GB2065584A - Supporting elements for articles to be carried by a conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

A conveyor has supporting elements (4) for articles to be carried, each element is of generally E- shaped cross-section, which section is formed by a base (9), a centre leg (5) and side legs (6, 7), thus defining two compartments (8) for articles to be carried. The base (9) is directed away from the centre leg on either side to have a shallow V- shape and is provided with perforations (11) to facilitate heat exchange between articles carried and a liquid which may be sprayed downwardly over the supporting elements. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Supporting elements for articles to be carried by a conveyor This invention relates to a conveyor suitable for carrying articles along a path disposed in a vertical plane, at least part of the path extending within a treatment chamber downwardly through which a liquid may be passed for heat exchange with the articles carried by the conveyor.

One known such conveyor is of the kind (hereinafter termed "of the kind referred to") comprising at least two chains in parallel spaced relationship and each being built up from a row of link plates which are connected together by means of hinge pins, and supporting elements connected to and extending between the chains at regular distances, each supporting element having a generally Eshaped cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the element, the said cross-section being formed by a base, a centre leg and two side legs, so that two adjacent compartments are defined by each supporting element on either side of the centre leg, each said compartment being bounded by said centre leg, one of said side legs, part of said base and by the base of a next-adjacent supporting element.

Such a conveyor is described in British Patent Specification No. 809,650.

The conveyor is particularly suitable for use in a so-called "continuous steriliser", wherein a large number of packs, such as cans or bottles containing foodstuffs or medicines, for example, are fed through a processing chamber in which they are subjected to heat treatment so as to improve their keeping quality by pasturisation or sterilisation. With the trend towards increased speed of processing, and the increase in the capacity of the installation, a number of sometimes conflicting requirements are imposed on the conveyor in order to achieve the desired extra productivity.

The conveyor should be as compact as possible, that is as many containers as possible should be capable of being accommodated in a unit of volume of the supporting elements of the conveyor. On the other hand the supporting elements must be so designed that whilst passing along their path inside the processing chamber, the containers are satisfactorily surrounded so as to prevent them falling out or from being otherwise displaced both over rising and falling sections of the path, whilst at the same time permitting rapid and simple loading and unloading. Since the conveyor can have a considerable length, it is preferred that its weight is limited as far as possible, which imposes restrictions on the shaping of the supporting elements.An important factor in obtaining extra capacity from the installation is the question of heat transfer between the treating medium present in the processing chamber and the containers to be processed. This heat transfer is accelerated by employing liquid which flows over the containers to heat the product within the containers.

Attention has admittedly been previously devoted to all of these requirements, but the conveyors hitherto known still represent the main obstacle to an increase in the capacity of the installation. Reference may be had to British Patent Specifications Nos. 1,090,684, 1,222,511 and 1,222,512 aside from Specification No. 809,650 previously mentioned.

These all relate to a conveyor of the front loader type, as opposed, for example, to the device in accordance with British Patent Specification No. 1,274,254 in which attempts are also made to obtain an increase in capacity, but where a conveyor of the side-loading type is employed.

The present invention is aimed at providing a conveyor of the front-loader type where extremely high capacity can be obtained, that is where a large number of containers can be processed per unit of time without making the size of the conveyor larger than has been customary hitherto.

In accordance with the present invention this aim is achieved in that the base of each supporting element is formed to have a shallow V-shape in a direction from the centre leg of the E-shaped cross-section and in that the base is provided with perforations a small distance from the centre leg and from the two side legs, and in that the wall of the side legs is similarly provided with perforations at some distance from the base.

As a result of these measures compartments are always formed for the containers in which, for a time, liquid is held back and which flows in the vertical portions of the path via the perforations present downwards and thus comes in a satisfactory manner into contact with the containers present in the compartments. In this way, extremely high heat transfer is obtained, which makes it possible to shorten the residence time of the containers inside the processing chamber of the installation, so that the desired extra capacity can be achieved. This improved, extremely intensive contact between the liquid and the containers is obtained in both the ascending and the descending path portions of the conveyor, by means of the V-shape of the base of each supporting element.

Preferably each supporting element is made up from two end walls and two tray-shaped compartmental apertures, each built up from half of the centre leg, a base part and a side leg of the E-shaped section, and a side wing is provided on each side of each supporting element so as to separate the compartments from an adjacent carrying element.

The manner in which the supporting ele ments are assembled in the conveyor is important. When traversing bends in the trajectory of the conveyor it must not be possible for the containers to jam or to accidentally roll out.

Thus, preferably each end of each supporting element is attached to the nearest chain by means of a T-shaped plate, the leg of the T being connected to two consecutive hinge pins on the chain and the top bar of the T being attached to the end wall.

Preferably each side wing is designed as a hollow chamber formed by the walls of the side wing and the wall of a side leg, the said chamber being divided into two parts by means of a separator plate located therein which extends from the start of the wall of the side leg at the base to a bend in the opposite outermost side wall of the side wing. Preferably the wall of the side wing is perforated between the separation plate and the side leg.

This procedure makes it possible to intercept the falling liquid in the processing chamber and to re-direct it, whereby the containers in the underlying compartments are sprayed.

The invention will be further apparent from the following description with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings which show, by way of example only, parts of one form of conveyor embodying the invention.

Of the drawings: Figures it and 1B show cross-sections through a number of supporting elements of the conveyor, in ascending and descending portions of the conveyor path respectively so as to demonstrate how containers carried by the elements may be sprayed; Figure 2 shows an exploded perspective view of one end of one of the supporting elements of the conveyor; Figure 3 is a view showing the attachment of a supporting element to a chain of the conveyor; Figure 4 shows the traversing of a top bend by using a wheel provided with fourteen teeth; and Figure 5 illustrates the traversing of a bottom bend with a larger radius of curvature than in the top bend, by employing a wheel with twenty-one teeth.

The installation for which the present conveyor is particularly designed is of the type described in British Patent Specifications Nos.

809,650 and 1,090,684 aforesaid. However, it should be noted that within the processing chamber means are provided for spraying the conveyor from above in accordance with British Patent Specification No. 1,472,562. For this reason the following description is restricted to the conveyor itself and more particularly the supporting elements thereof.

The conveyor is provided in a known manner with at least two parallel spaced chains 1, of which only one is illustrated in Fig. 3. Each chain is built up from a row of link plates 2 which are connected together by hinge pins 3.

Between the chains 1, at regular intervals, supporting elements 4 are fastened, each having a generally E-shaped cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the element 4. This cross-section is formed by means of a centre leg 5 and two side legs 6 and 7. Thus, for each supporting element 4, two adjacent compartments 8 are formed on either side of the centre leg 5.

Each compartment 8 is bounded by the centre leg, a base part 9, one of the side legs and by a base part 9 of a next adjacent supporting element 4. Within each compartment 8 it is possible to accommodate a number of containers 10 such as cans, bottles or jars. for example.

The base 9 of each supporting element 4 is formed to have a shallow V-shape in a direction away from the centre leg 5. The base 9 is furthermore provided with perforations 11 at a small distance from the centre leg 5 and from both side legs 6 and 7. The wall of the side legs is similarly provided with perforations 11 at a small distance from the base 9.

The function of these perforations is illustrated in Figs. 1A and 1 B and consists in allowing liquid to flow through them so that it can always reach containers 10 at a lower level.

As can be seen in Fig. 2, each supporting element 4 is made up from two end walls 1 2 and the two tray-shaped compartmental apertures 1 3 and 14. Each of these compartmental apertures is built up from half of a centre leg 5, a base part 9 and a side leg. Furthermore a side wing 1 5 is attached on each side of each supporting element 4 in order to separate the compartment 8 from an adjacent supporting element.

The ends of each supporting element 4 are fastened to the nearest chain 1 by means of a T-shaped plate 16. The leg 1 7 of the T is joined to two consecutive hinge pins 3 on the chain and the top bar 1 8 of the T is fastened to the adjacent end wall 1 2. The top bar 1 8 of the T-shaped plate 1 6 is cranked towards the carrying element 4 to which it is attached as can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3.

Each side wing 1 5 is designed as a hollow chamber formed by the walls of the side wing and the wall of the side leg 6 or 7. This hollow chamber is divided into two parts by a separation plate 1 9 placed therein, which proceeds from the start of the wall of the side leg 6 or 7 at the base 9 towards a bend 20 in the opposite outermost side wall of the side wing 1 5. The wall of this side wing between the separation plate 1 9 and the side leg 6 or 7 is similarly provided with perforations 11.

All parts of the supporting elements 4 are made from folded steel plate, the shell of the supporting element 4 being made up by spot welding at the centre leg 5 and at the two side edges of both side legs 6 and 7. This shell section is connected by welding with the end walls 1 2. By this design it is possible to obtain an extremely light construction for the supporting element 4 and also enable the elements to be produced substantially automatically.

The most important advantages of the conveyor in accordance with the present invention can be best seen in Figs. 1 A and 1 B.

These show the extremely compact design, whereby the volume of the conveyor is extensively utiiised for accommodating the containers 10. During both ascending and descending vertical parts of the path of the conveyor, continuous spraying of the containers 10 by the processing liquid takes place, thanks to the provision of the perforations 11. The side wings 1 5 make it possible to traverse a bottom bend along a reversing wheel 21 (see Fig. 5) without there being any danger of the containers dropping out. A smaller reversing wheel 22 than is necessary for a bottom curve can be employed for a top curve (see Fig. 4).

A wheel 22 of the type shown in Fig. 4 can be used for loading and unloading the conveyor, corresponding to the arrangements in the above-mentioned British Patent Specifications Nos. 809,650 and 1,090,684.

It will be appreciated that it is not intended to limit the invention to the above example only, - many variations, such as might readily occur to one skilled in the art, being possible without departing from the scope thereof.

Claims (10)

1. A supporting element for a conveyor of the kind referred to characterised in that its base is directed away from the centre leg of the E-shaped cross-section on either side thereof, so as to have a shallow V-shape and in that the base is provided with perforations at a small distance from the centre leg and from the two side legs, the wall of the side legs similarly being provided with perforations at some distance from the base.

2. An element according to claim 1, characterised in that it is made up from two end walls and two tray-shaped compartmental apertures, each built up from half of the centre leg 5, a base and a side leg of the E-shaped cross-section, a side wing being attached on each side of each supporting element to separate the compartments from an adjacent supporting element.

3. An element according to claim 2 wherein each side wing is designed as a hollow chamber formed by the walls of the side wing and the wall of a side leg, the said chamber being divided into two portions by means of a separation plate located therein, which runs from the start of the wall of the side leg at the base towards a bend in the opposite outermost side wall of the side wing.

4. An element according to claim 3 characterised in that the wall of the side wing 1 5 is provided with perforations 11 between the separation plate and the side leg.

5. An element according to any preceding claim formed from folded steel plates which are joined by spot welding.

6. A conveyor of the kind referred to which is provided with supporting elements as claimed in any preceding claim.

7. A conveyor according to claim 6 characterized in that the ends of each supporting element are fastened to the adjacent chain by means of a T-shaped plate whose leg is connected to two consecutive hinge pins of the chain and whose top bar is fastened to the adjacent end of the supporting element.

8. A conveyor according to claim 7 characterised in that the top bar of the T-shaped plate section is cranked towards the supporting element to which it is connected.

9. A supporting element for a conveyor substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the figures of the accompanying drawings.

10. A conveyor of the kind referred to substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the figures of the accompanying drawings.