JP2005255236A - Method for manufacturing bagged food and apparatus for charging and sealing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a bagged food capable of performing a sufficient inert gas exchange without reducing a manufacturing efficiency of a bagged food. <P>SOLUTION: This method for manufacturing a bagged food by a charging and sealing apparatus 1 comprises a first step for inserting a first gas blow nozzle 9 into a bag 6 just after the bag is opened and pulling out the first gas blow nozzle after the inert gas is blown up to a predetermined time between just before starting the food charging and just after starting the food charging, a second step for inserting a second gas blow nozzle 16 into the bag just before starting the food charging and blowing inert gas from a predetermined time between just before starting the food charging and just after starting the food charging to a predetermined time between just before finishing the food charging and just after finishing the food charging, thereafter for pulling out the second gas blow nozzle from the bag, and a third step for inserting a third gas blow nozzle 19 into the bag during the food charging, blowing the inert gas from a predetermined time between just before finishing the food charging and just after finishing the food charging to a closing of an opening part of the bag before the bag is sealed, thereafter the third gas blow nozzle is pulled out of the bag. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a bag-filled food and a bag-fill-seal device used in the method.

When air-packing solid food, fluid food, solid food with liquid juice, beverages (hereinafter collectively referred to as “food”) as bag-packed food, in order to prevent food oxidation and browning, It is necessary to replace the air with an inert gas such as nitrogen gas. In general, air-packaging of packaged foods is automatically performed using a rotary table type filling and sealing machine. The rotary table type filling and sealing machine includes a plurality of bag holding units provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the rotary table, and a bag opening portion, a food filling portion and a sealing portion are fixedly provided so as to surround the rotary table. By opening the rotary table intermittently, opening of the bags held in each bag holding unit, filling of food and sealing of the bags are sequentially performed. In the packaging method using this filling and sealing machine, conventionally, an inert gas gas blow is generally performed immediately after sealing a bag after filling with food, and as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 A method of performing gas blowing immediately before filling food, a method of performing gas blowing during food filling as disclosed in Patent Document 2, and a gas blowing before and during food filling as disclosed in Patent Document 3. Various gas replacement methods have been proposed, such as a method of performing gas blowing as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-26883, and immediately before opening a bag.
JP-A-2-233321 JP-A-60-99820 JP 54-92487 A JP 7-313128 A

  The conventional gas replacement with the inert gas is performed at one time point before or after food filling or at two time points before and after food filling in intermittent rotation of the rotary table. Is determined by the production speed, that is, how many bags are produced per unit time. For example, if the number of bag holding units on the rotary table is 8 and the production speed is 30 bags / minute, is the gas blow time before food filling? In the case of the later one time point, it is about 1 second, and even in the case of two time points with an interval before and after filling the food, it is only about 2 seconds. Therefore, in the conventional gas replacement, the gas replacement at the bottom side of the food contents is insufficient, or air is mixed again in the bag after the gas replacement, the replacement rate of the entire bag is poor, especially filling This tendency is remarkable when the food to be processed is a solid food.

  The present invention solves the problems in the above conventional bag-filled food filling method, and can provide a bag-filled food manufacturing method and apparatus capable of sufficiently performing replacement with an inert gas without reducing the production efficiency of the bag-filled food. Is to provide.

  A method for manufacturing a bagged food that solves the above-described problems of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a bagged food in which a bagged food is aerated by a filling seal device. It is a manufacturing method.

Immediately after opening the bag, the first gas blow nozzle is inserted into the bag, and the inert gas is blown to a predetermined time immediately before and after the filling of the food, and then the first gas blow nozzle is removed from the bag. First step The second gas blow nozzle is inserted into the bag immediately before the start of filling of the food, and the predetermined time between immediately before and immediately after the filling of food is not reached until a predetermined time immediately before and after the end of filling of food. A second step of extracting the second gas blow nozzle from the bag after blowing in the active gas. A predetermined time point between immediately before and after the end of the food filling by inserting the third gas blow nozzle into the bag during the food filling. A third step of drawing the third gas blow nozzle out of the bag after blowing an inert gas until the bag opening is closed before sealing the bag.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the inert gas is blown by the first gas blow nozzle, the inert gas is blown by the second gas blow nozzle, and the inert gas is blown by the second gas blow nozzle. Inert gas blowing by the third gas blow nozzle is performed simultaneously for a predetermined time.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the first, second, and third gas blow nozzles stop blowing out the inert gas during the insertion into the bag and the extraction from the bag. It is characterized by that.

A bag-filled food filling seal device that achieves the object of the present invention includes a plurality of bag holding units provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of a rotary table, and includes a bag opening, a food filling portion, and a bag so as to surround the rotary table. In the rotary table type bag-filling food filling seal device which is provided with a sealing part and sequentially opens the bag held in each bag holding unit by rotating the rotary table intermittently, filling the food and sealing the bag,
A first gas blow that is provided in the vicinity of the bag opening, reciprocates between the bag opening and the food filling unit, and is inserted into a bag that is transferred from the bag opening to the food filling unit and blows an inert gas. A first inert gas blowing device comprising a nozzle;
A second inert gas blow device provided with a second gas blow nozzle that is provided in the vicinity of the food filling portion and is inserted into a bag transferred to the food filling portion and blows an inert gas;
It is provided in the vicinity of the food filling part, inserted into a bag that is reciprocated between the food filling part and a predetermined position before the bag arrives at the bag sealing part, and is transferred to the bag closing part from the food filling part. A third inert gas blowing device including a third gas blowing nozzle for blowing active gas is provided.

  According to the method of the present invention, by performing gas blowing seamlessly in the first step, the second step, and the third step, it is inert in the bag from the time of opening the bag before filling the food to immediately before sealing the bag. Since the gas is blown substantially continuously, the gas blowing time can be increased several times longer than before even if the packed food is produced at the same production speed as before, and the gas blowing is interrupted halfway. Therefore, air is not mixed again into the bag during the gas blow interruption, and sufficient gas replacement can be achieved without deteriorating the production efficiency. As a result, in the conventional gas replacement method, the residual oxygen concentration after gas replacement was several percent, but according to the method of the present invention, the residual oxygen concentration is reduced to 0.5% or less and the residual oxygen amount is reduced to 1.0 ml or less. Can be made.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the continuity of gas blowing into the bag is achieved by performing the first step, the second step, the second step, and the third step simultaneously for a predetermined time. It can be done more completely.

  Further, according to the bag filling and sealing apparatus of the present invention, the three-stage inert gas blowing device including the first inert gas blowing device, the second inert gas blowing device, and the third inert gas blowing device is provided. By reciprocating the gas blow nozzles of the inert gas blow device and the third inert gas blow device, it is possible to perform gas blow continuously for a longer time than the conventional device, and it is sufficient without reducing the production efficiency. Gas replacement can be achieved, and since it is not necessary to install gas blow nozzles in all the bag holding units on the rotary table, the equipment cost can be reduced accordingly.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a filling and sealing apparatus of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 12 are explanatory views for explaining the operation of the apparatus in each step of inert gas blowing step by step.

  This filling and sealing device 1 is a rotary table type bag filling and sealing device, and eight bag holding units 3 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the rotary table 2 that rotates intermittently in the direction of arrow Q in FIG. 2 is fixed to the peripheral edge. Each of the bag holding units 3 includes a pair of bag holding arms 4 and is configured to hold both sides of the bag 6 closed by claws 5 and 5 that can open and close the bag holding arms 4. . Further, the pair of bag gripping arms 4 and 4 includes a mechanism capable of moving between two positions, ie, an approach position close to each other and a spaced position spaced apart from each other.

  A bag 6 is received from a bag supply unit (not shown) so as to surround the rotary table 2, and the bag holding unit 3 holds the bag 6 with its upper end 6a closed, and performs predetermined printing on the bag 6. The upper end 6a of the gripped bag 6 is opened by moving the printing unit II and the pair of bag gripping arms 4 and 4 in the approaching position, that is, the direction in which the width is narrowed, and the bag 6 is opened by the two opening support arms 15 and 15. Is opened and held in the radial direction of the turntable 2 (state shown in FIG. 3), and the first food filling portion IV (the food in the present invention) is filled with food (for example, solid food) in the bag opening III and the opened bag 6. A filling portion), a process portion V for removing the gas blow nozzle from the bag 6, and a first sealing portion VI for performing a first heat seal to close and seal the bag 6 (which constitutes the sealing portion in the present invention) ) Final heat sea The second sealing part VII and the sealing part of the sealed bag 6 are cooled by a cooling press, and then the cooling and discharging part VIII for discharging the bag 6 to the discharge conveyor 7 is the same interval as the arrangement interval of the bag holding unit 3 It is fixedly provided. The turntable 2 is intermittently rotated so that the bag holding unit 3 stays at each part I to VIII for a predetermined time (for example, 1 second) and then moves to a part for performing the next process after a predetermined work is performed. Do exercise.

  In the bag opening III, the bag 6 is transferred to the first food filling unit IV from the bag opening III by reciprocating in the direction of the arrow AA between the bag opening III and the first food filling unit IV. There is provided a first inert gas blowing device 8 provided with a first gas blowing nozzle 9 which is inserted into the nozzle and blows in an inert gas.

  The gas blow nozzle 9 is disposed in the middle of the opening support arms 15 and 15 and is attached to the air cylinder device 11 fixed to the rotary arm 10 to which the opening support arms 15 and 15 are attached, and is moved up and down by the air cylinder device 11. Is possible. The rotary arm 10 reciprocates around the rotary shaft 21 between the bag opening III and the first food filling part IV.

  The opening support arms 15 and 15 are fixed to the distal ends of pivoting arms 13 and 13 pivotally attached to pivoting shafts 12 and 12 attached to the rotating arm 10. 6 is inserted into the bag 6 and the bag 6 is expanded in the radial direction of the rotary table 2. In addition, the opening support arms 15 and 15 can be configured so as to be able to blow out an inert gas using a tubular member, and can also be used as a gas blow nozzle.

  The first food filling unit IV includes a second inert gas blowing device 17 including second gas blowing nozzles 16 and 16 which are inserted into the bag 6 transferred to the first food filling unit IV and blow in inert gas. Is provided. As apparent from FIG. 5, the gas blow nozzles 16, 16 are fixed to both sides of the hopper 14 that fills the bag 6 with food, and move up and down as the hopper 14 moves up and down.

  In addition, the first food filling unit IV is reciprocated between the first food filling unit IV and the stroke unit V for removing the gas blow nozzle from the bag and transferred from the first food filling unit IV to the second food filling unit V. There is provided a third inert gas blowing device 18 provided with a third gas blowing nozzle 19 which is inserted into the bag 6 and blows inert gas.

  The third gas blowing device 18 is provided with a rotating arm 20 that reciprocates in the direction of arrow BB between the food filling portion IV and the stroke portion V for removing the gas blowing nozzle from the bag around the rotating shaft 21. A gas blow nozzle 19 is attached to an air cylinder device 30 attached to the cylinder. The gas blow nozzle 19 can be moved up and down by an air cylinder device 23.

  Each gas blow nozzle 9, 16, 19 is connected to an inert gas supply source and an on-off valve (not shown).

The operation of this apparatus will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, the bag 6 supplied from the bag supply unit (not shown) is received by the claws 5, 5 of the bag gripping arms 4, 4 at the separation position of the bag holding unit 3 that is stopped in the bag receiving unit I. The bag 6 is gripped with the upper end 6a closed. Next, when the rotary table 2 is rotated and the bag 6 reaches the position of the bag opening II through the printing unit II and stops, the bag gripping arms 4 and 4 move to the approaching position as shown in FIG. While opening the upper end 6 a, two opening support arms 15, 15 are inserted into the bag 6 to expand the bag 6 in the radial direction of the turntable 2.

  Immediately thereafter, the first inert gas blowing device 8 is actuated and the gas blowing nozzle 9 is lowered by the operation of the air cylinder device 11 and inserted into the bag 6 as shown in FIG. Blowing in begins.

  Next, when the gas blow nozzle 6 is inserted into the bag 6 and the state in which the inert gas is blown into the bag 6 is maintained, the rotary table 2 rotates and the bag 6 reaches the first food filling part IV. As shown in FIG. 5, the food filling hopper 14 descends into the bag 6 and the bag 6 is filled with food (for example, solid food). The second inert gas blowing device 17 operates simultaneously with the start of filling of the food, and the blowing of inert gas from the gas blowing nozzles 16 and 16 into the bag 6 is started. On the other hand, the gas blow nozzle 9 stops the blowing after continuing the blowing of the inert gas until immediately after the start of the filling of the food. Accordingly, both the gas blow nozzles 9 and 16 perform the insufflation of the inert gas in a period from the start of the filling of the food to immediately after that, thereby guaranteeing continuous insufflation of the inert gas.

  When the blowing of the inert gas is completed, the gas blow nozzle 9 is lifted by the operation of the air cylinder device 11 and is detached from the bag 6 while the food is being filled by the hopper 14 as shown in FIG. The opening support arms 15 and 15 are also detached from the bag 6.

  At the same time or immediately after the gas blow nozzle 9 is detached, as shown in FIG. 7, the third inert gas blow device 18 is operated, and the gas blow nozzle 19 is lowered into the bag 6 by the operation of the air cylinder device 30. . The gas blow nozzles 16, 16 stop the blowing of the inert gas simultaneously with the completion of the food filling by the hopper 14. On the other hand, the gas blow nozzle 19 starts the blowing of the inert gas immediately before the end of the filling of the food, thereby ensuring the continuous blowing of the inert gas.

  When the filling of the food is completed, the hopper 14 is lifted as shown in FIG. 8, and then the rotary table 2 is rotated to move the bag 6 toward the stroke portion V where the gas blow nozzle is removed from the bag. During this time, the gas blow nozzle 9 remains inserted into the bag 6 as shown in FIG. 9, and the gas blow is continued.

  When the rotary table 2 further rotates and the bag 6 reaches the second food filling part V, the bag holding arms 4 and 4 are opened to the separated position and the bag opening 6a is closed as indicated by 10 along with the rotation of the rotary table 2. . At this time, the blowing of the inert gas from the gas blow nozzle 19 is still continued.

  Next, while the bag 6 is stopped at the stroke portion V where the gas blow nozzle is removed from the bag, as shown in FIG. 11, the blowing of the inert gas from the gas blow nozzle 19 is stopped, and the gas blow nozzle 19 is moved to the bag 6. Pull out from.

  Next, when the rotary table 2 rotates and the bag 6 reaches the first sealing portion VI with the bag upper end 6a closed as shown in FIG. 12, the rotary table 2 stops and the upper end 6a of the bag 6 is heated. 23 (FIG. 1), the first heat sealing is performed. Next, when the rotary table 2 rotates and the bag 6 reaches the second sealing portion VII while the bag gripping arms 4 and 4 remain in the separated position, the rotary table 2 stops and the bag 6 is sandwiched between the heat presses 24. Then, the second heat seal is performed. Further, when the rotary table 2 rotates and the bag 6 reaches the cooling / discharging unit VIII while the bag gripping arms 4 and 4 remain in the separated position, the rotary table 2 stops, and the upper end 6a of the bag 6 is the cooling press. After being sandwiched by 25 and cooling the bag 6, the bag 6 is discharged as a product onto the discharge conveyor 7. The bag holding arms 4 and 4 that have finished discharging the bag 6 are sent to the bag receiving unit I by the next rotation of the rotary table 2 while maintaining the separated position, and wait for the next bag reception.

  The blow nozzles 9, 16, and 19 may be configured such that the blowing of the inert gas stops during the insertion into the bag and the extraction from the bag. This makes it possible to effectively reduce the inflow of the atmosphere into the bag accompanying the nozzle operation.

  In the above embodiment, the gas blow nozzle 9 reciprocates between the bag opening III and the first food filling portion IV, and the gas blow between the first food filling portion IV and the stroke portion V for removing the gas blow nozzle from the bag. The reciprocation of the nozzle 19 is performed synchronously. That is, at the first food filling part IV, the gas blow nozzle 9 is extracted from the bag 6 (state of FIG. 6), and at the same time, the gas blow nozzle 19 is extracted from the bag 6 at the process part V where the gas blow nozzle is extracted from the bag ( The state of FIG. 11), the extracted gas blow nozzle 9 returns to the bag opening III, and the gas blow nozzle 19 extracted in synchronism with the standby operation in preparation for the next blowing of the inert gas is the first food filling portion IV. Return to and wait for the next blowing of inert gas.

  In the above embodiment, the gas blow nozzle 19 reciprocates between the filling portion IV of the first food and the stroke portion V that removes the gas blow nozzle from the bag to blow the inert gas. Extending the stroke, the first food filling portion IV and the gas blow nozzle are removed from the bag. The stroke of the inert gas is reciprocated between the position just before reaching the first sealing portion VI beyond the stroke portion V. You may comprise so that blowing may be performed.

  In the above apparatus, the vertical movement of the gas blow nozzles 9 and 19 can be performed by various methods such as air pressure, electric pressure, and electric power. The number of gas blow nozzles is not limited to one, and a plurality of gas blow nozzles may be used depending on the purpose of use.

  In the above-described embodiment, eight working units I to VIII are provided on the rotary table 2, but the number of working units is not limited thereto. The method of the present invention can be applied not only to a rotary table type bag filling and sealing apparatus but also to a linear bag filling and sealing apparatus.

It is a top view which shows one Embodiment of the filling sealing device used for implementation of the method concerning this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the supply operation | movement of a bag. It is a perspective view which shows the state which opened the bag. It is a perspective view which shows the state which started blowing inactive gas by the 1st gas blow nozzle in a bag. It is a perspective view which shows the operation | movement which inserts a 2nd gas blow nozzle in a bag in a food filling part. It is a perspective view which shows the operation | movement which extracts the 1st gas blow nozzle in a food filling part. It is a perspective view which shows the operation | movement which inserts the 3rd gas blow nozzle in a bag in a food filling part. It is a perspective view which shows the operation | movement which pulls out the 2nd gas blow nozzle in a food filling part. It is a perspective view which shows the blowing operation of the inert gas by the 3rd gas blow nozzle. It is a perspective view which shows the operation | movement which closes a bag. It is a perspective view which shows the operation | movement which pulls out the 3rd gas blow nozzle. It is a perspective view which shows the state which complete | finished blowing of inert gas and a bag faces a sealing part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bag filling filling sealing apparatus 2 Rotary table 3 Bag holding unit 4 Bag holding arm 6 Bag 8 1st inert gas blower 9, 16, 19 Gas blow nozzle 17 2nd inert gas blower 18 3rd inert gas blow apparatus

Claims (4)

In the manufacturing method of the bag-packed food which carries out aeration packaging of the bag-packed food with a filling seal apparatus, the manufacturing method of the bag-packed food characterized by including the following process Immediately after opening of a bag, a 1st gas blow nozzle is put in a bag The first step of blowing the inert gas up to a predetermined time immediately before and after the filling of the food and then extracting the first gas blow nozzle from the bag, the second gas immediately before the filling of the food After the blow nozzle is inserted into the bag and the inert gas is blown from a predetermined time point immediately before and after the filling of food to a predetermined time point immediately before and after the filling of the food, the second gas blowing nozzle is The second step of removing the bag from the bag is inactive until the bag opening is closed before the bag is sealed from the predetermined time point between immediately before and after the filling of the food by inserting the third gas blow nozzle into the bag during food filling. After blowing gas Third step of withdrawing a gas blow nozzle from the bag. Blowing of inert gas by the first gas blowing nozzle, blowing of inert gas by the second gas blowing nozzle, blowing of inert gas by the second gas blowing nozzle, and by the third gas blowing nozzle The method for producing a packaged food according to claim 1, wherein the blowing of the inert gas is performed simultaneously for a predetermined time. 2. The first, second, and third gas blow nozzles are characterized in that the blowing of inert gas is stopped during the operation of insertion into the bag and extraction from the bag. Or the manufacturing method of the bag-packed food of 2. Provided with a plurality of bag holding units provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the turntable, and provided with a bag opening, a food filling portion, and a bag sealing portion so as to surround the turntable, and the turntable is rotated intermittently In the rotary table type bag-filling food filling sealing device that sequentially performs the opening of the bag held by each bag holding unit, the filling of food and the sealing of the bag,
A first gas blow that is provided in the vicinity of the bag opening, reciprocates between the bag opening and the food filling unit, and is inserted into a bag that is transferred from the bag opening to the food filling unit and blows an inert gas. A first inert gas blowing device comprising a nozzle;
A second inert gas blow device provided with a second gas blow nozzle that is provided in the vicinity of the food filling portion and is inserted into a bag transferred to the food filling portion and blows an inert gas;
It is provided in the vicinity of the food filling part, inserted into a bag that is reciprocated between the food filling part and a predetermined position before the bag arrives at the bag sealing part, and is transferred to the bag closing part from the food filling part. A bag-filling-seal device characterized by comprising a third inert gas blowing device comprising a third gas blowing nozzle for blowing active gas.

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