Method and device for evacuating and regasifying unpackaged products in a single vacuum chamber to increase production output while simultaneously increasing sustainability

Description

[0001] The invention relates to an optimized method and an optimized device for evacuating ambient air and re-gassing unpackaged products with protective gas, according to the preamble of patent claim 1. Such products are, in particular, products of the food industry that are to be packaged in a protectively fumigated, low-oxygen atmosphere. These include, for example, pasta, baked goods, cakes, pizzas, and generally any type of air-filled food.

[0002] The invention differs in essential features from the patent DE 10 2007 060 305 of the same inventor, which is based on at least two vacuum chambers.

[0003] According to patent DE 10 2007 060 305, the product flow toward the final packaging (e.g., packaging machine) is maintained by having at least two vacuum chambers operate alternately. According to patent DE 10 2007 060 305, the incoming products are fed individually via the inlet rocker to the respective vacuum chamber and lined up there. Loading and unloading at least two chambers is time-consuming.

[0004] The known prior art process has disadvantages due to multiple chambers (at least two) and the associated higher material requirements and manufacturing costs. Further disadvantages of the usually long chambers include the larger space requirements. Further disadvantages of the usually long chambers include the increased cleaning effort and the associated removal and installation of the long and heavy conveyor belts, especially when high cleaning frequencies must be maintained in the food industry due to sensitive and perishable products.

[0005] The invention is therefore based on the object of improving the devices and methods known from the prior art with the aim of reducing in particular the space requirements, material requirements, manufacturing costs, gas consumption and cleaning effort.

[0006] The invention is achieved by a method according to claim 1 and by a device according to claim 15. These are defined as follows: A method for evacuating ambient air and re-gassing unpackaged products, e.g. pasta or air-filled foodstuffs, with protective gas in only one vacuum chamber, wherein one or more rows of untreated products enter on an infeed belt, are transported further to a pre-storage belt, where the products are collected and lined up, are transported further to a first segmented storage belt, where the products are arranged to form a product formation with defined distances from one another, in order to be taken over as an ordered product formation by a first segmented lifter, which is raised by means of a drive (7 a) from its position below the segmented storage belt by vertical movement, and is moved into the open vacuum chamber by means of horizontal movement of the first lifter in the product travel direction and unloaded onto a segmented chamber support,before the first lifter moves backwards out of the vacuum chamber and repositions itself under the first storage belt which is already in the loading cycle, whereby a chamber cycle is started by tightly closing the vacuum chamber at the front and rear by downward or sideways movements of the front and rear closure plates using lifting units in the closure plate housings, before the evacuation and regassing of the products in the vacuum chamber takes place and is completed when the vacuum chamber opens again by the front and rear closure plates moving up or sideways using a lifting unit in the closure plate housing, so that a second segmented lifter moves backwards from a position below a second segmented storage belt against the product travel direction into the open vacuum chamber under the segmented chamber support, then moves up and lifts the treated product formation by means of a drive,to then extend horizontally from the open vacuum chamber in the product travel direction in an upper position, to position itself over a second segmented storage belt, to lower itself by means of a drive and to deposit the product formation on the second storage belt, which transfers the product formation to an outlet belt, whereby, while the second lifter extends the treated product formation, the first lifter feeds the next untreated product formation into the vacuum chamber, so that a continuous product flow is ensured from the product inlet to the product outlet using only one vacuum chamber to treat the products, before the treated product formation is transferred in an orderly and defined manner to a final packaging. ; and: A device for evacuating ambient air and regasifying unpackaged products, e.g. pasta or air-containing foods, with only one vacuum chamber,wherein the device comprises: an infeed belt, a pre-storage belt, a first segmented storage belt, a first segmented lifter, a vacuum chamber, a segmented chamber support, front and rear closure plates arranged by means of lifting units in closure plate housings to tightly close the vacuum chamber at the front and rear, a second segmented lifter, a second segmented storage belt, and an outlet belt, wherein the device is arranged to carry out the method.

[0007] According to a special feature of the invention, the lining up, alignment, and grouping of products begins before the vacuum chamber, on the pre-storage belt and in particular on the storage belt, by picking up one or more rows of untreated product and arranging them into an ordered product formation with defined spacing from one another, which is then fed into the vacuum chamber as a complete product unit using specially designed devices such as a segmented storage belt and a segmented lifter with a drive. The segmentation enables the devices to mesh with each other for smooth product transfer and is particularly time-efficient. The advantage of smooth product transfer and time efficiency also applies to the meshing of segmented lifters and the segmented chamber support in the vacuum chamber.

[0008] The invention requires only one vacuum chamber, which can be constructed relatively short and compactly. Material requirements and manufacturing costs are reduced, as is the space required.

[0009] Since the invention utilizes special devices and methods, including the vacuum chamber, no conveyor belts are provided within the chamber itself, eliminating the need to install or remove them for cleaning purposes. The more or less empty vacuum chamber can be cleaned easily, quickly, and cost-effectively, thus particularly meeting the basic requirements of the food industry.

[0010] The defined product formation ensures that a continuous product flow can be maintained on the infeed and outfeed belts. According to preferred embodiments, the products are arranged in the defined product formation such that the distance between the products along the conveying direction is reduced compared to the incoming products. Alternatively or additionally, more rows can be formed in which the products are arranged. In any case, this allows the number of products per unit length along the product travel direction to be increased, so that the continuous product flow can be maintained despite the discontinuous infeed and outfeed in the vacuum chamber.

[0011] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to drawings illustrating only one embodiment. Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the drawings and their description.

[0012] They show: Fig. 1 schematically shows a device for evacuating and regasifying products according to an embodiment of the invention in a side view in a specific process step, Fig. 2 a plan view of the device according to Fig. 1 , Fig. 3 a section through the vacuum chamber of the device according to Fig. 1 , and Fig. 4 a partial view of the charging and discharging cycle of the device according to Fig. 1 in side view.

[0013] The following procedural steps take place: 1. Untreated product 1 is collected and pre-sorted by an infeed conveyor 3 onto a pre-storage conveyor 4. 2. The products 1 are then transferred to a segmented storage conveyor 5a, where they are arranged and aligned to form an ordered product formation 2 with defined spacing from one another. 3. Once the product formation 2 is complete, the lifter 6a is released. 4. Release loadingtakes place when the segmented lifter 6b moves horizontally in the product travel direction out of the open vacuum chamber 8. 5. The product formation 2 is taken over by the segmented lifter 6a, which moves up 19 by means of the drive 7a from its position below the storage belt 5a by vertical movement. 6. The product formation 2 is moved into the open vacuum chamber 8 by means of a horizontal movement 18 of the lifter 6a in the product travel direction 17. 7. The product formation 2 is unloaded onto the chamber support 9 by the lifter 6a moving down 19. 8. The lifter 6a moves backwards 18 out of the vacuum chamber 8. 9. The lifter 6a positions itself again under the storage belt 5a, which is already in the loading cycle again. 10. The chamber cycle is started: 11. The vacuum chamber 8 closes tightly by the downward movement 20 of the front and rear closure plates 11a / b by means of the lifting unit 12a / b. 12.The evacuation and re-gassing (treatment of the products) in the vacuum chamber 8 starts and runs. 13. The chamber cycle ends: 14. The vacuum chamber 8 opens by the front and rear closing plates 11a / b moving up using the lifting unit 12a / b. 15. The lifter 6b moves from its position below the storage belt 5b against the product travel direction 17 into the open vacuum chamber 8, under the chamber support 9. 16. The lifter 6b moves up 19 and takes over the treated product formation 2. 17. The lifter 6b moves out of the open vacuum chamber 8 horizontally 18 in the upper position and in the product travel direction 17. 18. At the same time as 17, the loading release takes place to introduce the next untreated product formation 2 into the vacuum chamber 8. 19. The lifter 6a starts again with process step 5. 20. The lifter 6b moves the product formation 2 over the storage belt 5b, lowers from 19, and transfers the product formation 2 to the storage belt 5b. 21.The storage belt 5b moves the received, treated product formation 2 to the discharge belt 14 and transfers it. 22. The discharge belt 14 feeds the treated products in an orderly and defined manner to the final packaging (e.g., packaging machine).

[0014] The features of the device for evacuating and regasifying unpackaged products result directly from the previously described process steps because the device is designed to carry out all of the aforementioned process steps automatically.

[0015] The front and rear storage belts 5a / b, the front and rear lifters 6a / b, and the chamber support 9 were previously described as segmented units. The segmented units can consist of longitudinally formed segments that can interlock via gaps. This means that the lifter engages with longitudinal segments in gaps between the longitudinal segments of the storage belt and in gaps between the longitudinal segments of the chamber support 9. Alternatively, closed transport systems, such as belts, straps, or belts, can be provided to pick up, store, transport further, or discharge the products or the product formation. The advantage of the longitudinal segments is that the longitudinal segments are rigidly connected to one another and can therefore be cleaned more easily.

[0016] The device for evacuating and regasifying the products preferably has a housing 16b / a in the area behind the vacuum chamber and optionally also in front of the vacuum chamber, in which the products can be flushed with protective gas. The rear housing 16b thus prevents the products from becoming contaminated with air again after leaving the vacuum chamber before they are fed into final packaging. The housing 16a, in the product travel direction in front of the vacuum chamber, serves to displace ambient air around the products 1 before they are fed into the vacuum chamber 8. This increases the efficiency with which the products are freed of air and reduces the time required for evacuation in the vacuum chamber.However, according to the present invention, the significant time savings are achieved by increasing the density of the products 1 before they enter the vacuum chamber 8 by means of the defined product arrangement on the front storage belt 5a, so that with one process cycle for feeding, evacuating, regasifying, and removing the products from the vacuum chamber, as many products can be processed as are fed into the device on the infeed belt 3 within this product cycle. This allows a continuous product flow to be maintained. According to the invention, however, it is no longer necessary to divide the product flow between several different vacuum chambers.

[0017] All information and features disclosed in the application, in particular the spatial configuration shown in the drawings, constitute features which, individually or in combination, can be used to design preferred embodiments of the invention. List of reference symbols

[0018] 1Product 2Product formation 3Infeed conveyor 4Pre-storage conveyor 5a / bursting / second (front / rear) storage conveyor 6a / bursting / second (front / rear) lifter 7a / bursting / second (front / rear) lifter drive 8Vacuum chamber 9Chamber support 10Insertion body 11a / bursting / second (front / rear) closure plate 12a / bursting / second (front / rear) lifting unit 13a / bursting / second (front / rear) closure plate housing 14Outfeed conveyor 15Base frame 16a / bursting / second (front / rear) enclosure 17Product travel direction horizontal 18Lifter movement direction horizontal 19Lifter movement direction vertical 20Closing plate movement direction vertical

Claims

1. Method for evacuating ambient air and back-gassing with protective gas of unpackaged products (1), e.g. pasta or food stuffed with air, in only one vacuum chamber (8), wherein one or more rows of untreated products (1) run in on an infeed belt (3), are transported further onto a pre-storage belt (4), where the products (1) are collected and lined up, are transported further onto a first segmented storage belt (5a), where the products (1) are arranged to a product formation with defined distances from one another, in order to be taken over as an ordered product formation (2) by a first segmented lifter (6a), which by means of a drive (7a) moves up (19) from its position below the segmented storage belt (5a) by vertical movement, and by means of a horizontal movement (18) of the first lifter (6a) in the product running direction (17) to be moved into the open vacuum chamber (8) and unloaded onto a segmented chamber support (9), before the first lifter (6a) moves out of the vacuum chamber (8) backwards (18) and positions itself again under the first storage belt (5a) already located again in the loading cycle, whereby a chamber cycle is started, in that the vacuum chamber (8) closes tightly at the front and rear by downward or sideways movements (20) of front and rear closure plates (11a / b) by means of lifting units (12a / b) in closure plate housings (13a / b), before the evacuation and back-gassing of the products in the vacuum chamber (8) takes place and is ended when the vacuum chamber (8) opens again, in that the front and rear closure plate (11a / b) by means of lifting unit (12a / b) moves up or sideways (20) in the closure plate housing (13a / b), so that a second segmented lifter (6b) moves from a position below a second segmented storage belt (5b) backwards (18) against the product running direction (17) into the open vacuum chamber (8) under the segmented chamber support (9), then moves up (19) and in the process lifts the treated product formation (2) by means of a drive (7b), in order then in an upper position to extend horizontally (18) out of the open vacuum chamber (8) in the product running direction (17), to position itself above a second segmented storage belt (5b), to lower (19) itself by means of a drive (7b) and in the process deposit the product formation (2) on the second storage belt (5b), which transfers the product formation (2) to an outfeed belt (14), wherein while the second lifter (6b) moves out of the treated product formation (2), the first lifter (6a) moves the next untreated product formation (2) into the vacuum chamber (8), so that a continuous product flow from the product infeed to the product outfeed is ensured using only one vacuum chamber (8) for treating the products (1), before the treated product formation (2) is transferred in an ordered and defined manner to an end packaging.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the first and / or second storage belt (5a / b) comprises a plurality of segments which are arranged parallel in the longitudinal direction and at a distance from one another, so that a support surface for the product formation (2) is designed to be partially open in order to allow the lifter (6a / b) an action in the form of an insertion of fixed longitudinal elements of the lifter into columns of the storage belt (5a / b) in order to take over the product formation (2) from the storage belt (5a) or transfer it to the storage belt (5b).

3. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lifter (6a / b) comprises a plurality of segments which are arranged parallel in the longitudinal direction and at a distance from one another and with an offset with respect to the storage belt (5a / b) and the chamber support (9), so that the support surface for the product formation (2) is designed to be partially open so that the lifter (6a / b) can move with its fixed longitudinal elements into columns of the storage belt (5a / b) or the chamber support (9) in order to take over or transfer the product formation (2).

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the chamber support (9) in the vacuum chamber (8) comprises a plurality of segments which are arranged parallel in the longitudinal direction and at a distance from one another and with an offset with respect to the first and / or second lifter (6a / b), so that the support surface for the product formation (2) is designed to be partially open in order to allow the first and / or second lifter (6a / b) an action in the form of an insertion of its fixed longitudinal elements into columns of the chamber support (9) in order to transfer or take over the product formation (2).

5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that no parts which have to be removed for cleaning are contained in the vacuum chamber (8).

6. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a front housing (16a) and a rear housing (16b) can be attached which serves to minimise ambient air and / or to suck out outflowing gases in the region of the vacuum chamber (8), e.g. by means of a suction system.

7. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the vacuum chamber (8) is tempered by a special device in order to counteract e.g. condensation water formation in the case of warm products.

8. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that a spatial volume of the vacuum chamber (8) is reduced by the introduction of one or more insertion bodies (10) in order to reduce an air volume for evacuation and back gassing compared with the spatial volume of the vacuum chamber without the insertion body.

9. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the insertion body or bodies (10) is / are interchangeable and can be inserted in different dimensions in order to adapt the spatial volume of the vacuum chamber (8) to different products (1) and product formations (2).

10. Method according to one of claims 1 or 5 to 10, characterized in that the insertion body or at least one of the insertion bodies (10) is expandable and can occupy a controllable defined volume.

11. Method according to one of claims 1 or 5 to 10, characterized in that the first and second storage belt (5a / b), the first and second lifter (6a / b) ,and / or the chamber support (9) are installed as closed transport systems, e.g. as belts, laces or straps, in order to receive, store, transport and / or dispense the products (1) and / or product formation (2).

12. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the products (1) in the defined product formation (2) have a defined spacing in the direction of the horizontal product running direction (17) which is smaller than an average spacing of the products (1) on the infeed belt (3).

13. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-storage belt (4) is configured to divide the products (1) from the infeed belt (3) in a direction transverse to the product running direction (17) so that the defined product formation (2) has more rows of products (1) parallel to the product running direction (17) than the maximum number of rows of products (1) on the infeed belt (3).

14. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the products (1) conveyed out of the vacuum chamber (8) are continuously flushed within a housing (16b) with a protective gas, e.g. the same protective gas with which the products (1) are back-gassed in the vacuum chamber.

15. Device for evacuating ambient air and back gassing with protective gas of unpackaged products (1), e.g. pasta or food stuffed with air, with only one vacuum chamber, wherein the device has the following: an infeed belt (3), a pre-storage belt (4), a first segmented storage belt (5a), a first segmented lifter (6a), a vacuum chamber (8), a segmented chamber support (9), front and rear closure plates (11a / 11b) which are configured by means of lifting units (12a / 12b) in closure plate housings (13a, 13b) in order to tightly close the vacuum chamber (8) at the front and rear, a second segmented lifter (6b), a second segmented storage belt (5b) and an outfeed belt (14), wherein the device is configured to carry out the method according to one of the preceding claims.