EP0035238A1 - Device for cleaning and/or filling containers - Google Patents

Abstract

1. An apparatus for cleaning and/or filling containers (5) by supplying the liquid or gaseous fluids through a front-sided valve (8) of the container (8) via at least one treatment station continuously mouvable, circularly, along with the container (5), with one and the same treatment station mobile in a substantially horizontal plane, out of a variety of treatment stations, during at least two operating processes, remaining associated to each container (5), with the operating processes performed respectively via the one treatment station and via the respectively other treatment stations being simultaneously effected in a predetermined time relationship with respect to one another in that the fluids required for the performance of the individual operating processes are supplied, in sequence of time, to the respective treatment station whereas the fluids in the same sequence are supplied to the respectively other treatment stations in time-shifted relation with respect thereto and with respect to one another, with the treatment stations, arranged at defined spaces from one another, being movable on an orbit, and with at least one distributor plate (10) provided with openings (16) and being concentric to the axis of rotation (A) of the treatment stations being provided for the fluid inlets and outlets (14, 15), which distributor plate relative to respectively one angular distributor (11) equally concentric to the axis of rotation, stationary, adapted to be registered with openings (16) of the distributor plate (10) and comprising slots (31) of sector-shaped configuration, is rotatable with the treatment stations, characterized in that each treatment station comprises a treatment head (3), that the respective container (5) with the downwardly directed valve (8) can be automatically lowered to the associated treatment head (3) and can be successively connected to the fluid inlets and outlets (14, 14' ; 15, 15') while remaining on the treatment head (3).

Description

The invention relates to a method for cleaning and / or filling containers by supplying the liquid or gaseous media through an end valve of the container via at least one treatment head.

A cylindrical barrel with a centrally arranged valve on the front is increasingly being used as a rational packaging for liquids. This type of packaging is known as KEG in the English-speaking world. This designation was also adopted in the German-speaking area. The KEG is primarily used for storage and as a transport container for beer and soft drinks.

In the following, for the sake of simplicity, the starting point, the problem and the solution according to the invention are explained using the special example of a KEG. However, the idea of the invention is not limited to such special containers.

• a) Austreiben des Getränkerestes,
• b) Vorreinigen mittels Spülflüssigkeit, insbesondere Wasser,
• c) Hauptreinigung mittels Waschflüssigkeit, wie Säuren, Laugen oder Netzmittel,
• d) Nachreinigen mittels gleicher oder verschiedener Flüssigkeiten, z.B. Wasser,
• e) Sterilisieren, z.B. mittels Dampf oder Heißwasser,
• f) gegebenenfalls Vorspannen, vor allem bei C0₂-haltigen Flüssigkeiten,
• g) Füllen,

besteht. Jeder der Arbeitsgänge a) bis g) kann natürlich in einer oder mehreren Stufen erfolgen. Verschiedene nacheinander erfolgende Arbeitsgänge, wie die des Vorreinigens, Hauptreinigens und Nachreinigens können auch zu einem Arbeitsgang zusammengefaßt werdenIn general, KEGs are made of stainless steel or aluminum and are used as reusable containers. The requires intensive cleaning before each filling, which comes from a more or less modified cycle, such as

• a) expelling the beverage residue,
• b) pre-cleaning using rinsing liquid, in particular water,
• c) main cleaning using washing liquid, such as acids, bases or wetting agents,
• d) post-cleaning using the same or different liquids, for example water,
• e) sterilizing, for example by means of steam or hot water,
• f) if appropriate, prestressing, especially in the case of liquids containing C0 ₂ ,
• g) filling,

consists. Each of the work steps a) to g) can of course take place in one or more stages. Various successive operations, such as pre-cleaning, main cleaning and post-cleaning, can also be combined into one operation

For the semi-automatic or fully automatic cleaning and filling of the KEG, machines are used that work in cycles, in which the KEG is placed one after the other on one of several treatment heads arranged in a row or in a circle such that e.g. on the first head the beverage residue is expelled and a pre-cleaning takes place. The KEG is then lifted off this treatment head in order to be placed on the next one, via which a further pre-cleaning or a main cleaning with washing liquid is carried out. After lifting off and putting it back on the next head, the KEG is cleaned, sterilized on another and finally lifted onto the next head for pre-loading and filling.

In exporting breweries, for example, it is necessary for the KEG to be so intense on the inside before filling is cleaned so that the lowest possible number of germs remains, so that a long shelf life of the beer is guaranteed. In order to achieve this, experience has made it necessary to increase the treatment heads upstream of a filling head to eight.

This method of operation requires a very high outlay, in particular on switching and monitoring elements in the feed and discharge lines to the treatment heads. In addition, each liquid treatment medium is expelled from the KEG by means of a gas in order to achieve economical filling performance, which is why switching elements are also required for the gases. A system, as described above, with 8 treatment heads upstream of the filling station is equipped with approximately 25 media valves. This considerable number requires a very extensive electrical cycle control, which must be coupled to the mechanical process. Since the control valves work almost exclusively pneumatically for reasons of expediency, pilot valves are also required for these control elements. This entire control effort is repeatedly the reason for malfunctions in wet operations, such as those found in a brewery and other beverage operations, which then lead to very unpleasant production interruptions.

Furthermore, the very frequent lifting of the KEG from one head to the other causes considerable wear, both on the seals of the KEG valve and on the seals of the treatment heads. In addition, each time a KEG is placed on a treatment head, precautions must be taken to ensure that the longitudinal axis of a KEG filling valve always exactly matches the longitudinal axis of a treatment head. Since the KEGs have often lost their original shape on the stand due to the rough treatment, the repeatedly required centering on one of the treatment heads is not without problems and often leads to production interruptions.

Breweries are known which operate 15 of the machines described above in parallel, i.e. operate with treatment heads connected in parallel to the media supply and discharge lines and intended for the same work step. However, this inevitably brings with it several disadvantages in the supply of the media, including the contents, especially in the case of carbonated beverages, that is to say also in the case of beer. The supply can periodically drop to almost zero and then increase in a short time to 15 times the amount required for a single KEG, e.g. all filling valves are open at the same time.

These conditions must be taken into account when assessing such an overall system. The pressure tolerances for the required prestressing air and for the inflowing beverage must therefore be kept within wide tolerance limits. The drink may therefore be filled with different pressures and therefore with a different C0 ₂ content. It is therefore not guaranteed that each KEG will be filled with the same C0 ₂ content, which of course is extremely unsatisfactory for the consumer and the operator of the bar systems.

A total of 15 x 25 = a total of approx. 375 media valves are calculated for the operation of an entire system with machines working in parallel, which are operated with a considerable amount of control, but also require maintenance.

In order to remedy all of these deficiencies, a method and a device are now proposed according to the invention with which it is possible to fill containers, in particular cylindrical containers such as KEGs, with increased throughput without the need to connect several cleaning and filling machines in parallel, at least with one such Filling and cleaning performance, such as was achieved in the same time only by connecting several machines in parallel according to the previously used processes. The invention is therefore particularly applicable to all filling and cleaning processes on containers such as KEGs with great advantage, in which, according to previous technology, at least two container cleaning and filling systems had to be operated in parallel.

• a) Austreiben des Getränkerestes,
• b) Vorreinigung,
• c) Hauptreinigung,
• d) Nachreinigung,
• e) Sterilisieren,
• f) gegebenenfalls Vorspannen und
• g) Füllen

The present invention relates to a method for cleaning and / or filling containers, for example cylindrical containers such as KEGs, which is characterized in order to achieve the aforementioned object in that from a plurality of treatment heads one and the same container, preferably in one essentially horizontal plane of the treatment head mounted in a variable position during at least two of the operations a) to g) from the sequence of operations

• a) expelling the beverage residue,
• b) pre-cleaning,
• c) main cleaning,
• d) post-cleaning,
• e) sterilizing,
• f) if necessary, prestressing and
• g) Filling

remains assigned, and that the operations carried out in each case via the one treatment head and the respective other treatment heads run simultaneously in a certain time relationship, in that the respective one treatment head is supplied in chronological order the media required for the execution of the individual operations, while the other Treatment heads for this and the media are fed in the same sequence at different times.

When carrying out this method, the containers run e.g. on a rotationally symmetrical path around an axis. The operations can be controlled in such a way that each operation a) to g) is assigned a specific sector of this path. Since the individual operations can take different times, it is quite possible that several containers subjected to the process in succession are going through one and the same treatment sector, for example the operation in question in one container is almost completed, while in the next container the same operation is in progress is just beginning. Thus, by exposing the individual containers one after the other in time to the essentially same sequence of operations, an increased throughput can be achieved without having to subject several containers to the same treatment operations in parallel.

According to a special development of the method according to the invention, the five operations a) to e) and optionally f) are carried out in such a way that the treatment head is not separated from the container during these operations; they are therefore carried out via the same treatment head.

Furthermore, if one does not want to carry out the pretensioning and filling processes in the immediate vicinity of the other work steps a) to e), it is possible to carry out any pretensioning and filling of the container via a single separate treatment head; ie this special treatment head is coupled to the container before prestressing and is only removed again after filling, while the prestressing medium and then the filling liquid are introduced into the container in chronological order.

In the method according to the invention, external cleaning can also be carried out simultaneously with at least one working step of the internal cleaning.

When the work steps according to the invention are expediently carried out, the container with the respectively assigned treatment head is moved as a unit for carrying out at least two of the work steps a) to g) to different work positions or areas, in which work positions or areas the respective container is moved then the necessary media for carrying out the upcoming work step are fed.

The movement of the container with the treatment head is expediently carried out continuously in order to increase the throughput, as a result of which the throughput achievable with the invention can be increased still further.

The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the method described in more detail above.

Such a device is characterized in particular by the fact that the treatment heads are arranged at defined intervals from one another and can be moved on a path and can be connected to the media inlets and outlets one after the other.

According to a special embodiment of the device according to the invention, the treatment heads are arranged on a rotationally symmetrical path, in particular on a circular path. i

In practice, it has proven to be particularly expedient to feed the media in and out through an opening provided with openings, preferably to the axis of rotation of the treatment make heads concentric distributor disc, which is rotatable relative to a possibly also concentric fixed, with the openings to cover the sector-shaped slots having slots, preferably together with the treatment heads.

In order to increase the safety of the functioning of the device according to the invention, a control mechanism can be provided in a further embodiment, which causes the media inlets and / or outlets to be blocked as long as there is no fixed connection between the container and the treatment head.

It is particularly advantageous if an additional device for temperature measurement is provided on the outside of containers and / or of media inlets and / or outlets. Disruptions in the course of the process can be determined hereby. If e.g. for some reason supply lines for the hot liquor are blocked, this can be determined by measuring the temperature of the outer wall of the container at the appropriate point. The additional temperature measuring device can also be used, for example, to determine or check the correct point in time after the sterilization of the respective container by means of steam, at which the filling process can be started. In this respect, such an additional device is not only suitable for carrying out the method according to the invention in connection with the device described in more detail above, but also independently for other methods and devices for cleaning and / or filling containers.

/ It is also possible that mechanically operable valves are arranged in the media inlets and / or outlets of the treatment heads in the device according to the invention, which supply the required treatment liquids or gases to the respective containers in the correct time periods.

From the above it follows that the method of operation according to the invention i.a. also has the advantage that the wear of the fitting seals and the seals on the filling heads is greatly reduced. This increases operational safety considerably because the number of possible occasions for operational malfunctions, e.g. due to the fewer transfer operations of the containers to the individual treatment heads. due to centering errors or difficulties. In addition, the electrical control of the cleaning cycle and in particular the mechanical process is simplified considerably, since a significantly smaller number of valves is required. According to the concept of the invention, a cleaning and / or filling method for containers is therefore proposed which allows the same throughput to be achieved with a significantly lower outlay on equipment or a substantially higher throughput with the same outlay on equipment.

Further features, advantages and possible uses of the present invention result from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing. All of the described and / or illustrated features, alone or in any meaningful combination, form the subject matter of the present invention, regardless of how they are summarized in the claims or their relationship.

• Fig. I schematisch einen Teilschnitt einer die Erfindung aufweisenden Vorrichtung zur Ausführung des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens,
• Fig. II eine Teildraufsicht auf eine Vorrichtung nach Art der Vorrichtung von Fig. I, und
• Fig. III schematisch im Teilschnitt eine alternative Ausführungsform einer die Erfindung aufweisenden Vorrichtung für das Vorspannen und Füllen von KEGs.

It shows:

• I schematically shows a partial section of a device having the invention for carrying out the method according to the invention,
• Fig. II is a partial plan view of a device like the device of Fig. I, and
• Fig. III schematically in partial section an alternative embodiment of an apparatus having the invention for the pretensioning and filling of KEGs.

Fig. I shows a partial section of the advantageous, but by no means necessary embodiment, in which an external cleaning can be carried out simultaneously with the internal cleaning, which has not previously been used in systems with parallel connection of two or more cleaning and filling machines of the usual type because it is uneconomical was. There, each of the cleaning and filling machines connected in parallel should have been assigned a special system for external cleaning. However, since in the present case only a single cleaning and filling machine is required for the same throughput, the one-time assignment of a system for external cleaning is an advantageous solution. For this purpose, the device according to the invention, as shown in FIG. I, is provided with a covering 26. This makes it possible to save a separate machine for external cleaning.

The embodiment shown in FIG. I has a stator 1 designed as a table, a rotor 2 on which a treatment head 3 and a spring-loaded, lowerable KEG receiving plate 4 are arranged so as to be rotatable therewith. The rotor 2 rotates about a vertical axis A and is shown schematically in plan view in FIG. II.

If a KEG 5 is inserted into the device from the outside into the intended location in the vertical axis D, to which the treatment head 3 is concentric, First, a valve 6 arranged in a certain circumferential position and rotating with the rotor 2 is actuated by passing a correspondingly designed fixed cam 33, whereby the KEG 5 with its end valve 8 against the action of springs is connected to a pressure medium line 30 via a cylinder 7 27 is lowered onto the treatment head 3. Then a pin (not shown), which opens the valve 8 of the KEG 5, is actuated via a valve 9, which also rotates with the rotor 2, by means of a second fixed cam 34 and via a pressure medium line 28. The pressure medium lines 28, 30 are fed from a rotary distributor 25 rotatable with the rotor 2.

The rotor 2 is equipped with a distributor disk 10, which has openings 16 in radial spacing and which appears schematically in FIG. II in plan view. During the rotation of the rotor 2 with the distributor disk 10, different media can be fed through this distributor disk 10 to the KEG 5 in certain circulation sectors via an angle distributor 11, which is firmly connected to the stator 1, that is, for example, first compressed air for expelling the beverage residue from the previous one Filling of the KEG 5, as well as further spray water, then cleaning liquid, by feeding the respective media from a container 12 to the KEG 5 from a container 12 via a pump 13, the line 14, 14 ', sector-shaped slots 31 assigned to the openings 16. The return takes place via a line 15 ', 15 and the other hole-opening pair 16, 31 back into the container 12.

During the time in which the KEG _- 5 rotating with the rotor 2 is exposed in sectors one after the other to the required treatment media, takes place simultaneously in various sectors with respective media, external cleaning takes place via a fixed nozzle system 19, by spraying the KEG 5 with cleaning liquid from a container 17 via a pump 18. The used cleaning liquid is collected in a floor pan 22 which is expediently connected to the stator 1 and runs back into the container 17 via a drain pipe 21 of the floor pan 22. Leaked liquids from containers 12 and 17 are automatically replaced.

II schematically shows the rotor 2 in plan view with a number of treatment heads 3 which can be rotated with the rotor 2, the number shown being chosen arbitrarily. Media is supplied or discharged to the treatment head 3 during rotation in certain sectors via the distributor disc 10 with openings 16, as long as the respective opening 16 overlap with the respectively assigned sector slots 31 of the angle distributor 11, of which (dashed) for example, only one pair is shown.

The KEGs 5 are pushed onto the individual finished, lowerable KEG receptacles 4 via a conveyor track 23 by means of a slide 24. During the rotation of the rotor 2 in the direction of the arrow B, the treatment of the KEG 5 described in connection with FIG. 1 takes place, which is then drawn back onto the transport path 23 by a device 20 after the end of the treatment and is transported further in the direction of the arrow C.

Fig. III shows the example of a device in which only pre-stressed and filled. The stator 1 and the rotor 2, on which a treatment head 3 and a sprung, lowerable KEG receptacle 4 is arranged, are formed similarly to Fig. I. The rotor 2 is again rotatable about the axis A. A schematic plan view of this rotor 2 is also shown in FIG. II.

If a KEG 5 is inserted into the device at the intended position, the valve 6 arranged in a certain circumferential position is first actuated by moving past an appropriately designed, fixed cam 33, whereby the KEG 5 is also actuated via the cylinder 7 actuated by the pressure medium line 30 its valve 8 is lowered against the action of the springs 27 on the treatment head 3. Then, via the valve 9 located in the pressure medium line 28 and cooperating with the fixed cam 34, a pin (not shown in the treatment head 3) is actuated, which opens the valve 8.

The rotor 2 is also equipped with a perforated distributor disk 10, as can be seen in FIG. II. During rotation, various media can be supplied to the KEG 5 in certain sectors through the openings 16 contained in the distributor disk 10, via the angular distributor 11 equipped with corresponding sector-shaped slots 31, which is firmly connected to the stator 1, such as bias gas via the line 14, 14 'and then by opening a filler valve (not shown) in the treatment head 3, the beverage liquid via the rotary distributors 25 rotatable with the rotor 2 and a line 32.

After filling, a check valve 26 initiates the closing of the filler valve (not shown) in the treatment head 3 and again via the line 14, 14 'in the treatment head 3 residual filling material via the line 15, 15', the distributor disk 10 and the angle distributor 11 blown out.

I and III have a control mechanism (not shown) which ensures that the valves in the media supply and discharge lines block as long as the KEG 5 and treatment head 3 are not firmly and tightly coupled to one another.

An additional device (not shown) can also be provided, with the aid of which temperature control measurements can be carried out on the outside of the KEG 5 or the media supply and discharge lines. Such an additional device is particularly useful if the operations a) to e) mentioned in the introduction are carried out in a device according to the invention and the operations f) and g) are carried out in a second device according to the invention. The KEG 5, which has just been sterilized by steam and therefore still filled with steam, can then be transported from the first treatment device via a transport path to the second treatment device and checked immediately before entering the second treatment device with regard to the outside temperature of the KEG 5, so that the point in time , which can be started with preloading and filling, can be determined with certainty.

While distributor disk 10 and angle distributor 11 lie concentrically on top of one another as disk rings and each have pairs of openings 16 or slot pairs 31 at a radial spacing, that is to say the media are fed in and discharged via the same distributor disk and angle distributor combination, for example the media feed and discharge are each placed in separate distributor disks 10 and angle distributors 11. One comes to such a solution mentally, if one thinks the distributor disk-angle distributor combination shown in FIG. I between the respective two openings 16 and slots 31 divided vertically, whereby two pairs of rings are formed which are at the same radial distance from the axis A and at an axial distance above one another, possibly with reversal can be arranged from the top and bottom with appropriately modified cable routing. The same variant is possible in the device according to FIG. III.

Reference symbol list:

• 1 stator
• 2 rotor
• 3 treatment head
• 4 KEG intake
• 5 containers, e.g. cylindrical container such as KEG
• 6 valve
• 7 cylinders
• 8 valve
• 9 valve
• 10 distributor disc
• 11 angle distributors
• 12 containers
• 13 pump
• 14 line
• 15 line
• 16 holes
• 17 containers
• 18 pump
• 19 nozzle system
• 20 pulling device
• 21 drain pipe
• 22 floor pan
• 23 transport track
• 24 sliders
• 25 rotary distributors
• 26 check valve
• 27 feathers
• 28 pressure medium line
• 29 paneling
• 30 pressure medium line
• 31 slots
• 32 line
• 33 cam
• 34 cam

Claims (13)

1. A method for cleaning and / or filling containers, for example cylindrical containers such as KEGs, for supplying the liquid or gaseous media through an end valve of the container via at least one treatment head, characterized in that each container has one and the same from a plurality of treatment heads , preferably in a substantially horizontal plane, the head is displaceably mounted during at least two of the operations a) to g) from the sequence of operations a) expelling the beverage residue, b) pre-cleaning, c) main cleaning, d) post-cleaning, e) sterilizing, f) if necessary, prestressing and g) Filling
remains assigned, and that the operations carried out in each case via the one treatment head and the respective other treatment heads run simultaneously in a certain time relationship, in that the respective one treatment head is supplied in chronological order the media required for the execution of the individual operations, while the other Treatment heads for this and the media are fed in the same sequence at different times. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that each container remains one and the same treatment head during the five operations a) to e), and optionally f) assigned. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each container remains assigned a single separate treatment head for any prestressing and filling. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that an external cleaning is carried out simultaneously with at least one operation of the internal cleaning. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the container with the respectively assigned treatment head as a unit for performing at least two of the operations a) to g) is moved to different working positions or areas. 6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the movement takes place continuously. 7. Device for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the treatment heads (3) arranged at defined intervals from each other can be moved on a path and can be connected to the media feed and discharge lines in succession. -8th. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the treatment heads (3) are arranged and movable on a rotationally symmetrical path, preferably a circular path. 9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that for the media inlets and outlets a provided with openings (16), preferably to the axis of rotation (A) of the treatment heads (3) concentric distributor disc (10) is provided, which also relative to one if necessary, concentric fixed angle distributors (11), which can be covered by the openings (16) and can be made to coincide with one another, preferably rotatable together with the treatment heads (3). 10. Device according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized by a control mechanism which causes a blockage of the media feeds and / or derivatives as long as there is no fixed connection between the container (4) and the treatment head (3). 11. The device according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized by an additional device for measuring the temperature on the outside of containers (4) and / or of media supply and / or discharge lines. 12. Device according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that mechanically actuated valves are arranged in the media supply and / or discharge lines of the treatment heads (3). 13. Device according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that for the media supply and discharge lines each with openings (16) provided, preferably to the axis of rotation (A) of the treatment heads (3) and optionally concentric distributor disks (i0 ) are provided, each of which can be rotated relative to a possibly also concentric fixed angle distributor (11), which can be aligned with the openings (16) and has sector-shaped slots (31), preferably together with the treatment heads (3).

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