JP2000146740A - Method and device for inspecting leakage from container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance inspection accuracy of leakage and the function of exter nal washing process of container by combining the external washing process with the leak inspection process. SOLUTION: A waiting station 1, a pressurizing station 2, an external washing station 3, a leak test station 4, and a rejection station 5 are arranged in series on a container carrying passage. A container 100 is filled with pressurized gas at the pressurizing station 2 and ultrasonic leak test is performed at the leak test station 4. Since an external washing station 3 for washing the outer surface of the container with high temperature washing water is provided between the pressurizing station 2 and the leak test station 4, gas in the container 100 expands when the container 100 filled with pressurized gas is washed and washing effect is enhanced while facilitating detection of pinhole in the container.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container leak inspection method and a container leak inspection apparatus, and more particularly to a container leak inspection method and a container leak inspection for efficiently and highly accurately detecting a container leak. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a container for filling a fluid, a container in which a pressurized gas is enclosed is required to ensure the airtightness of the container. As such a container, for example, there is a stainless steel barrel container filled with beer. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a keg container for filling beer, and FIG. 2 shows the internal structure near the keg opening.

[0003] The barrel 100 is provided with a base 102 at an upper portion of a container body 101 and a cylindrical portion 103 extending from the container body 101 at a lower portion. The base 102 includes a valve for introducing and discharging beer, and a valve mechanism for sealing a pressurized gas inside. FIG. 2 shows these valve mechanisms. A fitting 103 is fixed to the base 102 by screwing, and a joint between the base 102 and the fitting 103 is a seal ring 104.
Sealed by The fitting 103 has a bush 105 screwed into the base 102 and a down tube 106 whose tip extends to near the bottom of the container body 101.
A gas passage chamber 107 is formed between the two.

[0004] The down tube 106 is provided with a coil spring 108.
The elastic seal member provided at the upper end thereof abuts against the inner wall of the bush 105 to constitute the gas valve 109. When the down tube 106 is pushed downward, the inside and outside of the barrel container communicate with each other. Has become. A beer valve 1 urged upward by a compression coil spring 110 is provided at the upper end of the down tube 106.
11 is provided, and when the beer valve 111 is pushed down, the upper end and the lower end of the down tube communicate with each other,
It has a structure in which beer can be injected into and out of the keg container.

[0005] As described above, the barrel container 100 is
02 and fitting 103, gas valve 1
09, the beer valve 111, the seal ring 104, etc., have a hermetically sealed structure so that the filling gas and beer do not leak inside. If the valve mechanism is deformed or cracks are formed in the welded portion or the like, a completely sealed state cannot be maintained and the quality of the content of beer is affected. For this reason, such barrels are inspected for leaks before filling with the contents.

As a method of inspecting the leak of the barrel, a visual inspection, a method of detecting a light leak using a lighting device, or a method of introducing a gas such as helium into the barrel and leaking the gas is used. There is a method of detecting leakage of a container by detecting the presence / absence of any of them, but all of these methods require labor and time for the operation, and have a problem in detection accuracy. Therefore, the present applicant has already developed and proposed a leak detecting device for a container using an ultrasonic measuring device (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-103844).
issue). FIG. 3 shows an example of the leak detection device disclosed herein. The leak detection device 200 includes the transport conveyor 101
Inspection stopper 1 for stopping the barrel 100 that has been installed and transported to the inspection position in the middle of the transport path of FIG.
05 is provided at the inspection position of the transport path. A stopper 104 for holding the barrel 100 on standby is provided upstream of the installation position of the leak inspection device 200. The barrel 100 conveyed to the leak detection position is provided in advance with the gas valve 109 of the fitting 103 shown in FIG.
Open the compressed air is injected.

The leak detecting device 200 includes a gantry 210, a lift cylinder 206 located below the conveyor 101, and for pushing up a barrel container at an inspection position, and a gantry 2.
The apparatus includes a box-shaped fixed sound insulation device 207 provided on the upper part of the apparatus 10 and a sound wave sensor 208 attached to the fixed sound insulation device 207. In the leak detection device 200, the barrel 100 conveyed to the inspection position is lifted by the lift cylinder 206 so that its mouth enters the fixed sound insulation device 207.

As the acoustic wave sensor 208, for example, an acoustic transducer such as a microphone or a piezo element is used. If there is a leak in the barrel, the air filled in the barrel leaks, and this air leak generates ultrasonic waves. The generated ultrasonic wave is picked up by the sound wave sensor 208 and converted into an electric signal, and frequency analysis is performed to detect leakage of the barrel container.

[0009]

By the way, in the leak container detecting device using the leak detecting device based on the ultrasonic measurement, as a preparatory stage, a step of injecting a pressurized gas into the barrel container and an inspection are performed. In position, the method includes a step of introducing the keg into the sound insulation device including the sound wave sensor, and the presence or absence of leakage can be obtained by a detection signal from the ultrasonic sensor. By controlling the movement, it is suitable for performing automatic inspection online. After the inspection, the barrel determined to be normal is transferred to an outer washing step of cleaning the outer periphery of the barrel.

On the other hand, in the process of filling a keg container of beer or the like, a large number of keg containers are handled. However, a leak inspection as a precedent stage also involves the use of a large number of keg containers. In addition, it is required to increase detection accuracy. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an inspection method and an inspection apparatus capable of improving inspection efficiency and inspection accuracy while utilizing a conventional inspection method.

[0011]

The above object is achieved by the present invention by employing the following means. That is, the present invention is a method of filling a gas into a container to be inspected, a method of inspecting a container leak detecting a leak of the container by detecting a leak of the gas, and an apparatus for performing the same, the step of filling the gas. An outer washing step of washing the outer peripheral surface of the container with high-temperature water is provided between the steps of detecting a leak.

In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a leak inspection method for filling a container with a pressurized gas and detecting leakage of the filled gas to detect leakage of the container. And a step of cleaning the outer peripheral surface of the container with heated water between the step of detecting the presence or absence of gas leakage. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the container leakage inspection method according to the first aspect, the temperature of the heating water used in the cleaning step is 70 to 80 ° C.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container leakage inspection device,
Gas filling means for filling the container with pressurized gas, cleaning means for supplying heating water to the outer peripheral surface of the gas-filled container to wash the outer peripheral surface of the container, and checking for gas leakage in the washed container. And a gas leak detecting means for detecting.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the container leak detecting device according to the third aspect, the gas leak detecting means accommodates the container and shuts off external noise, and an ultrasonic sensor that detects gas leak from the container. It is a structure provided with.

According to each of the above-mentioned aspects of the present invention, the container filled with gas is washed with heated water, and the washing action makes it easy for pinholes and valve mechanisms to leak, etc. The container is heated to increase the pressure of the gas inside the container, and the leakage of the container due to the gas leakage is detected with higher accuracy.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows a leak container detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The leak container detection device of the present embodiment,
It consists of five stations, and the barrel container 100
Waiting station 1, pressurizing station 2, outer washing station 3, leak inspection station 4
And an exclusion station 5.

The stand-by station 1 stands by to enter the pressurizing step in the next pressurizing station 2. The stand-by station 1 waits for the barrel containers to be vacant until three pressurizing devices 21 in the pressurizing station become empty. It is a place to let it. A common conveyor 10 is provided between the standby station 1 and the pressurizing station in the next process, and a stopper (not shown) is provided near the conveyor of the standby station.
The barrel 100 conveyed on the upper side can be appropriately stopped for a necessary time.

The pressurizing station 2 is a station for injecting pressurized gas into the barrel container as a preparation stage for leak inspection, and is provided with three pressurizing devices 21 in series on the transport path of the conveyor 10. I have. Each pressurizing device 21 has a container holding device 24 above the conveyor 10 and a conveyor 10
Is provided with a pressurized gas filling device 25 below. The container holding device 24 is a barrel container 1 introduced with its mouth downward.
00 is a pressing plate 24b driven by a cylinder 24a.
And hold it. Further, the gas filling device 25 is for filling the cask container 100 with a pressurized gas, and includes a nozzle and a gas source that can be raised toward a container opening that is positioned downward.

An outer washing station 3 is provided downstream of the pressurizing station 2. In this outer washing station, the outer peripheral portion of the keg 100 is washed, and is performed for the purpose of washing off dirt, germs, and the like on the surface of the keg. Conventionally, the outer washing step is performed after the leak inspection of the barrel container is completed and before the content filling step is performed. In the present invention, the pressurizing step in the inspection of the leak container is performed. And between the leak inspection process.

The outer washing station 3 includes a conveyor 30 for carrying in the barrels that have passed through the pressurizing station, and a washing device 31 arranged at the upper and lower parts. The cleaning device 31
An upper three cleaning nozzles 32 and a lower three cleaning nozzles 34 are provided so as to simultaneously clean three barrel containers 100. Each of the cleaning nozzles 32, 34
The pipes 33 and 35 are connected to water supply sources (not shown), respectively, and high-temperature water is sprayed toward the outer surface of the barrel 100 as washing water. The upper cleaning nozzle 32 cleans the bottom and side walls of the barrel 100, and the lower cleaning nozzle 34 cleans the top of the barrel 100 and the base 102 (see FIG. 1). Cleaning water used is 7
High-temperature water heated to about 0 ° C to 80 ° C is used.

The inspection station 4 downstream of the washing station is provided with three leak inspection devices 41 arranged in series. Each leak detection device 41 is the same in principle as the leak detection device described with reference to FIG. 3, and has a sound insulation device including a sound wave sensor. Each leak detection device 41
Each have a conveyor 40. The leak detection device 41 also has a sound insulation device 45 above.
The sound insulation device 45 is supported by the gantry 44 and can be moved up and down by driving means (not shown). The sound insulation device 45 has a box-shaped structure, and a plurality of sound wave sensors are attached to a wall. Each leak detection device 41 also includes
A sound insulation table 47 is provided at a position at the same level as the conveyor 40, and the conveyed barrel 100 is accommodated therein so that a sound insulation space is formed by the sound insulation device 45 and the sound insulation table 47.

The rejection station 5 located downstream of the inspection station 4 is a sorting device that sorts a normal barrel container and a barrel container in which a leak is detected into a regular transport path and a defective product transport path based on the inspection result at the inspection station 4. 51. Next, the operation of the leak container inspection device will be described. When there is an empty space in the pressurizing station 2 in the next process, the barrel container that has been waiting in the standby station is carried into the pressurizing device 21 of the pressurizing station 2. Note that the barrel container 100 is placed and transported upside down so that the container opening faces downward. In this pressurizing station, the cask container is filled with gas by the pressurized gas filling device 25. This gas is used to check for leaks in the barrel container at a later leak inspection station 4 and is usually filled with a gas.
It is pressurized to a pressure of kg / cm ² .

Next, the keg 100 filled with the pressurized gas is transferred to the outer washing station 3. At the outer washing station, the barrel container 1 is passed through a washing nozzle 32 from a pipe 33.
The outer peripheral surface of the barrel 100 is washed by injecting high-temperature washing water with respect to 00. Here, since the keg 100 filled with the pressurized gas is washed with high-temperature (70 ° C. to 80 ° C.) wash water, the keg 100 is heated by the wash water, and the internal pressurized gas rises in temperature. As a result, the pressure is further increased.

Next, the barrel 100 whose outside has been cleaned is
The wafer is conveyed to the leak inspection station 4, where the above-described leak inspection by ultrasonic detection is performed. In the leak inspection performed here, for example, if there is a pinhole in the barrel 100, the leak is detected by detecting ultrasonic waves generated by gas leaking from the pinhole, and the leak is detected. . However, for example, if the pinhole is blocked by dust or other deposits. As a result, there is a case where the presence of the pinhole cannot be accurately detected. In the present invention, prior to the leak inspection, since the outer washing step with high-temperature water is performed after the pressurizing step of the barrel container, even in the case where there is a closed pinhole,
The pinholes become apparent by the washing, and the pinholes can be accurately detected. In addition, the internal gas is further pressurized by the high-temperature washing water, which also makes it easier for leaks such as pinholes to become more apparent. Further, even in the case where a defect occurs in the valve mechanism of the base portion, since the portion is washed with the injection water, the defect can be easily detected and accurately detected.

The keg 100 in which the presence of the leak is detected at the leak inspection station 4 is rejected at the next rejection station 5, and a good product and a defective product are selected. As described above, in the leak container detection device according to the present embodiment, since the outer washing station is disposed between the pressurizing station and the leak inspection station, the pinholes of the container and defects in the valve mechanism become more apparent. And inspection accuracy can be improved. In addition, by combining the originally required external washing process with the inspection process prior to filling the container with the contents, in addition to the original effect of washing the container in the external washing process, leakage A synergistic effect of increasing the inspection accuracy of the inspection can be obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, the pressurizing station, the washing station, and the leak inspection station are provided with respective devices arranged in series so as to process three containers, respectively. The number is not limited to three, but may be one or more.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the outer washing station is arranged between the pressurizing station and the leak inspection station, the pinholes in the container and defects in the valve mechanism become more apparent. And inspection accuracy can be improved. In addition, by positioning the external washing process as a part of the container washing and leak inspection,
It is possible to provide a more effective function as an outer washing step.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a keg container for beer to be inspected.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating details of a mouth of a barrel container.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a leak detection device using a conventional ultrasonic sensor.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a leak container detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stand-by station 2 Pressurizing station 21 Pressurizing device 3 Outer washing station 31 Cleaning device 32, 34 Cleaning nozzle 4 Leakage inspection station 41 Leakage detection device 45 Sound insulation device 10, 30, 40 Conveyor 5 Expulsion station

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Noboru Noboru 1-1, Namiki Motomachi, Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture Sapporo Building Co., Ltd. Plant Division F term (reference) 2G067 AA44 BB38 DD13

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A leak inspection method for filling a pressurized gas in a container and detecting leakage of the charged gas by detecting leakage of the charged gas, a step of filling the container with a gas,
A method of inspecting container leakage, comprising a cleaning step of cleaning the outer peripheral surface of the container with heated water between the step of detecting the presence or absence of gas leakage. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the heating water used in the cleaning step is 70 to 80 ° C. 3. A gas filling means for filling a container with pressurized gas, a cleaning means for supplying heated water to an outer peripheral surface of the gas-filled container to wash the outer peripheral surface of the container, A container leak inspection device comprising: gas leak detection means for detecting the presence or absence of gas leak. 4. The container leak detecting device according to claim 3, wherein the gas leak detecting means includes a sound insulating device that accommodates the container and blocks external noise, and an ultrasonic sensor that detects gas leak from the container. Container leak inspection device.