JPS5940688B2 - Continuous sterilizer loading/unloading device for sterilized materials - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a flat package in which an article such as food is filled and sealed in a flexible container, such as one in which the innermost layer or a part thereof is composed of a heat-sealable film. 10 items to be sterilized
This invention relates to a device for carrying objects to be sterilized into and out of the sterilizer main body in a continuous sterilizer that sterilizes at a sterilization temperature of 0° C. or higher and a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure.

When carrying out continuous sterilization of the above-mentioned objects to be sterilized using a heating medium at a sterilization temperature of 100° C. or more and a heating medium at atmospheric pressure or higher, the packaged objects, which are the objects to be sterilized, are placed inside the sterilizer main body filled with a heating medium and a cooling medium. It is known to use a rotary valve type device for loading and unloading from the body.

However, in the conventional method, the objects to be sterilized placed in a storage recess formed on the outer periphery of a rotating body are caused to fall into the storage recess by the rotation of the rotary body, and are also dropped from the storage recess to carry in and out. There are problems in that an impact is applied to the object to be sterilized, damaging the flexible container, and it is difficult to synchronize the timing of delivery between the object and the conveyance mechanism within the sterilizer main body. This invention provides the rotating body with a discharge mechanism for forcibly discharging the objects to be sterilized from the inside of the object storage recess of the rotating body, and also provides a mechanism for transferring the objects to be sterilized that is interlocked with the rotating body. By providing the mechanism between the sterilized material transport mechanism and the storage recess, the above-mentioned problem can be solved, and the structure can be simplified by allowing one device to carry in and take out the sterilized material. It is something that

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings together with a continuous sterilizer.

FIG. 1 shows a continuous sterilizer, in which the inside of the sterilizer main body 1 is partitioned into a sterilization chamber 2 and a cooling chamber 3 by a horizontal heat transfer shielding plate 5.
The sterilization chamber 2 is filled with a heating medium such as pressurized steam, and the cooling chamber 3 is filled with cooling water.

To the left of the heat transfer shielding plate 5 in the sterilizer main body 1 in FIG. A device 6 for carrying in and carrying out objects to be sterilized according to the present invention is provided on the left side of the partition plate 5a. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, this loading/unloading device 6 has three recesses 8 for storing objects to be sterilized at equal angular intervals on the outer surface of a rotating body 7 consisting of a cylinder with a horizontal axis.
is formed.

The rotating body 7 is housed in a casing 9 while being sealed by a sealing mechanism 10, and openings 11a and 11b are formed in the body 9a of the casing 9 to face each other. Reference numeral 12 denotes a discharge mechanism, which is constructed as follows.

A shaft 13 parallel to the axial direction of the rotating body 7 is rotatably supported, and a push-out arm 14 is fixed to the shaft 13, and the push-out arm 14 faces the storage recess 8 through a window 15 so as to be able to protrude and retract. has been done. A link arm 16 is fixed to the shaft 13, and a guide roller 17 provided on the arm 16 is engaged with a cam groove 18 provided in the cover 9b of the casing 9. Note that the ejection mechanism 12 has three parts except for the cam groove 18.
One set is provided for each storage recess 8. On the side of the sterilizer main body 1 of the casing 9, a feed delivery mechanism 19 and a delivery delivery mechanism 20, which will be described later, are provided between the object conveying mechanism 21 provided in the sterilizer main body 1 and the rotating body 7. It is set in.

The transport mechanism 21 has a large number of object receivers 22 arranged at predetermined intervals.
The conveyor 23 is equipped with a conveyor 23 attached to an endless chain.
This conveyor 23 is supported by a rotating member 24 such as a sprocket, and its side surface is bent into a substantially C shape so as to sequentially guide the object receiver 22 to the heating chamber 2 and the cooling chamber 3 through the contact area 4. The feeding delivery mechanism 19 is arranged at an inlet portion of the object to be sterilized, which is provided at the upper left end of the sterilizer main body 1 in FIG. ing.

The feeding delivery mechanism 19 has a swing lever 26 installed above a substantially horizontal entrance guide 25 that supports the object to be sterilized, and the feeding delivery mechanism 20 is operated from below the exit guide 27 having an inclined surface. It is equipped with a swing lever 28 whose tip protrudes into the soil and a delivery guide 29 whose upper part projects toward the rotating body 7 side of the carry-in and carry-out device 6, and the delivery guide 29 is arranged between the endless chains of the transport conveyor 23. Further, the swing levers 26 and 28 of the delivery mechanisms 19 and 20 are configured to open/close and swing in conjunction with the rotating body 7. Since the mechanism for performing these operations is that the feeding delivery mechanism 19 and the delivery delivery mechanism 20 are substantially symmetrical, the latter will be explained with reference to FIG. 4. Swing axis 3
The cylindrical portions 28a of the pair of swing levers 28 are slidably spline-fitted to the shaft 30, and the lock lever 32 that meshes with a pinion 31 fitted to one end of the swing shaft 30 serves as a rotating cam for swinging the levers. 33 is engaged with the cam groove 33a via a roller 34. An arm 3 fixed to a pair of left and right frames 35 rotatably connected to the outer end of the swing lever 28.
6 are respectively engaged with the cam grooves 37a of the lever swinging rotary cam 37 via rollers 38. A supply/discharge conveyor 38 is installed on the outside of the carry-in/discharge device 6 in an inclined manner so that the carry-in/discharge device 6 side is positioned downward, and the supply/discharge conveyor 39 has a number of support plates 39a arranged radially at predetermined intervals. It is set up so that it protrudes from the outside darkness. Between the supply/discharge conveyor 39 and the loading/unloading device 6, there is a supply/delivery mechanism 4 having a guide plate 40 and a swing lever 41.
2 are arranged. Further, the supply/discharge conveyor 39 and the swing lever 41 of the supply/delivery mechanism 42 are configured to be forcibly driven in conjunction with the rotary body 7 of the loading/unloading device 6. A water tank 4 with open soil on the left side of the sterilizer main body 1
3 are arranged in series, and the supply/discharge conveyor 39 and supply delivery mechanism 42 are housed in this water tank 43.
In addition, in FIG. 1, 44 is a guide of the conveyor 23,
45 and 46 are supply and carry-out guides, and 47 is a conveyor for the object 48 to be sterilized. The conveyor 47 is capable of horizontally storing a plurality of objects 48 to be sterilized, each made of a flexible package, partitioned by a frame, and has a height sufficient to create a space above the stored objects 48 to be sterilized, and has sufficient ventilation. Dish-shaped inner container 49
are stacked in multiple tiers under the ground, and are removably housed in an outer container 51 which has holding means (not shown) for the inner container 49 and has a weight 50 on the lower surface and has air permeability. An outer container 51 is rotatably supported by a pair of left and right wheels 52.

(Refer to Utility Model Application No. 132911/1983) Next, the operation of sterilizing objects to be sterilized using the continuous sterilizer shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

First, the object to be sterilized 48 is horizontally accommodated in the dish-shaped inner container 49 of the carrier 47, and the inner container 49 is fitted and held in the outer container 51.

The conveyance tools 47 containing objects to be sterilized 48 are fed one by one between the support plates 39a on the right side of the supply/discharge conveyor 39 in FIG.
are sequentially supplied onto the guide plate 40 of the supply delivery mechanism 42, and by counterclockwise rotation of the swinging lever 41 of the supply delivery mechanism 42, the transport tool 47 is moved to the storage provided on the rotating body 7 of the loading/unloading device 6. Forcibly feed through 8 recesses. Due to the clockwise rotation of the rotary body 7, when the conveyance tool 47 fitted in the storage recess 8 comes onto the entrance guide 25 of the feeding delivery mechanism 19, the push-out arm 14 rotates and moves into the storage recess 8. The conveyor 47 is pushed out onto the entrance guide 25 from here. That is, when the carrier 47 is sent into the storage recess 8 of the rotating body 7 outside the sterilizer main body 1, the push-out arm 14 corresponding to the storage recess 8 is retracted from the storage recess 8, and is not inserted into the sterilizer main body 1. When the storage recess 8 comes above the entrance guide 25 of Therefore, the push-out arm 14 projects into the storage recess 8 and pushes out the conveyor 47. During the extrusion operation, the swing lever 26 of the feeding delivery mechanism 19
is rotated counterclockwise to deliver the conveying tool 47 from above the entrance guide 25 to the article receiver 22 of the conveyor 23 for conveying, which is being driven in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The conveying tool 47 sent into the object to be sterilized receiver 22 is guided by the drive of the conveyor 23 to the sterilization chamber 2 via the contact area 4, where the object to be sterilized 48 is sterilized by a heating medium. Thereafter, it is guided again through the contact area 4 to the cooling chamber 3, where it is cooled by cooling water. When the transport tool 47 with the cooled object 48 reaches the delivery delivery machine 20, the transport tool 47 moves to the delivery guide 29.
In the state where the object receiver 22 is pushed, the opening of the object receiver 22 faces diagonally downward and rolls on the exit guide 27 due to gravity, and the extrusion plate 22a provided on the object receiver 22 pushes the object toward the loading/unloading device 6. The storage recess 8 after the unsterilized carrier 47 of the rotating body 7 is pushed out and rotated counterclockwise by the operation described later of the swinging lever 28 of the delivery delivery mechanism 20.
Then, the cooled conveyor 47 is pushed in from above the exit guide 27. In this case, the push-out arm 14 of the rotary body 7 has already been retracted from the storage recess 8, and the swing lever 28 of the delivery delivery mechanism 20 is moved by the rotation of the lever sliding cam 37 to move the roller 38 and the arm 36. , while narrowing the mutual distance through the frame 35, the lever swinging cam 33 rotates counterclockwise through the roller 34, the lever 32, the pinion 31, and the swinging shaft 30, and after the feeding is completed. They are rotated clockwise and returned while increasing the distance between them. The conveyor 47 accommodated in the storage recess 8 in this way is moved to the rotating body 7.
When the storage recess 8 reaches the discharge guide 46 of the supply/discharge conveyor 39, the extrusion arm 14 rotates and the conveyor 47 is ejected from the storage recess 8. Extrude onto the guide 46, this guide 46
Due to the inclination of , the material is discharged to a predetermined location by the left side surface of the supply/discharge conveyor 39 in FIG.

Sterilization of the object 48 to be sterilized by focusing on one carrier 47,
Although the cooling operation has been described, a large number of conveyors sequentially perform the above-described operations to perform sterilization and cooling in succession.

Further, the rotating body 7 of the loading/unloading device 6 is disposed in the cooling water inside and outside the sterilizer main body 1, and also serves as a pressure cutoff mechanism to prevent the pressure inside the main body 1 from decreasing. In addition, conveyance tool 4
7, the object to be sterilized 4 is always kept at a constant level by a weight 50 provided in an outer container 51.
8 is conveyed while keeping it almost horizontal. This continuous sterilizer and loading/unloading device can also be used for continuous sterilization of canned or bottled items as they are as objects to be sterilized. As explained above, the apparatus for carrying in and out of objects to be sterilized according to the present invention includes a rotating body having a plurality of recesses for storing objects to be sterilized at equal angular intervals on the outer periphery, and an inlet/outlet for storing objects to be sterilized at both ends of the rotating body. a casing, one of which communicates with the inside of the sterilizer main body, one of which is airtight; a sealing mechanism for preventing leakage of fluid from the sterilizer main body in a gap between the rotating body and the casing; A discharge mechanism for forcibly discharging the object to be sterilized from the inside of the object storage recess, and a discharge mechanism provided in a section for carrying the object to be sterilized into the sterilizer main body and a section for carrying it out from the sterilizer main body, and interlocking with the rotating body. The gist of the present invention is to include a delivery mechanism that transfers the object to be sterilized between the storage recess and the object transport mechanism within the sterilizer main body.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate or reduce the difference in height when carrying objects to be sterilized into and out of the storage recess.
There is no risk of damaging the objects to be sterilized, and since the discharge mechanism and delivery mechanism are provided, the objects to be sterilized can be delivered from the outside to the transport mechanism within the sterilizer main body in a timely manner, ensuring reliable operation. Furthermore, since the material to be sterilized can be carried into and out of the sterilizer main body using one device, the structure can be simplified compared to the case where this is a separate device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic side sectional view showing a continuous sterilizer equipped with a loading/unloading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front sectional view showing an embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 shows the same part. The cutaway side view, FIG. 4, is an explanatory diagram of the swing lever operating mechanism. 1... Sterilizer main body, 6... Loading/unloading device, 7... Rotating body, 8... Storage recess,
9...Casing, 10...Seal mechanism, 11a, 11b...Entrance/exit, 12...
...Discharge mechanism, 14... Push-out arm, 16...
... Link arm, 17 ... Guide roller, 18 ... Cam groove, 19, 20 ... Delivery mechanism, 21 ... Conveyance mechanism, 22・・・・・・
・Receiver for objects to be sterilized, 23...Transportation conveyor, 26
, 28... Swinging lever 47... Carrying tool, 48... Item to be sterilized.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotating body with a plurality of recesses for storing objects to be sterilized at equal angular intervals on its outer periphery, and a rotary body that accommodates the rotating body and has entrances and exits for objects to be sterilized at both ends, one of which communicates with the airtight sterilizer main body. a casing, a seal mechanism for preventing leakage of fluid from the sterilizer main body in a gap between the rotary body and the casing, and a seal mechanism for preventing fluid from leaking from the sterilizer main body in a gap between the rotary body and the casing; A discharge mechanism for forcibly discharging the objects to be sterilized that have appeared and been stored, and a discharge mechanism provided in a section for carrying the objects to be sterilized into the sterilizer main body and a discharging section from the sterilizer main body, and interlocking with the rotating body. A device for carrying in and out of objects to be sterilized for a continuous sterilizer, comprising a transfer mechanism that transfers objects to be sterilized between the storage recess and a transfer mechanism for objects to be sterilized in a main body of the sterilizer.