Granted Patent B2

US 7,686,043 · App. 11/302,828 · Granted Mar 30, 2010

Abstract

Claims (20)

1. A container filling apparatus comprising: a fill nozzle for directing a liquid product into a container; an adaptor including a nozzle interface to engage the fill nozzle for a cleaning operation, the adaptor having an opening extending through the adapter through which flows the cleaning solution from the fill nozzle; an expandable member configured to expand into a gap between the adaptor and the fill nozzle to form a seal between the nozzle interface and the fill nozzle, a mounting member that supports the adaptor adjacent the fill nozzle; and a rinsing station for use in rinsing the nozzle interface.

2. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the expandable member is an expandable seal that defines the nozzle interface.

3. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the expandable member is inflatable.

4. The container filling apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a pressurized fluid source coupled to the expandable member to inflate the expandable member.

5. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mounting member is moveable to move the adaptor between the fill nozzle and the rinsing station.

6. The container filling apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a rotary actuator coupled to the mounting member to rotate the mounting member.

7. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the expandable member comprises a food contact grade material.

8. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the expandable member is tube-shaped having an opening extending therethrough that defines a passageway for receiving a cleaning fluid from the fill nozzle with the expandable member in an expanded configuration.

9. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the expandable member comprises an elastically expandable material.

10. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 comprising multiple fill nozzles; and multiple expandable members wherein each expandable member is configured to expand into an associated gap between the adaptor and a respective fill nozzle to form a seal between a respective nozzle interface and the respective fill nozzle.

11. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the expandable member is configured to contract from an expanded configuration to provide a gap between the fill nozzle and the adaptor.

12. A method of cleaning a fill nozzle of a container filling apparatus, the method comprising the steps of: providing a container filling apparatus according to claim 1 ; locating the adaptor adjacent the fill nozzle such that a gap is provided between the nozzle interface of the adaptor and the discharge outlet of the fill nozzle; and expanding the expandable member into the gap to bring the nozzle interface into contact with the discharge outlet of the fill nozzle.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the expandable member defines the nozzle interface.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of expanding the expandable member includes forming a seal between the nozzle interface and the fill nozzle.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of expanding the expandable member connects a passageway extending therethrough to the fill nozzle.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising delivering a pressurized fluid to the expandable member to expand the expandable member.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of expanding includes stretching the expandable member.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising contracting the expandable member after the step of expanding to provide a gap between the nozzle interface of the adaptor and the fill nozzle.

19. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 wherein the opening is defined by the nozzle interface.

20. The container filling apparatus of claim 1 wherein the expandable member contacts and forms the seal at the discharge outlet of the fill nozzle.

Assignments (8)