JP2000335689A - Rotary filling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To widen a range of effective rotational angles for performing filling even when a rotary filling apparatus using an electromagnetic valve for opening/ closing a filling valve is driven at a high speed. SOLUTION: In this apparatus, a plurality of filling valves 12 are provided at equal intervals on the outer periphery of a rotating body 10 rotated by means of a motor 14 and container holding means are provided below them in accordance with each of these filling valves 12. The absolute rotational position of the rotating body 10 is detected by means of an encoder 44 and by a signal for detecting this rotational position, a controlling device 42 outputs a command for opening the filling valve 12 at a specified position to perform filling. In addition, a speed detecting means for detecting rotational speed of the rotating body 10 is provided and when the rotational speed becomes high, a position where the command for opening the filling valve 12 is changed to the more upstream side in the rotating direction than the above described position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary filling apparatus, and more particularly to a rotary filling apparatus using a solenoid valve for opening and closing a filling valve and electrically controlling the timing of starting filling. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a rotary filling apparatus comprises a rotating body which is driven to rotate by a motor, a plurality of container holding means provided on an outer peripheral portion of the rotating body at regular intervals in a circumferential direction, and each of these container holding means. A plurality of filling valves having operating valves such as a liquid valve for communicating and blocking the filling liquid passage are provided above and corresponding to the respective means. There has been conventionally known a device in which the opening and closing of the liquid valve and the like is electrically controlled by using an electromagnetic valve.

In such a rotary filling device, an absolute rotational position of a rotating body is detected by a rotational position detecting means such as an encoder, and an opening command is output to a solenoid valve of the filling valve which has reached a predetermined rotational position to output an electromagnetic signal. When the valve is operated, the air cylinder is operated to open the filling valve and the container is filled.

[0004]

As described above, in the rotary type filling apparatus in which the electromagnetic valve is used to open and close the filling valve and the timing of starting the filling is electrically controlled, an opening command signal is sent to the electromagnetic valve. After sending and activating the solenoid valve, there is a time difference until the liquid to be filled actually flows out of the filling nozzle, so if the rotation speed of the rotating body fluctuates, the rotation angle at which effective filling is performed changes. I will. In particular, when a high-speed operation is performed, the angle of rotational movement before the liquid flows out from the nozzle is increased, so that the rotational angle at which the filling can be performed effectively becomes small. As described above, when the rotation angle at which the filling is performed effectively becomes small, the flow rate during the filling must be increased in order to terminate the filling in the filling section, and thus there is a problem that the filling accuracy is deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and has as its object to provide a rotary filling device which makes it possible to increase the effective filling angle as much as possible.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a rotary filling device comprising: a rotating body; a plurality of filling valves provided at equal intervals in a circumferential direction on an outer peripheral portion of the rotating body; A plurality of container holding means correspondingly provided on the rotating body, a rotating position detecting means for detecting an absolute rotating position of the rotating body, and a filling valve at a predetermined rotating position based on a rotating position signal from the rotating position detecting means. And a control device that outputs a release command to the control device.The control device further includes a speed detection unit that detects a rotation speed of the rotating body. The rotational position at which the release command is output is changed to the upstream side in the rotational direction.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a rotary filling device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a container 4 continuously conveyed by a container conveying conveyor 2.
Are separated at a predetermined interval by the timing screw 6 and delivered to each pocket of the inlet star wheel 8 which is operated in synchronization with the timing screw 6,
Further, the rotating body 1 of the filling device that is operated in synchronization with the timing screw 6 and the inlet starwheel 8
Introduced in 0.

The rotating body 10 is provided with a plurality of filling valves 12 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction near the outer periphery thereof. The containers 4 received from the inlet starwheel 8 are respectively provided below the filling valves 12. Container holding means (not shown) for holding and transporting is provided. This rotating body 10
Is rotated by a motor 14, and the container 4 delivered from the inlet starwheel 8 to the container holding means is rotated and conveyed by the rotation of the rotating body 10 in a predetermined angular range ( The liquid is filled by opening the filling valve 12 (for example, in a range from a to d in FIG. 1), and then discharged onto the container conveyor 2 through an outlet starwheel 16 and sent to the next step. .

FIG. 2 shows an example of the filling valve 12 in which a filling liquid passage 20 for supplying a filling liquid from a filling liquid tank (not shown) to a filling nozzle 18 is shut off by a liquid valve 22. The liquid valve 22 includes a valve body 34 connected to a piston 30 partitioning a cylinder 24 into upper and lower pressure chambers 26 and 28 via a piston rod 32, and a valve seat formed on the inner surface of the filling liquid passage 20. 3
And when the piston 3 is not actuated, the spring 3 is disposed in the upper pressure chamber 26 by a spring 38.
0 is urged downward, and the valve element 34 is seated on the valve seat 36 to close the filling liquid passage 20.

The pressure chamber 28 below the piston 30
Is connected to an air pressure source via a solenoid valve (not shown). When pressure air is introduced into the lower pressure chamber 28 by operation of the solenoid valve, the valve body 34 moves up together with the piston 30. Then, the liquid valve 22 is opened, and the container 4 is filled through the filling liquid passage 20 and the filling nozzle 18. The amount of liquid filled in the container 4 through the filling liquid passage 20 is measured by a flow meter 40 provided in the filling liquid passage 20.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a control device 42 for controlling the operation of the electromagnetic valve for opening and closing the liquid valve 22. The operation of the control device 42 will be described with reference to FIG. This rotary filling device is provided with an encoder 44 for detecting the rotational position of the rotating body 10 rotated by the motor 14, and outputs a pulse generated by the encoder 44 with the rotation of the rotating body 10 to a control device. The number of pulses is input to a counter 46 of 42. The rotating body 10 is provided with origin detection means (not shown) for detecting the origin. When the origin detection means detects the origin, a reset signal 48 is input to the counter 46, and the counter 46 counts. Reset the number. Thereby, it is possible to detect that the rotating body 10 has returned to a predetermined reference position after making one rotation.

The control device 42 is provided with a rotation speed detecting means 50 for detecting the rotation speed of the rotating body 10, and the count number is inputted from the counter 46, and the rotating speed of the rotating body 10 is determined by the count number per unit time. Detect the rotation speed. Also, this rotation speed can be changed during operation,
Adjustment is made in accordance with the amount of the container 4 on the upstream or downstream side of the filling device or when changing to a container 4 of a different size. To change the rotation speed of the motor 14.

In the control device 42, the relationship between the rotation speed of the rotating body 10 and the filling valve 12 to be opened is set in advance and stored as data 54. The control device 42
The calculation means 56 receives the count number counted by the counter 46 and the rotation speed of the rotating body 10 detected by the rotation speed detection means 50, and calculates the rotation speed. The number of the filling valve 12 to be opened is determined in accordance with the count number from the valve / speed correlation data 54 in the above. Means 60 activates the solenoid valve to open the corresponding fill valve 12.
When the rotation speed of the rotating body 10 is changed, the filling valve 12 to be opened is selected from the relationship between the count number at the rotation speed and the valve position, and a valve opening command 58 is output to the filling valve 12. .

The container sensor 6 is provided on the conveyor 2.
The container sensor 62 detects the presence or absence of the container 4 conveyed by the timing screw 6 that is synchronously operated with the rotating body 10, and inputs the same to the arithmetic unit 56. Only when a signal indicating that a container is present from the container sensor 62 is input to the calculating means 56, the calculating means 56 recognizes the number of the filling valve 12 corresponding to the container 4 and Release command 58
Is output.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The operation of the rotary filling apparatus having the above-described structure will be described with reference to a specific example. If the number of the filling valves 12 provided on the rotating body 10 is 30, the count number of the counter 46 is 40, and the filling valve 12 has one pitch, the rotating body 10 makes one rotation at 1200 counts. The control is performed on the basis of the case where the operation is performed at the capacity of 200 bpm. For example, the number of valves counted by the counter 46 is 100, and the number 1 valve is opened. ). Then, when the counted number reaches 140 counts, the next number 2 valve reaches the position a and is opened. Hereinafter, even after the number 3 valve, it reaches the position a in FIG. After that, the number 28 valve is opened at 1180 counts, the counter 46 is reset at 1200 counts, and the number 29 valve is reset at 20 counts and 6
The number 30 valve is opened at 0 count.

The rotary filling device is capable of adjusting the operation capacity (the rotation speed of the rotating body 10), and according to the amount of the container 4 on the upstream or downstream side, or
The operation capacity is changed when the size of the container 4 to be processed is changed and the filling capacity is changed. For example, when the supply amount of the container to the downstream processing machine becomes insufficient, or when the 1-liter container 4 is filled and then changed to the 500-ml container 4, the filling device is used. Increase the driving speed of the. Therefore, in this embodiment, the control is performed by changing the processing capacity from 200 bpm to 400 bpm.

In this case, when the count of the counter 46 reaches 100, this count is increased to 100.
Change to ~ 180 counts and open the three valves No.1, No.2 and No.3. That is, 100
At the time of counting, the number 1 valve is at the position a in FIG. 1 and simultaneously outputs the valve opening command 58 from the number 1 valve to the number 3 valve on the rear side in the rotational direction (position b in FIG. 1) by 80 counts. I do. Next, when the count number reaches 140, the count is read as 140 to 220 counts, and the number 2, number 3, and number 4 valves are opened. When the operating speed is increased in this way, the filling valve 12 on the upstream side (rear side) in the rotation direction is opened as compared with the case of the reference control at 200 bpm.

In this embodiment, when operating at a capacity of 200 bpm, the charging valve 12 at the position a in FIG.
A valve opening command 58 is sent to the solenoid valve so as to open the valve. At 400 bpm, the valve opening command 58 is issued and opened for all the filling valves located between the position a and the position b. Therefore, during high-speed operation, the solenoid valve is opened earlier than during low-speed operation, so there is a time lag between when the liquid valve 22 is actually opened from the valve opening command 58 and the liquid starts to be filled from the nozzle 18. However, a sufficient effective filling angle can be secured.

When the operation speed is increased (for example, 400 bpm), a valve opening command may be output to the valve on the upstream side in the rotation direction as compared with the case where the operation is performed at a lower speed (for example, 200 bpm). The objective can be achieved by opening the number 3 valve at the time of counting (when operating at the reference 200 bpm, the valve opening command 58 is issued at 180 counts). Since the opening command 58 for the intermediate valve is lost, the valves to be opened are three consecutive valves. The control device 4
2 is provided with an open valve storage means 64, and the valve to which the open command has been issued is stored until the end of the filling section and is continuously filled.

The operating speed is further increased to 600 b
pm, 100 counts from 100 to 260
Read from count to number 5 from number 1 valve
Valve open command 58 for 5 valves up to the valve at the same time
Is output. That is, at the time of 100 counts, the number 1 valve is at the position a in FIG. 1, and at the same time, from the number 1 valve to the number 5 valve on the rear side in the rotational direction (position c in FIG. 58 is output.

When the count of the counter 46 reaches 140 counts, this count is read as 140 to 300 counts, and an open command is output to five valves from the number 2 valve to the number 6 valve. In this embodiment, when operating at a capacity of 600 bpm, a valve opening command 58 is output up to the valve at position c in FIG. 1 at the time of 100 counts. When the operation speed is increased in this way, the timing for outputting the valve opening command 58 is further advanced according to the speed, so that a sufficient effective filling angle can be secured. At the position c in FIG. 1, the container 4 has not been supplied to the container holding means corresponding to this filling valve yet, but when the operation is stopped by the stop signal 66, the inertia or the like occurs until the rotating body 10 stops. As long as the container 4 is within the range in which the container 4 is introduced during rotation, there is no problem even if the valve opening command 58 is output to the corresponding filling valve 12 before the container 4 is supplied. In addition, as described above, from the reference operation speed (200 bpm), the high-speed operation (400 bpm,
600 bpm) and the stop signal 6
When 6 is input, the control is switched to the control at the reference operating speed.

In the above embodiment, the processing speed (in this example,
(200 bpm, 400 bpm, 600 bpm) The relationship between the preset rotation speed and the filling valve 12 to be opened is stored, and the filling valve 12 is sequentially opened based on the data 54. Instead of such a step-by-step command, the valve opening command 58 can be output in a stepless manner in accordance with a change in the rotation speed.

For example, from the count number input from the counter 46 and the rotational speed of the rotating body 10 input from the rotational speed detecting means 50, the arithmetic means 56 performs an arithmetic operation based on the following equation, and It is also possible to calculate 12 and output the valve opening command 58. Count to be added (n) = speed (BPM) / constant (K) (1) Count for valve to be opened at current speed (BPMnow) = current count to current count + n (2)

For example, as in the above embodiment, the number 1 valve is opened at 100 counts, the current operation speed is 400 bpm, the count number is 100, and the constant (K)
Assuming that = 5, n = 400/5 = 80 from the equation (1), and therefore, from the equation (2), for the filling valve 12 corresponding to 100 to 180 counts, that is, for the number 1, number 2 and number 3 valves The valve opening command 58 is output. In addition, the operating speed is 500 bpm
Assuming that the count number is 150 counts, n = 500
/ 5 = 100, and the valve opening command 58 is output for the valves corresponding to 150 to 250 counts, that is, the number 3 and number 4 valves.

In the above-described embodiment, the flow filling device for performing the filling while measuring the filling flow rate by the flow meter 40 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the flow filling device, but may be a weight filling device or a timer filling device. Even so,
The present invention is applicable as long as the timing of the start of filling is electrically controlled. Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the operating speed is changed, the count number is read, and the opening command is output to the valve having the number corresponding to the count number, but the valve number is directly designated. Can also be set. For example, as described above,
When operating at 100 bpm and opening the number 1 valve at 100 counts, when changing to 400 bpm, 1
The valve opening command may be output to the number 1 to number 3 valves at 00 count.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a rotating body, a plurality of filling valves provided at equal intervals in a circumferential direction on an outer peripheral portion of the rotating body, and a plurality of filling valves corresponding to the respective filling valves are provided. A plurality of container holding means provided on the rotating body, a rotating position detecting means for detecting an absolute rotating position of the rotating body, and an opening command to the filling valve at a predetermined rotating position based on a rotating position signal from the rotating position detecting means. In a rotary filling device having a control device that outputs a rotation speed, a speed detection unit that detects a rotation speed of the rotating body is provided, and when the rotation speed of the rotating body is increased, the control device causes the filling valve to rotate. By changing the rotation position for outputting the opening command to the upstream side in the rotation direction, a sufficient filling effective angle can be secured even when the rotation speed is increased. Therefore, it can be filled with low flow rate over time,
High-precision filling can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view showing the entire configuration of a rotary filling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a filling valve used in the rotary filling device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device that performs valve opening / closing control of the rotary filling device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Rotating body 12 Filling valve 14 Motor 42 Control device 44 Rotational position detecting means (encoder) 50 Speed detecting means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotating body, a plurality of filling valves provided at equal circumferential intervals on an outer peripheral portion of the rotating body, and a plurality of container holding means provided on the rotating body corresponding to each of the filling valves. A rotary position detection means for detecting an absolute rotation position of the rotating body, and a control device for outputting an opening command to the filling valve at a predetermined rotation position based on a rotation position signal from the rotation position detection means. In the filling device, a speed detecting means for detecting a rotation speed of the rotating body is provided, and when the rotating speed of the rotating body is increased, the control device causes the rotation position at which the opening command is output to the filling valve to be moved upstream in the rotation direction. A rotary filling device characterized by being changed to a side.