APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF CONTAINERS WITH SUPPORTED CLEAN ROOM

Abstract

Apparatus for treating containers has a transport device which transports the containers at least in sections along a predetermined transport path, and a plurality of treatment devices which treat the containers at least at times during transport along the transport path, wherein the apparatus has a clean room which clean room is delimited from an environment by at least one wall, and furthermore at least one sealing device is provided for sealing off the clean room from its environment, wherein this sealing device has at least two elements and/or walls which can be moved with respect to one another wherein, the clean room is formed between a floor unit and a ceiling unit and at least the floor unit or the ceiling unit is formed as a load-bearing unit and support elements are arranged within the clean room for supporting the ceiling unit and/or the floor unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for treating containers, having a transport device which transports the containers at least in sections along a predetermined transport path, and having a plurality of treatment devices which treat the containers at least at times during transport along the transport path, wherein the apparatus has a clean room, within which the containers are transported during their treatment, wherein this clean room is delimited from an environment by at least one wall, and furthermore at least one sealing device is provided for sealing off the clean room from its environment, wherein this sealing device has at least two elements and/or walls which are movable with respect to one another wherein the clean room is formed between a floor unit and a ceiling unit and at least the floor unit or the ceiling unit is formed as a load-bearing unit and support elements are arranged within the clean room for supporting the ceiling unit and/or the floor unit.

2. An apparatus for treating containers, having a circular or part-circular transport path which is formed by a transport device and on which the containers are moved at least in each case with a partial region having a container opening within a sterile clean room delimited from the surroundings by an enclosure, wherein a partial section of the enclosure is on the transport device and is moved with the latter, and a further subsection of the enclosure is provided on the device frame of the apparatus which is not moved along with the transport device, wherein the enclosure has, at least in the further subsection, a wall structure which is formed by wall elements which delimits the clean room of the wall structure of the enclosure to the surroundings, and of a supporting structure, wherein the elements of the load-bearing structure have a plurality of carriers which are oriented transversely or perpendicularly to a transport direction of the transport device and are fastened at one end by mechanical connections, and in that labyrinth and/or siphon seals are provided at the transition between the sections, and the clean room is formed between a floor unit and a ceiling unit and at least the floor unit or the ceiling unit is formed as load-bearing elements of the load-bearing structure and support elements of the load-bearing structure are arranged inside the clean room for supporting the ceiling unit and/or the floor unit.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one sealing device has a circumferential channel which can be filled with a liquid, wherein this channel is formed in the ceiling unit, and/or at least one sealing device has a circumferential channel which can be filled with a liquid, wherein this channel is formed in the floor unit.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the floor unit and/or the ceiling unit has a wall thickness of at least 4 mm.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support elements are column elements which connect the floor unit to the ceiling unit.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the clean room is also delimited by side walls, wherein these side walls preferably are of non-load-bearing design.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus has a base support on which the floor unit is arranged.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises at least one support crossbar.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the support crossbar connects at least two support elements to each other.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the support crossbar serves to support further units of the apparatus.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein further units are selected from a group of units comprising guide cams, blowing nozzle cam supports, ceiling supports and ventilation elements.

12. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the floor unit and/or the ceiling unit has a wall thickness of at least 5 mm.

13. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the floor unit and/or the ceiling unit has a wall thickness of at least 6 mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Further embodiments and advantageous designs can be seen in the attached drawings:

[0037] In the drawings:

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a rough schematic representation of an apparatus for treating containers;

[0039] FIG. 2 shows an illustration of a clean room construction for the present invention;

[0040] FIG. 3 shows a representation of a floor unit;

[0041] FIG. 4 shows a representation of the floor unit with support elements;

[0042] FIG. 5 shows a representation of the ceiling unit from below;

[0043] FIG. 6 shows a top view of the ceiling unit;

[0044] FIG. 7 shows a composition of the floor unit and the ceiling unit;

[0045] FIG. 8 shows a representation of the clean room with walls;

[0046] FIG. 9, 10 show two illustrations to show the support of the clean room against a support frame;

[0047] FIG. 11 shows a further illustration to illustrate the present invention, and;

[0048] FIG. 12 shows a further illustration to illustrate the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0049] FIG. 1 shows a rough schematic representation of an apparatus 1 for treating containers according to the invention. In this case, plastic preforms 10 are fed to the system and expanded into plastic bottles or generally plastic containers 15 by means of a plurality of forming stations 3. The reference sign 10a indicates a mouth of the plastic containers which does not change or is not expanded during the forming process.

[0050] The reference sign 20 indicates a clean room, which is formed here between the two circular lines and within which the treatment of the containers takes place. The reference sign 72 indicates a feed device, such as a transport starwheel, which feeds the plastic preforms 10 to the apparatus, and the reference sign 74 indicates a removal device, preferably also a transport starwheel, which removes the manufactured plastic containers from the device.

[0051] FIG. 2 shows an illustration explaining a cleanroom 20 according to the invention. Here, reference sign 4 refers to a floor unit and reference sign 6 refers to a ceiling unit. As mentioned above, these two units are preferably designed as load-bearing elements and delimit the clean room 20 downwards and upwards. Reference sign 14 denotes a sealing device formed in the ceiling unit 6, which serves to seal the clean room from the environment. A circumferential channel is formed here, within which a liquid can be guided. The reference sign 32 indicates a support element which supports the ceiling unit 6 relative to the floor unit 4. This support element runs inside the clean room. It can be seen that a plurality of such support elements are provided.

[0052] The reference sign 48 indicates a longitudinal support which also extends in a vertical direction and which is preferably arranged outside the clean room. Two crossbars 42, 43 and also other crossbars are provided on these longitudinal supports 48. These crossbars form a rec-tangle here. The reference sign 46 indicates a carrying means by means of which the entire apparatus can be lifted and transported.

[0053] FIG. 3 shows an illustration of the floor unit 4. Here again the sealing device 12 and more precisely the circumferential channel 12a is provided, which is formed in the floor unit 4. Since the floor unit is designed as a load-bearing unit, it is also able to support the channel and also a channel filled with liquid without bending.

[0054] In the illustration shown in FIG. 4, support elements 32 and 34 are arranged on the floor unit by means of connecting elements 33. These connecting elements can be screw elements in particular, but welding is also possible.

[0055] FIG. 5 shows a top view of the ceiling unit. Here again, a sealing device 14 is provided, which accordingly has a circumferential channel 14a.

[0056] FIG. 6 shows a view of the ceiling unit from below, wherein again showing the sealing device, which is part of a water lock. The cross-section of the circumferential channel of the sealing device 14 is larger than the cross-section of the circumferential channel of the sealing device 12.

[0057] FIG. 7 shows the entire arrangement of the clean room consisting of the floor unit 4, the ceiling unit 6 and the support elements 32 as well as the connections 35. It can be seen here that the sealing device 12 of the floor unit has a smaller cross-section or diameter than the sealing unit 14 which is arranged in the ceiling unit 6.

[0058] FIG. 8 shows a further representation of the clean room. Here, additional wall elements 52, 54 are shown, which delimit the clean room from the surroundings. However, these wall elements 52, 54 are not designed as load-bearing elements.

[0059] FIG. 9 shows an overall view of the clean room 20, which is arranged on a frame or carrier unit 16. Support elements 56 are provided here to support the cleanroom 20 relative to the carrier unit 16. In addition, the crossbar 42 can also be seen here as described above.

[0060] FIG. 10 shows a further illustration, wherein support elements 58 are provided here in the form of angle beams. However, a central carrier 56 is also provided. The reference sign 60 indicates a cross carrier which is used to attach buildings such as valve blocks, stretching rods, drives and the like.

[0061] FIG. 11 shows a general view of an apparatus according to the invention. Here, treatment stations 3 are provided in the form of forming stations. The reference sign 20 again indicates the clean room within which these forming stations are guided. In addition, the upper sealing device 14, which is arranged in the ceiling unit 4, can also be seen. The wall elements 54 are also recognisable.

[0062] Above the ceiling unit, a further structure 70 is provided in which elements can be integrated, such as stretching bars, drives and the like. This unit is preferably arranged outside the clean room, which is formed between the floor unit and the ceiling unit as mentioned above. Next to it, the crossbar 42 is again visible. This can also be used here to support further units 80 such as a compressed air generation unit or a ventilation unit.

[0063] FIG. 12 shows another illustration, in which the support elements are highlighted. It can be seen that longitudinal elements 48 are provided here, which are attached (outside the clean room) to the main carrier or base carrier 16 on the floor. The reference sign 62 indicates fastening devices for fastening the longitudinal elements 48.

[0064] The applicant reserves the right to claim all features disclosed in the application documents as essential to the invention, provided that they are individually or in combination new com-pared to the prior art. It is further pointed out that the individual figures also describe features which may be advantageous in themselves. The skilled person immediately recognises that a certain feature described in a figure can also be advantageous without adopting further features from this figure. Furthermore, the skilled person recognises that advantages can also result from a combination of several features shown in individual figures or in different figures.