Abstract:
Closing machine for closing bottles or similar containers ( 2 ) using closures ( 3, 3   a ), having a plurality of closing stations ( 11 ) which each have a closing tool ( 12, 14 ) and a container carrier and are formed on the circumference of a rotor ( 4 ), which can be driven in circulation around a vertical machine axis (MA), wherein the rotor ( 4 ) has formed on it, in the region of the closing stations ( 11 ), a sterile chamber ( 5 ) which is bounded in the direction of the surroundings by walls or wall portions ( 6, 7, 8, 9 ) and into which the containers ( 2 ), which are retained in a hanging state on the container carriers, extend by way of their container mouth ( 2.1 ) which is to be closed, and wherein the respective closing tool ( 12, 14 ) extends into the sterile chamber ( 5 ) merely by way of a part which interacts with the container ( 2 ) which is to be closed and/or with the closure ( 3, 3   a ), all the rest of its functional elements being arranged outside the sterile chamber ( 5 ).

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2009/003755, filed on May 27, 2009, which claims the benefit of German Application Serial No. 10 2008 026 632.9, filed on Jun. 4, 2008, the contents of both of the foregoing applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     FIELD OF DISCLOSURE 
     The invention relates to a closing machine for closing containers with closures. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Units are known for the sterile, and in particular for the aseptic cold filling of bottles or similar containers with a liquid product, for example with a liquid product that spoils easily, for example milk products, and also for the subsequent, again sterile or aseptic cold, closing of the containers. The bottles or containers are, in that case, transported in a sterile chamber during supply to the filling machine, during filling, during transport from the filling machine to a downstream closing machine and during closing. When the unit is running, i.e. on filling and closing, the chamber is flushed with or exposed to a sterile gas and/or vapor-forming medium and from time to time, i.e. within predetermined cleaning and disinfecting cycles or intervals, it is treated with a cleaning and/or disinfection and/or sterilization medium. 
     Known units suffer from the particular disadvantage that, with the closing machine in question, all of the equipment of that machine and, in particular, the closing tools provided at the closing positions, are arranged in the sterile chamber. This means that the construction of those closing tools, at least at their outer surfaces and/or regions, must also be produced from a material that is resistant to corrosion by the cleaning and disinfection means, for example from stainless steel. Furthermore, the outer surfaces of the closing tools have functionally necessary recesses, slits, indentations, etc. that germs like to colonize. As a result, it has been necessary to use large amounts of cleaning and disinfection materials to clean and disinfect the sterile chamber in the closing machine zone. 
     SUMMARY 
     The aim of the invention is to provide a closing machine that is particularly suitable for use in a unit for sterile and thus in particular also for aseptic cold filling of products into bottles or the like as well as for closing such containers in a sterile manner, and that avoids the disadvantages mentioned above, i.e. reduces the risk of contamination, and considerably reduces the means or chemicals required for cleaning, sterilization, and/or for disinfection of the sterile chamber. 
     A closing machine as described herein solves this problem. 
     Further embodiments, advantages and applications of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments and from the figures. To this end, all described and/or depicted features, alone or in any combination, constitute the subject matter of the invention, independently of their synopsis in the claims or their dependencies. Further, the contents of the claims form part of the description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       The invention will now be described in more detail with the aid of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , which each show, in simplified form and in partial section, a rotary type closing machine in the region of a sterile chamber. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The closing machine  1  shown in  FIG. 1  acts in the embodiment shown in this figure to seal bottles  2 , for example plastic bottles, with closures  3 , for example in the form of foils, that can be fastened to the bottles or to the bottle mouth  2 . 1  thereof by welding or sealing, i.e. by the use of heat. 
     The closing machine  1  includes a rotor  4  that can be driven about a vertical machine axis MA with, on its circumference, an annular channel-like sterile chamber  5  concentrically surrounding the machine axis MA. The sterile chamber  5  is delimited from the surroundings by a plurality of wall sections. 
     In the embodiment shown, the wall sections are an upper wall section  6 , a lower wall section  7 , a radially inner annular wall section  8  and outer wall sections  9 . An intermediate wall  10  between the wall sections  6  and  7  divides the chamber  5  into an upper chamber part  5 . 1  and a lower chamber part  5 . 2 . In the embodiment shown, the upper wall section  6 , the inner annular wall section  8 , the intermediate wall  10  and the part section  7 . 1  of the lower wall section  7  are mounted on the rotor  4  and thus revolve with it. The outer wall sections  9 , as well as the part section  7 . 2  of the wall section  7 , do not revolve with the rotor  4 . Instead, they are attached to a machine frame of the closing machine  1 . 
     In order to close bottles  2  with closures  3 , a plurality of closing stations  11  are formed on the circumference of the rotor  4 , one of which is shown in  FIG. 1 . These closing stations  11  are distributed at regular angular intervals about the axis MA. 
     Each closing station  11  includes a closing tool in the form of an induction welding head  12 , of which in  FIG. 1  only the inductively heated induction seal  12 . 1 , which extends into the chamber  5  or into both upper and lower chamber parts  5 . 1  and  5 . 2 , is shown. This is guided through an opening  6 . 1  in the upper wall section  6  and can move as shown by the double headed arrow A along its seal axis or along a vertical axis parallel to the machine axis MA between an upper start position and a lowered operational position. In the lowered operational position, the lower seal surface of the induction seal  12 . 1  is applied and pressed against the corresponding closure  3  against the mouth opening  2 . 1  of the bottle  2  to be closed at the closing station  11  so that the closure  3  and the corresponding bottle  2  can be joined by sealing or welding. 
     The area through which the induction seal  12 . 1  passes through the wall section  6  is sealed off with a suitable material, for example consisting of a bellows-like gasket  13  formed from PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). 
     The induction seal  12 . 1  extends through an opening  10 . 1  in the intermediate wall  10  with its lower end in the lower chamber part  5 . 2 . The outer surface of the induction seal  12 . 1  is made from a material that is as smooth as possible. The induction seal  12 . 1  is formed from a suitable, good heat conductive but corrosion-resistant material to enable it to function as a passive, heat-conductive component. An example of such a material is stainless steel. 
     All of the other functional elements of the induction welding head  12 , such as the elements for lifting, lowering, and heating the induction seal  12 . 1 , are above the wall section  6  and outside the sterile chamber  5 . 
     Each closing station  11  is provided with a container carrier that is formed by an opening in the part section  7 . 1  below the induction seal  12 . 1 . The bottle  2  is hung from this container carrier by a mouth flange  2 . 2  below the bottle&#39;s mouth  2 . 1  so that only the mouth region above the mouth flange  2 . 2  reaches into the chamber  5 , and in particular into the lower chamber part  5 . 2 . 
     During operation of the closing machine, i.e. for aseptic closing of the bottles  2 , the chamber  5  is exposed to or flushed with an appropriate gas and/or vapor-forming medium that ensures the sterility of the chamber  5 . A suitable medium is sterile air. This medium is fed into the sterile chamber  5  through lower chamber part  5 . 2  and leaves the sterile chamber  5  at least in part via the upper chamber part  5 . 1 . 
     For closing, the bottles  2  are individually transferred to an operational position of the closing stations  11  so that there they hang and are retained by their mouth flange  2 . 2  with the bottle mouth  2 . 1  in the lower chamber part  5 . 2  for closing with the closures  3 . The sealed bottles are removed from the closing stations  11  on a container-discharge means. 
     The particular advantage of the closing machine  1  or the closing stations  11  lies in that only smooth regions of the induction seal  12 . 1 , with no recesses, undercuts or the like that could allow germs to colonize, are arranged in the sterile chamber  5 . This enables the whole chamber  5  to be kept germ-free at a considerably reduced cost. This also increases the time interval between cleaning and/or sterilization cycles, shortens the cycle time, and reduces the quantity of cleaning and/or sterilization media consumed. 
       FIG. 2  shows the closing machine  1  for closing the bottles  2  with cap-like twist or screw closures  13 . To this end, the individual closing stations  11  are each provided with a screw capper  14  having a construction that is known to the skilled person. The screw capper  14  includes a drive  14 . 1 , a longitudinal and closed capper head  14 . 2  having a spindle or shaft, and a capping cone or capping element  14 . 3  provided at the lower end of the capper head  14 . 2  and connected with the spindle. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 , only the part of the length of the screw capper head  14 . 2  having a smooth cylindrically shaped outer surface on each screw capper  14  extends through the wall section  6  into the sterile chamber  5  and thus also through the intermediate wall  10  into the lower chamber part  5 . 2  so that the capping element  14 . 3  that cooperates with the twist or screw closures  3   a  is arranged in this lower chamber part  5 . 2 . 
     The passage of the capping head  14 . 2  through the wall section  6  is again sealed using the bellows gasket  13 . When capping the bottles  2  with the twist or screw closures  3   a , the screw cappers  14  can be moved up and down in a vertical direction (arrow A) and the closing elements  14 . 3  provided on the capping head  14 . 2  are driven in rotation. 
     Like the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2  has the advantage of allowing entry into the sterile chamber  5  of only those functional elements of the screw capper  14  that have a smooth and easily cleaned and sterilized outer surface. These are arranged within the lower chamber part  5 . 2 . Other functional elements, which are harder to clean and sterilize, are completely outside the chamber  5 . These functional elements would include the drive  14 . 1  and the functional elements that lift and lower the screw capper  14 , 
     In one example, the closing machine  1  is a component of a unit for sterile, for example aseptic cold, filling of a liquid product into the bottles  2  or into other containers as well as to seal the bottles  2  with the closures  3  or  3   a . Prior to filling, during filling and sealing, and also over the whole transport path between the filling machine and the closing machine, the bottles  2  are always moved with at least their mouth region  2 . 1  in a sterile chamber. 
     The closing machine  1  is suitable not only for closing bottles  2 , but also for closing other containers. 
     The invention has been described using exemplary embodiments. Modifications and deviations are possible without departing from the inventive concept underlying the invention. 
     Thus, for example, other types of closing tools may be used in the same or similar manner on the closing machine  1  or at its closing stations  11 . Examples of such closing tools include tools for fastening cap-like closures to bottles by application and permanent mechanical deformation of the closures. When using such closing tools only functional elements that cooperate directly with the closures are arranged inside the chamber  5  or the upper and lower chamber parts  5 . 1  and  5 . 2 . Other functional elements, such as functional elements that are hard to clean and/or sterilize, remain outside the sterile chamber  5 . These include, for example drives and/or lifting devices for lifting and lowering the respective closing tools. 
     Furthermore, it is also possible, instead of using an induction welding head  12  to weld or seal the closures  3  with the opening rim  2 . 1  of the bottles  2 , to use a closing tool employing another manner of fixing or welding the respective closure  3  with the bottle  2 , for example by ultrasound energy and/or using microwave energy. 
     It was mentioned above that instead of the induction welding head  12  and screw capper  14 , other closing tools could be used. The inventive construction of the closing machine, however, is of particular advantage when using such closing tools wherein the part of the closing tool that extends into the chamber  5  is a purely passive component that has a shaped part with a corrosion-resistant, smooth surface that is free of undercuts, indentations, joints, recesses etc., and that can be cleaned and sterilized without problems. A passive component in this context is the induction seal  12 . 1  and also, for example with a closing tool operating with ultrasound, a seal type tool that transfers ultrasound energy to the closure  3  and the bottle opening or mouth  2 . 1 . 
     LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
     
         
           1  closing machine 
           2  bottle 
           2 . 1  bottle mouth 
           2 . 2  mouth flange 
           3 ,  3   a  closure 
           4  rotor 
           5  sterile chamber 
           5 . 1 ,  5 . 2  upper and lower chamber parts 
           6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9  wall section 
           7 . 1 ,  7 . 2  part section of wall section  7   
           10  intermediate wall 
           10 . 1  opening 
           11  closing station 
           12  induction welding head 
           12 . 1  induction seal 
           13  bellows seal 
           14  screw capper 
           14 . 1  drive 
           14 . 2  cylindrical capper head 
           14 . 3  capping cone or capping element 
         A lifting motion of closing tool 
         MA vertical machine axis