METHOD FOR FILLING LIQUIDS

Abstract: A method for filling liquids, wherein a container is firstly filled with a gas-generating water or water by amount somewhat larger than a predetermined amount and is subsequently filled with an undiluted solution by means of injection, after which an excess portion of the gas-­ generating water or water is removed from its upper stratum in the container, whereby a filling amount is made to agree with the predetermined amount. By the method of firstly filling the container with the gas-generating water or water and subsequently filling the container with the un­ diluted solution, the gas-generating water or water is unsusceptible to mix with the undiluted solution. The final amount of product liquid is controlled by means of removing the gas-generating water or water filled firstly, whereby the accuracy in content or amount of liquid filled is improved.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION: 1. Field of the Invention: The present invention relates to a method of filling liquids, which is applicable to the equipment for filling bottles, cans and the like with liquids in the field of food machinery. 2. Description of the Prior Art: Conventionally, a method was employed for filling containers such as bottles, cans and the like with a constant volume or a constant weight of undiluted solution (syrup or the like) and for filling subsequently said containers with gas-generating water (carbonated water) or water as occasion calls up to a constant liquid level. According to the conventional method referred to above, after having filled bottles or cans or the like with the undiluted liquid, the bottles or cans or the like are filled with the gas-generating water or water, whereby problems are caused as itemized below: (1) The undiluted solution (syrup or the like) is mixed with the gas-generating water or water during the course of filling said water. In the case of carbonated drink, foaming is apt to be caused, leading to susceptibility to change in concentration of product liquid after filling. (2) If liquid falls from the bottles, cans, or the like during the carrying prior to the processing of stopping bottles by the use of crowns or caps, this leads to susceptibility to change in concentration of product liquid after filling. (3) It is difficult to fill the gas-generating water or water in order to maintain the predetermined liquid level, and this results in causing susceptibility to unevenness in density of product liquid filled in containers such as bottles or cans or the like. A method for filling liquids of the kind defined by the precharacterizing features of claim 1 is known from the DE-C-3 202 655. This known method avoids the drawbacks mentioned above in connection with the conventional method, because first the gas-generating water and then the undiluted liquid is filled into the container. This known method, however, is disadvantageous with respect to the steps of making the filling amount to agree with the predetermined amount insofar as the gas-generating water exceeding a filling level, which is lower than the level corresponding to the predetermined filling amount, is made flow upward into a reservoir by the pressure within the closed container generated by the gas of the gasgenerating water. Then the undiluted liquid is fed into the container and excess fluid from the reservoir is re-introduced into the bottle for making the filling amount agree to the predetermined amount. SUMMARAY OF THE INVENTION It is the object of the present invention to provide a method for filling liquids of the kind defined by the precharacterizing features of claim 1 in a more simple manner than the respective method according to the prior art. This object is achieved by the characterizing features of claim 1. The method according to the invention allows the final filling amount to agree with the predetermined amount by means of a simple single sucking step following to the filling of the undiluted solution. The advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following description of the drawings and the preferred embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: Fig. 1 is each view illustrating the steps of a method for filling liquids of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the upper section of Fig. 1 (3); Fig. 3 (a) is a schematic illustration showing the state in which an undiluted solution injecting nozzle pipe is immersed in a gas-generating water; and Fig. 3 (b) is a schematic illustration showing the state in which the undiluted solution injecting nozzle pipe is separated from the gas-generating water. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS: Fig. 1 is each illustration showing the steps of a method for filling liquids according to the present invention. This is an example of filling a container 1 with two types of liquid of a gas-generating water or water 2 and an undiluted solution 3. The container 1 is a filling container such as bottle, can or the like, and the bottle is shown in this example. The gas-generating water or water 2 is a gas-generating water (carbonated water) in which a predetermined carbonic acid gas is dissolved at a predetermined temperature in case of filling the bottles with carbonated cooling drink, while the water 2 is a water at normal temperatures or a water heated at a predetermined temperature in case of filling the bottles with non-carbonic acid drink, for example, drink containing fruit juice and the like. The undiluted solution 3 is the so-called undiluted solution or syrup containing a sweetening agent, souring agent, spices, fruit juice and the like, which has been cooled or heated to predetermined temperatures as the occasion called, in case of filling the bottles with cooling drink. Fig. 1 (1) (the first station) shows an example of state in which the container 1 is being filled with the gas-generating water or water 2; reference numeral 4 denotes a seal section, reference numeral 5 denotes a spreader, and reference numeral 6 denotes a vent pipe. Pressure is given preliminarily with counter gas to the container 1 by the mechanism not shown as occasion calls. The gas-generating water or water 2 is supplied to the container 1 by the device not shown. The spreader 5 serves to make the gas-generating water or water 2 spread along the inner wall surface of the container 1, so that the amount of counter gas caught up into the water 2 is reduced. The vent pipe 6 serves to return counter gas from the container 1 into a tank or the like not shown, whereby the filling of the gas-generating water or water stops when the filling liquid level reaches the top end of the vent pipe 6. The container 1 is filled with the gas-generating water or water 2 by the amount at least somewhat larger than the amount required, but the accuracy in filling is not required to be highly accurate. Fig. 1 (2) (the second station) shows the state in which the container 1 is being filled with the undiluted solution (syrup or the like) 3 after having filled the container 1 with the gas-generating water or water 2 at the first station as described above. Reference numeral 10 denotes a seal section, while reference numeral 11 denotes an undiluted solution injection pipe. The container 1 is sealed hermetically by the seal section 10 as occasion calls, and pressure is given preliminarily with counter gas to the container 1 by the mechanism not shown as occasion calls before filling the container 1 with the undiluted solution 3. The undiluted solution injection pipe 11 is used to put a predetermined amount of undiluted solution (syrup or the like) 3 under pressure into the gas-generating water or water 2, with which the container 1 was filled at the preceding step, by the mechanism not shown, for example, a piston type measuring mechanism or the like. Preferably, the top end of the undiluted solution injection pipe 11 is pushed into the gas-generating water or water 2 as shown, and it is important to prevent the counter gas from being caught into the gas-generating water or water 2 at least when the undiluted solution 3 is injected in the gas-generating water or water 2. Fig. 1 (3) (the second station) shows the state in which the container 1 has been filled with a predetermined amount of undiluted solution (syrup or the like) after having filled the container 1 with the gas-generating water or water 2. Because the undiluted solution (syrup or the like) is injected from the top end of undiluted solution injection pipe into the gas-generating water or water 2, the upper stratum section of liquids with which the container 1 were filled consists almost exclusively of the gas-generating water or water 2, while the undiluted solution 3 is existent in the middle stratum section and the lower stratum section. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of Fig. 1 (3) which shows the state in which a predetermined amount of undiluted solution (syrup or the like) 3 has been injected in the container 1 after having filled the container 1 with the gas-generating water or water 2. Reference numeral 10 denotes a seal section, reference numeral 20 denotes a passage of counter gas, reference numeral 21 denotes an O-ring, reference numeral 23 denotes a vent pipe, and reference numeral 22 denotes an undiluted solution (syrup) injection nozzle pipe. The passage of counter gas 20 is used to feed under pressure counter gas into the container 1 by the mechanism not shown for giving pressure preliminarily to the container 1 with the counter gas such as clean air, N₂ gas or carbonic acid gas, as occasion calls, and in particular in case of producing carbonic acid cooling drink, namely in case of preventing the occurrence of foaming (phenomenon of foaming carbonic acid gas under the condition of supersaturation) during the filling. The vent pipe 23 is used, during the injection of undiluted solution (syrup or the like), to return the counter gas from the container 1 into tank or the like, and the pushing-in depth which is shown as H in Fig. 2 can be adjusted by the mechanism not shown according to the amount of liquids with which one wants to fill the container 1. The O-ring 21 serves to seal the seal section 10 and the vent pipe 23. The undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe 22 is a passage for injecting a predetermined amount of undiluted solution in the container 1 by the mechanism not shown, for example a piston type measuring mechanism, and can be made to move up or down by the mechanism not shown during the filling. At the end of the undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe 22 may be provided with the seal valve means for the purpose of preventing the after-drip of the undiluted solution after completion of filling, depending on the viscosity and the like of the undiluted solution to be filled. With the completion of the filling of the undiluted solution (syrup or the like) 3, the total amounts of filling become larger than the amounts required, because somewhat larger amount of the gas-generating water or water 2 was filled in advance. There are two methods given below for maintaining a predetermined amount with little unevenness at the time of completion of filling. (Method A): At the time of completion of filling, either the counter gas is fed under pressure from the counter gas passage 20 or a vent passage 24 is released to the atmospheric pressure by the mechanism not shown, and with the utilization of pressure of the above counter gas or the pressure given preliminarily, an excess amount of the gas-generating water or water 2 is discharged from the vent passage 24, so that the filled amount in the container can be made to a predetermined amount. (Method B): At the time of completion of filling, the vent passage 24 is changed over to a suction mechanism not shown and an excess amount of gas-generating water or water 2 is drawn by suction from the vent passage 24, whereby the filled amount in the container can be made to a predetermined amount. (At this time, it is more effective to supply a necessary amount of gas from the counter gas passage 20 as occasion calls.) Fig. 2 shows an example of double pipe construction of the undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe 22 and the vent pipe 23. The action of such a double construction pipe, however, is the same as that of these pipes of the undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe 22 and the vent pipe 23 under individual and independent construction. And further, there are two cases in which the filling amount is determined; one is the case in which the filling amount is determined by fixing the vent pipe 23 at the predetermined liquid level position; and the other is the case in which the weight of liquid to be filled is detected by the method not shown and the filling amount can be determined by controlling the position of the vent pipe so that the filling amount may become the predetermined amount. Now, description will be given on the relations between the end position of the undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe 22 and the surface of liquid. Fig. 3 (a) shows the case where the end of the undiluted solution injection nozzle is immersed in the gas generating water. In this case, head space gas (air) is not caught up in the undiluted solution unless the undiluted solution (syrup) is too much higher in the rate of flow at the time of being injected in the gas-generating water or water. Fig. 3 (b) shows the case where the end of the undiluted solution injection nozzle is not immersed in the gas generating water. In this case, the head space gas (air) is not caught up in the undiluted solution (syrup) by setting the nozzle diameter D, the height from the surface of liquid h and the flow rate for injection v of the undiluted solution to suitable values respectively. In other words, it is possible to perform syrup filling, with no or little head space gas being caught up in the syrup. In case the end of the undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe is separated from the surface of liquid, this may be preferable because the end of nozzle pipe does not make contact with the gas-generating water or water. Accordingly, when the gas-generating water or water is filled with the undiluted solution by injecting the solution in the water, the undiluted solution injection nozzle pipe 22 may or may not be immersed in the gas-generating water or water 2. From the description referred to above, the present invention has the effects as itemized below: (1) Firstly, a container is filled with the gas-generating water or water in which the undiluted solution is to be injected for filling, and therefore no gas is caught up in the undiluted solution and the upper stratum section of container can be filled with only gas-generating water or water. (2) When the injection of the undiluted solution into an excess amount of gas-generating water or water already filled in advance is completed, the upper stratum section of the container becomes only the gas-generating water or water. Therefore, a highly accurate filling amount is obtainable by taking out the excess amount of gas-generating water or water by pressurization or suction. (3) At the time of being exposed to the air after completion of filling, even if the liquid overflows by foaming or similar state, the liquid overflown is the gas-generating water or water and therefore, there is no loss of ingredients of product in the container, and it becomes easy to keep the concentration of product liquid constant. The foregoing preferred embodiments are considered illustrative only. Numerous other modifications and changes will readily occur to those persons skilled in the art after reading the foregoing specification. Consequently, the disclosed invention is not limited to the exact method and use shown and described above, and the scope of the invention is to be determined from the appended claims.

Claims: A method for filling liquids into a container such as bottels, cans and the like, wherein the container is firstly filled with a gas-generating water or water by an amount somewhat larger than a predetermined amount and is subsequently filled with an undiluted solution to complete the filling, the final filling amount being made to agree with the predetermined amount, characterized in that the final filling amount is achieved by removing an excess portion of the gas-generating water or water from its upper stratum in the container by means of sucking said excess portion through a vent passage without sealing the mouth of the container. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vent passage is provided in the mouth of the container in such a kind that the lower end thereof corresponds to the level of the liquid when the filling amount thereof agrees with the predetermined amount. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said undiluted solution is filled by means of an immersing end of an undiluted solution injection nozzle in said gas-generating water or water. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said undiluted solution is filled by means of not immersing end of an undiluted solution injection nozzle in said gas-generating water or water. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the vent passage is defined by the annular passage of a double pipe construction including the undiluted solution injection nozzle.

Inventors: ARAKI, KAZUNORI NAGOYA MACHINERY WORKS MITSUBISHI, TAZUKE, HISASHI NAGOYA MACHINERY WORKS MITSUBISHI, YAMAGUCHI, SHOGO NAGOYA MACHINERY WORKS MITSUBISHI
Applicants: MITSUBISHI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B67C3
IPC codes: B65B3, B67C3