WO2002030552A1

WO2002030552A1 - Agitation in a filler bowl

Info

Publication number: WO2002030552A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/031009
Authority: WO
Inventors: Moez M. Bouraoui; Krish Ganesan; Louis Carl Foreste; Michel Jalbert
Original assignee: H. J. Heinz Company
Priority date: 2000-10-06
Filing date: 2001-10-04
Publication date: 2002-04-18
Also published as: JP2004510574A; AU2001294981A1

Abstract

A filler bowl improvement for maintaining emulsions and suspensions and distribution of solids, particulates and herbs of a product held in a filler bowl during dispensing is provided within the filler bowl with mixer blades that cover substantially the entire volume of the filler bowl on each complete rotation of the mixing apparatus in the filler bowl.

Description

AGITATION IN A FILLER BOWL

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to improvements in machines for dispensing and filling containers with fluids, including liquids, flowable solid and viscous aqueous emulsions and suspensions with solids, particulates, and herbs distributed therein. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel apparatus that maintains an emulsion or suspension and the distribution of solids, particulates, and herbs therein during dispensing of the mixture by providing thorough and continuous agitation and remixing of the emulsion or suspension during filling and dispensing.

2. Description of Related Art

Mixers for emulsions and solids in a tank are well known in the art. Currently, there are several different types of mixing machines for mixing emulsions and solids. The first type is an agitator type mixer which rotates an agitator about an axis within a tank. Two or more such agitators, often of variable speeds, are used with some mixer types such as mixer-emulsifier, high speed disperser, and anchor agitator. Areas of application include adhesives, cosmetics, chemical, food, pharmaceutical, and plastics industries. Agitator tank sizes vary from 1 to 4000 gallons.

The double planetary mixer having two rectangular stirrer blades is a second type of mixer in common use for tank applications. Triangular blades are also known in the art, see, e.g., Masakzu, U.S. Patent No. 5, 150,968, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, In planetan' mixers each blade rotates on its own axis while itself being rotated in the tank about a central axis. Areas of application include food mixtures, plastics, pharmaceutical granulations, ceramics, dental composites, and precious metals. The planetary mixer is used for laboratory as well as production mixers. Tanks sizes vary between 1 quart and 500 gallons. Dispensing applications which employ mixers are also well known. Bell, et al , U.S. Patent No. 5,000,956, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, describe using a planetary mixer to mix ingredients with an emulsifying agent to form a homogeneous mixture in a mixing bowl containing a discharge valve. Once mixed, the mixing bowl containing the homogeneous mixture is transferred to a direct discharge system which is adapted to fit inside the mixing bowl The mixture is discharged via the direct discharge system.

Essentially all of these mixing applications separate the mixing step or steps from the dispensing, pouring, casting, or extruding steps, see, e.g., Colombo, et al ,U.S. Patent No. 5,678,234 , the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, for an example in which the mixing component and apparatus is first removed and then the dispensing step takes place.

Another type of mixer in common use is a kneader mixer. Kneader mixers are specialty mixers, intended to operate continuously in applications where some treatment is applied to the mixture, e.g., thermal or chemical treatment. The objective of this type of mixer is uniform application of a specific quantity of the treatment to the product while it is in the kneader mixer containment chamber. That is, the kneader mixer is integral to a processing step other than mixing which is not a final packaging step. Kneading is continuous and interruption may result in improperly treated product.

Fillers are also well known in the art. Typically, the filling machine is separate from the processing of the product and performs filling in a conveying system that is operated on a continuous or intermittent basis. Fillers can be gravity driven, piston driven, forced air driven, or auger-driven, for example, and they can be fully automatic or require an operator to assist in feeding the filling apparatus, usually a filling head,

In certain applications, where there is a need to maintain dispersion of mixed ingredients, the removal of the mixing element from the aqueous suspension and transfer of the mixture to a dispensing'Tilling apparatus is an opportunity for separation of ingredients to take place and for the mixed ingredients to settle. Even if the mixture is retained in its mixing bowl during transfer and subsequent dispensing/filling, the suspension can separate and settling can occur because agitation, i.e., mixing action, has ceased. The kneader mixer does not allow agitation during dispensing as it is a product treatment enabling device and not a device which lends itself to product dispensing filling. Auger driven fillers are intended to move the product to a filler head and not to maintain the mixture in any way.

Especially in food packaging applications, the opportunity for separation of ingredients and for degradation of the suspension is a serious concern, Typically, foodstuffs such as pasta sauces and the like, contain aqueous-oil suspensions and uniformly dispersed ingredients such as herbs, vegetable and meat chunks, and are handled gently to maintain the integrity of the solids, particulates, and herbs dispensed along with the suspension into packaging designed to make the product both visible and attractive, Separation of components of the mixture detracts from the appeal of these products, making them unpalatable which makes them unsalable. An unequal distribution of solid, paniculate and herb ingredients is also highly undesirable since all packages are intended and expected to contain a consistent amount of solid, particulate, and herb ingredients. High quality of food products is the normal expectation of purchasers and an overriding concern of producers of packaged foods.

In the packaged food industry attempts to meet this need for an apparatus and method for maintaining the suspension and distribution of solids, particulates, and herbs of a product as it is placed into containers in a final processing step use stirrers placed into filler bowls, see FIG. L Stirrers are not a satisfactory solution for pasta sauce and similar products because the stirrers do not cover the entire volume of the filler bowl allowing some product in the bowl to separate and stirrers do not remix the product. With thicker and more natural products, separation becomes more of a problem. Pasta sauces especially, which are aqueous-oil suspensions containing solids, particulates, and herbs, do not respond well to prior art stirrer technology. Stirrers also do not maintain a uniform distribution of ingredients because ingredients settle, due to their weight, or float upward and are not moved vertically by a stirring motion that does not cover most of the volume of a filler bowl. Redistribution of separated ingredients to a uniform distribution throughout the entire contents of a filler bowl has not been achievable with prior art stirrers. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a novel apparatus and method which remixes product while it is in a filler bowl such that the mixing action turns over the entire volume of the filler bowl at least once per mixing cycle, essentially performing mixture maintenance concurrent with dispensing/filling.

That is, in the present invention, a filler bowl is not only adapted to dispense an input mixture, suspension, or emulsion but is also adapted to maintain the integrity and consistency of the mixture through an integral mixer whose mixing elements are contained and operate within the filler bowl and cover nearly the entire volume of the filler bowl redistributing any separated solids, particulates, and herbs and reestablishing the suspension or emulsion of the mixture. In one embodiment, the mixing element provided in the filler bowl is a planetary mixer.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the mixer-dispenser includes an external motor connected to a central drive shaft of a mixing assembly contained in a housing set onto a filler bowl assembly so that the mixing blade components of the mixing assembly extend into the filler bowl and reach nearly to the bottom of the filler bowl. The mixing assembly includes an upper section containing a mixer yoke assembly and a gearing mechanism, a middle section containing a cover for the filler bowl and input ports for adding ingredients to the mixture in the filler bowl, and a lower section containing mixing blade components.

The mixer yoke assembly is contained in the housing and contains a centrally located mixer drive shaft, two mixer blade drive shafts spaced from the central drive shaft, with the centrally located mixer drive shaft extending downwardly within the upper section to the gearing mechanism and the mixer blade drive shafts extending downwardly to the mixer blades contained in the filler bowl. The gearing mechanism is attached to all the drive shafts so that the mixer blade drive shafts each rotates around its individual axis whenever the central drive shaft rotates the mixer yoke assembly, thus achieving a planetary mixing motion. That is, a motor for driving the central drive shaft is mounted external to the mixer-dispenser apparatus. Through the gearing mechanism, the centrally located mixing drive shaft links the motor with the mixer blade drive shafts such that while the motor rotates the central drive shaft, which in turn rotates the mixer yoke assembly around the central drive shaft the mixer blade drive shafts are simultaneously rotated around their axes. With a suitable choice of mixer blades and speeds of rotation of mixer blade drive shafts, this arrangement allows nearly full coverage of the filler bowl by the mixer blades once or more per revolution of the central drive shaft, with the result that this agitation maintains the mixture, suspension, or emulsion and the uniform distribution of solids, particulates and herbs in the product being dispensed by re-mixing and redistribution. The simple stirrers of the prior art cannot achieve this result because they only stir the ingredients allowing settling and separation to both occur and continue after it has occurred. Further, when it is desired to add ingredients to the mixture in the filler bowl because certain ingredients are too delicate for the normal product processing, stirrers cannot achieve a uniform distribution of these added ingredients.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawings. As depicted in the attached drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical filler bowel with integral stirrer according to the prior art.

FIG. 2a illustrates a filler bowl with integral planetary mixer according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG 2b illustrates the corresponding planetary mixer assembly.

FIG. 3 illustrates a gearing arrangement for a filler bowl with dual planetary mixers according an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 4a illustrates a piston filler bowl apparatus according to the prior art and FIG. 4b is a cross section of the filler bowl of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 4a. FIG 5 illustrates a planetary mixer assembly with a single paddle and a single disperser as mixer blades

FIG 6a and FIG 6b each illustrate one possible arrangement of multiple paddles in a planetary mixer assembly according to the current invention

FIG 7 illustrates a planetary mixer assembly with a single paddle

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG 1 illustrates a pπor art, four blade, vanable speed, stirrer used in filler bowls Due to blade size, placement, and rotation pattern this stirrer arrangement only partially covers the volume of product m a mixer bowl and allows separation of emulsions or suspensions and settling of solids, particulates, and herbs to occur

FIG 2 illustrates a cross section through the mixer-dispenser 10 of the filling system of a preferred embodiment of the current invention, in which a filler bowl has been adapted to incorporate a planetary mixer assembly 1 10 to maintain an emulsion or suspension as well as the distribution of solids, particulates, and herbs in a product being dispensed In this preferred embodiment the mixer blades 100 are paddles which cover substantially the entire volume of the filler bowl This coverage results from a combination of the placement of the mixer blades 100, the size and shape of the mixer blades 100 as paddles and their planetary motion The apparatus depicted m FIG 2 is also intended for automated and continuous operation with filling and dispensing occurring on a continuous basis and allows ingredients to be added to the filler bowl duπng filling and dispensing

As can be seen in FIG 2a, mixer-dispenser 10 includes an upper section 15, a middle section 16 and a lower section 17 and a mixer assembly 1 10 that spans all three sections, as illustrated in FIG 2b The mixer assembly 1 10 comprises a mixer yoke assemblv 19, a mixer central dπve shaft 30, a filler bowl cover 120 mixer blade dπve shafts 40 and mixer blades 100 Exteπor to the mixer- dispenser 10 is a motor 18, which is connected to the mixer assembly 1 10 by the mixer central dπve shaft 30, and a mixer voke assembly 19 to which are connected mixer dm e shafts 40 A geaπng mechanism 90, illustrated in FIG. 3, contained in the upper section 15, effectively connects the mixer blade drive shafts 40 with the mixer central drive shaft 30.

The lower section has a filler bowl 50, intake ports 60 and mixer blades 100 in which mixer blades 100 are connected to the ends of mixer blade drive shafts 40 and extend into the filler bowl 50 and are of a size and shape which results in coverage of substantially the entire volume of the filler bowl on one complete rotation of the mixer assembly. In one preferred embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b, the mixer assembly 1 10 is a double planetary mixer, mixer blades 100 are flat, open, quasi-rectangular in shape, are the height of the filler bowl 50 in length, and are placed at right angles to one another in the filler bowl 50. In another embodiment one or both of these mixer blades is replaced with a disperser, see FIG. 5, or with four planetary mixer blades arranged as illustrated in FIG. 6a and 6b. Finally, FIG. 7 illustrates a single paddle assembly for a planetary mixer. The arrangement and number of mixer blades 100 is chosen to match the characteristics of the product to be maintained by on each mixing cycle passing the mixer blades 100 substantially through the entire product in the filler bowl 50 and having the mixer blades sweep the entire circumference and inner periphery of the filler bowl 50 while simultaneously maintaining close proximity to the floor of the filler bowl 50.

Referring to FIG. 4a, the filler bowl in one embodiment of the current invention is a piston filler bowl 50. In this embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 4a, there are several filling cylinders 160 containing pistons 180, as illustrated in FIG. 4b, and surrounding the filler bowl 50. As illustrated In FIG. 4b, as the filler bowl 50 rotates, product 170 is drawn through the intake ports 60 in the valve , into the filling cylinder 160, by the upward stroke 190 of the piston 180 being raised by the piston roller 200 operating on a cam track 210. With a container 250 present, the valve is rotated closing the intake port 60 and opening the discharge port 230. The downward stroke 240 of the piston 180 forces the product through the discharge port 230 into the container 250. At the completion of the stroke, a cam returns the intake port 60 to its open position closing the discharge port 230, and the process is repeated. In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2a, the middle section 16 has ingredient input ports 70 and 80 for addition of ingredients during the dispensing step, and a filler bowl cover 120 for the filler bowl 50 to which the mixer central drive shaft and the mixer yoke assembly 19 are fixedly attached, and thereby this cover also serves as a mechanism for rotating the entire mixer assembly 1 10.

Referring to a preferred embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 2a, the mixer central drive shaft 30 extends downwardly from the motor 18 to and through the mixer yoke assembly 19 in the upper section 15 through the gearing mechanism 90 to be fixedly attached to the filler bowl cover 120, which links the motor 18 with the mixer blade drive shafts 40 so that as the motor turns the mixer central drive shaft 30, the central drive shaft turns the entire mixer assembly 110 including the filler bowl cover 120 and the attached mixer yoke assembly 19, the latter engaging the gearing mechanism 90 which turns the mixer blade drive shafts 40 so that while the entire mixer assembly 110 and the mixer yoke assembly 19 rotates about the mixer central drive shaft 30, both mixer blades 100 rotate simultaneously about their individual mixer blade drive shafts 40 achieving a planetary motion.

In this arrangement of a preferred embodiment of the current invention the agitation provided by the mixer blades covers substantially the entire volume of the filler bowl 50 at least twice per revolution of the mixer assembly 1 10, thus maintaining the emulsion and dispersion of the product contained in the filler bowl until it has been dispensed. This embodiment and others described herein are presently solely as examples of the invention. Other embodiments and modifications of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art as within the proper scope and spirit of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is

1 A filler bowl for use with a container filling mechanism having an emulsion, suspension, and dispersion maintenance device in combination therewith, said filler bowl compπsmg a bowl having an open end and a width and a height, said emulsion, suspension and dispersion maintenance device comprising

a mixer adapted for insertion mto the open end of the filler bowl and having a mixer blade which mixes substantially the entire contents of said filler bowl

2 The filler bowl of claim 1 wherein said mixer further compnses at least two mixer blades

3 The filler bow l of claim 1 wherein said mixer is a planetary mixer

4 The filler bowl of claim 2 wherein said mixer is a planetary mixer

5 The filler bowl of claim 4 wherein at least one of said mixer blades is an open paddle having a height equal to that of said filler bowl and a width equal to one half the width of said filler bowl

6 The filler bowl of claim 5 wherein said mixer blades is a pair of said paddles oπented at nght angles to one another

7 The filler bowl of claim 5 wherein at least one of said mixer blades is a disperser

8 In a filler bowl for use with a container filling mechanism, said filler bowl having an emulsion, suspension, and dispersion maintenance device in combination therewith the improvement comprising

a mixer adapted for insertion into the open end of the filler bow l and hav ing a mixer blade which mixes substantial the entire contents of said filler bowl

9. An improvement to a filler bowl as defined in claim 8 wherein said mixer further comprises at least two mixer blades.

10. An improvement to a filler bowl as defined in claim 9 wherein said mixer is a planetary mixer.

1 1. An improvement to a filler bowl as defined in claim 10 wherein at least one of said mixer blades is an open paddle having a height equal to that of said filler bowl and a width equal to one half the width of said filler bowl.

12. An improvement to a filler bowl as defined in claiml O wherein at least one of said mixer blades is a disperser.

13. A process of dispensing a product from a filler bowl that maintains the emulsion, suspension and distribution of solids, particulates, and herbs of the entire contents of the filler bowl comprising:

filling the filler bowl with product that is an emulsion or suspension with solids, particulates, and herbs distributed therein;

continuously passing an agitator through the entire contents of the filler bowl to maintain substantially the entire contents of the filler bowl in admixture; and

dispensing the product while it is being continuously agitated.

14. The process of dispensing a product according to claim 13 wherein the agitator is a planetary mixer having at least one mixer blade.

15. The process of dispensing a product according to claim 13 wherein the dispensing step is performed by a piston filler mechanism which forces the product into containers.

16. A packaged product comprising an emulsion or suspension with uniform distribution of solids, particulates, and herbs produced by the process of claim 13.