US 7,093,405 B2Granted

Unit for sterilizing web-fed material on a machine for packaging pourable food products

AssigneeTetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A.

InventorsJan Andersson, Karsten Sörensen, Detlef Elias, Filippo Ferrarini, Ermanno Ricci, Fabio Vellani

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Abstract

A unit for sterilizing a web (2) of packaging material on a machine (1) for packaging pourable food products, the unit having a bath (7) containing a sterilizing agent, in which the web (2) is fed continuously; a process chamber (8) connected to an outlet (12) of the bath (7), and which houses wringing rollers (18) interacting with the web (2), and a nozzle (22) for directing a stream of air on to the web (2) and removing residual sterilizing agent from the web; an aseptic chamber (25) communicating with the process chamber (8) via an opening (27) for passage of the web (2), and in which the web (2) is folded and sealed longitudinally to form a tube (29) which is filled continuously with the product for packaging; and an air processing circuit (24) for controlling process conditions, and having a conduit (56) for feeding a first stream of sterile air into the aseptic chamber (25), a conduit (54) for feeding a second stream of sterile air to the nozzle (22) and housing a heater (69) for controlling the temperature of the air supplied to the nozzle (22), and a distributor for regulating the two streams of air.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A sterilizing unit for sterilizing a web of packaging material on a machine for packaging pourable food products, the sterilizing unit comprising:

a bath containing a sterilizing agent, in which said web is fed continuously;
an aseptic environment comprising a process chamber connected to an outlet of said bath and housing drying means for removing residual sterilizing agent from said web;
and an aseptic chamber communicating with said process chamber via an opening for the passage of said web, and in which said web is folded and sealed longitudinally to form a tube which is filled continuously with the product for packaging;
said drying means comprising at least one nozzle for directing a stream of sterile air on to said web;
and
an air processing circuit for controlling the process conditions in said aseptic environment, and comprising suction means for drawing air from said process chamber;
and air processing means comprising first heating means, and first supply means for feeding sterile air into said aseptic chamber;
comprising second supply means for supplying sterile air from said air processing means to said nozzle;
and second heating means associated with said second supply means and for controlling the temperature of the air supplied to said nozzle.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.