DEVICE FOR TREATING CONTAINER CLOSURES

Abstract

A device for treating container closures, including sterilizing container closures for closing containers in a beverage filling plant. The device may include a treatment chamber for treating container closures, and a transport device for transporting container closures through the treatment chamber. The transport device may include a linear drive.

Claims

1.-10. (canceled)

11. A device for treating container closures, including sterilizing container closures for closing containers in a beverage filling plant, the device comprising: a treatment chamber for treating a container closure; and a transport device for transporting the container closure through the treatment chamber, the transport device comprising a linear drive operable in a direction of conveyance and in a direction counter to the direction of conveyance.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein the transport device includes: a long stator and a carriage individually driven via the long stator for accommodating the container closure that is to be treated.

13. The device accordingly to claim 12, wherein the carriage is a first carriage of a plurality of carriages driven via the long stator.

14. The device according to claim 12, wherein the carriage has a carrier for taking the container closure from a supply chute.

15. The device according to claim 12, wherein more than one container closure is transportable by each carriage.

16. The device accordingly to claim 12, wherein the transport device includes: a track switch; and a buffer for interim storage of the container closure, wherein the buffer is connected to a main transport line of the transport device via the track switch.

17. The device according to claim 12, further comprising a cleaning device configured to clean the container closure, the cleaning device disposed upstream of the treatment chamber, wherein the transport device includes, relative to its main direction of travel, a twisted section such that the container closure that is transported by the transport device undergoes a change in its orientation in the twisted section and the twisted section is disposed in a region of the cleaning device.

18. The device according to claim 11, wherein the transport device includes a buffer for interim storage of the container closure.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein the transport device includes a track switch and the buffer is connected to a main transport line of the transport device via the track switch.

20. The device accordingly to claim 19, wherein the track switch is a first track switch configured to connect the buffer to the main transport line at a first position in the main transport line, and the transport device includes a second track switch configured to connect the buffer to the main transport line at a second position in the main transport line.

21. The device according to claim 20, wherein the transport device includes, relative to its main direction of travel, a twisted section such that the container closure that is transported by the transport device undergoes a change in its orientation in the twisted section.

22. The device according to claim 21, further comprising a cleaning device configured to clean the container closure, the cleaning device disposed upstream of the treatment chamber and the twisted section is disposed in a region of the cleaning device.

23. The device according to claim 22, wherein the transport device is configured to supply the container closure directly to a capper for closing a container with the container closure.

24. The device according to claim 11, wherein the transport device is configured to supply the container closure directly to a capper for closing a container with the container closure.

25. The device according to claim 11, wherein the treatment chamber is configured as a sterilization chamber for a container.

26. The device according to claim 25, wherein the treatment chamber is further configured as a sterilization chamber for a preform of the container.

27. The device accordingly to claim 25, wherein the treatment chamber is further configured as a sterilization chamber for the container closure, the container closure configured to close the container.

28. The device according to claim 11, further comprising a cleaning device configured to clean the container closure, the cleaning device disposed upstream of the treatment chamber.

29. The device according to claim 11, wherein the transport device includes, relative to its main direction of travel, a twisted section such that the container closure that is transported by the transport device undergoes a change in its orientation in the twisted section.

30. The device according to claim 29, further comprising a cleaning device configured to clean the container closure, the cleaning device disposed upstream of the treatment chamber and the twisted section is disposed in a region of the cleaning device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0040] Preferred further embodiments of the invention are more fully explained by the description below of the figures. The figures show:

[0041] FIG. 1 a schematic representation of a device for treating container closures;

[0042] FIG. 2 a schematic representation of the device from FIG. 1 in normal operation;

[0043] FIG. 3 a schematic representation of the device from FIG. 1 shortly after a stoppage of the beverage filling plant;

[0044] FIG. 4 a schematic representation of a device for treating container closures according to a further embodiment; and

[0045] FIG. 5 a schematic representation of a device for treating container closures according to another further embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0046] Examples of preferred embodiments are described below with the aid of the figures. In the figures, elements which are identical or similar, or have identical effects, are designated with identical reference signs. In order to avoid redundancy, repeated description of these elements is in part dispensed with.

[0047] FIG. 1 shows schematically a device 1 for treating container closures 4. The device 1 is integrated in a beverage filling plant 8. The beverage filling plant 8 also has a sorting device 5 for sorting container closures 4, as well as an isolator 7 and a capper 6, disposed in the isolator 7, for closing containers with the container closures 4.

[0048] The sorting device 5, the capper 6 and the isolator 7 can also be designed as parts of the device 1.

[0049] The device 1 has a treatment chamber 2, which in this case is configured to sterilize the container closures 4. In this case the treatment chamber 2 is combined with the isolator 7 of the beverage filling plant 8. Alternatively, the treatment chamber 2 can also be provided separately from the isolator 7. The device 1 also has a transport device 3, which comprises a linear drive 30. The linear drive 30 has a long stator 31 and a plurality of carriages 32, each of which can be driven individually via the long stator 31, for accommodating container closures 4 that are to be treated. The linear drive 30 is accordingly constructed in the form of a linear motor, with a long stator 31 and a plurality of carriages 32 which move on it and can be individually driven.

[0050] Each carriage 32 has a carrier 33 for taking a container closure 4 that is to be transported from a supply chute 50 of the sorting device 5. The carriage 32 and the carrier 33 can also be designed such that in each case more than one container closure 4 is taken and transported by the carriage 32. For example two or more, for example 4, 6 or 8, container closures 4 can be transported on the carriage 32.

[0051] In this embodiment the linear drive 30 is designed such that it can be operated both in a direction of conveyance (see FIG. 2) and in a direction counter to the direction of conveyance (see FIG. 3). In other words, the carriages 32 can be displaced along the transport device 3 in two directions.

[0052] The transport device 3 further has a buffer 35, which is provided for the interim storage of container closures 4. The buffer 35 is connected to a main transport line 34 of the transport device 3 via a first track switch 36 and a second track switch 37. The first track switch 36 is disposed on the main transport line 34 between the supply chute 50 and the treatment chamber 2; the second track switch 37 is disposed on the transport device 3 downstream of the capper 6 and the isolator 7.

[0053] FIG. 2 shows schematically the device 1 from FIG. 1 in normal operation, in which the transport device 3 moves the carriages 32 individually in the direction of conveyance 9. Container closures 4 that are supplied from the sorting device 5 via the supply chute 50 to the transport device 3 are individually taken at the end of the supply chute 50 by in each case one carriage 32. After a container closure 4 has been taken by a carriage 32 at the end of the supply chute 50, the carriage 32 that carries the container closure 4 is passed through an airlock into the treatment chamber 2. In the treatment chamber 2, the container closure 4 is impinged with a vaporous treatment medium, in this case vaporized hydrogen peroxide. Alternatively, another known treatment medium, for example peracetic acid, can also be used in the treatment chamber 2 to achieve the treatment of the container closures.

[0054] The dwell time or treatment time of each container closure 4 in the treatment chamber 2 is governed by the speed that is set for the individual carriage 32, and can therefore be adjusted precisely. Overtreatment or insufficient treatment can thereby be effectively avoided. After the treated container closures 4 leave the treatment chamber 2 through an airlock they are conveyed further in the isolator 7 and transferred directly and at exactly the required intervals to the capper 6. After its container closure 4 has been transferred to the capper 6, the carriage 32 leaves the isolator 7 and is moved along the transport device 3, following the circuit of the main transport line 34 further in the direction of, and up to, the supply chute 50, in order to enable it to pick up a new container closure 4 that is to be treated. On this return trip each empty carriage 32 can be moved at a high speed, in order in this manner to minimize the number of carriages 32 that are required.

[0055] FIG. 3 shows schematically the device 1 from FIG. 1 shortly after a stoppage of the beverage filling plant 8. In order to avoid overtreatment of container closures 4 that were already present in the treatment chamber 2 when the stoppage occurred, they are moved back out of the treatment chamber 2 in the direction 10 counter to the normal direction of conveyance 9 (see FIG. 2). In this case those carriages 32 that carry closures which have already undergone more than 50% of their treatment are conveyed out of the treatment chamber 2 at a particularly high speed.

[0056] The carriages 32 reach and enter the buffer 35 via the first track switch 36. Because more carriages 32 were present in the treatment chamber 2 than can be accommodated in the buffer 35, some of the carriages 32 that were present in the treatment chamber 2 when the plant stoppage occurred have been conveyed further via the second track switch 37 onto the main transport line 34. In other words, the region of the main transport line 34 that is provided for the return conveyance of the carriages 32, after they have left the isolator 7, serves as an additional buffer, i.e. as an extension of the buffer 35.

[0057] When the stoppage in the plant has ended, the carriages 32 that are present in the buffer 35 and in the additional buffer are again conveyed in the direction of conveyance 9 up to and into the treatment chamber 2, so that the container closures 4 can undergo correct sterilization. When the buffer 35 and the additional buffer have been emptied, new container closures 4 are again taken from the supply chute 50 and, as shown in FIG. 2, i.e. in normal operation, moved through the treatment chamber 2.

[0058] FIG. 4 shows schematically a device 1 for treating container closures 4 according to a further embodiment. It substantially corresponds to the device shown in FIG. 1. The treatment chamber 2, however, is not provided only for treating the container closures 4, but in this embodiment it is configured as a sterilization chamber for container preforms 12 which, after being blow molded and filled with a filling product, are to be closed with the container closures 4 in the capper 6. The treatment chamber 2 is further configured to treat the container closures 4 for closing the containers. Thus sterilization takes place of both the container closures 4, which are moved by means of the transport device 3 through the treatment chamber 2, and the preforms 12, which are also transported through the treatment chamber 2 by means of a preform transport device 11 that is provided separately from the transport device 2. In this case the treatment times of the container closures 4 and the preforms 12 differ, and are adapted to the applicable molded parts. It is possible by this means for both the preforms 12 and the container closures 4 to undergo a treatment with an optimum treatment time in the treatment chamber 2.

[0059] FIG. 5 shows schematically a device 1 for treating container closures 4 according to a further embodiment. It substantially corresponds to the device shown in FIG. 1, but in this embodiment no buffer is provided. Alternatively, however, the device 1 shown in FIG. 5 can also comprise a buffer in accordance with the previously described embodiments. Between the supply chute 50 and the treatment chamber 2, the transport device has a twisted section 38. In this twisted section 38, each of the carriages 32 undergoes a change in orientation. While at the end of the supply chute 50 the carriages 32, each with its receptacle for the container closure 4, point upwards, i.e. counter to the direction of gravity, in the twisted section 38 the orientation of the carriages 32 is pivoted such that the carriages 32, with their receptacles, point downwards, i.e. in the direction of gravity. Consequently, a container closure 4 that is held or accommodated in the inverted carriage 32 also points downwards. Below the twisted section 38 a cleaning device 13 is disposed, which removes coarse dirt and dust from the container closures 4 before they enter the treatment chamber 2, in this case by blowing the dirt and dust away with compressed air. After the container closure 4 has been pre-cleaned by the cleaning device 13, the carriage 32 that contains this container closure 4 is further pivoted in the remaining portion of the twisted section 38, so that it again adopts its original orientation.

[0060] To the extent applicable, all individual features that are described in the example embodiments can be combined with each other and/or exchanged, without departing from the field of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE SKINS

[0061] 1 device [0062] 2 treatment chamber [0063] 3 transport device [0064] 30 linear drive [0065] 31 long stator [0066] 32 carriage [0067] 33 carrier [0068] 34 main transport line [0069] 35 buffer [0070] 36 first track switch [0071] 37 second track switch [0072] 38 twisted section [0073] 4 container closure [0074] 5 sorting device [0075] 5 supply chute [0076] 50 capper [0077] 6 isolator [0078] 7 beverage filling plant [0079] 9 direction of conveyance [0080] 10 direction counter to the direction of conveyance [0081] 11 preform transport device [0082] 12 preform [0083] 13 cleaning device