Packaging Machine Segmentation for Sterile Chamber Cleaning
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging machines for producing sealed pourable food products face challenges in maintaining cleanliness and sterility, as well as facilitating cleaning and sterilization processes.
Innovation Solution
The packaging machine incorporates a safety chamber separate from the isolation housing, allowing the final folding unit to operate outside the sterilization environment, which simplifies the cleaning and sterilization process by reducing the dimensions of the isolation chambers and enabling independent cleaning of components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the final folding unit is arranged within the isolation chamber to maintain sterility, then the cleanliness and sterility of the packaging process is improved, but the cleaning and sterilization of the machine becomes more difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the packaging machine into two distinct segments: an isolation chamber containing sterilization-critical components (web handling, tube forming, filling) and a safety chamber containing the final folding unit. This segmentation allows the folding unit to be isolated from the sterilization environment, enabling it to be cleaned separately and more easily without compromising the sterility of the packaged product.
Solution Approach 2:
The final folding unit is extracted from the isolation chamber and placed in a separate safety chamber. This extraction removes the folding unit from the sterile environment, allowing it to be cleaned and maintained independently with different frequency and methods, while the isolation chamber maintains its sterility for the critical packaging operations.
2Productivity
If the isolation chamber dimensions are reduced to simplify cleaning, then the cleaning efficiency is improved, but the space available for packaging operations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the machine into two chambers, allowing the isolation chamber to be compact and easily cleaned, while the folding unit operates in a separate safety chamber. This segmentation enables the isolation chamber to maintain small dimensions for cleaning efficiency without compromising the overall packaging capacity, as the folding operations occur in the additional safety chamber space.
3Reliability
If the final folding unit operates within the sterilization environment, then the product sterility is maintained, but the cleaning frequency and complexity of all components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the operational environment into a sterilized isolation chamber for product-critical operations and a non-sterile safety chamber for the folding unit. This allows the folding unit to operate outside the sterilization environment, reducing the number of components that require frequent sterilization and significantly reducing overall cleaning time and frequency while maintaining product sterility through the isolated filling and sealing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The folding unit is extracted from the sterilization environment and placed in a separate safety chamber. This extraction reduces the scope of components requiring sterilization to only those in the isolation chamber, thereby reducing cleaning time and frequency for the overall system while maintaining product sterility through the isolated critical operations.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
There is described a packaging machine (1) for producing sealed packages (2) of a pourable product comprising at least an isolation housing (18), a formation apparatus (19) at least partially arranged within the isolation housing (18) and being configured to form and/or obtain sealed semi-finalized packs (9) of the pourable product, an outlet conveying unit (20) configured to receive the sealed semi-finalized packs (9) within the isolation housing (18) and to advance the sealed semi-finalized packs (9) out of the isolation housing (18) and to a transfer station (21) and a final folding unit (22) arranged at the transfer station (21) and configured to receive the sealed semi-finalized packs (9) from the outlet conveying unit (20) and to treat and/or manipulate the sealed semi-finalized packs (9) such to obtain the packages (2).