JPH0771992B2 - Liquid recovery device in container - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a bottle containing a liquor such as beer or sake, or a liquid such as juice or a liquid seasoning and having a mouth closed with a stopper. The present invention relates to a method of extracting a liquid contained in a container such as a container and collecting the liquid.

[Prior Art] Generally, liquors such as beer and sake, juices, or liquids such as liquid seasonings are filled in a container such as a bottle by an automatic filling machine. When the conditions are not stable, for example, at the beginning of work, the amount of liquid filled in the container often varies.
The beer bottle must be filled with the specified amount of beer, and if it is larger or smaller than the specified amount, it cannot be shipped. In that case, beer is discharged from the bottle and returned to the collection process. Work is needed.

As a known method of discharging a liquid such as beer filled in a container such as a bottle from the container, a predetermined number of containers are arranged on the rotating bed of the drainage device, and a drainage chute is applied to the mouth of the container. There is a method of inclining or inverting the container together with the rotating bed to discharge the liquid into the drainage chute and collect the liquid. However, this method has a problem that it is difficult to reuse this drainage liquid because dust, water drops, etc. adhering to the container are mixed into the liquid drainage liquid. Further, this method has a problem that a certain number of containers are required to be lined up on the rotating bed, so that this part requires manpower. Further, in this recovery method, it is substantially difficult to remove the defective container from the line among the containers that are continuously flowing in the line and perform the drainage treatment without disturbing the line.

As a method for improving the drawbacks of the above method, for example, JP-A-57-9
Japanese Patent No. 6994 proposes a method for recovering the liquid in the container.

This liquid is collected by raising the bottle (defective container whose filling amount is out of the specified value) stored in the case to the opening of the orifice type air nozzle with a lifter and fitting the mouth of the container to this air nozzle. The tip of the liquid return pipe is inserted to the bottom of the bottle, compressed air is supplied from this air nozzle, and the pressure of the compressed air is used to drain and recover the compressed air. This recovery method is far more efficient than the above-mentioned method because the bottle is not inclined or inverted as in the above-mentioned known technique.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, in the liquid recovery method, it is necessary to prepare and process a predetermined number of containers in which the stoppers of all containers such as bottles have been removed, and the containers filled with the liquid are continuously conveyed. There is a problem that it can not be processed in the line.

Now, in the process of filling a liquid such as beer or juice, when a container such as a bottle is filled with the liquid, the mouth is usually closed immediately by the plug in the next process, and this plug is attached. After that, the amount of the liquid in the container is inspected, and the defective container that is not filled with the specified amount as described above is sent to the liquid recovery process and is recovered.

However, in the conventional liquid recovery method, a defective container is taken out to a certain place, and this is collected in a batch system.Therefore, there is a consistent process consisting of a filling amount inspection process, an unplugging process, an unplugged state confirmation process, and a recovery process It is difficult to automatically operate the recovery process.

The next major problem is the size of the bin and the associated problem of accurate transport. For example, as a beer bottle, there are a standard size bottle, a small bottle having a half capacity, a Steiny bottle, and the like. Further, if beer bottles, bottles of drinking water such as juice and cola are treated with the same treatment apparatus, it means that bottles of different diameters have to be treated.

In a normal bin processing process, a large number of bins are placed on a conveyor, and they are pressed and moved while supporting each other so as not to fall due to the contact of a large number of bins. Therefore, as described above, when moving between the unplugging device, the unplugging confirmation device, and the liquid recovery device in a series, and when supplying or discharging the bottle to each device, the center between the bottles It is necessary that the distance and the stop position in each device be constant.

Furthermore, in order to improve the operation efficiency of the device, the liquid recovery device usually handles a plurality of bottles, and the plurality of bottles stop accurately at the bin supply position of each device, and It is important that the equipment is supplied in line with the center of the equipment.

However, as described above, when the bottles are moved by pressing each other, a device for special centering is required in order to match the center of the bottle with the center of each device.

And when processing bottles of different diameters, significant adjustment of the equipment is required to align the centers.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional liquid recovery apparatus, and relates to an apparatus for efficiently recovering a liquid from a container that is filled in a container and is closed, and a bottle center and each (EN) Provided is a bottle transporting device that can easily match the center of the device, and further, a device that can easily match the center of the bin with the center of the device when processing bins of different diameters. To provide.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention for achieving the above object, is filled with a liquid,
The container has a main transfer section for transferring a container whose mouth is closed by a stopper, and a sub-transfer section branched from the main transfer section and connected to the main transfer section again, and the sub-transfer section is the container. The device for recovering liquid inside a container is provided with a device for removing a cap, a device for confirming a cap removal, and a liquid recovery device, and a claw transfer device is used as a means for transferring the container in the sub-transfer unit.

[Action]

Branch from the main transport section that transfers the container filled with liquid,
A sub-transport unit connected again to the main transport unit is installed side by side, and a series of devices including a cap removal device, a cap removal confirmation device, and a liquid recovery device are installed in this sub-transport unit, and containers are connected between these devices. A claw conveyor is used as the moving means.

This claw transfer device uses a claw body of a claw body supported by a chain or a flexible moving body to move the side surface of a container such as a bottle placed on a slide forming a sub-transport device by the claw body of the claw body. Move while pressing the side of the container. Therefore, it is possible to easily match the center of the container with the center of various devices by adjusting the position where the claw body stops.

From this, it is possible to convey containers such as bottles having different diameters and easily match the centers of various devices.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for carrying out the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the same,
FIG. 3 is a side view of the same.

In the plan view, the arrow (a) is not filled with the specified amount of liquid such as beer, and the mouth is closed with a stopper. The main conveying section M is extended to the front surface operated by the operator, and the main conveying section M branches off and is connected to the main conveying section M again. A sub-transport unit S is installed side by side. The sub-conveyance unit S is provided with a container supply device 1, a cap removal device 2, a cap removal confirmation device 3, and a liquid recovery device 4, respectively.

The main transport section M is a conveyor 6 provided with plate guides 5 on both sides.
And a container detection device 7 for detecting the number of a predetermined number of containers B is provided at the inlet thereof. The container supply device 1 has a container B at the start portion (bent portion) of the sub-conveyance unit S.
A transport packer 8 for supplying two of each of the two is provided so as to be intermittently reciprocally rotated, and a star wheel 9 for receiving the container B transported by the transport packer 8 is provided so as to be intermittently rotated. .

In the sub-transport section S, a portion parallel to the main transport section M is provided with a claw transport device 10 to circulate and transport the container B at a predetermined interval. Further, a stopper box 12 is provided in the front part of the stopper device 2 and a box 13 for accommodating a defective container B in which the stopper b is not completely removed is provided in the front part of the liquid recovery device 4.
Is provided. The apparatus of this embodiment processes two containers B at the same time. Therefore, even if one container B is not unplugged by the unplugging confirmation device 3, two containers B are simultaneously packed in the box 13 side. It is designed to be discharged to.

A container holding member 14 made of a rubber plate or the like is provided in order to prevent the container B from falling down immediately before the container B transported onto the sub-transport unit S by the star wheel 9 is supplied to the bottle opener 2. ing. Further, a discharge door 15 for moving the drained container B to the main transport section M is provided at the end of the sub transport section S. Reference numeral 16 is a relay box for the power source, and 17 is a control panel.

Next, the structure of each device will be described.

The container detecting device 7 provided on the side of the conveyor 6 has a lever that rotates in contact with the side surface of the container B, and has a proximity switch 7a at the tip of its lever. In this embodiment, 4 containers B up to star wheel 9
Is transferred, a signal is output to rotate the transport packer 8 to supply the container B to the star wheel 9.

[Nail transport device]

As shown in FIG. 9, the pawl transfer device 10 includes a chain 6 between the sprocket wheels 60, 60 which are spaced apart from each other on the machine body.
Around the chain 1, the nail body 62 is spaced apart from the chain 61 at a predetermined interval.
Is rotatably supported by a pin, and the base of the claw body 62 contacts the raised rail 63 on the forward path for transporting the container B so that the claw body 62 is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the chain 61. Stand up and move in the returning path with the claw down rail 64 contacting the base and falling down.

A detection device 65 for detecting the stop position of the pawl transfer device 10 is provided on the shaft supporting one sprocket 60. The detecting device 65 is composed of a moving section 65a and a detecting section 65b, and is adapted to detect the position of the moving section 65a in a non-contact manner.

The detecting portion 65b mounted on the mounting seat 66a is an arc groove.
It is attached to a mounting plate 66 provided with 67.
It is possible to fix a while adjusting the angle with respect to the machine by bolt 68.

By rotating the mounting position of the mounting seat 66a, it is possible to change the position at which the detection unit 65b detects the moving unit 65a, and the position at which the pawl body 62 stops with respect to the machine body, that is, the container. The position where B stops at the processing position of each device can be finely adjusted.

The stop position detecting device 65 normally uses a magnetically operated proximity switch, but a non-contact detection type sensor such as an optical sensor can be used.

A slide plate that constitutes a sub-transport unit S is horizontally provided in front of the claw transport device 10, and the claw transport device is placed above the slide plate.
The container B conveyed by 10 can be moved while sliding.

The claw carrier 10 is arranged at a predetermined interval with respect to the chain 61.
62 is attached so that it can be undulated, and while the star wheel 9 intermittently moves the side of the container B sent to the sub-transport unit S side by the pawl 62, it moves intermittently on the slide plate.

FIG. 9 shows containers B ₁ with different diameters (or widths),
B ₂ and B ₃ are shown being conveyed by the claw conveying device 10, and even if the containers have different diameters, the space (c),
(D) and (e) are the intervals between the claw bodies 62 themselves.

On the other hand, when the container B has the diameters B ₁ , B ₂ , and B ₃ and its diameter changes, the center of the container changes with the distance 1. As the distance changes, the pitches of the heads of the cap removal device 2, the cap removal confirmation device 3, and the liquid recovery device 4 deviate from the center pitch of the mouth of the container B supplied to these devices. It can be easily adjusted by adjusting the position of the stop position detecting device 65 of the pawl transfer device 10. Specifically, the position of the detection portion 65b can be adjusted by slightly rotating the mounting seat 66a and fixing it.

The star wheel 9 and the pawl carrier 10 can be synchronously driven by using one motor 10a as shown in FIG.

[Unplugging device]

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the cap removal device 2 includes a frame 19
A frame 21 is movably supported up and down by an air cylinder 20 supported on the shaft 21, and a frame 24 is movably supported up and down by a spring 22 and a shaft 23 on the frame 21.
The stopper b that closes the mouth of the container B is removed by the relative movement of the stopper head pressing member 25 and the stopper pulling claw 26 provided at the tip of the container.

Briefly explaining the operation of this device, the frame 24 is lowered by the air cylinder 20, and the cap head pressing member 25 is moved by the plug b.
When the upper part of is pressed, the frame 21 descends even though the shaft 23 is stopped by the container B, so that the lever 27 pivotally attached to the member 25 swings counterclockwise in the drawing. The plug pulling-up claw 26 is guided by the cam 28 and moves upward, hooking the plug b, tilting it, and pulling it out from the mouth. The removed plug b is guided by the tray 29 and stored in the plug box 12.

[Unplugging detection device]

The unplugging detection device 3 detects whether or not there is a plug b at the mouth of the container B by a sensor 31 such as an ultrasonic sensor or an infrared sensor attached to a bracket 30 supported by the frame 21 as shown in FIG. To do. When the plug b is not pulled out, the container B is pushed out to the box 13 side by the air cylinder 32 (FIG. 1) and collected.

[Liquid recovery device]

The liquid recovery device 4 has a frame as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
A frame 37 is supported by an air cylinder 36 fixed to 35 so as to be able to move up and down as shown by an arrow 36a, and a drain pipe 42 is supported on the frame 37 via a fixing device 43. The drainage pipe 42 includes a body 44 (FIG. 7), a locking body 45 fixed to the drainage pipe 42, and a ball 46 housed in a hole provided in the body 44.
And a spring 47 for applying a predetermined pressure to the ball 46.

The frame 38 is fixed to the frame 35 and the spring device 48
A shaft 41 is always urged downward through the shaft 39, and a bracket 40 fixed to the shaft 39 closes the mouth of the container B.
I support you. The frame 37 of the closing body 41 rises,
When it comes into contact with the upper collar 39a of the shaft 39, it is pushed upward (Fig. 8). The collars 39a and 39b are for adjusting the vertical operation position of the liquid recovery device 4 with respect to the containers B having different heights, and are prepared according to the height of the container B.

The closing body 41 is provided with a conical surface that guides the mouth of the container B and packing at the bottom of the conical surface so that carbon dioxide gas g can be stored in the container B via the gas pipe 49 (FIG. 8). To be supplied to. Further, the drainage pipe 42 is sealed by a packing 51 in a through hole 50 provided at the center of the closing body 41 and is supported so as to be movable up and down.

In the drainage operation, as shown in FIG. 8, when the container B is positioned below the closing body 41, the air cylinder 36 operates to lower the closing body 41 together with the frame 37 to close the mouth of the container B. In this case, the sealing force for closing the container B by the closing body 41 is the spring device 48.
Determined by When the frame 38 is further lowered, it is inserted until the tip of the drainage pipe 42 locked by the fixing device 43 reaches the bottom of the container B.

During this operation, when the vertical distance of the drainage pipe 42 is large, the locking is released by the fixing device 43 so that an excessive force does not act on the drainage pipe 42.

When carbon dioxide g is supplied from the gas pipe 49 to the upper surface of the liquid in the container B through the closing member 41, the liquid is discharged by the pressure as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and the hose 51. ,Piping
It is recovered in the recovery tank 53 via 52. The liquid such as beer recovered in the recovery tank 53 is transferred to the recovery process via the pump 54. Incidentally, 53a is a breather attached to the recovery tank 53.

The container B that has been drained as described above is laterally pushed by the claw body 62 of the claw transfer device 10 and moves while sliding on the sliding plate forming the sub-conveyance part S to move the plate guide 5 at the end part. Move to a curved part, and at this point the discharge door
It is pushed out by the sub-transport unit S toward the main transport unit M by 15 and is transported by the conveyor 6.

[Operation of a series of devices]

Briefly explaining the operation of the above-mentioned series of devices, a container B, for example, a defective container B in which a beer bottle is filled with beer having a prescribed amount is transferred by the conveyor 6 of the main transport unit M, and a fixed amount (in this embodiment). 4), the container detection device 7 rotates to detect this, and the signal from this drives the motor 10a to intermittently drive the pawl transfer device 10 and the star wheel 9 for a predetermined distance.

The container B on the conveyor 6 is sent to the star wheel 9 side by the packer 8 and is supplied to the pawl transfer device 10 with the intermittent rotation of the star wheel 9. And this container B
Is slid on the sub-conveying unit S while being pressed by the pawls 62 that are swingably attached to the chain 61 at a predetermined interval, and the predetermined interval between the pawls 62 is maintained. Be transferred.

The container B is the first device in the series of devices, and is a cap removal device 2
When the position is reached, the stop position detection device 65 that detects the stop position of the pawl transfer device 10 detects this and detects the motor 10a.
To stop.

Next, the stopper device 2 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is an air cylinder.
It is lowered by 20 and the plug is removed. After the cap is removed, the air cylinder 20 moves up, and then the motor 10a is driven to move the container B by the pawl 62 to the next stroke.

When the container B reaches a specified position below the unplugging detection device 3, the container B stops, and the unplugging detection device 3 detects the presence or absence of the plug b. In this case, if the stopper b is not removed, it is pushed out of the sub-conveyance unit S by the air cylinder 32 (FIG. 1) as a container B that has not been properly removed and is housed in the box 13 arranged outside the system.

The container B from which the plug b has been removed is transferred to the downstream side of the recovery device 4 in the next process. 6th in this process
By operating the pressure of the gas g on the liquid surface in the container B by the operation described with reference to FIGS. 7, 7 and 8, the liquid is drained by the drain pipe 42, and the hose 51, the pipe 52, etc. It is accommodated in the recovery tank 53 via. This recovery tank
When the tank 53 becomes full, the pump 54 operates to transfer it to the main recovery tank for recovery processing.

The empty container B from which the liquid in the container filled inside has been discharged is discharged onto the conveyor 6 of the main transport unit M by the discharge door 15 at the end of the sub transport unit S and collected.

Next, when processing a container B having a different diameter, or while collecting the liquid in the container, the position of the head of each device and the position of the mouth of the container B may be displaced. The bolt 68 of FIG. 9 is loosened, the mounting seat 66a is slightly rotated, the position at which the moving portion 65a is detected is adjusted, and the bolt 68 is tightened. By adjusting the detection position of the stop position detection device 65, the centers of the mouths of the containers B can be simultaneously adjusted with respect to the heads of the devices.

〔The invention's effect〕

The present invention has a main transport unit for transporting a container filled with a liquid and having a mouth closed with a stopper, and a sub-transport unit branched from the main transport unit and connected to the main transport unit again. The sub-transport unit is provided with an uncapping device for the container, an uncapping confirmation device, and a liquid recovery device, and a claw transport device is used as a means for transporting the container in the sub-transport unit. This liquid recovery device can provide the following effects.

(1) When the main transport section M is an existing transport line,
It is possible to easily attach the sub-transport unit S as a set, and in this sub-transport unit S, it is possible to automatically carry out a series of flow work including a plug removing process, a process of confirming the presence or absence of a plug, and a liquid recovery process. The liquid contained in the container B closed by the body b can be efficiently recovered.

(2) The sub-transport unit S is provided with a cap removal device, a cap removal confirmation device, and a liquid recovery device in series, and in particular, a claw transport device is used as a transport device for supplying a container to a predetermined position of these devices. Therefore, the container moves regardless of its diameter while maintaining a predetermined interval. When adjusting the stop position (supply position) of the container, the stop position of the claw conveying device can be easily adjusted.

Therefore, when the diameter of the container is different or the stop position of the container is deviated, the stop positions can be easily adjusted all at once.

[Brief description of drawings]

The figure shows an apparatus for carrying out the invention,
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the liquid recovery device, FIG. 2 is a front view of the same, and FIG.
The figure is the same side view. FIG. 4 is a front view of the cap removal device, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the same. FIG. 6 is a front view of the liquid recovery device, FIG. 7 is a side view of the same, and FIG.
The figure is a side view showing an operating state. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a partially cut-away state of the pawl carrying device, and FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a stop position detecting device provided at an end of the pawl carrying device. M ... Main transport section, S ... Sub transport section 1 ... Container supply device, 2 ... Unplugging device 3 ... Unplugging detection device, 4 ... Liquid recovery device 5 ... Plate guide, 6 ... Conveyor 7 ... … Container detection device, 8 …… Packer 9 …… Star wheel, 10 …… Pawl transport device 15 …… Discharge door 60 …… Sprocket, 61 …… Chien 62 …… Pawl body, 63 …… Raised rail 64… … Pawl tipping rail 65 …… Pawl transport device stop position detection device 65a …… Movement part, 65b …… Detection part 66 …… Mounting plate, 66a …… Mounting seat 67 …… Arc groove, 68 …… Bolt.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Kaoru Kaoru 667 Ibiya-cho, Higashi-Izumo-cho, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture 1 Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (72) Toru Saiki 667 Ibi-cho, Hiji-Izumo-cho, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture 1 Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Mutsuku Ishikura 667 Izaiya-cho, Higashi Izumo-cho, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture 1 Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. Kozo Tanaka 667 No. 167, Ojiya-cho, Higashi-Izumo-cho, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-2-191194 (JP, A) JP-A-57-96994 (JP, A) JP-A-63-281989 (JP, A) Jitsukaihei 2-79299 ( JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main transport unit for transporting a container filled with a liquid and having a mouth closed with a stopper, and a sub-transport unit branched from the main transport unit and connected to the main transport unit again. The sub-conveying unit is provided with an uncapping device for the container, a capping confirmation device, and a liquid recovery device, and a claw conveying device is used as means for conveying the container in the sub-conveying unit. Liquid recovery device inside.