METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TREATING PACKAGES

• US 20150113918A1
• Filed: 03/07/2013
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KHS GmbH (Salzgitter AG)
• Original Assignee: KHS GmbH (Salzgitter AG)
• Inventors: Ehmer, Wilfried, Schach, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 9,908,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/403
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/0015 for treating before, during or after printing or for uniform coating or laminating the copy material before or after printing selective coating B41J2/2114
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/4073 Printing on three-dimensional objects not being in sheet or web form, e.g. spherical or cubic objects B41J3/283, B41J3/286 take precedence; building up a 3D object using individual droplets from jetting heads B29C64/112
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/40733 Printing on cylindrical or rotationally symmetrical objects, e. g. on bottles
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 5/0011 Pre-treatment or treatment during printing of the recording material, e.g. heating, irradiating after-treatment of prints B41M7/00; printers for treating or overcoating copy materials before, during or after printing B41J11/0015
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 31/04 Evacuating, pressurising or gasifying filled containers or wrappers by means of nozzles through which air or other gas, e.g. an inert gas, is withdrawn or supplied
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 51/00 Devices for, or methods of, sealing or securing package folds or closures; Devices for gathering or twisting wrappers, or necks of bags
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 55/10 by liquids or gases
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 55/18 by liquids or gases B65B55/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 61/26 for marking or coding completed packages

Abstract

A method for treating packages includes ink jet printing designs on packages, arranging packages on a treatment position of a package transport path, and at least intermittently charging the packages, during printing thereon, with a gaseous sterilizing agent.

Claims

1-19. -19. (canceled)

20. A method for treating packages, said method comprising applying designs to said packages, wherein applying designs comprises printing on said packages, wherein printing comprises inkjet printing, wherein said method further comprises arranging packages on treatment positions of a package transport path, and at least intermittently charging said packages, during printing thereon, with a gaseous sterilizing agent.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein at least intermittently charging comprises at least intermittently charging with a pressurized gaseous sterilizing agent.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein at least intermittently charging comprises exposure to a sterilizing agent comprising one of H₂O₂ and ozone, and exposure to a gaseous activating and drying component.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein treating said packages takes place in an environment, wherein said method further comprises, after said at least intermittently charging, closing said packages at least towards said environment at least during a part of a total duration of treatment of said packages.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising holding said packages in corresponding holding-and-centering units, and wherein said at least intermittently charging takes place via said holding-and-centering units.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein holding comprises holding said packages in the same corresponding holding-and-centering units throughout treatment thereof, said method further comprising moving said packages past at least two consecutive treatment positions in a transport direction of said transport path, and, at said at least two treatment positions, simultaneously charging said packages with said sterilizing agent.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein holding comprises holding a package in the same corresponding holding-and-centering unit throughout treatment thereof, said method further comprising moving said packages past at least two consecutive treatment positions in a transport direction of said transport path, and causing said holding-and-centering units to hold said packages in a closed position during transfer thereof, by said holding-and-centering elements, from a transport-and-treatment element to a transport element that follows in said transport direction.

27. The method of claim 20, further comprising, at the end of treating a package, sucking said sterilizing agent at least from a head-space of said package.

28. An apparatus for printing designs on packages, said apparatus comprising a package inlet, a package outlet, a package transport path, a transport-and-treatment element, and treatment positions, wherein said package transport path extends between said package inlet and said package outlet so that packages move along said package transport path along a transport direction from said package inlet to said package outlet, wherein said package transport path is formed at least in part by said at least one transport-and-treatment element, wherein said at least one transport-and-treatment element is drivable to rotate, wherein each of said treatment positions is configured to at least one of hold a package during treatment thereof, center a package during treatment thereof, and cause controlled movement of a package during treatment thereof, wherein printing of said design on a package takes place at a treatment position associated with said package, and wherein each of said treatment positions is further configured to charge an interior of a package associated with said treatment position with a sterilizing medium.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising holding-and-centering units, wherein each holding-and-centering unit comprises a puck, wherein said puck is configured to pick up a package at said package inlet and transport said package to said package outlet, wherein said puck releases said package only at said package outlet, and wherein said puck is configured to introduce said sterilizing agent.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein each of said holding-and-centering units comprises a first gas path for introducing said sterilizing agent into a package, a second gas path for discharging said sterilizing agent from said package, and a connecting element via which said gas paths are connected to device-internal fluid connections for supplying and removing said sterilizing agent.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein each of said holding-and-centering units is configured for closing off an interior of a package associated with said holding-and-centering unit.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a puck transport path via which said pucks are returned from said package outlet to said package inlet, and at least one of a facility and a station disposed on said puck transport path, wherein said at least one of a facility and a station is selected from the group consisting of a cleaner for cleaning holding-and-centering units and a sterilizer for sterilizing holding-and-centering units.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said holding-and-centering units each comprise a mouth opening against which a package mouth of a package being treated abuts during treatment thereof, said apparatus further comprising rinsing caps for closing said openings during CIP cleaning and sterilization of said holding-and-centering units.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein each holding-and-centering unit comprises a primary part and a secondary part, wherein said primary part is held, during treatment, at a treatment position, wherein said secondary part is configured to hold a package, and wherein, at or in said primary part, said secondary part is supported to be rotatable about an axis of said holding-and-centering unit.

35. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising, at each treatment position, a printing segment comprising a print head for printing on a package, wherein each printing segment forms a fully functional assembly unit, and wherein said printing segments are arranged at a rotor that can be driven to rotate about a machine axis.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein said print head is an inkjet print head, wherein each treatment position further comprises a facility for at least one of drying and curing printing ink by at least one of heat, UV radiation, and microwave radiation.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein said apparatus defines a vertical machine axis about which said transport-and-treatment element is driven to rotate, and wherein said print heads are configured to be one of movable along said machine axis and pivotable about said machine axis.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, further comprising, at each treatment position, a printing-ink control module configured to at least one of control and regulate at least one of temperature of ink supplied to said print head and volume rate of flow of ink supplied to said print head, a pressure compensation tank for use in supplying ink to said print head under control of said printing-ink control module, and a pump for use in supplying ink to said print head under control of said printing-ink control module and discharging excess ink from said print head.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein each printing segment comprises at least one connection for at least one of supplying and discharging said sterilizing agent.