Device and method for filling a container with a filling product

Abstract

A device for filling a container with a filling product includes a filling valve for influencing the supply of the filling product into the container to be filled, generally during the transport, by means of a container transporting device, of the containers to be filled, a dosing valve for dosing a dosing product from a dosing product reservoir into the filling valve, and a main component reservoir for providing a main component at the filling valve. A dosing product changing device is provided for changing the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir during the filling operation.

Claims

1. A device for filling a container with a filling product, comprising: a filling valve configured to control a supply of the filling product into the container; a dosing valve configured to dose a dosing product from a dosing product reservoir into the filling valve; a component reservoir configured to provide a component at the filling valve; and a dosing product changing device configured to change the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir during a filling operation, wherein the dosing product changing device comprises a pressurization gas valve that controls a pressure in the dosing product reservoir.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the dosing product changing device is configured to change the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir while the filling valve is closed.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a flow meter, and wherein the dosing product changing device is configured to switch an opening or a closing of the dosing valve based on a measurement of a flow of the component through the flow meter.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the dosing product changing device is configured to set a differential pressure between the dosing product reservoir and the component.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the dosing product changing device is configured to make a pressure of the dosing product obtained at the filling valve lower than a pressure of the component obtained at the filling valve.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising a container transporting device configured to transport the container along a transport path, and wherein the filling valve is disposed on the container transporting device.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the container transporting device comprises a rotary machine or a filler carousel.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the filling valve comprises at least two filling valves, the dosing valve comprises at least two dosing valves, and the at least two dosing valves are connected to the dosing product reservoir via a ring line.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the ring line comprises a circulating pump and the dosing product changing device is configured to switch the circulating pump to change the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir.

10. The device of claim 8, further comprising a dosing product changing valve, and wherein the dosing product changing device is further configured to switch the dosing product changing valve to discharge a current dosing product from the ring line.

11. A method for filling a container with a filling product, comprising: controlling, by a filling valve, a supply of the filling product into the container; dosing, by a dosing valve, a dosing product from a dosing product reservoir into the filling valve; providing a component at the filling valve from a component reservoir; and changing, by a dosing product changing device, the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir during a filling operation, wherein the dosing product changing device comprises a pressurization gas valve that controls a pressure in the dosing product reservoir.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the dosing product is changed while the filling valve is closed.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein changing the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir comprises lowering a pressure in the dosing product reservoir while the filling valve is closed and the dosing valve is opened such that the dosing product is at least partially forced back into the dosing product reservoir.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: measuring a flow of the component; and determining, based on the flow, whether the dosing product has been forced back fully into the dosing product reservoir.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: exchanging the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir after the dosing product is fully forced back; and increasing a pressure in the dosing product reservoir such that a pressure of a new dosing product obtained at the filling valve is higher than a pressure of the component obtained at the filling valve.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising connecting the dosing valve to the dosing product reservoir via a ring line and providing a circulation pump in the ring line.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising switching the circulating pump to pump the dosing product out of the ring line and introducing a new dosing product.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising supplying a medium at the circulating pump to pump the dosing product out of the ring line.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the medium comprises the component or water.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) Further embodiments of the invention are explained in greater detail by the following description of the figures.

(2) FIG. 1 shows schematically a device for filling a container with a filling product in a first illustrative embodiment,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the bottling process, and

(4) FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of a device for filling a container in a second illustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) Illustrative embodiments are described on the basis of the figures. Same, similar or like-acting elements are here provided in the different figures with identical reference symbols, and a repeated description of these elements is partially dispensed with in order to avoid redundancies.

(6) In FIG. 1, a device 1 for filling a schematically shown container 100 with a filling product is shown. The containers 100 to be filled are arranged in the device 1 respectively beneath schematically indicated filling valves 2. Depending on the filling process, the containers 100 can here be pressed in a gastight manner against the filling valve 2, or the filling takes place in a free jet process. The filling of the containers 100 by means of the filling valves 2 here takes place during the transport of the containers 100. For this, the filling valves 2 are arranged, for instance, on the periphery of a filler carousel (not shown here), and the containers 100 to be filled are transported during the filling respectively under the filling valves 2.

(7) The filling valves 2 serve to appropriately control the inflowing of the filling product which is intended to flow in a predefined volume, a predefined mass or at predefined fill height into the container 100 to be filled. In particular, the time of inflowing of the filling product into the container 100 to be filled and the end of filling is intended to be controlled in order to accordingly achieve a reliable bottling.

(8) In this context, the term “controlling” also embraces a regulation of the flow of filling product into the container. In other words, the respective filling valve 2 influences the flow of the filling product into the container 100 respectively to be filled, such that the desired quantity of filling product is received in the container 100.

(9) At the filling valve 2, the main component held in a main component reservoir 3 is supplied via a main component line 30. The main component held in the main component reservoir 3 is constituted, for instance, by water or carbonized water, which is pretreated in accordance with the specifications for the respective filling product.

(10) The main component can be fed to the filling valve 2 via the main component supply line 30. A flow meter 32 for defining the volume flow of the main component is provided in order to ensure the inflowing volume of filling product during filling of the container 100 to be filled.

(11) Besides the main component, a dosing product from a first dosing product reservoir 4 is fed to the filling valve 2, wherein a dosing valve 40 for dosing the dosing product into the filling valve 2 is provided. The dosing product is conducted from a dosing product vessel 46, through a dosing product line 42, up to the dosing valve 40. The dosing product line 42 and the dosing product vessel 46 respectively form parts of the dosing product reservoir 4, since they are filled with dosing product and accordingly hold this available for use by the dosing valve 40. All further components and volumes (not shown here) which conduct the dosing product to the dosing valve 40 are likewise part of the dosing product reservoir 4.

(12) By means of the dosing valve 40, the dosing product present in the dosing product reservoir 4 can be fed to the filling valve 2, and the flow of the dosing product can be controlled via the dosing valve 40.

(13) For filling of the container 100 with filling product, the dosing product from the dosing product reservoir 4 is firstly dosed, for instance, by means of the dosing valve 40, with the filling valve 2 closed, into the filling valve 2 or into a prechamber provided in the filling valve 2.

(14) The volume of the dosing product dosed into the filling valve 2 can be defined, for instance, via the flow meter 32 arranged in the main component line 30, since, by dosing of the dosing product into the closed filling valve 2 or into its prechamber, the main component present in the filling valve 2 is forced back again into the main component line 30. Accordingly, the flow meter 32, during the dosing-in of the dosing product, registers a backflow, which, with the filling valve 2 closed, is identical to the quantity of dosing product dosed into the filling valve 2.

(15) If the predefined quantity of dosing product is introduced into the filling valve 2, then the dosing valve 40 is closed and the filling valve 2 can be opened in order to flush the dosing product dosed into the filling valve 2, jointly with the main component, into the container 100 to be filled. The volume of liquid which is to be introduced into the container 100 to be filled can here likewise be defined via the flow meter 32, since the total volume flowing through the flow meter 32 corresponds to the volume flowing into the container 100. Once the provided filling volume is reached, then the filling valve 2 is closed again and a renewed dosage of the dosing product can take place into the closed filling valve 2 in order to prepare for the next filling process.

(16) The same process can also be performed with a second dosing product, which is present in a second dosing product reservoir 5. Also, both dosing products can be introduced into the filling valve 2 in order to bottle a filling product including a plurality of dosing products and the main component.

(17) If one of the dosing products, for instance the dosing product present in the dosing product reservoir 4, is now due to be changed in order to perform a change of product during the bottling operation, then, during the phases in which the filling valve 2 is closed, the dosing product is changed by means of a dosing product changing device 6. The dosing product changing device 6 here enables the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir 4 to be changed during the regular bottling operation.

(18) For this, the dosing product changing device 6 is set up such that it enables the dosing product, starting from the filling valve 2 and the dosing valve 40, to flow back through the dosing product reservoir 4. The dosing product can here at least partially be forced back into the dosing product reservoir 4.

(19) In order to achieve the backflow of the dosing product, the pressure which weighs on the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir 4, i.e., for instance, the pretensioning gas pressure, is lowered via the dosing product changing device 6, for instance, such that the pressure of the dosing products which obtains at the dosing valve 40 and at the filling valve 2 is lower than the pressure which, of the main component, obtains at the filling valve 2.

(20) Accordingly, the dosing product changing device 6, for instance a pressurization gas valve 44 which controls or regulates the pressure in the dosing product reservoir 4, can switch such that the pressure for forcing the dosing product back into the dosing product reservoir 4 is lowered.

(21) When the dosing product changing device 6 subsequently switches the dosing valve 40, with the filling valve 2 closed, then the main component, due to the now changed pressure relationships, will flow from the main product reservoir 3 in the direction of the dosing product reservoir 4. Accordingly, the main component continues to displace the dosing product present in the dosing product line 42 and dosing valve 40, until the main component has forced the dosing product fully back into the dosing product reservoir 4. The accordingly displaced volume is able to be defined via the volume flow meter 32, by means of which can be established whether the entire volume of the dosing product has already been pushed back into an upper part of the dosing product reservoir 4 and, in some embodiments, into the dosing product vessel.

(22) If this is the case, either the dosing product in the dosing product reservoir 4 can be pumped off and replaced by a new one via the dosing product changing device 6, or else the dosing product changing device 6 can switch the dosing product vessel over to a further dosing product vessel (not shown here), which holds the new dosing product.

(23) After this, the dosing product changing device 6 again increases the pressure within the dosing product reservoir 4 now including the new dosing product, such that the pressure obtaining at the dosing valve 40 or at the filling valve 2 is again higher than the pressure of the main component obtaining at the filling valve 2. Hence, when the dosing valve 40 is opened, the now new dosing product is conducted through the dosing product reservoir 4 and, in particular, from a dosing product vessel through the dosing product line 42 to the dosing valve 40 and, in the process, again displaces the main component from the dosing product line 42. With the filling valve 2 closed, it can here be established, likewise via the volume flow meter 32, whether this process is completed and whether the dosing product is again present directly at the dosing valve 40 or the filling valve 2.

(24) This process of changing the dosing product respectively takes place in phases in which the filling valve 2 is closed. The changing of the dosing product also takes place in more than one step, which respectively take place with the filling valve 2 closed.

(25) In this way, a changing of the dosing product during the ongoing bottling operation is able to be achieved, wherein during the filling operation, as the first dosing product is being changed, either no dosing at all of dosing product into the containers 100 to be filled then takes place, and accordingly, for instance, a bottling of carbonized mineral water as the main component takes place, or else a bottling of filling product in a combination of the second dosing product from the second dosing product reservoir 5 and the main component takes place.

(26) In any event, the filling operation does not have to be interrupted and the plant can continue to bottle filling product, while, at the same time, a complete changing of the dosing product in the first dosing product reservoir 4 is performed.

(27) For the changing of the dosing product, the dosing product changing device 6 here opens the dosing valve 40 when the pressure relationships necessary for changing the dosing product obtain or, alternatively, if an appropriate pump is present, when the changing of the dosing product does not collide with the further bottling process. This is in particular always the case when the filling valve 2 is closed, for instance because a new container is taken up, because no container is present, because the container is being pretreated, for instance by evacuation or pretensioning or flushing with a flushing gas, or because the filled container is decompressed and brought to ambient pressure, or because the container is prepared for transfer to a following transport device.

(28) This is shown schematically in the flow chart of FIG. 2. The parallelly running steps of the bottling and of the changing of the dosing product are shown in this chart.

(29) In a first step S600, the new container 100 to be treated or filled is firstly positioned under the filling valve 2 and prepared for filling. Then, in step S602, the container 100 is pretensioned with a pressurization gas. During this pretensioning process, in parallel therewith, in step S604, a dosing of a dosing product into the closed filling valve 2 can be achieved by opening of the appropriate dosing valve 50. As soon as the intended dosing quantity is reached, the dosing valve 50 is closed again.

(30) In step S606 the filling valve 2 is then opened, and the container to be filled is filled, in step S606, with the filling product consisting of the dosing product, which already in step S604 has been dosed into the filling valve 2, and the main component, which, by opening of the filling valve 2, flows in the wake of said dosing product.

(31) After the end of the filling has been reached, which is defined, for instance, by the attainment of a filling volume monitored by means of the volume flow meter 32, the filling valve 2 is closed again.

(32) Subsequently in step S608, with the filling valve 2 closed, the container, which is then filled with the filling product and which is under pressure due to its pretensioning and due to the fed-in filling product, is decompressed to ambient pressure.

(33) In step S610, the container which has been filled and decompressed to ambient pressure can then be released from the filling process and fed to a further treatment process, for instance a closure.

(34) Parallel to the decompression, in step S612, with the filling valve 2 closed, the dosing valve 40 can now be opened after the dosing product changing device 6 has set the dosing product reservoir 4 to a lower pressure than the pressure of the main component obtaining at the filling valve 2, so that, at this point and, for instance, parallel to step S608, the main component, by way of the dosing valve 40, forces the filling product present in the dosing product line 42 back into the dosing product reservoir 4.

(35) This back-forcing in step S612 can take place parallel to the decompression of the container in step S608, and also parallel to the step of removing the filled container in step S610.

(36) The dosing valve 40 is then closed again as soon as a renewed dosing of dosing product into the filling valve 2 commences via the other dosing valve 50.

(37) Equally, when the dosing product changing device 6 has set the pressure in the dosing product reservoir 4 again sufficiently high that dosing product can flow out of the dosing product reservoir 4 in the direction of the dosing valve 40, in step S612 the main component can be forced back out of the dosing product line 42, and hence the dosing product line 42 can be filled with the then changed dosing product.

(38) Accordingly, the changing of the dosing product by means of the dosing product changing device 6 can take place during the full-scale operation of the device 1 and takes place cyclically, respectively in phases in which the filling valve 2 is closed.

(39) In FIG. 3, a further device 1 for filling schematically indicated containers 100 is shown, wherein a ring line 400 for the dosing product, in combination with a first dosing product vessel and possible supply lines, form the first dosing product reservoir 4, and a second ring line 500 for the dosing product, in combination with a second dosing product vessel and possible supply lines, form the second dosing product reservoir 5. The respective dosing valves 40, 50 are arranged, generally without dead space, on the respective ring line 400, 500.

(40) The dosing product changing device 6 can here, via a circulating pump 410 or 510, achieve in the respective ring line 400, 500 a circulation of the dosing product volume present in the respective dosing product vessel.

(41) Accordingly, for the changing of the dosing product by the dosing product changing device 6, it can be achieved that the dosing product is firstly conveyed from the respective dosing product vessel, by means of the circulating pump 410, through the ring line 400, such that the dosing product is directly available at the respective dosing valves 40, 50. The circulating pump 410 accordingly conveys the dosing product through the dosing product reservoir 4. During the production process, the circulating pump 410 does not need to be operated, but rather, due to the obtaining pressure relationships, the dosing product is subsequently delivered from the dosing product reservoir 4 to the dosing valve 40.

(42) If now, via the dosing product changing device 6, a change of dosing product, for instance in the dosing product reservoir 4, is due to take place, then the dosing product reservoir 4 is emptied by means of the circulating pump 410, wherein the dosing product can be pumped off, for instance, via a corresponding dosing product changing valve 420.

(43) If the dosing product vessel is completely emptied, then either water can be supplied in order to further flush out the ring line 400 by means of the circulating pump 410, or the new dosing product can be filled into the dosing product reservoir 4, which is then conveyed through the ring line 400 by means of the circulating pump 410 in such a way that the remaining previous dosing product present in the ring line 400 is likewise dispelled via the dosing product changing valve 420.

(44) Accordingly, the result is that, after the changing of the dosing product and the operation of the circulating pump 410, the ring line 400 is completely filled with the new dosing product by means of the dosing product changing device-6.

(45) In both said procedures, it is achieved that the current dosing product does not need to be discarded, but rather, during the bottling operation, can be completely removed from the system by being discarded either with the main component, with water or with the following dosing product.

(46) Subsequently, the new dosing product is then fully available again, so that a production operation does not need to be interrupted and, at the same time, an efficient use of the dosing product takes place.

(47) Where applicable, all individual features which are represented in the illustrative embodiments can be mutually combined and/or exchanged without departing from the scope of the invention.