WO2018001776A1 - Method for filling a container containing a hollow element - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for filling a container (10) containing at least one hollow element (12; 13) with a foaming beverage, in particular an ale beer, which hollow element (12; 13) has a housing (11) enclosing a gas compartment (16) in which at least one perforation is formed for a gas exchange between the gas compartment (16) and the environment, characterized in that: i) first of all, a proportion of inert gas in the gas compartment (16) of the hollow element (12, 13) in a hollow element filling installation (30; 40) is increased by pressurizing the hollow element (12; 13) with inert gas, and ii) thereafter in a container filling machine (22) the container (10) having at least one hollow element (12; 13) arranged therein is filled under pressure with an inert gas proportion increased according to method step i). The invention further relates to a hollow element, the gas compartment (16) of which is filled to at least 95% with an inert gas, in particular N2.

Description

 Method for filling a container containing a hollow element

Arn Markt has a marketing strategy for some years to offer the customer an advantage that when opening cans or similar containers on the drink "fresh, fine" foam, ie a kind of crema foam is generated Ale beers from the English market such as Guinness®, for which it is necessary to insert a so-called widget in the container, eg a beverage can, before filling, but at the latest before closing.These widgets are small hollow elements eg in the form of cylinders or balls, in particular made of plastic with tiny perforations for the slow passage of gas.These widgets have been found to be advantageous for the formation of a "crema foam" and are referred to below as hollow elements in each container one or more hollow elements can be arranged. Regularly there is a hollow element in each container The hollow element can either be firmly connected to an inner wall of the container or float freely in it (floating hollow element).

These containers provided with hollow elements have an increasing demand, which is why this tendency must be taken into account when filling the drinks in container filling machines.

One difficulty is the gas exchange in the hollow element itself. The hollow elements are delivered to the breweries untreated, i. in the hollow elements is normal ambient air, which usually has an O2 content of about 21%. However, this O2 content would have a detrimental effect on the product quality and the minimum shelf life, especially when bottling beer. For example, the O2 would lead to oxidation of beer, which would negatively affect the taste. An exchange of existing gas in the hollow element volume is thus required.

According to a known solution, the gas exchange usually takes place in a filling machine. In this case, the container, which already contains the hollow element, first flushed with CO ₂ or N ₂ and then biased again with an inert gas, for example, also CO ₂ or N ₂ . This process must be repeated several times. It is essential that the interior of the hollow element only by a small, dü- Sen-shaped opening is connected to the environment, with the result that the gas exchange in the hollow element is slow and usually not completely successful, so that even after repeated rinsing oxygen is still contained in the hollow element.

In particular, this solution is disadvantageous since it takes a lot of time and thus reduces the performance of the container filling machine, which possibly entails that the filler size must be larger by one or more sizes. Likewise, the high O 2 values in the gas space of the hollow element in beer are of great disadvantage.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method that allows the filling of a container containing a hollow element to produce a fine foam, without the quality of the beverage is affected by the hollow element.

This object is achieved by a method according to claim 1 and by a hollow element according to claim 1 1. Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of the associated dependent claims. Advantageous developments of the invention are also described in the description and in the drawings.

According to the invention, a hollow element is prefabricated whose gas space is filled to at least 95% with an inert gas, in particular N ₂ . Such a hollow element with an increased inert gas content of at least 90%, in particular at least 94% (compared to 80% of the normal ambient atmosphere) has the advantage that it can be introduced directly into the filling process of the beverage container, in particular a beverage can, without being complicated Flushing and pressurizing steps before the actual filling of the beverage must change the atmosphere in the gas space of the hollow element. Preferably, hollow elements with an inert gas content in the gas space of at least 95% are already prefabricated in the factory and preferably stored or transported under an inert gas atmosphere, so that the inert gas content does not decrease from fabrication to use in a container filling machine. The transport or storage under inert gas is not mandatory, since the atmosphere in the gas space without active steps due to the small perforation hardly changes. Such hollow elements preferably have a circular cylindrical or spherical housing, in particular made of plastic and the perforation or perforations in the hollow element are so small that they allow the passage of gas, but not the passage of liquid, whereby the gas in the gas space after arranging the hollow element remains present in the beverage container. Thus, one or more perforations with a diameter in the order of 10 to 100 μιτι may be formed in the housing of the hollow element.

Thus, the hollow elements are filled in a separate Hohlelementfüllanlage under pressure with the inert gas, wherein a pressure filling and subsequent flushing can take place repeatedly to further increase the inert gas in the gas space of the hollow element. The proportion of inert gas, in particular nitrogen, should be at least 90%, in particular at least 94%, and in particular at least 95% or even at least 96%. In this way, it is ensured that the hollow element, which contributes to the production of a crema foam, especially in Ale-beer like Guinness, when emptying the beverage container, does not affect the quality of the beverage itself, e.g. by oxygen in the gas space of the hollow element enters the beverage and there leads to oxidation. By the invention thus the function of the gas exchange is displaced in the hollow element in a separate Hohlelementfüllanlage. As a result, this function is independent of the actual filling process in the container filling machine (which is not identical to the Hohlelementfüllanlage). Preferably, the inert gas content in the gas space of the hollow element compared to the ambient atmosphere is thus increased before filling the container, possibly already during or after the production of the hollow elements, but at the latest in a separate Hohlelementfüllanlage the bottler before filling the container in the container filling machine.

What is essential here is the recognition that the gas / gas atmosphere, which is located in the gas cavity of the hollow element, remains substantially unchanged due to the small openings of the hollow element without active measures. There are two different types of hollow elements: Fixed hollow elements, which are attached to the container interior, eg at the bottom. These fixed hollow elements are preferably formed circular cylindrical. The working methods for these two hollow elements could look like this: a) Fixed hollow element:

Increasing the inert gas content within the hollow element in a Hohlelementfüllanla- ge. In the hollow element filling system, the container is placed under inert gas pressure together with the hollow element, transferring the container into a container filling machine, rinsing and filling the container under pressure. Before the container is closed, it is charged with liquid nitrogen, which, after the container has been closed tightly, by the transition of the initially liquid N ₂ into the gaseous state, produces the internal pressure of the container and thus also the same internal pressure in the hollow element. b) Floating hollow element:

Increasing the inert gas content in the hollow element in a hollow element filling plant, in which a plurality of hollow elements are placed under inert gas pressure, introducing the hollow element into the container to be filled, rinsing and pressure filling the container, closing the container. Before the container is closed, it is charged with liquid nitrogen, which, after the container has been closed tightly, by the transition of the initially liquid N ₂ into the gaseous state, produces the internal pressure of the container and thus also the same internal pressure in the hollow element. In the case of the floating hollow element, the correct inert gas atmosphere in the hollow element of more than 90%, preferably more than 95%, of inert gas can preferably already be produced in the "hollow element factory", ie immediately after or at the place of manufacture With the pre-prepared hollow elements, ie the hollow elements with the increased inert gas immediately the "actual" filling process can be started in the filling machine, without providing a separate Hohlelementbefüllung and delay the filling process by special Druckspülzyklen to increase the inert gas in the hollow element. Otherwise, the increased inert gas atmosphere immediately before the beverage bottling, ie the beverage bottler, produced by a separate Hohlelementfüllanlage, before filling the container in the Behälterfüllmaschine. In the case of the floating hollow element of preferably the beverage container, eg the beverage can, a discharge opening for the beverage, which is dimensioned such that it does not allow the passage of the hollow element, so that the hollow element is not flushed out when pouring the beverage from the container. Instead of prefabricated hollow elements with increased inert gas content, the hollow elements may also have the normal ambient atmosphere in the gas space, in which case before filling the container, the hollow elements in a separate Hohlelementfüllanlage the beverage bottler under pressure to an increased inert gas of at least 90%, in particular at least 94% or at least 95% or at least 96%, after which the hollow elements are then introduced into the filling process in the container filling machine. The hollow elements may in this case either be provided as floating hollow elements detached from the container or be fixed as fixed hollow elements on the container, for example a beverage can. In the latter case, not only the hollow elements but also the containers must be arranged in the hollow element filling system. It is of course also possible, in this case, to set the containers individually by means of the hollow element filling system under inert gas pressure, so that in this case the container interior acts as a pressure chamber of the hollow element filling system. Disadvantage of this device is that each container must be individually pressurized, while in a larger system can put a variety of containers in a larger pressure chamber at the same time under pressure. The pressure is limited to the individual under pressure by the physical properties of the container, while they play in the accumulated pressurized play no role, since the entire container is in the Hohlelementfüllanlage. Inert gas pressures of 10 bar can be used.

By the inventive solution that the increase of the inert gas in the hollow element is not in the container filling machine, the performance of the container filling machine, which is in particular a container filling machine with a high throughput of, for example, 10,000 containers per hour, in particular of more than 50,000 containers per hour, not affected by the fact that under the Filling process only the inert gas must be increased in the hollow element, which would be possible only by repeated pressurizing and rinsing the container. As a result of the decoupling of the increase in the inert gas content in the hollow element and the filling of the container in the container filling machine, a high throughput of the container filling machine can thus also be achieved in containers with hollow elements, that is to say in particular when bottling beverages which have a crema foam, such as ale -Beers. In the usual filling of the container in a container filling machine, the container interior is also pressure-flushed once again, which in turn contributes to an increase of the inert gas in the hollow element. In this way, an inert gas content in the hollow element of more than 96% is realized during the filling of the container. The overall process is preferably carried out as follows: a) arranging the hollow element in the pressure chamber of a hollow element filling plant, b) pressurizing the pressure space with an inert gas, in particular nitrogen, c) depressurizing the pressure chamber. These steps can be carried out one or more times in succession, depending on what is to be achieved for an inert gas in the gas space of the hollow element. The thus produced hollow elements with increased inert gas, if they are not already mounted in the container, transferred to the container and transferred to the Behälterfüllmaschine. There, the container is biased with an inert gas under a pressure of at least 0.5 bar, in particular of 1 bar. For biasing, either nitrogen or carbon dioxide is usually used. Subsequently, the pressure filling of the container in step f) under inert gas atmosphere with a CO ₂ -containing beverage, which is intended to produce a crema foam in particular at the end user.

After filling, the container is relieved and closed either in the filling machine or in a separate closing device.

Preferably, the pressurization in the pressure chamber of Hohlelementfüllanlage under a pressure of 2 to 5 bar, in particular under a pressure of 2.5 to 3.5 bar, performed. Such a high pressure easily allows a substantial increase of the inert gas in the gas space of the hollow element. While such pressures are hardly realizable in the containers themselves, since their physical limits are easily exceeded, the problem does not exist if the hollow elements are arranged in the pressure chamber of a hollow element filling system. Basically, depending on the pressure gradient, extremely high pressures of, for example, even 10 bar can be used there be when a very high proportion of inert gas in the gas space of the hollow elements to be realized.

Due to their small size of, for example, 10 to 100 μηη allows the perforation or perforations in the hollow element only a very slow replacement of the gas in the gas space, due to the dead end structure, that is, if the perforation are not disposed at opposite ends of the hollow element, a Gas exchange hardly takes place with the ambient atmosphere without active steps. Therefore, it is not even necessary, with inert gas filled hollow elements, that is, hollow elements, which have an inert gas higher than 90%, send under inert gas, so that the inert gas hardly decreases in the hollow elements when the hollow elements about 1 week after filling in the Hohlelementfüllan- position of a hollow element manufacturing factory are filled with nitrogen oxide or other inert gas. If the hollow elements are fastened to the container, the containers are preferably also arranged in the hollow element filling system. Preferably, the hollow element filling system is then made larger, so that it allows, for example, the simultaneous pressurization of hollow elements in 50 or 100 containers. When pressure is applied, the containers are not subjected to any tension, since the containers are arranged overall in the pressure chamber of the hollow element filling system and thus do not act on the container walls.

During the subsequent pressure filling of the container, in particular of beverage cans, in the container filling machine, the pressure is filled in the usual way, preferably under a pressure of 0.8 to 1, 2 bar, wherein either nitrogen or carbon dioxide can be used as the inert gas. If the hollow element is attached to the beverage container, in particular a fastening at the bottom of the beverage container is suitable.

The following expressions are used synonymously; Container filling machine - filler; Container - beverage can - beverage container; Inert gas - carbon dioxide - nitrogen;

It will be understood that the embodiments described above may be combined with one another in any manner. The invention will now be explained with reference to the method described in FIGS. 1 to 10, for example. 1 and 12 show the starting point and end point of the method according to FIGS. 1 to 10 with a freely movable hollow element (floating hollow element).

Fig. 13 shows very schematically a Hohlelementfüllanlage to increase the inert gas in floating hollow elements, while Fig. 14 shows a Hohlelementfüllanlage in which fixed hollow elements can be filled, which are already attached to the container, in particular at the container bottom.

Fig. 1 shows an example of a container a beverage can 10, at the bottom of a hollow element 12 is arranged with a circular cylindrical housing 1 1, which encloses a gas space 16. The gas composition in the container interior 14 corresponds to the ambient atmosphere, that is about 80% nitrogen and about 20% oxygen. This composition also corresponds to the atmosphere in the gas space 16 of the hollow element 12, which is connected by a small perforation, not shown, in the housing 1 1 with the container interior 14.

Fig. 2 shows how the beverage can 10 is pressed against a filling seal 18 of a Hohlelementfüllanlage. During this phase, a 95% nitrogen atmosphere is supplied from a pressure chamber 20 of the Hohlelementfüllanlage and set in Fig. 3 with 3 bar under pressure, whereby the nitrogen content in the interior of the beverage container increases to 98.75% nitrogen, while in the gas space 16 of the hollow element 12 rises to 94.1%.

In Fig. 4, a pressure relief of the container, wherein the nitrogen content in the container interior 14 is still at 98.75% nitrogen, while it is in the gas space 16 of the hollow member 12 at 94.1%. At this point, the beverage can 14 is transferred to a container filling machine 22, where the beverage can 12 rests with its opening on a seal 24 of the container filling machine 22.

According to FIG. 5, the container interior 14 in the container filling machine 22 is then subjected to a 99.1% nitrogen atmosphere under a pressure of 1 bar, which causes the nitrogen content in the gas space 16 of the hollow element 12 to increase to 96.6%. Finally, in FIG. 6, the filling of the beverage in the container filling machine takes place. machine 22 under the nitrogen atmosphere of 99.1% mentioned in FIG. 5. The nitrogen content in the gas space 16 of the hollow element 12 is at the time 96.6%, which nitrogen content is maintained in the subsequent pressure relief in Fig. 7 and release of the can in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 9, the beverage can 12 is provided with a lid 26, wherein the closure of the can under inert gas atmosphere 28, for example under 99.1% nitrogen atmosphere takes place. The closing can be done in the container filling machine or in a separate closing device. The nitrogen atmosphere 28 in the container interior 14 when closing the beverage can 10 is below about a bar overpressure and the nitrogen content is 99.6%. Finally, the beverage can 12 is turned upside down, whereby the highly enriched nitrogen atmosphere of 99.6% nitrogen with an overpressure of 1, 0 bar in exchange occurs with the 96.6% nitrogen atmosphere in the gas space 16 of the hollow element, which ultimately in Hollow element sets a nitrogen content of 98.1%. Such a high nitrogen content effectively prevents oxidation of the beverage and eventually leads to a fine creamy foam as the beverage is removed from the beverage can.

FIGS. 1 and 12 show the images analogous to FIGS. 1 and 10 when using a freely movable or floating hollow element 13, which however here has the form of a sphere. The pressure ratios at the beginning and at the end are the same as shown in Figs. 1 and 10.

Finally, Fig. 13 shows a hollow element filling system 30 having a pressure space 32, which is more suitable for receiving a plurality of, e.g. spherical, floating hollow elements 13 is formed. The hollow elements 13 are supplied via a hollow element inlet 34 to the pressure chamber 32 and are removed via a hollow element outlet 36. The reference numeral 38 denotes a gas supply, which is connected or connectable to an inert gas source. This gas supply can also be used to relieve the pressure chamber.

At the beginning of the hollow element filling process, the hollow elements 13 are supplied to the pressure chamber 32 via the hollow element inlet 34. Subsequently, the hollow element inlet 34 (under the hollow element outlet 36) is pressure-tightly closed and the gas supply 38 is opened to a purge gas with a nitrogen content of at least 90%, in particular especially of at least 95%. The purge gas is preferably supplied under a pressure of several atmospheres, in particular 2 to 10 bar, preferably 3 to 5 bar. In this case, the atmosphere present in the gas space 16 of the hollow elements, which usually corresponds to the ambient atmosphere with 80% nitrogen, is enriched with nitrogen, so that at the end of the one rinsing process the nitrogen content is at least 94.1% nitrogen. Via the gas supply 38, the pressure chamber 32 can now be relieved and the hollow elements 13 can be discharged via the hollow element outlet 36 to be shipped to beverage bottlers or transferred directly from there into the container as part of the bottling of beverages in a container filling machine to become. The pressure flushing cycle can be repeated more often if higher inert gas content in the gas space 16 of the hollow elements 13 is to be realized. The advantage here is that the inert gas content in the hollow element takes place independently of the filling of the beverage containers in the container filling machine. Thus, by increasing the proportion of inert gas in the hollow element, the actual filling process is not slowed down, which would be the case, for example, if separate rinsing operations had to be provided in the containers, solely to increase the proportion of nitrogen or inert gas in the hollow element.

14 shows a second embodiment of a hollow element filling system 40, which in turn has a pressure chamber 32, a gas supply 38 and a container inlet 42 with an inlet lock 44 and a container outlet 46 with an outlet lock 48. In this case, the complete container 12 are transferred with the hollow elements 12 disposed therein in the pressure chamber of Hohlelementfüllanlage 40, where they are enriched in the same manner as the individual floating hollow elements 13 in the filling machine 30 of FIG. 13 with nitrogen. Again, the increase of the nitrogen content or Inertgasanteils in the bottom of the beverage container 1 1 attached hollow elements 12 is independent of the actual container filling in the Behälterfüllmaschine, whereby the performance of the container filling machine is not affected during filling of the container.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention, which may be varied within the scope of the appended claims. LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10 containers - beverage can

 1 1 housing of the hollow element

12 Cylindrical hollow element attached to the container interior

13 Spherical freely movable hollow element

 14 container interior

 16 gas space - interior of the hollow element

 18 Seal of Hohlelementfüllanlage

20 hollow element filling system

 22 container filling machine

 24 Seal of the container filling machine

 26 lids

 27 lid closing device

28 residual gas space in the container after filling

 30 hollow element filling system for freely movable hollow elements

 32 pressure chamber of the hollow element filling system

 34 hollow element filling opening - hollow element inlet

 36 hollow element outlet opening - hollow element outlet

38 Gas supply / drain

 40 Hohlelementfüllanlage for connected to the container hollow elements

42 Container feed

 44 Feed lock

 46 Container removal

48 discharge lock

Claims

claims 1 . Method for filling a container (10) containing at least one hollow element (12; 13) with a beverage containing CO2, in particular ale beer, which Hollow element (12, 13) has a gas chamber (16) enclosing housing (1 1), in which at least one perforation for a gas exchange between the gas space (16) and the environment is formed, characterized in that i) first an inert gas portion in the gas space (16) of the hollow element (12; 13) in a hollow element filling system (30; 40) is increased by pressurizing the hollow element (12; 13) with inert gas, and ii) thereafter the container (10) is filled with at least one hollow element (12; 13) arranged therein in accordance with process step i) increased proportion of inert gas in a container filling machine (22) under pressure. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized by the sequence of the following method steps: a) arranging the hollow element in the pressure chamber (32) of a hollow element filling system (30; 40) b) pressurizing the pressure chamber (32) with an inert gas, c) pressure relief of the pressure chamber (32), d) If the hollow element is not fastened in the container (10): arranging the hollow element (12, 13) in the container (10), e) biasing the container (10) with an inert gas having a pressure of at least 0.5 bar, f) pressure-filling the container (10) under an inert gas atmosphere with a CO2-containing beverage, g) relieving the container (10), and h) closing the container (10), wherein steps e) to g) are carried out in a container filling machine (22). 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the pressurization under b) at a pressure of 2 to 5 bar, preferably 2, 3 to 3.5 bar. 4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the pressurization under a) to c) in the container (10) is performed. 5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the biasing and / or the pressure filling according to steps e) and / or f) under a pressure of 0.8 to 1, 2 bar, preferably at 1, 0 bar are performed , 6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein carbon dioxide or in particular nitrogen is used as the inert gas. 7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a hollow element (12; 13) is used with a spherical or circular cylindrical housing (1 1). 8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the hollow element (12) is fixedly secured to an inner wall of the container (10). 9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the step i) is already carried out by the manufacturer of the hollow elements. 10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the Inertgasbefüllung of the hollow element takes place immediately after or at the place of manufacture. 1 1. Hollow element for use in beverage containers with a plastic housing and a gas space surrounded by the plastic housing, which plastic housing has at least one perforation for gas exchange of the gas space with the environment, characterized in that the gas space manufacturer side with an increased inert gas of at least 90%, in particular at least 94%, is filled.