RU2696080C1 - Method of maintaining a sterile atmosphere in a dispensing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: technological processes.

SUBSTANCE: method uses a sterilizing mixture consisting of hot air and sprayed fine hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). At that, positive pressure of preset concentration of mixture in internal circuit of unsealed insulator is created by process windows throttling for removal of excess gaseous peroxide in low pressure area of external unsealed loop throughout the whole process of dispensing sterilized product into bottles. Bottles both inside and outside, in front of inlet and inner loop of non-hermetic insulator, and sealing covers both inside and outside, delivered by inclined wire guides, is treated successively with a sterilizing mixture and sterile air prior to dispensing and packing beverage. In addition, sterilizing mixture flows are formed to process the transmitting stars of the insulator inner loop.

EFFECT: invention provides for increased reliability, simplification and cheapening of the dispensing process.

1 cl, 3 dwg, 1 tbl

Description

The invention relates to a method for filling and closing bottles with a beverage in a sterilizing medium consisting of a mixture of hot air and hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) - peroxide.

A known method of aseptic technology for bottling sensitive to bacteriological contamination and oxidation of beverages, involving the operation in an environment in which the atmosphere of the microbiological load is controlled, to ensure a longer shelf life of the finished product.

Thus, the aseptic manufacturing process takes place in a sterilized environment with controlled contamination.

An ultra-clean process is known in which containers (containers) are delivered sterilized or sterilized at the filler inlet, with fewer germs compared to aseptic technology, and only filling and closing are carried out in a controlled atmosphere.

Moreover, in order to ensure a longer shelf life of finished products in relation to aseptic technology, storage of containers (containers) at low temperature is required.

A known method of controlling environmental pollution in aseptic beverage bottling plants, including both a machine for forming containers and a machine for filling and capping, through the use of "clean rooms" for each operation of filling drinks: production, filling and packaging of containers.

Therefore, the packaging process includes the creation and maintenance of aseptic conditions in the volume of space, which is clearly larger than the zones in which the formation, filling and closing of the container takes place. A “clean room” completely covers each machine without any distinction between processing zones and auxiliary zones, such as those containing drive elements.

The main disadvantage of traditional packaging methods and systems is the considerable bulkiness of such systems. In fact, “cleanrooms” must necessarily be of considerable size in order to be able to isolate the machines and their respective drive elements from the contaminated environment * while the machines must be appropriately designed in accordance with aseptic technology and quickly connected to fillers and capping machines.

In addition, in “clean rooms” it is difficult to carry out resizing or maintenance and adjusting machine parts due to the risk of contamination that such operations entail. Thus, the operator’s access to the “clean room” is especially critical and is allowed only if sterile equipment is used: shoes, clothes, headgear.

A known method of producing a gaseous sterilizing medium containing hydrogen peroxide (see patent RU No. 2035919 IPC A61L 2/20, publication of 05/27/1995), which provides for periodic injection of liquid hydrogen peroxide in a heated air stream. In this case, the air is heated due to contact with a heating element having a large thermal inertia.

The disadvantage of this method is that the processing of containers is carried out in different chambers, and the sterilization process itself occurs sequentially for each individual container with the change of the sterilizing medium to its removal, which will irreversibly lead to a low speed of the filling unit.

There is an aseptic method for filling a drink in a container in a “clean room” (see JP patent No. 3315918 IPC A61L 2/20, publication of 08.19.2002), which involves spraying peracetic acid, sterile water, hot air and hydrogen peroxide that is emitted from nozzles using a fog generator, spraying the inside of the chamber, creating a sterilizing agent in the form of fog to obtain a synergistic effect (increase in efficiency), when the combined effect of these factors significantly exceeds the simple sum of actions th of these factors.

The disadvantage of this solution is that the filling of the drink takes place in a "clean room", but not in a sterile, but in a clean environment.

A known method of sterilization (see, patent CN No. 104001198 In IPC A61L 2/20; A61L 101/22, publication of 09/14/2016), comprising a hydrogen peroxide generator for supplying gas through valves to two-chamber multilayer sterilizers.

The disadvantage of this solution is the complex mechanical device of the system, which reduces its reliability, the spacing of the sterilization chambers to fill and remove the sterilizing medium.

The closest in technical essence and the achieved result is a method of obtaining a gaseous sterilization fluid (see US patent No. 5258162A IPC A61L 2/00, 2/16, 2/20, publication of 02.11.1993), including the formation of an air stream, heating the air flow to an almost constant, elevated evaporation temperature and periodic evaporation of liquefied hydrogen peroxide in a heated air stream.

The mixture is prepared by the standard well-known method: first it is heated, then it is finally heated and the peroxide is metered in the spray. Then it is used to disinfect boxes in three-section equipment. In the first compartment, the container is simply heated so that no further condensation occurs, in the next compartment, peroxide is first supplied within 1 second, then the containers are blown for 0.5 seconds to remove it with hot sterile air.

The disadvantage of this method is:

- A separate section for preheating, complicating the design and technology.

- Alternating actions in the second compartment, i.e. first disinfection, then blowing forced to make a stop on the conveyor, which will not allow to develop high performance.

- Filling with the product takes place in a separate third compartment, into which the sterilizing mixture is not supplied and requires tightness during the filling process.

- Switching of valves occurs with a frequency of 1 second. How many switching cycles will there be per hour, shift? Valves will not last long, i.e. system reliability is very low.

The known method displays the classic aseptic with preliminary disinfection and further filling in a sterile environment.

The technical result of the proposed solution is to increase reliability, simplify and reduce the cost of the bottling process by creating a hydrogen peroxide sterilizer of a reasonable structure that provides the required high biological purity of the bottled beverage occurring in a sterilizing medium.

The technical result is achieved by the fact that in a method of maintaining a sterile atmosphere in the filling unit, the use of a sterilizing mixture consisting of hot air and atomized finely divided hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) - peroxide, including the creation of excess pressure of a given concentration of this mixture in the inner circuit leaky insulator during throttling of technological windows to remove excess gaseous peroxide in the low-pressure region of the external leaky circuit on throughout the entire process of filling a sterilized product into bottles, the bottles, both inside and outside, in front of the entrance and in the inner circuit of the leaky insulator, as well as closures, both inside and outside, delivered along inclined wire guides, are processed accordingly sequentially sterilizing mixture and sterile air before bottling and capping the drink, in addition, the flows of the sterilizing mixture for processing transmitting stars of the inner circuit of the leak insulator.

During the bottling process, a multiple exchange of medium is carried out inside the leaky insulator, which guarantees the complete sterility of the process of bottling the drink in bottles and the sterility of capping bottles with the finished product.

The basis of this solution is the use of a sterilizing mixture, since aseptic methods are becoming increasingly important for the handling and filling of containers, i.e. the constant presence of the sterilizing mixture in the space where the bottling takes place, thereby ensuring high microbiological purity of the process, since peroxide is a particularly reliable sterilizing agent for the destruction of microorganisms and to achieve a long shelf life of the contents of the container.

Thus, the injected chemical sterilizing medium is distributed during the sterilization cycle into the interior of the leaky insulator through spray nozzles installed inside, where the resulting medium reacts with any unwanted microbes.

The proposed solution allows us to solve the problem without the need to install additional expensive and complex cleaning systems.

Previously, processes were proposed that maintained a sterile, but non-sterilizing medium during the filling process, by creating an unpressurized insulator in which a sterile atmosphere was maintained and excluding untreated outside air from entering the unpressurized insulator. Moreover, the non-tight isolator performed the function of a barrier of protection from the external environment and any minimal risks of deviations from this process led to the need to stop the main bottling process and proceed to re-sterilize the non-tight isolator and restart the bottling process.

A mixture of atomized peroxide and hot air is a sterilizing medium, and an unpressurized insulator is only a conditional barrier to the instantaneous release of the sterilizing medium to the outside and thereby ensures a constant calculated concentration of peroxide inside the filling unit. The set concentration of the mixture is maintained by feeding peroxide vapor through the batcher into a stream of hot air passing at a given speed, the volumes of which are controlled by the flow meter. The medium inside the leaky isolator is sterilizing, which guarantees the destruction of any microorganisms entering the isolator from the outside during bottling and provides an aseptic mode of filling products in bottles and sterilizing them.

In addition, the use of the proposed method of sterilization due to the decomposition of peroxide into water vapor and oxygen allows for environmental protection and non-toxic emission of the spent agent.

This method also allows you to solve the problem without the need to install additional expensive and complex cleaning systems, providing a sterilizing mixture of known concentration and placement of a given number of nozzles of hydrogen peroxide and heated air.

Thus, this technical solution is aimed at creating a device that implements the proposed method for spray sterilization by creating a mixture that allows efficient use of space and simplifies the design and at the same time maintain a high degree of hygiene. The sterilizer can be dosed quickly and with high accuracy with a very short sterilization time.

Comparison of the proposed method with existing technical solutions shows that it has a new set of essential features, which, together with already known features, can successfully achieve the goal.

The invention is illustrated in graphic materials, where in the drawings of FIG. 1, 2 shows a device for implementing the proposed method, and in the table and graph, FIG. Figure 3 shows an experimental study of the organoleptic quality indicators of the finished product due to sterilization with a mixture with a minimum level of residual peroxide in the finished product.

The composition of the proposed facility:

1. supply of empty bottles;

2. monoblock case (external circuit);

3. a mixture of hot air and hydrogen peroxide H ₂ O ₂ , (sterilizing mixture);

4. leaky insulator (internal circuit);

5. the purge section of the bottles;

6. hot sterile air;

7. filling station;

8. finished product;

9. bottle capping area;

10. capper;

11. filing a closure cap for bottle closure;

12. output of finished products;

13. exhaust fan;

14. technical openings (windows);

15. sterile product;

16. transmitting stars (this position is not shown in the drawing).

Description of the process of the object of the proposed method:

The increased pressure is created due to the injection of the sterilizing mixture 3 and sterile air 6, and the lower pressure is due to the medium being drawn by the exhaust fan 13 with a speed regulator.

Before the bottling process begins, namely, by feeding the bottles 1 and the closures 11 to the leaky insulator 4, the first step is its disinfection. A sterilizing mixture of peroxide and air 3 is continuously fed into the space of the inner circuit 4 for 5 minutes, providing microbiological purity and thereby preparing for the main technological process.

Before entering the leaky insulator 4, empty bottles 1 are treated with a sterilizing mixture 3 from the outside and from the inside. Mixture 3, settling on the walls of bottles 1, completely disinfects bottles 1.

The bottles 1, getting into the leaky insulator 4, first pass the purge section 5 with sterile hot air 6. Due to this, the residual peroxide is removed from the inner walls of the bottle 1 and in the bottle itself, the concentration of the peroxide mixture is significantly reduced. This achieves the required minimum level of residual peroxide in the finished product 8.

Immediately after purging 5 with sterile air 6, bottle 1 gets to the filling area 7.

At the bottling site 7, the bottles 1 are filled with pre-prepared sterilized product 8. Next, the bottles 1 are served for corking 9.

The lids 11, getting into the leaky insulator 4, are also treated with a sterilizing mixture 3 from the outside and from the inside and are flushed with 5 sterile heated air 6 to remove peroxide residues from the walls of the closures 11 immediately before the closure 10 of the bottles 1 with the product 8 poured into them.

The bottle 1 is sealed with a cap 11, which is fed along inclined wire guides into the sealing zone. Ready-made bottles 12 exit the leaky insulator 4.

A sterilizing mixture 3 is additionally fed into the leaky isolator 4 to maintain the required concentration of peroxide vapor, which provides a sterilizing effect and guarantees the absence of living microorganisms inside the leaky isolator 4.

Due to the supply of the sterilizing mixture 3 to the non-tight insulator 4, in which a slight increased pressure (P> Ratm) is generated in relation to the space surrounding the insulator, the excess mixture of peroxide 3 and air 6 leaves through the technological openings (windows) 14 of the non-tight insulator 4 and an opening for filing covers in the capping zone.

When the bottles pass through the technological openings (windows) 14 and the opening for the entrance of the caps due to a change in their cross section, the effect of throttling the excess sterilizing mixture 3 and air 6 into the reduced pressure zone of the monoblock body 2 occurs.

Since the reduced pressure (P <P atm) created due to exhaust ventilation 13, which constantly removes the air mixture from the external circuit 2, completely excludes its going beyond this circuit, which guarantees protection against ingress of the aggressive component of the sterilizing mixture 3 and environmentally friendly its decomposition products - oxygen and water - into the outer space into the operator's work area. Ensuring safe operation of the operator during the decomposition of peroxide is achieved under the condition of uninterrupted operation of exhaust ventilation, when it is turned off, the supply of peroxide to the internal circuit 4 is blocked.

The results of the tests on the disinfection and filling of the bottles are summarized in (see table and graph of Fig. 3) and reflect the organoleptic quality indicators of the process that ensures a competitive finished product, the concentration unit of which (residual peroxide level) is ppm (parts per million) - millionth fraction, is equal to 0.3 ppm, which is below generally accepted international standards.

The green curve is a row. 2 defines the filling process without purging the bottle with sterile hot air in an unpressurized insulator 4;

The blue curve is a row. 1 defines the filling process when purging the bottle with sterile hot air in an unpressurized insulator 4;

The technical and economic advantage of the proposed technical solution is to increase the reliability, simplify and reduce the cost of the bottling process with the required high biological purity of the bottled beverage, performed under continuous aseptic conditions and cost-effectiveness in its implementation.

Claims (1)

A method of maintaining a sterile atmosphere in a filling unit, which provides for the creation of a sterilizing mixture consisting of hot air and atomized fine hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) - peroxide, characterized in that it involves creating a positive pressure of a given concentration of the sterilizing mixture of the inner circuit of an unpressurized insulator during process throttling windows to remove excess gaseous peroxide in the low pressure area of the external leaky circuit throughout the entire process the process of pouring a sterilized product into bottles, the bottles, both inside and outside, in front of the inlet and in the inner circuit of the leaky insulator, as well as closures, both inside and outside, delivered along inclined wire guides, treated with a sequentially sterilizing mixture and sterile air before bottling and capping the beverage; in addition, sterilizing mixture streams are formed for treating the transmitting stars of the inner circuit of the leaky insulator.

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