ozone water tank 17 one by one, and inverting them to transfer them to the ozone water drainage position. It is. Similarly to the first transfer robot 12, the second transfer robot 19 has a linear grip portion 20 formed on the hand 18.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a container row transferred by the second transfer robot 19, and the ozone water in the container is discharged while being moved in the direction of arrow C one row at a time at predetermined intervals, and low-concentration ozone water is received. This is an ozone water discharge washing / drying machine for washing and drying the inside of the container. Reference numeral 22 denotes a transfer robot that grips a container row that has been discharged, washed, and dried by the ozone water discharge washing / drying machine 21 and moves it to a container delivery position. The transfer robot 22 has a hand 24 on which a linear gripping portion 23 is formed, like the transfer robots 12 and 19, and puts a container in the container holder 100. Reference numeral 25 denotes a container conveyor for transferring the sterilized container holder 100 in the container holder 100 to a content filling machine (not shown) in the direction of arrow D, and 26 denotes a container holding device from the content filling machine. This is a return conveyor that returns the container 100 in the direction of arrow E.

The ozone water immersion machine 16, the second transfer robot 19, the ozone water discharge washing / drying machine 21, the transfer robot 22 and the contents filling device are housed in a semi-isolator 27.

As shown in FIG. 2, a HEPA unit 28 is provided on the ceiling of the semi-isolator 27 to keep the inside of the semi-isolator 27 airtight and to maintain a cleanness of, for example, class 100 (0.5 per cubic foot). The number of particles of a micron or more is kept at 100).

3 and 4, the ozone water tank 17 is covered with a lid 32 having three openings 29, 30, and 31. A water seal plate 33 is provided between the opening 29 and the opening 30 on the back side of the lid 32. The water sealing plate 33 is configured to block the inside and outside of the semi-isolator 27 by coming into contact with the ozone water in the ozone water layer 17.

An ozone water filling machine 13 is provided at one end (left side in the figure) of a lid 32 of the ozone water tank 17.
The ozone water filling machine 13 includes a frame 34 provided facing a roller provided in the opening 29, and a large number (e.g., 30) provided downward at an upper portion of the frame 34 to fill the container 15 with ozone water. Nozzles 35). In the frame 34, there is a linear gripper having a mechanism similar to that attached to the hand of the transfer robot, and this gripper receives a container held by the transfer robot from the transfer robot, It rises to inject ozone water and descends to pass to the container gripper on the container gripper conveyor.

In the ozone water tank 17, there is provided a container gripping conveyor that operates intermittently (the belt 36 moves sequentially in the direction of arrow F) at predetermined time intervals. The rollers 37b, 37c, 37e, and 37f of the container gripping conveyor are provided in the ozone water tank 17, and the rollers 37a, 37d, and 37g are provided above the openings 29, 30, and 31. Part of each opening 29,3
It is exposed from 0,31. On the belt 36, a large number (in the figure, 54, but not limited to) of a plurality of (in the figure, 30, but not limited) container gripping portions 38 for gripping a plurality of containers by the gripper 38a at predetermined intervals S in each row. Is provided.

The container 15 gripped by the container grip 38 is
The inner and outer surfaces of the container 15 are sterilized by sequentially moving while being immersed in the ozone water tank 17.
In the figure, an ozone water filling machine 39 is provided facing the opening portion 31, and the ozone water is again injected (spilled out) into the container 15 via the nozzle 40, but may be omitted. . A cover 41 covers the ozone water filling machine 39 and the roller 37d.

The container 15 into which ozone water has been injected by the ozone water filling machine 13 is immersed in an ozone water immersion machine 16 while being gripped, and the ozone water is injected into the container 15 again. By immersion, ozone sterilization of the inner and outer surfaces of the container 15 is sufficiently performed.

Here, the ozone water filling machine 13 and the roller 3
7a is covered with a cover 42. On the container aligning machine 1 side of the cover 42, the holding unit 14 of the transfer robot 12 is
An opening is formed that can be inserted while holding 5a. A duct 43 for exhausting the ozone gas degassed from the ozone water contained in the ozone water tank 17 is provided above the cover 42. The duct 43 may be provided with a catalyst for decomposing ozone.

When the container 15 filled with ozone water by the ozone water immersion machine 16 reaches the position of the roller 37g of the opening 30, it is gripped by the second transfer robot 19 and the ozone water discharge washing / drying machine 21 It is transferred to the delivery position.

The ozone water discharge washing / drying machine 21 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is provided with a conveyor provided on a box-shaped conveyor frame 21a, a discharge machine 49 provided on a stage preceding the conveyor frame 21a, and a middle stage. And a dryer 51 provided at a subsequent stage.

Two rollers 44a and 44b are provided in the box-shaped conveyor frame 21a. Two openings 45, 46 are formed at both ends of the upper portion of the conveyor frame 21a, and a roller 4 is provided above these openings 45, 46.
4c and 44d are provided. Each roller 44a-44
A belt 47 is stretched over d. That is, the lower side of the belt 47 is located inside the conveyor frame 21a, and the upper side of the belt 47 is located above the conveyor frame 21a. These rollers 44a to 44d and the belt 4
At 7, a conveyer is formed which operates intermittently (the belt moves sequentially in the direction of arrow C) at predetermined time intervals. The belt 47 of the conveyor is provided with a number of belt-side gripping mechanisms 48 (34 sets in the figure, but not limited to) that receive and grip the gripper 48a while the row of containers 15a from the second transfer robot 19 is inverted. Have been. On the upper side of the conveyor frame 21a, the discharging machine 4 is arranged so as to cross the belt 47.
9, a washer 50 and a dryer 51 are provided.

The discharger 49, the washer 50, and the dryer 51 are provided with a conveyor frame side gripping mechanism 52 (13 sets in the figure, but not limited thereto). The conveyor frame-side gripping mechanism 52 receives the frame that is stretched across the belt 47 on the conveyor frame 21a and the container 15 that is provided in the frame and that is gripped by the belt-side gripping mechanism 48, and descends in the frame. A gripping elevating mechanism for transferring the container 15 to the belt-side gripping mechanism 48 after being raised. At the lower part of each conveyor frame side gripping mechanism 52, a nozzle 5 inserted into the mouth of the container 15 is provided.
3 is provided upward.

A nozzle 53 of the discharger 49 is provided with a discharge air supply device (not shown) for supplying air into the container 15 and discharging ozone water from the container 15. .

The nozzle 53 of the washing machine 50 is provided with a low-concentration ozone water supply device (not shown) so that low-concentration ozone water for cleaning is supplied into the container for cleaning.

A nozzle 53 of the dryer 51 is provided with a drying air supply device (not shown), which supplies air into the container 15 to remove moisture in the container 15 and dry the container. ing.

In the figure, the number of stages of the discharger 49, the washer 50, and the dryer 51 is one, two, and ten, respectively, but is not limited thereto.

The container 15 that has been sterilized and dried is inverted by the transfer robot 22 so that the mouth of the container 15 faces upward while the main body of the container 15 is held. This is for transferring the content to a content filling device for filling the content.

When the apparatus for sterilizing containers with ozone water shown in FIG. 1 is operated, a number of containers 15 put in the hopper 2 of the container aligning machine 1 are arranged in a plane by the feeder 3, and the belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c. The containers 15 on the belt conveyors 4a, 4b, 4c are monitored by the image processing cameras 5a, 5b, 5c.
Based on the information from a, 5b, and 5c, the transfer robots 8a, 8b, and 8c for alignment arrange | position and convey to the container conveyor 6a (6b). Container conveyor 6a (6b)
The first transfer robot 12 transfers a predetermined number of packs from the many containers 15 arranged and transported to the ozone water filling machine 13. In the ozone water filling machine 13, ozone water is injected into the 30 container rows 15 a through the nozzle 35.
The container row 15a filled with the ozone water is immersed in the ozone water tank 17 while being held by the container holding portion 38, and then transferred to the ozone water discharge washing / drying machine 21 by the second transfer robot 19, where the container 15 The nozzle 53 is inserted into the
The ozone water in the container 15 is discharged by supplying the air through the container. After the ozone water is discharged, the nozzle 53 is removed, the container is transferred, and the next nozzle 53 is placed in the container 15.
Is cleaned by supplying low-concentration ozone water into the container 15 through the inserted nozzle 53.
After washing is completed, the nozzle is removed, the container is transferred, the next nozzle is inserted, and air is supplied through the nozzle to dry the container and complete the entire process.

As described above, the inside and outside of the container are sterilized without applying heat by immersing the container into which the ozone water is injected while holding the container. Since the container immersed in the ozone water tank is washed and dried after the ozone water is discharged, the container is sterilized without ozone remaining in the container. Further, since no container holder is used, even if there are many types of containers, it is possible to easily cope with the type change without causing the complicated operation of replacing the container holder.

[0040]

In summary, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects are exhibited.

By immersing the container into which the ozone water is injected while holding the container, the container can be sterilized sufficiently at room temperature in a short time at room temperature. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective plan view showing an embodiment of a container sterilizing apparatus using ozone water according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of FIG. 1 (b).

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side perspective view of a first transfer robot, an ozone water filling machine, and an ozone water immersion machine shown in FIG. 1 (b).

FIG. 4 is a plan perspective view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side perspective view of the second transfer robot and the ozone water discharge cleaning dryer shown in FIG. 1 (b).

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container alignment machine 8a, 8b, 8c Transfer robot for alignment 12 First transfer robot 13 Ozone water filling machine 14, 20, 23 Gripping part 16 Ozone water immersion machine 17 Ozone water tank 19 Second transfer robot 21 Ozone Water discharge washing / drying machine 22 Transfer robot

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shuji Hoshino 3-1-1-15 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Tojin Technical Center (72) Inventor Yutaka Takahashi 3-chome, Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo No. 2-16 Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Toyosu General Office (72) Inventor Shige Shige 2-16-16 Toyosu Koto-ku, Tokyo Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Toyosu General Office

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A container aligning machine for aligning a predetermined number of randomly transferred containers in an ozone water container sterilization apparatus for sterilizing containers filled with contents such as medicines with ozone water. A first transfer robot that grips a container row aligned by a container aligning machine and moves it to a filling position for injecting ozone water, an ozone water filling machine for injecting ozone water into each container at the filling position, An ozone water immersion machine having a container holding conveyor for holding a container row after water filling and sequentially immersing and moving the held container row in an ozone water tank, and a container immersed in ozone water by the ozone water immersion machine A second transfer robot that grips the row and moves it to the ozone water discharge position, and an ozone water that grips the row of containers in the ozone water immersion machine, discharges the ozone water in the container, cleans the container, and then dries. Exhaustion An apparatus for sterilizing containers with ozone water, comprising a washing and drying machine. 2. The container aligner includes a hopper into which a large number of containers before sterilization are put, a feeder that receives the containers discharged from the hopper and discharges the containers by a predetermined number, and a container that is discharged from the feeder. A belt conveyor for conveying randomly, an image processing camera for detecting the direction of a container on the belt conveyor, and a container disposed near the belt conveyor and taking out one container at a time based on information from the image processing camera An alignment transfer robot for transferring the container to a predetermined transfer position, and a container conveyor arranged substantially parallel to the belt conveyor and receiving the containers delivered from the alignment transfer robot and transporting the containers in an aligned state. The apparatus for sterilizing a container with ozone water according to claim 1, comprising: 3. The ozone water filling machine is provided at a filling position, a frame in which a row of containers can be freely taken in and out, and which can be moved in a vertical direction. 2. The nozzle according to claim 1, further comprising:
An apparatus for sterilizing a container with ozone water according to item 1. 4. The ozone water discharge washing / drying machine is wound around a box-shaped conveyor frame having openings formed at both upper ends and rollers provided above the inside of the conveyor frame and both openings. A conveyor having a belt and intermittently operating at predetermined intervals, a belt-side gripping mechanism provided on the belt of the conveyor and receiving and gripping the container from the second transfer robot with the container inverted, and the conveyor frame A conveyor frame-side gripping mechanism that grips a container provided to traverse the belt on the upper side of the belt and that is delivered from the belt-side gripping mechanism, lowers and raises the container, and transfers the container to the belt-side gripping mechanism; A nozzle that is installed upward in the lower part of the frame side gripping mechanism and is inserted into the container, and a discharge nozzle that supplies air to the nozzle in the previous stage and discharges ozone water in the container An air supply device, a washing device that supplies ozone water or sterile water for washing from the middle nozzle to wash the inside of the container, and a drying device that supplies air to the subsequent nozzle to remove moisture in the container and dry. The apparatus for sterilizing a container with ozone water according to claim 1, further comprising an air supply device for use.