Packaging apparatus for forming sealed packages

Packaging A packaging apparatus for forming a plurality of sealed packages filled with a pourable product comprising:

• a conveying device adapted to advance a web of packaging material along an advancement path;
• an isolation chamber separating an inner environment containing a sterile gas from an outer environment;
• a tube forming and sealing device being at least partially arranged within the isolation chamber and being adapted to form and longitudinally seal a tube from the, in use, advancing web of packaging material;
• wherein the conveying device is also adapted to advance the tube along a tube advancement path;
• a delimiting element arranged, in use, within the tube and designed to divide the tube in a first space being in fluidic connection with the inner environment and a second space being arranged downstream of the first space along the tube advancement path;
• a filling device adapted to direct, in use, a pourable product into the second space;
• a product delivery device configured to receive the pourable product from an external product supply and to selectively feed the pourable product along a flow path to and into the filling device;
• a conditioning device configured to direct, in use, a flow of sterile gas into the second space of the tube for obtaining a gas pressure within the second space that is higher than the gas pressure within the first space;
• and
• a package forming unit adapted to at least form and transversally seal the packages from the, in use, advancing tube;
• wherein the product delivery device is configured to be set in at least:
• an operational mode within which the product delivery device is designed to direct the pourable product to the filling device;
• and
• a stop mode within which the product delivery device is designed to impede any flow of the pourable product to the filling device;
• wherein the conditioning device is configured to control a first pressure and a second pressure distinct from the first pressure within the second space with the product delivery device being controlled in respectively the operational mode and the stop mode.