Method for filling and sealing liquid content in spouted pouch and apparatus therefor

Abstract

[Problems] To obtain a spouted pouch package having a high degree of deoxidation by a method in which even a liquid content which is easily foamable can be filled while being inhibited from foaming.[Means for Solving Problems] A pre-filling deoxidation step (1) is performed before a liquid content is filled into a pouch. The pre-filling deoxidation step (1) comprises: a vacuum step (1-1) in which a gas is evacuated from the pouch; an inert gas blowing step (1-2) in which an inert gas is blown into the pouch after the vacuum step; and a gas-reduction vacuum step (1-3) in which the gas in the pouch after the inert gas blowing step is discharged under vacuum to reduce the gas in the pouch to a predetermined amount. Thereafter, the pouch is evacuated in a pre-filling second degassing step (2-1) and then filled with a content. After filling, gas replacement is implemented.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a method for filling and sealing a liquid content in a spouted pouch and to an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to a method for filling and sealing a liquid content in a spouted pouch that is advantageously suitable for filling and sealing a liquid content that is easily foamed and requires high-level deoxidation packaging.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Filling and sealing liquid food products such as refreshing beverages, jelly foods, and high-calorie or highly nutritional rice gruel in spouted pouches has recently been suggested. Among such products, for example, when the content is a low-acidic product that has a pH of equal to or higher than 4.6 and easily decomposes, sterilization at a temperature of equal to or higher than 100° C. is required and retort sterilization is conducted after filling and sealing the liquid content. Furthermore, the spout opening end is sealed by fusing an inner lid sealing material such as an alumin...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016]With the method and device in accordance with the present invention, oxygen is removed from the pouch before the filling step and the pouch is again degassed immediately prior to filling. Therefore, the inclusion of air into the content or occurrence of bubbles during filling is reduced and the packaging is performed with a high deoxidation ratio and can maintain high quality of the content, in particular such that can easily deteriorate under the effect of oxygen, these deoxidation ratio and maintained quality being superior to those attained with the conventional process in which gas replacement is performed after the pouch is directly filled with the content.

[0017]According to the invention as set forth in claim 2 and claim 9, the pre-filling deoxidation step includes a vacuum step, an inert gas blowing step, and a gas-reduction vacuum step. Therefore, a sufficient amount of inert gas can be blown into the pouch, without affecting the subsequent pre-filling degassing step, the pre-filling deoxidation ratio is high, and a portion that becomes bubbles after filling can be efficiently replaced with inert gas. Furthermore, because oxygen can be removed from the pouch before the filling step, the inclusion of air into the content or occurrence of bubbles during filling is reduced and the packaging is performed with a high deoxidation ratio and can maintain high quality of the content, in particular such that can easily deteriorate under the effect of oxygen, these deoxidation ratio and maintained quality being superior to those attained with the conventional process in which gas replacement is performed after the pouch is directly filled with the content.

[0018]Furthermore, according to the invention as set forth in claim 3 and claim 9, the penetration of external air into the pouch, in particular after the pre-filling gas replacement, can be prevented and a transition to the content filling step can be made, while maintaining a high deoxidation ratio.

[0019]According to the invention as in claim 4 and claim 10, bubbles and gas that are present after filling are discharged from the container. Therefore, gas replacement that is subsequently performed can be performed effectively.

[0020]According to the invention as set forth in claims 5, 12, and 13, the residual liquid contained in the nozzle after the metered filling step can be filled into the pouch, without generating bubbles, and filling of easily foamable content is effectively performed. According to the invention as set forth in claim 6, because the pouch is pressurized from the outside and degassed immediately before the content filling step, the degassing time can be shortened, the content can be filled in a state in which the amount of oxygen inside the pouch is reduced, without hindering the increase in line rate, oxygen is prevented from dissolving in the content during filling, the occurrence of bubbles in the head space is prevented, the amount of oxygen present in a dissolved state in the content can be reduced, the deoxidation effect inside the pouch is increased, and content quality preservation can be improved.

[0021]According to the invention as set forth in claims 7 and 15, the degassing step and washing and gas replacement step can be effectively performed in the same station and are performed in the station following the filling station. Therefore, spilling of the content caused by impacts during conveying is reduced even without expanding the pouch to lower the level of liquid content in the filling station, and even if spilling occurs, it causes no problems because it occurs before the pouch is washed.

Problems solved by technology

However, because the spout aperture is small, the following problems are encountered: the content overflows during and after the filling operation, the spout opening end and outer peripheral portion are easily contaminated, gas purging is difficult to conduct, high-speed filling is difficult to perform, and high-speed productivity is impossible.

The occurrence frequency of these problems rises dramatically when an easily foamable content is used.

The spout opening is easily contaminated mainly because of liquid sagging from a filling nozzle during filling or after filling and also because the content is easily spilled from the spout under the effect of impacts during conveying to a subsequent sealing step in a state with a high liquid level.

The adhesion of content to the opening end portion of the spout is undesirable not only because of poor heat sealing of the inner lid sealing material to the opening in the subsequent step, but also from the standpoint of sanitary.

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