U.S. patent application number 10/577752 was filed with the patent office on 2008-11-06 for device and method for filling liquid or pasty products.
Invention is credited to Wolfgang Buchkremer, Michael Eccarius, Christoph Kenn.
Application Number | 20080272151 10/577752 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34853732 |
Filed Date | 2008-11-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080272151 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Eccarius; Michael ; et
al. |
November 6, 2008 |
Device and Method for Filling Liquid or Pasty Products
Abstract
A device and a method for filling liquid or pasty products
having lumpy fractions and free flowing, pourable lumpy products
comprising a storage container, means for opening or closing the
outlet of the storage container and a gravity tube arranged
underneath the storage container. The gravity tube has at least one
flexible side wall. A device for mechanically pressing-in the at
least one side wall of the gravity tube is also provided. In order
to reliably exclude an accumulation of product in the gravity tube
during filling and to increase the filling accuracy, the device for
mechanically pressing-in the side wall of the gravity tube has
rotatable elements for deforming the cross-section of the gravity
tube. In this case, the side wall of the gravity tube is
temporarily inwardly deformed by the device for mechanically
pressing-in according to a specified scheme.
Inventors: |
Eccarius; Michael; (Linnich,
DE) ; Buchkremer; Wolfgang; (Linnich, DE) ;
Kenn; Christoph; (Duren, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE WEBB LAW FIRM, P.C.
700 KOPPERS BUILDING, 436 SEVENTH AVENUE
PITTSBURGH
PA
15219
US
|
Family ID: |
34853732 |
Appl. No.: |
10/577752 |
Filed: |
February 18, 2005 |
PCT Filed: |
February 18, 2005 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP05/01681 |
371 Date: |
April 27, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
222/214 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 2588/645 20130101;
B65B 3/06 20130101; B65D 88/68 20130101; B65B 39/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
222/214 |
International
Class: |
B65D 37/00 20060101
B65D037/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 24, 2004 |
DE |
10 2004 009 423.3 |
Claims
1-11. (canceled)
12. A device for filling liquid or pasty products having lumpy
fractions and free flowing, pourable lumpy products, comprising a
storage container; means for opening or closing an outlet of the
storage container; a gravity tube arranged underneath the storage
container including at least one flexible side wall; and means for
mechanically pressing-in the at least one flexible side wall of the
gravity tube, wherein the means for mechanically pressing-in the
side wall of the gravity tube includes rotatable elements for
deforming a cross-section of the gravity tube and, further wherein
the rotatable elements are driven rotatably about an axis of
rotation running substantially parallel to the gravity tube.
13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the gravity tube
includes a polygonal cross-section, each flexible side wall is
deformable, and separate means for mechanical pressing-in are
provided for each side wall.
14. The device according to claim 12, wherein the gravity tube has
a substantially round cross-section and the means for mechanically
pressing-in the at least one flexible side wall of the gravity tube
are distributed uniformly over a circumference of the gravity
tube.
15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the means for
mechanically pressing-in the at least one flexible side wall of the
gravity tube are arranged rotatably about an axis of the gravity
tube.
16. The device according to claim 12, wherein the means for
mechanically pressing-in the at least one flexible side wall of the
gravity tube are arranged in a manner adapted to be displaced in
the axial direction.
17. The device according to claim 12, wherein the rotatable
elements are constructed as rollers.
18. The device according to claim 12, wherein the rotatable
elements are constructed as cams.
19. A method for filling liquid or pasty products having lumpy
fractions and free flowing, pourable lumpy products by means of the
device according to claim 12, comprising: pressing-in the side wall
of the gravity tube with the means for mechanically pressing-in to
intermittently deform the flexible side wall of the gravity tube
inwards.
20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the deformation of
the side wall of the gravity tube takes place simultaneously.
21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the deformation of
the side wall of the gravity tube takes place staggered in
time.
22. The method according to claim 19, wherein the means for
mechanically pressing-in the side wall of the gravity tube acts
uniformly over an entire circumference on the side wall of the
gravity tube.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a device and a method for filling
liquid or pasty products having lumpy fractions and free flowing,
pourable lumpy products comprising a storage container, means for
opening or closing the outlet of the storage container and a
gravity tube arranged underneath the storage container, wherein the
gravity tube has at least one flexible side wall and that means for
mechanically pressing-in the at least one side wall of the gravity
tube are provided.
[0002] Devices for filling lumpy portions together with liquid or
pasty or free flowing or pourable products are available on the
market in various designs and have been known for some time. Said
devices are used to fill the product from a storage container
having a closable outlet through a so-called gravity tube either
directly into a packaging container located directly thereunder and
to be closed subsequently or into a metering tube so that the
packaging containers can be filled uniformly either on a volumetric
or on a gravimetric basis.
[0003] A bunker for powder or granular material is known from DE-AS
10 97 904 which describes a device and a method for emptying
pourable and free flowing products wherein a flexible gravity tube
at the lower end of the container can be moved towards one another
or moved away from one another by means of suitable elements so
that the flexible gravity tube can be completely closed.
[0004] A similar device is known from DE 32 06 003 A1 where the
lower region of a transport or storage container is flexibly
configured, by providing belts there. These belts are tightened
more or less by means of suitably articulated rollers to change the
cross-section of the throughput.
[0005] In both the aforesaid known devices however, it is only
possible for two parallel sides of the gravity tube to move.
[0006] When a "gravity tube" is merely mentioned in the following,
this should include any design of hollow transport pipes. In
particular, the invention should thus also relate to gravity hoses
consisting entirely of a flexible material.
[0007] Whereas the filling of liquid products generally involves no
problems, during the filling of pasty products, especially if these
have lumpy fractions, blockages occur again and again in the area
of the gravity tube since the product sticks or wedges in the area
of the gravity tube, that is the position having the smallest
cross-section during the filling process. This "bridge formation"
results in problems during the filling: the result is inadequately
filled packages (rejects), machine down-time and therefore
increased maintenance expenditure.
[0008] The object of the invention is thus to configure and further
develop the device and the corresponding method for filling
specified initially and described previously in detail so that any
product blockage in the gravity tube is reliably eliminated. It is
further desired that the filling accuracy is increased. Damage to
the lumpy fractions of the product should also be reliably
excluded.
[0009] The object is solved in a generic device by the fact that
the means for mechanically pressing in the side wall of the gravity
tube have rotatable elements for deforming the cross-section of the
gravity tube and that the elements are driven rotatably about an
axis of rotation running substantially parallel to the gravity
tube.
[0010] In terms of method the object is solved by the fact that the
means for mechanically pressing in the side wall of the gravity
tube intermittently deforms the flexible side wall of the gravity
tube inwards according to a specified scheme.
[0011] The invention has recognised that the disadvantages of the
known filling devices described further above can be reliably
avoided by using a gravity tube having a flexible side wall in
conjunction with means for mechanically deforming this side wall.
In this case, the cross-sectional shape of the gravity tube
initially plays no role. A further teaching of the invention
provides that the gravity tube has a polygonal cross-section, for
example, a square cross-section, that each flexible side wall is
constructed as deformable and that separate elements for mechanical
pressing-in are provided for each side wall. In this way, all the
side walls of the gravity tube are pressed in mechanically,
optionally according to a special sequence scheme to be explained
further below, so as to reliably exclude any bridge formation of
the product in the interior of the gravity tube or gravity
hose.
[0012] A further teaching of the invention provides that the
gravity tube has a substantially round cross-section and that the
elements for mechanically pressing in the side wall of the gravity
tube are arranged distributed uniformly around the circumference of
the gravity tube. In a further embodiment of the invention, in such
round-cross-section gravity tubes the elements for mechanically
pressing in the side wall of the gravity tube can be arranged
rotatably about the axis of the gravity tube. This design offers
design advantages compared with a plurality of pressing-in elements
arranged around the gravity tube.
[0013] In a further development of the invention, the elements for
mechanically pressing in the side wall of the gravity tube can be
arranged displaceably in the axial direction. The various movements
on the flexible side wall of the gravity tube can also be
superimposed to achieve particularly favourable effects.
[0014] According to a further preferred teaching of the invention,
the rotatable elements for mechanically pressing in the side wall
of the gravity tube are constructed as rollers or as cams for
deforming the cross-section of the gravity tube. In this case, it
is especially appropriate if the rollers or cams are rotatably
driven and the axis of rotation runs substantially parallel to the
gravity tube. By attaching a plurality of "camshafts" arranged
parallel to the gravity tube around the gravity tube, each having a
plurality of cams arranged rotatably above one another, numerous
deformation patterns can be achieved.
[0015] As has already been mentioned, the solution of the invention
F in terms of method provides that the intermittent deformation of
the gravity tube takes place according to a specified scheme. In
this case, the deformation of the side wall of the gravity tube can
take place simultaneously or staggered in time, in which case the
means for mechanically pressing in the side wall of the gravity
tube can act uniformly on the side wall of the gravity tube over
the entire circumference. In the design solution using rollers
described further above, for example, it is possible to arrange a
plurality of rollers, each arranged one above the other, around the
gravity tube wherein the individual rollers in the various planes
act above one another on the gravity tube such that any deformation
of the gravity tube takes place in the sense of peristaltic
motion.
[0016] The invention is explained in detail subsequently with
reference to drawings which merely show preferred exemplary
embodiments. In the figures:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a first exemplary
embodiment of the device according to the invention,
[0018] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the device according to the
invention from FIG. 1 and
[0019] FIG. 3 shows a vertical section of the device according to
the invention according to FIGS. 1 and 2.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a gravity tube 1 which
has at least one flexible side wall 2. In addition to the gravity
tube 1 having a product P comprising lumpy fractions, a plurality
of rollers 4 arranged rotatably about an axis of rotation 3 running
parallel to the gravity tube 1 are also provided. As can be seen
from FIG. 2, in the exemplary embodiment shown and insofar
preferred, four rollers 4 are arranged about a drive shaft 5
wherein supports 6 arranged in a cross provide for mounting of the
rotatable rollers 4 and their spacing from the drive shaft 5. For
clarity only four rollers arranged in one plane are shown in FIG.
1. A plurality of individual supports 6 with rollers 4 arranged
rotatably thereon are arranged one above the other, as can be seen
from FIG. 3, so that the gravity tube 1 can now be deformed as far
as possible over its entire height. In this case, the drive shaft 5
is mounted in two bearings 7a and 7b, which are connected to a
housing, not shown, by means of supporting arms 8a and 8b. In the
exemplary embodiment the drive shaft is driven by means of a cogged
belt 9 which is merely indicated.
[0021] It can quickly be seen that if the rollers 4 of the
individual planes of the device shown in FIG. 3 are arranged
radially offset, various deformations of the side wall 2 of the
gravity tube 1 can be achieved. For example, the rollers 4 arranged
at the top first come in contact with the side wall of the gravity
tube not shown in FIG. 3 and then those arranged thereunder in each
case. This results in a type of milling movement in the direction
of transport and is especially gentle for the product to be
transported.
[0022] Instead of the rollers 4, it is also feasible to use cams,
although this is not shown, which bring about the desired
deformation of the flexible gravity tube 1 from outside
simultaneously or staggered in time or place.
[0023] It is clear that a plurality of the arrangements according
to the invention can be arranged around the gravity tube 1. In the
exemplary embodiment shown and insofar preferred, the gravity tube
1 has a rectangular cross-section so that corresponding rollers 4
can act on all four side surfaces 2. Here also, a "deformation
scheme" of the gravity tube 1 matched to the special product can be
achieved by the matched sequence of impact of the individual
rollers 4 relative to the different planes and the different side
walls 2.
* * * * *