Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
  • B65G47/00—Article or material-handling devices associated with conveyors; Methods employing such devices
  • B65G47/74—Feeding, transfer, or discharging devices of particular kinds or types
  • B65G47/84—Star-shaped wheels or devices having endless travelling belts or chains, the wheels or devices being equipped with article-engaging elements
  • B65G47/846—Star-shaped wheels or wheels equipped with article-engaging elements
  • B65G47/847—Star-shaped wheels or wheels equipped with article-engaging elements the article-engaging elements being grippers
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67C—CLEANING, FILLING WITH LIQUIDS OR SEMILIQUIDS, OR EMPTYING, OF BOTTLES, JARS, CANS, CASKS, BARRELS, OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FUNNELS
  • B67C7/00—Concurrent cleaning, filling, and closing of bottles; Processes or devices for at least two of these operations
  • B67C7/0006—Conveying; Synchronising
  • B67C7/004—Conveying; Synchronising the containers travelling along a circular path

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a container transport method that can be used, for example, to move containers in a container treatment plant comprising, for example, a washer, a blower, a filler, a capper and / or a labeler.
• the invention also relates to such an installation.
• the invention applies more particularly to the displacement of the containers along at least partially circular paths in installations comprising gripping members of the containers circulating along said trajectories.
• facilities comprising adjacent rotating platforms, one of which comprises a support arranged to support the entire bottom of the containers and the other comprises means for gripping the body of each container.
• the means of capture are arranged to support each container at the point of passage of the path from one platform to another. This requires having specific gripping tools for each type of container.
• An object of the invention is to transport containers in a container treatment facility by limiting the use of gripping tools specific to each type of container.
• a method of transporting containers comprising a body having a bottom and, on the opposite side, a mouthpiece, the method comprising the steps of: supporting each container on only a portion of its bottom by means of a mobile support with the container and ensure a centering of the mouth of the container on a path of movement,
• the gripping of the containers is provided mainly by supporting a portion of its bottom, which does not cause any particular geometric constraint on the support device.
• the friction is limited to only part of the bottom of the containers when they are placed on the support or removed from it.
• the centering of each container is provided by clamping a portion of the container adjacent to the mouth.
• all the containers generally have a bottom and a neck so that the use of these two parts of the body of the container for transport allows the use of a tool common to a large number of containers subject possibly to some adaptations or adjustments related for example to the height of the containers.
• each container is supported on about half of its bottom.
• the containers are transferred from an upstream platform to a downstream platform, the platforms both being provided with a support for each container and in which the containers are detached from the support of the upstream platform during the transfer and, alternatively: the separation is obtained by lowering the support of the upstream platform,
• the subject of the invention is also a container treatment installation comprising a body having a bottom and, on the contrary, a mouthpiece, the installation comprising at least one rotary platform provided with at least one support for the bottom of the containers. , the support being integral in rotation with the platform and arranged to support only a portion of the bottom of the containers.
• the installation includes devices for centering the mouth of the containers on a predefined path of travel.
• the support extends at most until this trajectory.
• the support comprises at least one crown sector extending around at least part of the platform to support at least one container.
• the installation comprises a plurality of supports each designed to support a container and, preferably, each support comprises a soleplate mounted to pivot about a horizontal axis between a raised position in which it is resiliently biased. by a spring and a lowered position in which it is brought by a fixed cam.
• the movement of the soleplate makes it possible to eliminate friction and to limit the risk of interference of the soleplate with the bottom of the container when the container is placed on the platform.
• the installation comprises at least two adjacent platforms each provided with at least one support and defining a trajectory of movement of the containers at least partially wrapping around each platform, the supports being tangent to each other. a crossing point of the trajectory from one platform to another.
• FIG. 1 is a view from above of an installation according to the invention
• FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of this installation
• FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of zone III of FIG. 2
• FIG. 4 is a perspective view of zone IV of FIG. 1;
• FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the zone V of FIG. 1;
• FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of zone VI of FIG. 1;
• FIG. 7 is a partial top view of an installation according to an alternative embodiment.
• the installation according to the invention described herein is intended for the treatment of containers generally designated 100 having a body 101 having a bottom 102 and the opposite a mouth 103 at the end of a neck 104 provided at the end of the treatment of a plug 105.
• the installation comprises a frame 5 on which are mounted to pivot a plurality of platforms 10, 20,
• platform 10 input and platform 20 output
• platform 30 carousel insufflage or other treatment
• platform 40 carousel filling
• platform 50 carousel capping
• the platforms 30, 40 and 50 are respectively surmounted by a blowing device, a filling device and a closure device not shown.
• the installation defines a trajectory 1 of displacement of the containers in the installation so that the center of the mouth 103 of the containers 100 is centered on this trajectory 1.
• the trajectory is wrapped partially around the platforms 10, 20, 30 , 40, 50.
• the installation comprises a device introduction of the containers 100 into the installation that brings the containers 100 to the platform 10 and an evacuation device to support the containers 100 carried by the platform 20 and out of the installation.
• These devices are, for example worm gear devices such as that referenced 7 for the introduction of containers in one installation.
• Each platform 10, 20, 40, 50 is provided in its lower part with supports generally designated 60.
• the platform 30 is provided with a support generally designated 70.
• the supports 60 and 70 are integral in rotation with the platforms 10, 20 , 40, 50, and 30 respectively.
• Each support 60 comprises a column 61 extending under the platforms 10, 20, 40, 50 and having a free end on which is articulated a rocker 62.
• the rocker 62 has a sole end 63 and an opposite end 64 connected to the corresponding platform 10, 20, 40, 50 by a spring 65 (see in particular FIG. 3).
• the rocker 62 is movable between a lowered position and a raised position of the sole 63 and the spring 65 ensures the return of the rocker 62 to the raised position of the sole 63.
• the raised position is defined by a stop 66 secured to the column 61 and on which bears a portion 67 of the rocker 62 when the sole 63 is in the raised position.
• the end 64 is provided with a roller 68 around an axis perpendicular to the platform 10, 20, 40, 50 to cooperate during the rotation of the corresponding platform with a cam 69 secured to the frame 5 and arranged to bring the rocker 62 in the lowered position of the sole 63.
• the support 70 comprises ring segments 71 coaxial with the platform 30 (see in particular FIGS. 3 and 4).
• the ring segments 71 are fixed in height.
• the sole 63 and the ring segments 71 are arranged to support at most half of the bottom 102 and extend to the path 1.
• the containers 100 can be transferred directly from one platform to another in the zone where the trajectory 1 passes from one platform to another and where the supports 60,70 are tangent to each other.
• Each platform 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 is provided on its upper part with clamps generally designated 90 holding the containers 6 on the supports 60, 70.
• Each gripper 90 comprises two jaws 91, 92 which have jaw-forming portions 91.1, 92.1 provided with a V-cut 91.2, 92.2 for gripping the body 101 in the vicinity of the mouth 103 and more particularly the neck 104 (except with respect to the clamps 90 secured to the platform 20 which enclose the cap 105 engaged on the neck 104).
• the jaw 91 of each clamp
• the axes 91.3 and 92.3 are vertical and cross perpendicularly the radial direction of said platform.
• the shaft 91.3 is mounted on an end 91.4 opposite to the jaw portion 91.1 and provided with a lever 91.5 equipped with a roller 93 of vertical axis to cooperate during the rotation of the corresponding platform with a cam 94 which is fixed relative to the frame 5 and arranged to control the pivoting of the jaw 91 in a direction of opening of the jaw
• the axis 92.3 is mounted on an end 92.4 opposite to the jaw portion 92.1 and provided with a lever 92.5 having a free end drop of water engaged in a housing 91.6 formed of a rounded cutout which is formed in the jaw 91 so that the jaw 91 moving in the open position causes a displacement of the same amplitude of the jaw 92 towards its open position.
• a helical compression spring 95 extends between the lever 91.5 and the jaw portion 92.1 to bias the jaws 91, 92 into their closed position. The clamp 90 thus makes it possible to hold the mouthpiece
• the clamps 90 integral with the platform 50 hold the containers 100 by the lower part of the neck 104 while the clamps 90 of the platform 20 grip the containers 100 by the cap 105 engaged on the neck 104 and possess an outer diameter which is greater than that of the neck.
• FIG. 7 there is shown an installation comprising two platforms each equipped with a support 260, 270 (which are visible only here).
• Each support comprises a disk or a ring having an outer periphery toothed such that the teeth of each support are interposed at the point of tangency between two adjacent teeth of the other support.
• containers are supported over the entire dimension of the bottom measured in the radial direction of the platforms but on only a portion of the bottom dimension measured transversely to the radial direction.
• Two teeth of the supports 260, 270 can therefore simultaneously support the same container at the point of tangency of the platforms.
• an installation may include a different number of supports 60 and / or 70 and for example comprise only supports 60 or supports 70.
• the supports 70 may comprise only one crown in one piece.
• the supports 60 and 70 can support more or less half of the bottom of the containers but not all of them.
• An installation may, however, include supports similar to the supports 60 and 70 and traditional supports supporting the entire bottom of the containers.
• the supports 60 and 70 may be adjustable in height by means of a screw / nut system with a vertical axis or by any other system comprising, for example, cylinders or linear electric actuators.
• a deformable parallelogram device By connecting the soleplate 63 of the supports 60 to the column 61 by a deformable parallelogram device, it is possible to have a support automatically adapting to the height of the containers.
• the structure of the clamps is completely independent of the support of the containers by their bottom.
• support devices on the support including elastic grippers, controlled clamps, open cells facing a rail for holding containers in the cells ...
• the clamps can grip the containers on another part of the body that the neck and for example on the central portion of the body.
• the height-adjustable support is located downstream and rises to bear against the bottom of the container and take it off the support located upstream, and / or,
• the mobile support height is located upstream and down to deposit the container on the support downstream.
• the rise and fall of the supports are realized by means of cams such as cams 69. This facilitates the transfer of containers and limit the risk of unbalance containers when transferring the upstream platform to the downstream platform.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Specific Conveyance Elements (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Country Status (7)

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• 2009
  • 2009-05-20 FR FR0902461A patent/FR2945800A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
• 2010
  • 2010-05-19 WO PCT/EP2010/056923 patent/WO2010133648A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2010-05-19 JP JP2012511283A patent/JP2012527388A/ja active Pending
  • 2010-05-19 CN CN2010800225700A patent/CN102428015A/zh active Pending
  • 2010-05-19 BR BRPI1012869A patent/BRPI1012869A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2010-05-19 EP EP10723047A patent/EP2432715A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2010-05-20 US US12/784,213 patent/US20100294622A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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