JPH08324689A - Rotary capper and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a rotary capper and the control method thereof which can control a capping means at a specified rotary speed which is arbitrarily selected in accordance with the variable rotary speed of a rotary body or without relation therewith. CONSTITUTION: The rotary condition of an actuating means 5 is controlled in accordance with the running of a rotary body 4 or the variation of the rotary state thereof and the rotary condition of a capping means 6 is changed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary capper used in the industry of filling and packaging containers with liquids and the like, and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a general winding-up capper used in the industry for filling and packaging liquids into containers is, as shown in FIG. 4, a rotating body 81 rotatably attached to a fixed portion 80 and a container 82. A large number of chuck spindles 83 for capping are provided, and a pinion gear 85 that meshes with the sun gear 84 fixed to the fixed portion 80 is attached to the chuck spindles 83.

As a result, when the rotating body 81 is rotated by the motor 86, the pinion gear 85 rotates around the sun gear 84, that is, the chuck spindle 83 revolves while the pinion gear 85 rotates. The chuck spindle 83 rotates, and the cap is wound around the container 82.

Therefore, if the rotating speed of the rotating body changes during the operation of the rotating body, the rotating speed of the chuck spindle will inevitably change accordingly. Therefore, in this mechanism. However, the rotation speed of the chuck spindle cannot be maintained at a predetermined value.

In this phenomenon, for example, when the rotating body is rotated faster than usual in order to increase the capping processing speed, the chuck spindle also rotates faster as described above, and the inertial force of the rotating parts in the chuck mechanism is increased. As a result, the unwinding torque value increases and the uncapping torque value increases.

From this, the capping of the container is
There was a drawback that it was not possible to always tighten with a stable and optimum tightening torque.

Therefore, a technique has been provided in which the rotating body and the chuck spindle are rotated by separate drive sources. (See Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 2-27235) In this device, a chuck spindle attached to a large number of rotating bodies is provided with a dedicated winding motor for each of the chuck spindles, so that a constant rotation is achieved regardless of the rotational speed of the rotating body. Can be maintained.

However, since each individual motor is not provided with a mechanism for arbitrarily controlling its rotation speed,
Due to the difference in characteristics of individual motors and the difference in sliding resistance of each chuck spindle rotation, it is not possible to set the rotation speed of all chuck spindles attached to the rotating body to the same speed. The tightening torque varies.

Further, when a dedicated motor is attached to each chuck spindle, the rotating body becomes heavy and the apparatus becomes expensive.

On the other hand, since the number of turns of the screw to be tightened differs depending on the type of cap or container to be processed, simply rotating the chuck spindle at a constant speed causes the rotation of the rotating body during the tightening operation. Due to the movement of the chuck spindle, the tightening is not completed in the determined tightening section which is the moving range of the chuck spindle, or an appropriate tightening torque value cannot be obtained. There were various problems such as.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the rotating state of the actuating means during rotation of the rotating body or in response to changes in the rotating state of the rotating body. And a rotary capper capable of controlling the lid-applying means at a predetermined rotational speed that can be arbitrarily selected regardless of the rotational speed of the rotating body by controlling the rotation state of the lid-applying means and its control. It is intended to provide a way.

[0012]

In the means of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object, the rotary capper of the first example comprises a rotating body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a driving means. , To make a ring to this rotating body,
In addition, a large number of lidding means rotatably provided by the operating means, first and second detecting means for detecting the rotational states of the driving means and the operating means, and the first and second detecting means in cooperation with each other. The operating means comprises control means for controlling the operating means, and the operating means includes passive gears provided on the respective lidding means, a drive gear engaged with the passive gears and rotatably attached to the support body, and the support body. And a rotation unit fixedly attached to the drive gear to rotate the drive gear.

The rotary capper of the second example is provided with a rotary body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a drive means, an annular shape to the rotary body, and a rotary body by an operating means. A plurality of lidding means, a second detecting means for detecting the rotation state of the operating means, and a control means for controlling the operating means in cooperation with the second detecting means. The cover is provided with a passive gear, a drive gear meshed with the passive gear and rotatably attached to the support body, and a rotating unit fixed to the rotating body to rotate the drive gear.

In the method of the first example, a rotary body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a driving means, and an annular shape to the rotary body, and rotatably provided by an operating means. A plurality of lidding means, first and second detecting means for detecting the rotation states of the driving means and the operating means, and control means for controlling the operating means in cooperation with the first and second detecting means. The actuating means comprises passive gears provided on the respective lidding means, a drive gear meshed with the passive gears and rotatably attached to the support body, and fixed to the support body to rotate the drive gear. In the rotary capper provided with the rotating means for controlling, the rotating state of the actuating means is controlled in response to the change of the rotating state of the rotating body, and the rotating state of the lidding means is changed.

In the method of the second example, a rotary body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a driving means, and a large number of rotary bodies provided in an annular manner to the rotary body by an operating means. And a second detecting means for detecting the rotation state of the operating means, and a control means for controlling the operating means in cooperation with the second detecting means. A rotary capper including a passive gear provided on the lid means, a drive gear meshing with the passive gear and rotatably attached to the support body, and a rotating means fixed to the support body to rotate the drive gear. Therefore, when the rotating body rotates, the rotation state of the operating means is controlled,
The rotation state of the lidding means is changed.

[0016]

The rotary capper and the method of controlling the same according to the present invention configured as described above have the following effects.

In the method of the first example, the lid-applying means holding the cap moves its rotational path by the rotation of the rotating body and is rotated at a constant speed by the operating means.

When the rotating body is rotated at a high speed during rotation of the rotating body to increase its winding capacity, for example, the lidding means includes the passive gear, the drive gear, and the drive gear. Due to the coupling of the rotating means mounted on a fixed support body associated with the drive gear, the disadvantage of increasing the speed with the speed of the rotary body arises.

Therefore, at this time, the cover applying means is corrected to a constant rotation, and the rotation number of the driving means and the operating means are linked by the first detecting means linked to the driving means of the rotating body. The two detecting means detect the number of rotations of the rotating means and transmit them to the control means.

When these detection signals are compared in the control means, the correction signal is sent to the rotating means, and the lidding means is corrected to a predetermined number of rotations and held.

The method of the second example is for driving the lid-applying means, in which the passive gear and the drive gear and the rotating means linked to the drive gear rotate in the same manner as the lid-applying means. Since it is attached to the body, even if the rotation speed of the rotating body changes, the rotation speed of the actuating means does not change at all, so that the rotation according to the data previously input to the control means can be obtained.

Alternatively, during the operation of the rotating body, the rotation of the lidding means can be arbitrarily converted regardless of the rotation of the rotating body.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the rotary capper and its control method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The capper to which the apparatus A according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied is, for example, a container b for storing liquid such as chemicals, detergents and foods.
In the filling and packing industry, a cap c is attached to the mouth of a container b, which is used in a filling line as shown in FIG. 2, and is a transfer means including a horizontal belt conveyor and a screw conveyor. The container b sent by No. 1 is sent to one side of the apparatus A of the present invention one by one by the supply means 2 such as a star wheel at a timing, and is discharged from the other side of the apparatus A by the discharge means 3 such as a star wheel. The containers b with the caps c wound up are taken out one by one.

A first example of the apparatus A is, as shown in FIG. 1, a rotating body 4, a cover applying means 6 rotated by an operating means 5, a first detecting means 7, and a second detecting means. Means 8 and
It is basically configured by the control means 9.

The rotating body 4 is rotatably attached to a hollow cylindrical supporting body 10 whose base is attached to a fixing member such as a frame (not shown), and the supplying means 2
The table 11 of the container b whose mounting surface is aligned with the discharging means 3 is provided in the lower part, and the lid means 6 described later is provided in the upper part.
There is provided a mounting body 12 for supporting the rotating body, which is rotated by a driving means 13.

The driving means 13 is a gear 16 of a motor 15 to a ring gear 14 mounted on the lower side of the rotating body 4.
By driving the motor 16, the entire rotator 4 is rotated by a predetermined rotation.

A large number of the above-mentioned cover applying means 6 are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the mounting body 12 of the rotating body 2 so as to form an annular shape on the rotation locus of the rotating body 4 and to be rotatable by the operating means 5. At the lower end, a gripping member 17 for holding the cap c by a known opening / closing means (not shown).
Is provided.

Then, the lid-applying means 6 is provided with an elevating means 18
Thus, the mouth of the container b on the table 11 and the standby position above it are moved up and down at a predetermined timing.

Further, the above-mentioned actuating means 5 is rotatably attached to the passive gears 19 provided on the upper ends of the respective lidding means 6 and to the support body 10 through the bearings 20 and the like by meshing with the passive gears 19. The attached drive gear 21 and the support body 10
The rotation means 22 is fixed to the rotation means 22 and rotates the drive gear 21.

The rotating means 22 is a linking gear 26 in which a rotating member 23 such as a motor attached to the support body 10 and a gear 25 provided on an output shaft 24 of the rotating member 23 are integrally attached to the drive gear 21. Has been meshed with.

The first detecting means 7 is the driving means 13
Of the rotational speed and the number of rotations, and transmits this detection signal to the control means 9 which will be described later, and includes a detector such as a rotary encoder or a pulse counter, or a servomotor or the like. An internal one is used, and any one can be used as long as the rotational state of the driving means 13 can be detected.

The above-mentioned second detecting means 8 is for detecting the rotation state of the operating means 5, for example, the rotation speed and the number of rotations, and for transmitting this detection signal to the control means 9 which will be described later. A detector such as an encoder or a pulse counter, or a servo motor or the like incorporated therein is used, and any device can be used as long as it can detect the rotation state of the operating means 5.

The control means 9 controls the actuating means 5 in cooperation with the first and second detecting means 7 and 8, and uses a conventional computer.

Therefore, according to this first example, when the rotating body 4 is rotated by the driving means 13, the holding member 17
The capping means 6 holding the cap c by means of
The orbit revolves around its rotation orbit.

Further, the lid-applying means 6 itself is rotatably attached to the passive gear 19 attached to the upper part of the lid-applying means 6 and the supporting body 10 by the operating means 5 by the rotation of the rotating body 4. The drive gear 21 and the rotating means 22 mesh with each other to rotate on the rotating body 4 and rotate at a constant speed. Therefore, during rotation of the rotating body 4 at the mouth of the container b placed on the table 11, In the winding section, the cap c is wound while the lid applying means 6 and the container b move synchronously.

However, when the conditions for tightening the cap c around the container b are different due to the mold change of the container b or the like, the rotator 4
By changing the rotation state of the actuating means 5 during the rotation of, it is possible to cope with the changing winding tightening condition of the cap c.

That is, when the rotation speed of the rotating body 4 becomes faster than the processing speed, the first detecting means 7 linked to the driving means 13 controls the detection signal of the rotating speed of the rotating body 4. Sent to 9.

At the same time, the rotation speed of the rotating means 22, and finally the rotation speed of the cover means 6, is also detected by the second detecting means 8 linked to the operating means 5, and the detection signal thereof is the control means 9. Sent to.

Then, the control means 9 calculates these detection signals, and when they are different from the predetermined data value, the correction signal is sent to the rotation means 22, and accordingly, through the drive gear 21. Since the rotation speed of the passive gear 19 is changed, the lid-applying means 6 is corrected and held at the set rotation speed, and thus the cap c is attached to the mouth of the container b.
Is tightened with an ideal tightening torque value.

Next, FIG. 3A shows a rotary capper according to the second embodiment, which is a rotary member 4
The basic configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, except that the lid applying means 6 rotated by the operating means 5, the second detecting means 8 and the control means 9 are used. The means is the second detecting means 8 for detecting the rotation speed of the rotating means 22.
Have only.

Therefore, this example is based on the device A of the first embodiment.
The same reference numerals as those of the configuration are attached, and detailed description will be omitted.

The structure different in this example is that the actuating means 5 for rotationally driving the lid applying means 6 is different from that of the first embodiment, and the actuating means 5 are provided in the respective lid applying means 6 for the rotating body 4. It is provided with a passive gear 19, a drive gear 21 meshed with the passive gear 19 and rotatably attached to the support body 10, and a rotating means 22 fixed to the rotating body 4 to rotate the drive gear 21. That is, in this example, the rotating means 22 is attached to the rotating body 4 by the attaching member 30.

Therefore, in this example, the lid driving means 4 itself is rotationally driven, and the passive gear 19 and the driving gear 21 and the rotating means 22 linked to the driving gear 21 are
Since it is attached to the rotating body 4 that moves in the same manner as the lid applying means 6, even if the rotating speed of the rotating body 4 changes, the rotating speed of the actuating means 5 does not change at all.

Therefore, when tightening the cap c,
At all times, the lid applying means 6 can obtain the rotation according to the data previously input to the control means 9.

Further, during the operation of the rotating body 4, the lid applying means 6
In the case of converting the rotation of No. 2, if a desired numerical value is input to the control means 9, it is transmitted from the control means 9 to the rotating means 22 of the operating means 5 in the lid applying means 6 based on this numerical value. A constant rotation speed is always obtained while detecting the rotation speed of the cover applying means 6 by the detecting means 8, and the cover applying means 6 can be arbitrarily converted regardless of the rotation of the rotating body 4.

In this example, even when the container b is sent from the direction shown by the arrow p in FIG. 2, that is, in the direction opposite to the normal container transfer, to perform the tightening process, the lid-covering is performed. It is not necessary to change the components of the drive system of the means 6.

That is, in the conventional device, the tightening direction of the cap c is generally the right-hand screw direction, and when the rotating body 4 rotates left, the drive gear (sun gear) and the passive gear (pinion) are rotated. If the idle gear is not inserted between the container c and the gear), the tightening direction is counterclockwise, and the cap c cannot be tightened around the container b.

However, in the device A of this embodiment, this can be dealt with only by changing the rotation direction of the rotating means 22 in the actuating means 5, so that it is not necessary to prepare two kinds of parts for changing the rotation direction, that is, the device. It is easy to standardize, and exerts a great effect on quality and cost reduction.

Further, as compared with the case where the rotating means 22 of the cover applying means 6 is attached to the fixed supporting body 10 as in the apparatus A of the first embodiment, the rotating body is When there is a change in the rotation speed of No. 4, the change information is sequentially transmitted to the control unit 9 by a signal from the second detection unit 8 of the rotation unit 22 in the lidding unit 6, and the rotation of the rotation unit 22 is performed by a calculation / correction signal. The control method of controlling the rotation speed of the lid applying means 6 to maintain the rotation speed of the lid applying means 6 always at a predetermined speed is unnecessary.

[0051]

According to the first configuration and the first method of the present invention configured as described above, even if the rotation of the rotating body changes during the rotation, the first and second detecting means are used. The number of rotations of the rotating body and the lid-applying means is detected, the control means calculates and corrects based on the signal, and the result is transmitted to the actuating means of the lid-applying means again. The lid-applying means is rotated at different set values, and the optimum rotation speed can be selected depending on the type of cap or container, and the accuracy and stability of the machine are dramatically improved.

Further, the apparatus is simplified and downsized in comparison with the structure in which the variable speed motor is attached to each head, and the cost can be greatly reduced.

In the second configuration and the second method, even if there is a difference in the type of the cap, the container, the lid-applying means, the specified torque value, the actual operating speed, etc. It is possible to obtain the rotation of the lidding means and maintain the rotation speed of the lidding means at a predetermined rotation speed regardless of the change in the rotation speed of the rotating body, and obtain the optimum tightening torque value most stably. it can.

Since there is only one rotating means in the operating means,
Compared with the case where a motor is attached to each lid-applying means, it is not complicated and very inexpensive, and there is no variation in the number of rotations between the lid-applying means.

The structure is close to that of a conventional standard mechanism, and many proven standard mechanisms and standard parts can be used, and a highly reliable device can be manufactured at low cost. And so on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of essential parts showing a first embodiment of a rotary capper and a control method therefor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a container tightening line that employs the rotary capper and the control method therefor according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of essential parts showing a second embodiment of the rotary capper and the control method therefor according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view schematically showing a conventional capper.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Rotating Body 5 Actuating Means 6 Covering Means 7 First Detecting Means 8 Second Detecting Means 9 Control Means 10 Supporting Body 15 Driving Means 19 Passive Gears 20 Driving Gears 22 Rotating Means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A rotating body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a driving means, and a large number of lidding means rotatably provided to the rotating body by an operating means so as to be rotatable. It comprises first and second detection means for detecting the rotational states of the drive means and the operation means, and control means for controlling the operation means in cooperation with the first and second detection means, and the operation means respectively. And a drive gear rotatably attached to the support body by meshing with the passive gears, and a rotation means fixed to the support body to rotate the drive gear. A rotating capper that is characterized by. 2. A rotary body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a drive means, and a plurality of lidding means rotatably mounted on the rotary body by an operating means so as to form an annular shape. The operating means comprises a second detecting means for detecting the rotation state of the operating means, and a control means for controlling the operating means in cooperation with the second detecting means, wherein the operating means is a passive gear provided in each lidding means. And a drive gear rotatably attached to the support body by meshing with the passive gears, and a rotation unit fixed to a rotating body to rotate the drive gear. 3. A rotating body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a drive means, and a plurality of lidding means rotatably provided on the rotating body by an operating means so as to be rotatable. The first and second detecting means for detecting the rotation state of the driving means and the operating means, and the control means for controlling the operating means in cooperation with the first and second detecting means, the operating means, It is provided with a passive gear provided in each lidding means, a drive gear meshed with these passive gears and rotatably attached to the support body, and a rotation means fixed to the support body and rotating the drive gear. In the rotary capper, a method of controlling the rotary capper is characterized in that the rotary state of the actuating means is controlled in response to the change of the rotary state of the rotating body to change the rotary state of the lidding means. 4. A rotating body rotatably attached to a fixed support body by a driving means, and a plurality of lidding means rotatably provided to the rotating body so as to form an annular shape and actuating means, The operating means comprises a second detecting means for detecting the rotation state of the operating means, and a control means for controlling the operating means in cooperation with the second detecting means, wherein the operating means is a passive gear provided in each lidding means. In a rotary capper equipped with a drive gear that is engaged with these passive gears and rotatably attached to the support body, and a rotation unit that is fixed to the rotary body and rotates the drive gear, When rotating,
A method for controlling a rotary capper, characterized in that the rotation state of the actuating means is controlled to change the rotation state of the lidding means.