WO2020229709A1 - Machine for filling containers with liquid and corresponding filling method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a machine (1) and method for filling containers (100) with a liquid, which comprises a filling station (2) that extends in a longitudinal direction (L), with a filling nozzle (6) and a support base (8) for a container (100) disposed below the nozzle (6). The machine further comprises an infeed conveyor device (10) disposed adjacent to a longitudinal infeed side (12) of the filling station (2), and a moveable placement device (14) for transferring the container (100) to the filling station (2) and placing it centrally with respect to the filling nozzle (6). Lastly, the machine comprises an outfeed conveyor device (16) disposed adjacent to a longitudinal outfeed side (18) of the filling station (2), to remove the full container (100), and a movable extraction device (20) to extract the at least one container (100) and place it on the outfeed conveyor device (16).

Description

MACHINE FOR FILLING CONTAINERS WITH A LIQUID AND CORRESPONDING FILLING PROCEDURE DESCRIPTION

Field of the invention

The invention relates to a machine for filling containers with a liquid with a filling mouth comprising a filling station extending in a longitudinal direction, with at least one filling nozzle for filling at least one container and one support base to support said at least one container arranged below said nozzle. The invention also relates to a method for filling containers with a filling mouth with a liquid comprising the step of filling at least one container in a filling station comprising a filling nozzle. State of the art

In industry, especially in the food industry, machines for filling containers with a liquid in an automated way are known. Normally, these types of machines not only fill the container, but then also close it, for example, with a cap.

These machines are very common in the food sector, as in the case of bottles of liquids such as water, soft drinks, wine, oil or the like. A first type of machine, known as linear, has an input conveyor belt that directs the containers towards a filling station with the containers arranged one behind the other. Several filling nozzles are provided at the filling station to fill several containers at the same time. A Once the containers have been filled, the conveyor belt moves the containers to a capping station. Behind the full containers, a new group of containers arrives to be filled. In this way, new containers cannot be filled until all previous containers have been removed from the filling station. Consequently, the machine has a slow fill cycle.

As an alternative, another type of so-called rotary machines is also known. In them, the conveyor belt feeds a rotating carousel that has housings around its perimeter with a shape adapted to the external shape of the container. To ensure an efficient filling cycle the carousel is usually too large to hold a large number of bottles. Thus, this type of machine takes up a lot of space. A special case in the packaging sector consists of machines destined for small productions with formats that despite having substantially identical shapes, have different capacities. In this type of machine, a high production capacity is sought, but that must be accompanied by high production flexibility.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the invention is to provide a machine for filling containers of the type indicated at the beginning with a liquid, which has a short duty cycle, but which is also compact and flexible.

This purpose is achieved by means of a machine for filling containers of the type indicated at the beginning with liquid, characterized in that it also comprises an inlet transport device, to transport said at least one empty container to said filling station, said transport device being entrance disposed adjacent to a longitudinal entrance side of said filling station, a mobile positioning device, for transferring said at least one container from said entrance transport device, to said filling station and placing said at least one container with said mouth centered with respect to said filling nozzle, an outlet transport device, to evacuate said at least one full container, said outlet transport device being arranged adjacent to a longitudinal outlet side of said filling station, opposite said inlet side, and a movable extraction device, for extracting said at least one container from said filling station and placing said at least one container in said filling device outbound transportation. The machine according to the invention has several advantages that machines according to the state of the art do not have.

First of all, the machine has a shorter filling cycle than that of the linear machines according to the invention. This is achieved thanks to various factors. Unlike the linear machines of the state of the art, the filling station, the inlet conveying device and the outlet conveying device are separate elements, arranged adjacent in the longitudinal direction. Thus, while the containers in the filling station are being refilled, the transport device can advance new empty containers and leave them waiting, at the same height as the containers that are being filled. Then, when the containers in the filling station are full, the placing device can transfer the empty containers from the inlet transport device to the filling station. In a simultaneous movement, the filled containers are extracted by the extraction device and are placed in the exit transport device to be evacuated. Thus, the movement according to the invention is not longitudinal, but transverse to the longitudinal direction of the filling station and preferably perpendicular and therefore this movement is much shorter. Consequently, the duty cycle is also faster than in the linear machines of the state of the art.

Secondly, unlike the rotating machines of the state of the art, the machine with the same capacity of containers to be filled can be more compact. In a particularly preferred manner, the machine is designed to work with the containers in a vertical position, that is to say, the containers rest on their base in each and every one of the stations of the machine. Furthermore, the invention encompasses a series of preferred characteristics which are the subject of the dependent claims and whose usefulness will be highlighted later in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention.

In an embodiment whose objective is to simplify the transport of the containers, said inlet and outlet transport devices are a conveyor belt.

As already explained, another of the objectives of the invention is that the machine is easily adaptable to different container volumes, said positioning device has a stop plate with at least one notch with two sides converging to each other to define by at least two points of contact with the perimeter of the cross section of said at least one container in the area of contact with said positioning device and said positioning device is mounted on said machine to push said at least one container through of said recess from said inlet transport device to said filling station. Especially preferably, the sides of said recess are mirror symmetrical and more preferably the sides are straight. Also particularly preferably the containers according to the invention are bottles and more preferably they are substantially cylindrical glass bottles.

Furthermore, preferably to standardize the capacities of the containers according to the invention, the containers have volumes between 30 and 300 µl.

In another embodiment, the purpose of which is to avoid splashing, said support base and said nozzle are movable relative to each other between a position remote and a close position, so that during filling of said at least one container, said nozzle is inserted into said container. In a particularly preferred manner, said support base and said nozzle are movable relative to each other in a vertical direction between said position remote from said nozzle and a position close to said nozzle, to optimize the space occupied by the machine. In a particularly preferred manner, said support base is movable in said vertical direction, while said nozzle is static.

In another embodiment, said positioning device and said extraction device are of the linear type and are movable in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction thereof through a servomotor. Thanks to the servomotors, the machine can be easily adapted to the different volumes of the containers, without the need to assemble or disassemble tools on the machine to adapt to the different formats.

In another embodiment that also has the objective of providing a flexible machine with regard to the closure of the container, downstream of said outlet transport device, said machine comprises a closure station by cap, which comprises a rotating carousel presenting a plurality of of mobile clamps adaptable to the perimeter of said at least bottle, and because said clamps are mobile between an opening position and a holding position of said at least one container through a pneumatic cylinder and a planetary gear.

On the other hand, the invention also proposes a method of filling a container of the type indicated at the beginning, characterized in that it also comprises the steps of previously transporting said at least one empty container to a longitudinal entrance side of said filling station, transferring said at least one container from said inlet transport stage, to said filling station and placing said at least one container on a support base, with said mouth centered with respect to said filling nozzle, once it has been filling said at least one container extracting said at least one container from said filling station and placing said at least one container in an exit transport stage, to evacuate said at least one container full, said outlet conveying stage being arranged adjacent a longitudinal outlet side of said filling station, opposite said inlet side.

In another preferred embodiment, the method has a step of moving said support base and said nozzle relative to each other between a remote position and a close position, so that during said filling step of said at least one container , said nozzle is inserted into said container. In another alternative embodiment, said step of moving said support base and said nozzle relative to one another is carried out in a vertical direction.

Finally, in another embodiment, downstream of said stage of outgoing transport, said method comprises a stage of closure by plug in a closure station that has a closure head, in which a rotating carousel is provided around a vertical axis that presents a plurality of mobile clamps that perform a clamping stage prior to capping in which said clamps are adaptable to the perimeter of said at least one container, moving between an opening position and a holding position of said at least one container. less a container through a pneumatic cylinder and a planetary gear and because it also comprises a rotation stage in which said clamps place the mouth of the respective bottle centered with respect to said closure head to place said cap.

Likewise, the invention also encompasses other features of detail illustrated in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention and in the accompanying figures. Brief description of the drawings

Other advantages and characteristics of the invention can be seen from the following description, in which, without any limitation, a preferred form is reported of the invention, making mention of the accompanying drawings. Figures show:

Fig. 1, a schematic front view of the machine for filling containers with a filling mouth with liquid.

Fig. 2, a schematic top plan view of the machine of figure 1.

Fig. 3, a perspective view of the filling and closing station of the machine of figure 1, from the input side.

Fig. 4, a detailed perspective view of the filling station of the machine of figure 1, from the input side.

Fig. 5, a detailed perspective view of the positioning device of the machine of figure 1.

Fig. 6, a schematic top plan view of a positioning device of the machine according to the invention.

Fig. 7, a detailed perspective view of the filling station of the machine of figure 1, from the outlet side.

Fig. 8, a detailed perspective view of the extraction device of the machine of figure 1.

Fig. 9, a detailed perspective view of the closing station of the machine of figure 1, from the outlet side.

Fig. 10, a top plan view of the mobile clamps of the closing station of figure 9.

Detailed description of some embodiments of the invention

Figures 1 to 10 show a machine 1 according to the invention for filling containers 100 with a filler neck 102 with a liquid. The machine 1 shown is intended to fill glass bottles of still wine of the order of 500 bottles / hour.

The machine 1 has a filling station 2 that extends in the longitudinal direction L shown in Figures 1 and 2. This longitudinal direction L corresponds to the advance direction of the bottles in the machine 1. In this embodiment, the filling station 2 has three filling nozzles 6 for filling three bottles 100 simultaneously. Below the nozzles 6 a support base 8 is provided to support each of the bottles during the filling operation. The support base 8 and the nozzle 6 are movable relative to each other between a remote position and a close position. Thus, during the filling of the bottles 100, the nozzles 6 are inserted into each of the bottles 100. Arranged adjacent to a longitudinal inlet side 12 of the filling station 2, the machine 1 has a device for transporting inlet 10 for transporting the empty containers 100 to the filling station 2. In this case, the inlet conveyor 10 is an articulated link conveyor belt 30. However, this feature is not essential and other solutions such as a conventional conveyor belt, or other transport solutions such as rollers or the like are conceivable.

Furthermore, on this side of the filling station 2 a movable positioning device 14 is provided. This positioning device 14 can transfer three containers 100 from the inlet transport device 10 to the filling station 2 and place them with the mouth 102 centered with respect to the filling nozzle 6.

Figures 4 to 6 show in detail the structure of the positioning device 14. The positioning device 14 first has a servomotor 26 and a transmission 28. The transmission 28 is made up of two wheels meshed by a belt that drive a vertical axis 32. The vertical axis 32 of the transmission is integral with a mechanism of four articulated bars 34. Finally, guides 36 are provided which force a stop plate 38 to move in the transverse direction T to the longitudinal direction L. In this case, the stop plate 38 has three recesses 22 with two sides converging to each other. Each of these notches 22 defines two points of contact 24a, 24b with the perimeter of the cross section of each of the bottles 100 in the area of contact with the plate of stop 38 of the positioning device 14. For clarity, this is represented in figure 6 schematically for a single recess 22. In the figure, the points of contact 24a, 24b with the perimeter of the main body of the bottle can be seen 100. Preferably, the sides of the recess 22 are mirror-symmetrical and straight. However, they could also be symmetrical arches forming a convergent recess 22. In any case, thanks to the notches 22, the machine 1 can be easily adapted to different perimeters of bottle 100. On the other hand, the servomotor 26, ensures the correct movement for each different format, if it is necessary to replace the stop plate 38 Despite this, the bottles 100 are always placed in the filling station 2 with the mouth 102 aligned with the nozzle 6.

Hereby, the positioning device 14 is mounted on the machine 1 to push each of the bottles 100 through the recess 22 from the inlet transport device 10, to the filling station 2 in a movement along a line defined by the guides 36.

Also arranged adjacent to the longitudinal outlet side 18 of the filling station 2, opposite the inlet side 12, an outlet conveying device 16 is provided to evacuate the bottles once they have been filled at the filling station 2. The Exit conveyor 16 is also a conveyor belt formed by links 30.

Finally, the machine 1 also has a mobile extraction device 20, to extract the three bottles 100 from the filling station 2 and place them in the outlet transport device 16. The structure of the extraction device 20 is better appreciated in the figure 8. As in the case of the positioning device 14, the extraction device 20 has a servomotor 26, a transmission 28 with two wheels coupled by a belt that drive the vertical axis 32. The vertical axis 32 of the transmission is integral with a mechanism of four articulated bars 34.

Also, guides 36 are provided which force an extraction plate 46 to move in the transverse direction T to the longitudinal direction L, away from or towards the filling station along a straight and flat path. To catch the bottles 100, the extraction plate 46 has three suction elements 48 as a suction cup that adheres to the main body of each of the respective bottles 100 to carry out the extraction. Thus, the machine 1 described makes it possible to put into practice the method according to the invention which is explained below. In this embodiment, three empty bottles 100 are first conveyed to the longitudinal inlet side 12 of the filling station 2. When correctly positioned relative to the positioning device 14, the bottles 100 are transferred from the device of inlet transport 10, to the filling station 2, pushing them with the stop plate 38 and placed on a corresponding support base 8, with the mouth 102 centered with respect to the filling nozzles 6.

At this point, each of the disk-shaped support bases 8 of the figures move vertically to bring the bottle filling mouth 102 closer to the respective nozzle 6, which in this case is static. Alternatively, each of the nozzles 6 could descend in the vertical direction V of Figure 4 and be inserted through the filling mouth 102. As soon as each nozzle 6 is inserted into the corresponding bottle 100, the filling step begins. wherein each bottle 100 is filled at the filling station with a preset fill volume.

Then, once the bottles 100 have been filled, they are removed from the filling station 2 and the three bottles 100 are placed in the outlet transport device 16, to evacuate the three filled bottles 100 from the side opposite the side. input 12.

Once the full bottles 100 have already been removed, the positioning device 14 can now place three new bottles 100 that must be refilled. In order to reduce the cycle time, particularly preferably, the extraction of full bottles and the placing of empty bottles in the filling station 2 can be carried out simultaneously. Finally, the filled bottles 100 are evacuated with the outlet transport device 16 towards a closing station 4.

Thus, downstream from the outlet transport device 16, the machine 1 comprises a closure station 4 per cap. The closure can be carried out in various ways, that is, with a pressurized cork or plastic stopper, by means of a screw cap or similar. The closing station 4 presents a rotating carousel 40 comprising a plurality of movable clamps 42 adaptable to the perimeter of the respective bottle. The clamps 42 are movable between an open position and a holding position of the bottle 100 through a pneumatic cylinder and a planetary gear 44. In this case, the machine 1 is not particularly bulky, since although it is uses a carousel 40 to close the containers 100, it is not necessary to have a large number of positions in the carousel 40, since the bottleneck of the machine 1, that is, the point at which it takes the longest In performing an operation, it is at filling station 2. Thus, while a new trio of bottles 100 is being filled, machine 1 has enough time to close the three previous bottles 100.

Claims

1.- Machine (1) to fill containers (100) with a filling mouth (102) with a liquid comprising: [a] a filling station (2) extending in a longitudinal direction (L), with [i] at least one filling nozzle (6) to fill at least one container (100) and [ii] a support base (8) to support said at least one container (100) arranged below said nozzle (6), characterized in that it also comprises [b] an inlet transport device (10), for transporting said at least one empty container (100) to said filling station (2), said inlet transport device (10) being arranged adjacent to one side of longitudinal entrance (12) of said filling station (2), [c] a mobile positioning device (14), to transfer said at least one container (100) [i] from said inlet transport device (10), [ii] to said filling station (2) and placing said at least one container (100) with said mouth (102) centered with respect to said filling nozzle (6), [d] an exit transport device (16), for evacuating said at least one full container (100), said exit transport device (16) being arranged adjacent to a longitudinal exit side (18) of said station filling (2), opposite said inlet side (12), and [e] a mobile extraction device (20), to extract said at least one container (100) [i] of said filling station (2) and [ii] placing said at least one container (100) in said outlet transport device (16). 2. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said input and output transport devices (10, 16) are a conveyor belt. 3. Machine (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said positioning device (14) has a stop plate (38) with at least one recess (22) with two sides converging to each other to define, at least two points of contact (24a, 24b) with the perimeter of the cross section of said at least one container (100) in the area of contact with said device of positioning device (14) and because said positioning device (14) is mounted on said machine (1) to push said at least one container (100) through said recess (22) from said inlet transport device (10 ), to said filling station (2). 4 Machine (1) according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said support base (8) and said nozzle (6) are movable with respect to each other between a remote position and a close position, so that during filling said at least one container (100), said nozzle (6) is inserted into said container (100). 5. Machine (1) claim 4, characterized in that said support base (8) and said nozzle (6) are mobile relative to each other in a vertical direction between said position away from said nozzle and a position close to said mouthpiece. 6. Machine (1) according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said positioning device (14) and said extraction device (20) are movable in a direction transverse (T) to the longitudinal direction (L) of said through a servomotor (26) and a transmission (28). 7. Machine (1) according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that downstream of said outlet transport device (16), said machine (1) comprises a closure station (4) by plug, comprising a carousel (40) rotatable around a vertical axis presenting a plurality of movable clamps (42) adaptable to the perimeter of said at least one container (100), and by that said clamps (40) are movable between an open position and a retention position of said at least one container (100) through a pneumatic cylinder and a planetary gear. 8.- Procedure for filling containers (100) with a filling mouth (102) with a liquid comprising the step of: [a] filling at least one container (100) in a filling station (2) comprising a filling nozzle (6), characterized in that it also comprises the stages of: [b] previously transporting said at least one empty container (100) to a longitudinal inlet side (12) of said filling station (2), [c] transfer said at least one container (100) [i] from said inbound transportation stage, [ii] to said filling station and placing said at least one container (100) on a support base (8), with said mouth (102) centered with respect to said filling nozzle (6), [d] once said at least one container has been filled, remove said at least one container (100) [i] of said filling station (2) and [ii] placing said at least one container (100) in an exit transport stage, to evacuate said at least one full container (100), said exit transport stage (16) being arranged adjacent to one side of longitudinal outlet (18) of said filling station (2), opposite said inlet side (12). 9.- Method according to claim 8, characterized in that a step of moving said support base (8) and said nozzle (6) relative to each other between a remote position and a close position, so that during said step of filled with said at least one container (100), said nozzle (6) is inserted into said container (100). 10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that said step of moving said support base (8) and said nozzle (6) relative to one another is carried out in a vertical direction. 11. Method according to any of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that downstream of said stage of outgoing transport, said method comprises a stage of closure by plug in a closure station that has a closure head, in which A carousel (40) rotatable around a vertical axis is provided that has a plurality of movable clamps (42) that carry out a clamping stage prior to capping in which said clamps (42) are adaptable to the perimeter of said at least one container (100), moving between an opening position and a retention position of said at least one container (100) through a pneumatic cylinder and a planetary gear and because it also comprises a rotation stage in which said clamps they position the mouth (102) of the respective bottle (100) centered with respect to said closure head (50) to place said cap.