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US 2023/0034774 A1Published application
Improvements in or relating to capsule filling lines
AssigneeKoninklijke Douwe Egberts B.V.
InventorsNeil Rogers, Kornelius Waechter, Sven Jaetzlau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods of cleaning a sealing head (23) of a capsule filling line, comprising operating an ablation unit (10) to irradiate the sealing head (23) to ablate a residue off the sealing head (23).
Claims25
A method of cleaning a sealing head of a capsule filling line, comprising operating an ablation unit to irradiate the sealing head to ablate a residue off the sealing head.
A method of operating a capsule filling line, comprising:
- i) supplying the capsule filling line with a supply of capsule bodies and a supply of comestible product;
- ii) operating the capsule filling line such that a plurality of filled capsules are produced by at least partially filling each capsule body with the comestible product and operating a sealing head of the capsule filling line to seal each capsule body with a capsule lid;
- and
- iii) intermittently cleaning the sealing head of the capsule filling line;
- wherein cleaning the sealing head comprises operating an ablation unit of the capsule filling line to irradiate the sealing head to ablate a residue off the sealing head.
2 more elements
An ablation unit for a capsule filling line comprising:
- a support frame for mounting the ablation unit to the capsule filling line;
- a radiation emitter for irradiating a sealing head of the capsule filling line;
- a housing at least partially surrounding the radiation emitter, the housing comprising an opening permitting, in use, passage of radiation from the radiation emitter towards the sealing head;
- a transmission for movement of the housing and radiation emitter between a retracted location and an engaged location.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.