JPH0741901B2 - Filling and sealing machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a filling and sealing machine that automatically fills a liquid container such as alcoholic beverages or juice into a packaging container and seals the opening. .

[Prior Art] In a filling and sealing machine for filling alcohol or juice into a multi-layered paper packaging container generally called a paper pack,
A temporary folding station that temporarily folds the filling opening in the upper part of the packaging container filled with these objects to be filled, a heating station that heats the peripheral edge of this opening, and a heated peripheral edge are brought into close contact with each other, and the upper opening is closed. And a press station for sealing. The packaging container is intermittently conveyed and stopped at each of these stations for a predetermined time.

In order to extract an object to be filled, a packaging container to be packaged by a filling and sealing machine of this type is provided with a stopper in advance having a main body portion protruding to the outside of the packaging container and an adhesive portion adhered to the packaging container. There is something.

Further, in the packaging container provided with the stopper, a small hole is formed in the packaging container, the main body portion of the stopper is projected through the small hole, and the surface of the adhesive portion on the main body side is the inner surface of the packaging container. There is also a so-called internal plug for ultrasonic welding. In the case of this packaging container, paper powder or the like may be generated due to the vibration during ultrasonic super-welding. For this reason, a filling and sealing machine equipped with a cleaning device that cleans the inside of the packaging container before filling the object to be filled has been developed. In addition to removing foreign substances, it is also possible to remove the odor peculiar to the resin material of the packaging container. You can

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to the conventional filling and sealing machine, the cleaning device is arranged in one independent station for performing various packaging steps for completing packaging. Therefore, the packaging process becomes long and the filling and sealing machine becomes large. In particular, when the stations that form each packaging process are arranged in a circle and the packaging containers are conveyed along these stations by a turntable that rotates intermittently, the interval between adjacent stations is narrow and the structure is complicated. Becomes

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide a filling and sealing machine having a compact structure and capable of efficiently filling an object to be filled.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A filling and sealing machine of the present invention is a turret which is provided with a plurality of mandrels radially mounted with packaging containers having open ends, and which is intermittently rotated, and the turret rotation direction. A bottom heating device that is arranged in sequence along with the bottom heating device that heats one end of the packaging container, a bottom folding device that folds one end of the packaging container along a predetermined folding line, and a bottom pressing device that seals the folded one end. A turntable that is arranged on the upper side of the turret and that is intermittently rotated by placing a sealed packaging container on the bottom, and is arranged sequentially in the circumferential direction along the direction of rotation of the turntable, and is arranged on the side wall of the packaging container. The mouthpiece is attached to the packaging container by welding the mouthpiece attached to the small hole to the packaging container, the filling device is filled with a predetermined amount of the filling material into the packaging container having the mouthpiece welded, and the object to be filled is filled. A sealing device for hermetically sealing the packaging container, wherein the plug welding attachment is performed by a hollow support member that supports the plug inserted from the upper portion of the packaging container and ultrasonically vibrated from the inside of the packaging container, and the hollow support member. The cleaning device includes a blow pipe that is inserted into the packaging container through the opening of the support member and blows air to the inner surface of the packaging container, and a cleaning means that has a suction pipe that sucks foreign matter blown off from the inner surface.

The turret and the turntable are preferably rotated on the same drive shaft.

[Operation] According to the filling and sealing machine of the present invention, when the turret is stopped, the packaging container having both ends opened is mounted on the mandrel. When the turret rotates, one end of the packaging container is heated by the bottom heating device, further rotated and folded into a predetermined shape by the bottom folding device, and then sealed by the bottom pressing device into a predetermined shape.

While the turret is rotating, the packaging container whose bottom is closed is successively pulled out from the mandrel and placed on a turntable arranged above the turret. Since the spigot welding device, the filling device, and the sealing device are sequentially arranged along the rotation direction on the periphery of the turntable, the spigot attached to the small hole on the side wall of the packaging container is the packaging container. After being welded and filled with a predetermined amount of filling material, the packaging container is sealed. The spigot welding device blows air from the blow pipe to the inner surface of the packaging container when the spigot is attached to the packaging container to blow off foreign substances adhering to the inner surface of the packaging container, and through the suction pipe, the inner surface of the packaging container. Foreign substances and odors rolled up from the packaging container are removed.

When the turret and the turntable are rotated by the same drive shaft, the turret and the turntable arranged above and below each other are easily synchronized with each other.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows the entire structure of a filling and sealing machine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This filling and sealing machine 10 is formed in upper and lower two stages, and a bottom molding part 11 for flatly bending and sealing the bottom of a hollow prismatic paper packaging container having open both ends is arranged in the lower stage. In the upper stage, a filling and sealing unit 20 for completing a packaging container by filling a predetermined amount of an object to be filled such as alcoholic beverages or juice from the opening of the packaging container having a bottom portion, bending the upper portion, and sealing the packaging container is arranged. There is.

As shown in FIG. 2, this packaging container 5, which is hereinafter referred to as a carton, includes a lower portion 6 which is flatly sealed along a ruled line formed in advance in a desired shape and an appropriate ruled line formed in a desired shape in advance. Has an upper part 7 that is sealed like a roof along
A small hole 8 is formed in the upper part of the hole, in which a normal plug is fitted. The spout is attached through this small hole 8 before filling the filling object.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the carton 5 is attached to the bottom molding part 11 that seals the bottom 6 of the carton 8.
Turret 12 with mandrel 12a of a book protruding radially
Is arranged, and this turret is intermittently rotated in the direction of arrow X shown in FIG. Around the circumference of the turret 12, a mounting position A for mounting the carton 5 in order along the rotation direction of the turret, a heating position B for arranging a heater 13 for heating the peripheral portion of the opening of the bottom 6 of the carton, and a predetermined position. The folding position C in which the folding device 14 for folding the bottom portion 6 along the folding line is arranged, the pressing position D in which the pressing device 17 for sealing the heated and folded bottom portion 6 is arranged, and the bottom portion. A take-out position E for taking out the sealed carton is arranged. At the mounting position A and the take-out position E of the bottom molding portion 11, the mandrel 12a projects from the side opening of the filling and sealing machine 10 and can be easily approached. This state is shown in FIG.

In the bottom molding portion 11, when the turret 12 stops at the mounting position A, the carton 5 having both ends opened is mounted on the mandrel 12 with the upper portion 7 first. The mounting of the carton 5 may be performed automatically by an appropriate mechanism or may be performed manually. Further, it is preferable to provide each mandrel 12a with a stopper capable of adjusting the carton insertion depth.

When the turret 13 rotates and reaches the heating position B aligned with the heater 15, hot air is blown from the heater to a desired portion at the bottom of the carton to heat the resin layer on the inner surface of the carton. At the folding position C, which is further rotated and aligned with the folding device 16, the bottom portion 6 is folded along a predetermined folding line, and is further rotated to the press position D while maintaining this state by a guide rail (not shown). By the pressing device 17 arranged at the pressing position D, the bottom portion 6 of the carton 5 is strongly compressed between the tip of the mandrel 12 and the pressing device 17 and sealed in a flat shape. The carton 5 with the bottom portion 6 sealed is taken out from the bottom molding portion 11 at the take-out position E, and then sent to the filling seal portion 20 arranged on the upper side of the filling and sealing machine.

3 and 4 show the filling seal portion 20. The filling / seal portion 20 includes eight carton pedestals 21 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).
A rotary drive mechanism or a turntable in which two (only two are shown in the figure) are fixed at equal intervals is arranged, and a circular guide rail 22 for supporting the carton is fixedly installed below the pedestal 21. This turntable is intermittently rotated in the direction of arrow Y by the same drive source as the turret 12 of the bottom molding unit 11, and the carton 5 mounted on the pedestal 21 is guided by the guide rail 22.
Is transported along.

A mounting station for mounting the carton 5 on the receiving table 21 in order along the transportation path of the carton 5 formed by the guide rails 22.
23, a spigot mounting station 24 for mounting the spigot 4 in the small hole 8 of the carton, a temporary folding station 25 for temporarily folding the upper part of the carton 5, and a welding station 26 for welding the spigot 4 to the carton 5. It is arranged. Further, on the downstream side of the transport path, there are a filling station 27 for injecting a predetermined amount of the object to be filled into the carton 5, a heating station 28 for heating a predetermined portion of the upper portion 7, and a sealing station 29 for sealing the upper portion 7. The completed carton 5 is placed and discharged from the discharge station 30.

In this embodiment, the spout 4 is inserted from the inside into the small hole 8 of the carton at the spout mounting station 24. However, the spigot 4 is inserted in advance in the mounting station 23 or before this. Good.

As shown in FIG. 4, the spigot 4 has a cylindrical small-diameter main body protruding outward through a small hole 8 and a large-diameter disc-shaped adhesive portion adhered to a carton. It is a so-called internal attachment type in which the surfaces of the adjacent adhesive portions are ultrasonically adhered to the inner surface of the carton.

For temporary folding, the temporary folding device 32 arranged at the station 25
It has a frame 33 which is moved up and down by an appropriate driving means such as an air cylinder. At the lower end of the frame 35, a pair of triangular folding plates 33b for folding inward the side face adjacent to the spout of the carton 5 are pivotally attached. These folding plates 33b are connected to the driving means via appropriate links 33a, and fall inward when the frame 33 is lowered.

Therefore, when the carton 5 is stopped at the temporary folding station 25, the frame 32 is lowered onto the carton 5. The opposite side walls of the upper part of the carton 5 are folded inward from both sides by the folding plates 37, and the upper part of the carton is temporarily folded like a roof. Carton 5 provisionally folded in this way
Is transported to the welding station 26 while gradually returning to its original shape due to its elasticity.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the welding station 26, the normal ultrasonic welding device 35 and the carton 5 are moved upward to move the stopper 4 into place.
And an air cylinder 38 for aligning with the ultrasonic welding device.

This ultrasonic welding device is inserted into the carton 5 and the stopper 4 is inserted.
A hollow support member that supports the anvil 36 from the inside,
An ultrasonic vibrating horn 37 that vibrates the spout at high speed.
When the carton 5 is raised by the actuating cylinder 38 via the rod 38a, the anvil 36 is inserted into the upper opening of the carton and the ultrasonic vibrating horn 37 moves to the position shown in phantom in the direction of the anvil 36. As a result, the tip of the ultrasonic horn 36 is fitted into the plug 4 on which the carton 5 is mounted, and the plug 4 is vibrated. The frictional heat generated by this high-speed vibration melts the resin layer on the inner surface of the carton 5, and the spout 4 and the carton 5 are bonded to each other.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the anvil 36, the ultrasonic vibration horn 37, the spigot 4 and the carton 5. When the ultrasonic vibration horn 37 moves to the position shown by the imaginary line, this ultrasonic vibration horn
The gap between 37 and anvil 36 is preferably 0.1 mm.
This gap can be adjusted by using an appropriate adjusting screw.
Alternatively, the anvil 36 may be adjustable within a small range.

Due to the vibration of the mouth wire 4 by the ultrasonic welding device 35, the cleaning device 40 removes foreign matters such as paper dust and odor that may remain inside the carton 5 by the welding station 26.
It is located in.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cleaning device 40 is incorporated in the ultrasonic device 35, and has a lead pipe 41 as a suction pipe inserted into the opening of the anvil 36 and a blow pipe arranged in the lead pipe. And a blow pipe 42 as a pipe. The lead pipe 41 is connected to a suitable vacuum pressure source such as a blower via a flexible pipe 43. The blow pipe 42 is connected to an appropriate air pressure source, and a nozzle 42a is attached to the tip portion. This nozzle 42a
Is projected from the tip of the lead pipe 42 and fixed at the center position of the lead pipe inner hole.

The lead pipe 41 of the cleaning device 40 is attached to the working cylinder 45 via the bracket 44.
45 moves up and down along the guide rod 45a. A scale 41a is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the lead pipe 41, and the mounting position of the bracket 44 can be changed to a position corresponding to the capacity of the carton 5 based on the scale 41a.

When the carton 5 conveyed from the temporary folding station 25 stops at the welding station 26, the carton 5 is lifted by the operating cylinder 38 via the rod 38a, and the upper part thereof is fitted onto the anvil 36. When the stopper 4 of the carton reaches the position where it is aligned with the ultrasonic vibration horn 37, the horn 37 is moved toward the carton and the stopper 4 is attached to the tip thereof.
Are engaged and then actuated. The spout 4 supported by the anvil 36 is vibrated at a high speed, and the heat generated by the friction with the inner surface of the carton partially melts both contact portions to bond them to each other.

Furthermore, the working cylinder 45 of the cleaning device 40 is lowered when the carton 5 is raised to weld the spigot 4. The lead pipe 41 is inserted into the carton 5 through the opening of the anvil 36, and aseptic air is ejected from the nozzle 42a at the tip of the blow pipe toward the inner surface of the carton, and foreign matter adhering to the inner surface of the carton is blown by the ejected air. Can be raised. These foreign substances are sucked into the lead pipe 42 communicating with the vacuum pressure source together with the odor of the resin material. Since the lead pipe 41 is inserted into the carton 5 together with the nozzle 42a and the opening of the lead pipe is arranged inside this, even a relatively large foreign matter is immediately sucked and does not remain inside. This nozzle 42a
And the cleaning process in the carton 5 by the lead pipe 41
With an appropriate valve mechanism, it can be performed in either one or both of the descending step and the ascending step of the lead pipe 41.

The carton 5 from which foreign matters and odors have been removed is moved to the filling station 25.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the filling station 27 is provided with a tank 48 for containing the object to be filled. A filling pipe 48a is extended from the tank 48, and a required amount of the filling object is filled from the filling pipe while the carton 5 is stopped.

The carton filled with the required amount of the filling object is sent to the sealing station 29 via the heating station 28.

The heating device 42 disposed in the heating station 27 is inserted inside the carton 5 and has a heating part 42 that blows out hot air from the peripheral part thereof to heat the resin layer on the inner surface of the carton 5.

At the sealing station 29, a sealing device 50 for sealing the upper part of the carton 5 like a roof is arranged. This sealing device 50 is a pair of clamp plates that press-contact the upper end of the carton 5.
51 and a pair of claw members 52 that press inwardly the side surface adjacent to the spout on the top of the carton, and when the sealing device 50 is lowered onto the carton, the claw members 52 move inside the side wall on the top of the carton. While pressing in one direction, at the same time, the clamp plate 51 firmly presses the upper end portions against each other. Therefore, the carton 5 whose upper portion is temporarily folded into a roof and which is further heated is completely sealed at the sealing station 29, and the filling object is completely enclosed inside the discharging station.
Delivered from 30. A supporting table 60 for holding the completed carton 5 is shown diagrammatically in FIGS. 1 and 3.

When filling beverages such as alcoholic drinks or juices with the filling and sealing device 10, the mandrels 12a of the turret 12 arranged in the bottom molding unit 11 in the lower stage are provided with one carton 5a each.
Put on. As shown in FIG. 2, while the turret 12 rotates intermittently and is conveyed through the heating position B, the folding position C and the pressing position D, the bottom of the carton 5 is flatly bent and sealed. . The carton 5 whose bottom is molded is removed from the mandrel 12a at the take-out position E of the bottom molding part and moved to the upper filling seal part 20.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the carton 5 is mounted on the pedestal 21 with the upper opening at the mounting station 23 of the filling and sealing section 20, the bottom is supported by the guide rails 22 and the cartons are sequentially rotated by the turntable. . When the carton 5 having the plug 4 attached to the small hole 8 reaches the welding station 26 via the temporary folding station 25, the carton 5 is lifted by the operating cylinder and the plug 4 is welded. At this time, the welding device 35
The cleaning device 40 installed in the
And the blow pipe 42 removes foreign matter and odor in the carton.

After this, the filling station 27 is filled with the required amount of beverage, the sealing station 28 seals the upper opening, and it is sent from the discharge station 30 to the support table 60.

The filling and sealing machine 10 includes a bottom molding unit 11 and a filling and sealing unit 20.
Both have circular carton conveying paths and are arranged in upper and lower stages, and a welding device 35 of the adhering station 26 is equipped with a cleaning device 40 having a simple structure for removing foreign matters and odors in the carton 5. And has an extremely compact structure. In addition, the welding of the spout 4 and the cleaning of the carton 5 are simultaneously performed at the welding station 26, and the beverage is efficiently filled and sealed in a short time.

[Effects of the Invention] As apparent from the above, according to the filling and sealing machine of the present invention,
Since the bottom molding part of the packaging container and the filling and sealing part for filling the packaging container with the desired filling material and sealing the packaging container are arranged vertically, and further the cleaning means is provided in the spigot welding device, it is extremely A compact structure can be formed, and a packaging container can be manufactured extremely efficiently while removing foreign matters and odors from the packaging container.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire structure of a filling and sealing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view of the bottom molding part of the filling and sealing machine of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is the filling of FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a filling seal portion of the sealing machine, FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view thereof, FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of a welding device of the filling seal portion, and FIG.
The explanatory view which expands and shows the welding apparatus of a figure, and FIG. 7 is operation | movement explanatory drawing of a cleaning apparatus. 4 ... Port stopper, 5 ... Carton, 6 ... Bottom, 7 ... Top, 8 ... Small hole, 10 ... Filling seal device, 11 ... Bottom molding unit, 20 ... Filling seal unit, 26 ... … Welding station,
35: welding device, 40: cleaning device, 41: lead pipe, 42: blow pipe, 42a: nozzle.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A turret which is provided with a plurality of mandrels radially mounted to which packaging containers having open ends are mounted, and which is intermittently rotated, and is sequentially arranged along the rotation direction of the turret, and one end of the packaging container is provided. A bottom heating device for heating the container, a bottom folding device for folding one end of the packaging container along a predetermined folding line, a bottom pressing device for sealing the folded one end, and a bottom pressing device arranged on the upper side of the turret for sealing the bottom. The turntable which is placed on the packaging container and is rotated intermittently, and the spigot which is arranged in order on the peripheral portion along the rotation direction of the turntable and is attached to the small hole on the side wall of the packaging container. The container is equipped with a cap welding for welding to a container, a filling device for filling a predetermined amount of filling material into the packaging container with the sealing plug welded, and a sealing device for sealing the packaging container filled with an object to be filled. The cap welding device comprises a hollow support member that supports a cap that is inserted from the top of the packaging container and ultrasonically vibrated from the inside of the packaging container, and is inserted into the packaging container through the opening of the hollow support member. A filling and sealing machine comprising: a blow pipe for blowing air onto the inner surface of a packaging container; and a cleaning means having a suction pipe for sucking foreign matter blown off from the inner surface. 2. The filling and sealing machine according to claim 1, wherein the turret and the turntable are rotated by the same drive shaft. 3. The cap welding device has an ultrasonic vibrating horn for vibrating a main body of the cap projecting to the outside of the packaging container through the small hole, and by vibrating the ultrasonic vibrating horn. The filling and sealing machine according to claim 2, wherein an adhesive portion of a spigot supported by the hollow support member and having a diameter larger than the small hole is welded to an inner surface of the packaging container. 4. The filling and sealing machine according to claim 1, wherein the blow pipe is arranged in the suction pipe and has a nozzle projecting from the front end of the suction pipe at the tip.