JPH0471793B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Purpose of the Invention <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a bottle capping method in which a plurality of bottles filled with liquid are sequentially put together and caps are sequentially placed and screwed onto the bottles. Regarding equipment.

<Prior Art> A device for sequentially capping bottles filled with liquid one by one is known, such as an automatic beverage bottling device.

However, this type of bottling equipment can only be applied to bottles of the same shape, and the size of the bottles and
If the mouths are of different sizes, a cap can only be placed on the mouth using a separate device.

However, for example, high-purity chemical solutions used in the electronics industry are currently filled into bottles in a so-called clean room and capped manually, but this is due to the size of the bottle. This is due to the fact that the shape varies depending on the type of chemical liquid to be filled, and since it requires careful handling, the capping work had to be done manually.

<Problem to be solved by the invention> However, depending on the type of chemical liquid, it deteriorates the working environment and makes manual work difficult, and this difficulty is likely to increase further in the future. Automation of capping work was desired.

In order to meet such demands, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bottle capping device that can be applied to bottles of all sizes and shapes, regardless of the working environment. .

Structure of the Invention <Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention provides, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, an intermittent feeding method for sequentially collecting a plurality of bottles conveyed by a belt conveyor and transporting them to a fixed position.
a fixing mechanism, and a cap alignment/standby mechanism for cleaning and drying a number of caps equivalent to the number of bottles carried to a fixed position by the mechanism, and aligning and waiting the caps with an interval corresponding to the distance between the bottle openings. , a plurality of caps that are lined up and waiting at a suction unit supported by a horizontally moving robot arm are simultaneously suctioned and guided above the bottle that has been carried to the fixed position, and the caps are placed over the mouth of the bottle. In order to achieve the intended purpose, a bottle capping device is constructed with three mechanisms: a cap conveyance/rotation mechanism in which the cap is rotated by a rotating member and screwed onto the cap.

<Function> The bottles transported by the belt conveyor are
The star wheel of the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism restricts the passage of a plurality of bottles at a time until they reach the bottle clamp of the same mechanism, where the plurality of bottles are simultaneously clamped from left and right and stopped at a fixed position.

On the other hand, the cap alignment/standby mechanism sequentially stores the supplied caps in a chute installed in the same number as the number of bottles to be taken out, and in the chute, cleans the caps by spraying a cleaning solution onto them, and then, Dry the caps and wait in line.

Before and after the action of the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism, the cap conveying/rotating mechanism performs washing/drying in which the suction parts of the caps supported by the robot arm are lined up and on standby on the chute of the aligning/standby mechanism. The robot arm is moved horizontally over the already-finished cap, the suction unit is activated, the number of fixed bottles is suctioned all at once, the robot arm is moved horizontally again, and the robot arm is brought directly above the stationary bottles, and the suction unit is moved all at once to the bottles. Lower the caps toward the mouth, cover the mouth of the bottle all at once, then rotate the suction part all at once to screw the caps onto the bottle.Temporarily tighten if air is required to be vented in the later process. If air release is not required, perform final tightening.

When the screwing of the cap is completed, the simultaneous suction unit supported by the robot arm returns to the top of each chute of the cap alignment/standby mechanism, and the bottle clamp of the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism moves back to release the bottle. Then, the bottles are moved by the conveyor device, and a required number of new bottles are again restrained by bottle clamps in preparation for the next capping operation.

<Embodiment> The drawing shows an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, which is composed of three mechanisms: an intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism for bottles X, a cap alignment/standby mechanism Y, and a cap transport/rotation mechanism Z. FIG. 1 shows an overall plan view, and FIG. 2 shows a side view.

In the figure, the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing means X is
It is for intermittently feeding a plurality of bottles one after another to a capping position and clamping them at a fixed position, and is installed close to the belt conveyor 1 for conveying bottles. 2 is a bottle B filled with liquid that is continuously supplied by a belt conveyor 1,
This is an intermittent feeding unit that can feed three pieces at a time while regulating their passage.It is installed in front of the capping position, and has a star wheel 2a and a linear guide 2b facing each other and positioned above the belt conveyor 1.
It is mainly composed of. star wheel 2
a is the image of bottles B being conveyed almost in close contact on the belt conveyor 1, and the bottles B being conveyed almost in close contact with each other on the belt conveyor 1.
It has a structure in which the bottles are passed along the linear guide 2b while being urged one by one, and the rotation is stopped every time three bottles are passed. Reference numeral 3 denotes a bottle stopper provided at the capping position, which has a rod 3a for stopping the three bottles B conveyed by the belt conveyor 1, and this rod rotates from a vertical position to a horizontal position. It is designed to function as a bottle stop.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a bottle clamp provided immediately before the bottle stopper 3, which is provided with two clamp plates facing each other from the left and right, and has a shape corresponding to the planar cross-sectional shape of the bottle B on the inner surface of the plate with a gap P1. It has depressions at equal intervals. Figure 5a shows the details of the bottle clamp 4, and the part that comes into contact with the bottle B has
Clamp plates 4a are provided at symmetrical positions and biased toward the center of bottle B by a compression coil spring in order to center the clamped bottle B with respect to a cap C, which will be described later. This bottle clamp 4 clamps three bottles B, which are sent out together by the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism, in a line in the direction of movement of the belt conveyor 1, and their movement is prevented by a bottle stopper 3. The timing of clamping is set by a timer so that the bottles B can be clamped all at once, and when capping is completed, the clamp plate 4a is opened to release the bottles all at once. In the bottle stopper 3, when the bottle clamp 4 clamps the bottle, the rod 3a becomes vertical, and when the bottle clamp 4 releases the bottle, it returns to the horizontal state and can prevent the bottle B from moving forward. ing. Note that the belt conveyor 1 normally stops after the bottle clamp 4 clamps the bottle, and resumes operation after capping is completed, but since the bottle B in the clamped state will not fall over, the belt conveyor 1 The bottle clamp 4 may be started without stopping the bottle clamp 1.

Next, the cap alignment/standby mechanism Y is the hopper 5
The cap feeder 6 is installed in a cap feeder 6 which vibrates the caps C housed in the caps by operating a vibrator (not shown) and causes them to fall on a chute 5a, and feeds the caps C in a line with their backs facing downwards. multiple row alignment section 9
As shown in FIG. 3, it has a chute 9b for dividing the cap C into three rows.
is the clamp interval of the bottle clamp 4 at one end thereof.
It has three rows of grooves 9d with the same spacing as P1, and a cap 9a is provided to intersect with these grooves 9d.

The cappushier 9a receives the caps C fed by a narrow belt conveyor 8 provided between the chute 9b and the cap feeder 6.
Based on the signal from the confirmation sensor 9c, the caps are accepted and pushed into the three rows of grooves 9d of the chute 9b, one at a time, three at a time, starting from the first position, and the cap pusher 9a pushes the three caps C into the three rows of grooves 9d. By repeating the process of pushing in each piece one by one, the chute 9
Caps C are always arranged in a full state on top b. At the bottom of each groove 9d of the chute 9b of the cap alignment/standby mechanism Y, a cap cleaning section 10 having a nozzle 10a for spraying cleaning liquid and a nozzle 10b for spraying hot air is attached. This cap cleaning section 10 is provided below holes 10c and 10d formed at the bottom of each groove 9d,
The cleaning liquid injection nozzle 10a is located below the hole 10c, and the gas injection nozzle 10b is provided below the hole 10d. 10e and 10f
Reference numerals denote a discharge hole and a vent hole provided around the holes 10c and 10d, the discharge hole 10e is for discharging the washed liquid, and the vent hole 10f is for sucking and discharging the air involved in drying.

Incidentally, the discharge hole 10e and the air vent hole 10f may be formed in the shape of a slit.

A sensor 7 detects the upper limit and lower limit amount of the cap C in the cap feeder 6.

The cap transport/rotation mechanism Z includes a cap holding/rotating hand (hereinafter referred to as hand) 11 and a cap transporting robot arm (hereinafter referred to as arm).
The arm 12 is a horizontally moving robot arm. Fourth
The figure shows an example in which the hand 11 is supported on the tip 12a of the arm 12 so that it can be raised and lowered by a cylinder device 13 as a lifting means and two guide rods 14.
It is provided so as to reciprocate between each groove 9d of the chute 9b of the plurality of rows alignment section 9 of the cap and the bottle clamp 4 at a position directly above them.
The hand 11 has the function of sucking upward the three caps C located at the frontmost part of each groove 9d of the chute 9b, and the function of sucking the caps upward to the three bottles B waiting at the same position above the bottle clamp 4. It has a screw-in function to cover and rotate C. To explain this point in more detail, the hand 11 has a frame 11a that moves up and down by a cylinder device 13.
Three hollow rotating shafts 11b are vertically mounted at equal intervals, and pulleys 11f are provided on these hollow shafts 11b.
A belt 11g is hung around each other, and the cappings C are rotated simultaneously at a low speed in the direction in which the capping C is screwed in by a motor (not shown) attached to the frame 11a. It is also supported to absorb upward reaction force during capping. A rotary joint 11c is attached to the upper end of each hollow rotating shaft 11b, and connected to a vacuum suction pump (none of which is shown) via a flexible hose connected to the rotary joint 11c. 3 is located at the forefront of each groove 9d in the caps C arranged in parallel on the chute 9b by individually installing suction pads 11d.
It is designed to be able to suck in all at once. In addition,
In order to enable the suction pad 11d to suction and support the cap C in a horizontal state, a shape stabilizing block 11e is provided in close contact with each hollow rotating shaft 11b so as to cover the outer periphery of the suction pad 11d. Further, the rotary joint 11c is
This is provided to prevent the rotation of the hollow rotary shaft 11b, which rotates at a low speed, from being transmitted to the flexible hose.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be explained.

First, in the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism X, when sending out a bottle, the rod 3a of the bottle stopper 3 descends horizontally to near the top of the bottle transport belt conveyor 1, and the bottle clamp 4 is opened. Yes, the star wheel 2a is stopped. Next, when the belt conveyor 1 is driven and the bottles B containing liquid are conveyed in a line, the intermittent rotation of the star wheel 2a and the guide 2b work together to sequentially regulate the passing interval starting from the first bottle B. The star wheel 2a is fed into the bottle clamp 4 in units of three, and when the three bottles B have passed, the star wheel 2a stops rotating. Three bottles B passed through star wheel 2a
When the bottle is conveyed to the capping position by the belt conveyor 1, it is restrained by the rod 3a of the bottle stopper 3 and stopped, and at the same time, it is clamped from the left and right by the clamp plate 4a of the bottle clamp 4. When the bottle clamp 4 clamps three bottles B at the same time, the rod 3a of the stopper 3 stands up vertically, and at this time the belt conveyor 1 stops.

In this way, three bottles B are sent out in sequence, clamped by the bottle clamp 4, and kept waiting at the capping position.

Next, in the cap alignment/standby mechanism Y, when the caps C are put into the hopper 5, the caps in the hopper 5 are sequentially fed out toward the cap feeder 6 by vibration. When the cap amount detection sensor 7 detects that the required amount of caps C have been put into the cap feeder 6, the hopper 5 stops supplying the caps C to the cap feeder 6. A cap feeder 6 arranges the upside down caps so that they can be placed over the mouth of a bottle, and feeds them in a line onto a narrow belt conveyor 8. The belt conveyor 8 feeds the caps C to the cap alignment device 9 with their orientation changed by 90 degrees, so that the pusher 9a pushes the caps C in groups of three toward each groove 9d of the chute 9b.
In the plural rows of caps arranging section 9, when the caps C are soon fed into the respective grooves 9d of the chute 9b, the sensor 9c confirms this and the belt conveyor 8 is stopped. At this time, the pusher 9a is waiting at the retreat position.

The cap C pushed into the chute 9b as described above is subjected to the action of the cap cleaning section 10, but when the cap C reaches the position of the ejection hole 10c and the discharge hole 10e of each groove 9d of the chute 9b, The cleaning liquid injected from the cleaning liquid injection nozzle 10a enters the chute 9b through the jet hole 10c and cleans the inner surface of the cap, and the drained liquid flows through the discharge hole 10e.
is discharged and collected. In addition, the ejection hole 10d
When the cap reaches the position of the vent hole 10f, the inner surface of the cap is heated and dried by the action of the hot air blown from the hot air jet nozzle 10b, and the air is evacuated from the vent hole 10f.

The cap transport/rotation mechanism Z then operates on the caps C which have been washed and dried in this way and are waiting in line on the respective grooves 9d of the chute 9b.

When the hand 11 supported by the horizontally rotating arm 12 reaches directly above the washed and dried cap C, the hand 11 lowers the three hollow rotary shafts 11b and touches the lower end of the cap C. The suction pads 11d provided in the caps are brought close to the three caps C all at once. When the suction pad 11d comes into close contact with the upper surface of the cap C, all three caps C are suctioned together by the action of a vacuum pump (not shown), and then the hand 11 rises and rotates horizontally, and the hand 11 reaches above the bottle clamp 4.

In this way, the three caps C attracted by the hand 11 are moved directly above the three bottles B clamped by the bottle clamp 4. Next, the three hollow shafts 1 of the hand 11 are moved by a motor (not shown).
1b starts rotating simultaneously via belt 11g,
The hollow rotary shaft 11b is lowered together with the frame 11a by the cylinder device 13, and the three caps C are pressed against the mouths of the respective bottles while rotating. Therefore, the three caps C are screwed onto the bottle opening at the same time. Here, whether to perform final tightening or temporary tightening is determined by the number of rotations of the hollow rotary shaft 11b after starting to screw the cap C, and in the case of temporary tightening, the number of rotations is 1 to 2 times higher than in the case of final tightening. Before rotation, the hollow rotating shaft 11b is turned upward. When capping, even if the centers of the bottle B and the hand 11 are slightly misaligned, the misalignment between the bottle B and the cap C is automatically corrected by the elastic force of the above-mentioned support 4a of the clamp 4 as the cap rotates. is centered on. Further, the time lag in the start of screwing the cap is eliminated by the cushioning action that is applied when the hand 11 receives a reaction force. After capping is completed, the hollow rotating shaft 11
When b rises, the arm 12 pivots horizontally again, and the chute 9 of the cap alignment/standby mechanism Y
When the capping reaches above b, the belt conveyor 1 is restarted, conveys the capped bottle B, sends a new bottle B to the bottle clamp 4 by the star wheel 2a, and repeats this operation.

Effects of the Invention The present invention is capable of automatically carrying out the processes of cap cleaning and conveyance, intermittent conveyance of bottles, and cap suction and rotation using three mechanisms installed close to the conveyor. Since it is capable of capping multiple bottles at the same time, it contributes to complete labor saving and high efficiency of capping work, and facilitates unmanned operation. It also has the excellent feature of being able to be used for a wide variety of bottles, even if the sizes and shapes of the bottles are different, by simply replacing some accessories, such as star wheels and clamps. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the device of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is an overall plan view, Fig. 2 is an overall side view, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the cap alignment/standby mechanism, and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the cap alignment/standby mechanism. Front view of cap transport/rotation mechanism,
Figure 5a is a top view of the bottle clamp, Figure 5b is the top view of the bottle clamp.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line ab-b in FIG. X...Bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism, Y...Cap alignment/standby mechanism, Z...Cap conveyance/rotation mechanism, B...Bottle, C...Cap, 1...Bottle conveyor belt conveyor, 2... Bottle intermittent feeding part, 2a... Star wheel, 2b... Guide,
3...Bottle stopper, 4...Bottle clamp, 5...Cap supply hopper, 8...Narrow belt conveyor for transporting caps, 9...Cap multiple row alignment section, 9b...Cap shoot, 10...Cap cleaning Section 11...Hand for holding and rotating the cap;
11a... Lifting frame, 11b... Hollow rotating shaft, 11d... Suction pad, 12... Robot arm for transporting the cap.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Consists of three mechanisms: an intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism for bottles provided close to the belt conveyor, a cap alignment/standby mechanism, and a cap conveying/rotating mechanism, and the bottle intermittent feeding/fixing mechanism is , a star wheel having a number of notches on its outer periphery that is an integral multiple of the number of bottles to be taken out is positioned above the belt conveyor and supported horizontally so that it can rotate intermittently, and is rotated at angles corresponding to the number of bottles to be taken out. A pair of bottle clamps and a bottle stopper are provided that are intermittently driven by an intermittent rotating drive source and that clamp a plurality of bottles from left and right directions on the conveyor whose passage is regulated by a star wheel, Also,
The cap alignment/standby mechanism includes a chute that lines and waits at a required interval a number of caps supplied from a hopper corresponding to the number of bottles to be taken out, and washes and dries the caps on the chute. The cap transport/rotation mechanism includes a cap cleaning section, and the cap transport/rotation mechanism includes a simultaneous suction section for each of the caps held in line and on standby, supported by a robot arm that reciprocates horizontally between the chute and the bottle clamp. , a bottle capping device comprising a simultaneous rotating member that interlocks the rotating shaft of the suction section.