Integrated Container Treatment Under a Common CO2 Atmosphere
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage filling systems face high resource consumption and contamination risks due to separate treatment stations for containers, particularly in the filling and closing devices, which often require additional CO2 flushing and can lead to recontamination.
Innovation Solution
Integrating a rinser, filling device, and closing device within a shared protective gas atmosphere, preferably CO2, to maintain a continuous hygienic environment, reducing contamination risks and resource use by synergistic gas reuse.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate treatment stations (rinser, filling device, closing device) are used individually, then each device can be optimized for its specific function, but contamination risks increase and resource consumption rises due to separate purging processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the rinser, filling device, and closing device into a single integrated system with a common protective gas atmosphere. This merging eliminates the need for separate purging processes at each station, reducing CO2 consumption while maintaining continuous hygiene protection for the filling product from rinsing through filling to closing.
2Reliability
If separate treatment stations are used with open transport between them, then device complexity is reduced, but contamination risks increase due to exposed container paths
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a common housing or enclosure that creates a protective gas atmosphere around the entire container treatment path. This enclosure acts as a barrier that prevents contamination while allowing the integrated system to maintain relatively simple device architecture without requiring complex isolation mechanisms between individual stations.
3Reliability
If CO2 flushing is performed at filling and closing devices, then oxygen uptake is limited for oxygen-sensitive products, but resource consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes a continuous protective gas atmosphere that persists throughout the entire container treatment process from rinsing through filling to closing. This continuous protection eliminates the need for repeated CO2 flushing operations at each station, reducing gas consumption while maintaining constant protection against oxygen uptake for oxygen-sensitive products.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Significantly reduces resource consumption and enhances hygiene by eliminating recontamination, enabling efficient reuse of protective gas across multiple stations and minimizing separate purging processes.
Implementation Method 1
a protective gas system which is designed to supply the housing with a protective gas, preferably consisting of or comprising CO2, so that the rinser, the filling device and the closing device are arranged in a common atmosphere of protective gas
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
Plant (1) and method for treating containers, preferably cans, the plant (1) comprising: a rinser (10) configured to clean the containers with a cleaning agent, preferably consisting of or comprising CO2; a filling device (20) configured to fill the containers cleaned in the rinser (10) with a filling product, preferably a beverage; and a closing device (30) configured to close each of the containers filled with the filling product in the filling device (20) with a container closure;characterized by a housing (40) in which the rinser (10), the filling device (20) and the closing device (30) are arranged, and a protective gas system (50) which is arranged to supply the housing (40) with a protective gas, preferably consisting of or comprising CO2, so that the rinser (10), the filling device (20) and the closing device (30) are arranged in a common atmosphere of protective gas.;