JP2004125177A - Seal cap mounting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To mechanize mounting of a seal cap on a valve port of a gas cylinder after charging gas to save labor, and to improve the profitability. <P>SOLUTION: A seal cap mounting device A is provided with a seal cap setting unit 1, a seal cap transfer unit 2, a lifting unit 3, a shaft setting unit 4, and a seal cap inserting unit. The seal cap setting unit 1 is provided with a sorting drum 10 rotating intermittently. A seal cap engaging pin 14 is provided inside a drum 101 inside of the sorting drum 10. The seal cap transfer unit 2 has a transfer tube 25. A stopper is attached to the transfer tube 25. A rodless cylinder 20 is installed in a sorting drum 10. A slider 22 is provided with an air cylinder S2 equipped with an absorber. The lifting unit 3 is provided with the shaft setting unit 4 for setting the height and the direction of the seal cap inserting unit to the height and the direction of the valve of the gas cylinder B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

{Circle over (1)} The present invention relates to a seal cap mounting device for mounting a seal cap on a valve opening of a gas cylinder and sealing after filling the gas in a step of automatically charging the gas cylinder.

充填 The gas cylinder such as propane gas is filled by an automatic gas filling machine. The automatic gas filling machine fills the gas while intermittently transporting the gas cylinder, and then seals the valve by attaching a seal cap to the valve opening. Conventionally, the work of attaching the seal cap has been performed manually together with the work of attaching and detaching the valve cap.

However, the conventional method as described above has the following problems.
In other words, the work of attaching the seal cap to the valve port of the gas cylinder is a light work, but the gas cylinder is transported at a constant interval from the automatic gas filling machine at a fixed time rather than a so-called batch process, Difficulty working with other tasks. Therefore, there is a problem that work efficiency is low and labor costs are high.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem and to mechanize the work of attaching a seal cap to a valve opening of a gas cylinder after gas filling, save labor, and improve profitability.

Means of the present invention taken to achieve the above object are as follows.
That is, the present invention
A seal cap mounting device that mounts a seal cap on a valve opening of a gas cylinder.
Position setting means for setting the seal cap to the pickup position in a predetermined direction; mounting means for mounting the seal cap to the valve opening of the gas cylinder;
Transfer means for picking up the seal cap at the pickup position and transferring it to the mounting means;
A shaft setting means for setting the mounting direction and the mounting height of the seal cap to the valve port by the mounting means so as to match the axial direction and the axial height of the valve port,
It is a seal cap mounting device provided with.

(Action)
The seal cap is set in a predetermined direction at the pickup position by the position setting means of the seal cap mounting device.
The seal cap at the pickup position is picked up by the transfer means and transferred to the mounting means.
The shaft setting means sets the mounting direction and the mounting height of the seal cap when mounting the seal cap to the valve opening of the gas cylinder so as to match the axial direction and the axial height of the valve opening.
The sealing cap is mounted on the valve opening of the gas cylinder by the mounting means.
In this manner, the pickup position setting, transfer, axis setting, and mounting of the seal cap can be mechanized, and labor can be saved.

The present invention has the above configuration and has the following effects.
That is, since the operation of attaching the seal cap to the valve opening of the gas cylinder after gas filling is mechanized, labor is saved and profitability can be improved.

The present invention will be described in more detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.
1 is a schematic front view showing a seal cap mounting device, FIG. 2 (a) is a schematic side view, FIG. 2 (b) is an explanatory diagram showing a rotary feed device of a drum, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 2, FIG. 5 (a) is a front view showing a state where the seal cap is caught, FIG. 5 (b) is a bottom view thereof, and FIG. 6 (a) is a state where the seal cap slips through. 6B is a bottom view thereof, FIG. 7 is a schematic top view showing a positioning device, FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a height adjusting portion of the positioning device, and FIG. It is a perspective view.

Reference numeral A denotes a seal cap mounting device, a seal cap setting device 1 as a position setting device, a seal cap transfer device 2 as a transfer device, an elevating device 3 and a shaft setting device 4 constituting a shaft setting device, and a mounting device. Is provided.

(1) Seal cap setting device 9 is a frame, which has a support frame 91, and a base frame 92 is provided horizontally above the support frame 91. The seal cap setting device 1 is attached to the base frame 92.
The seal cap setting device 1 includes a sorting drum 10. The sorting drum 10 includes a cylindrical drum 101 and side plates 102 and 103 attached to both ends thereof. The side plates 102 and 103 have the same diameter and are formed slightly larger than the outer diameter of the drum 101. A circular insertion hole 104 for inserting the seal cap 7 is provided in the center of the side plate 102. Further, a through hole 105 having a diameter slightly larger than that of the input hole 104 is provided in the center of the side plate 103.

支持 Supporting fixtures 94, 94 are erected near both ends in the length direction of the base frame 92. The support fixtures 94, 94 are formed so that their central portions are concave in an arc shape, and support rollers 95, 95 are attached to the tops of both ends of the support fixtures 94, 94. The sorting drum 10 is rotatably supported by placing the side plates 102 and 103 on support rollers 95 and 95 of the support fixtures 94 and 94, respectively.

The rotation control panel 11 is provided over the entire periphery of the drum 101 near the side plate 102 on the outer periphery. The rotation control panel 11 has an annular plate shape, and an engagement pin 110 is provided on a surface of the rotation control panel 11 facing the side plate 102. Sixteen engagement pins 110 are provided at right angles to the surface of the rotation control panel 11 over the entire circumference of the rotation control panel 11.

A pressure receiving plate 12 is provided over the entire periphery of the outer peripheral portion of the drum 101 on the side of the side plate 103 rather than the rotation control plate 11. Further, the pressure receiving plate 12 is brought into close contact with the pressure roller 121 so as to press the pressure roller 121 from a side with a required pressure. The pressing roller 121 is rotatably attached to the base frame 92 via an attachment base 120 so that the axial direction is perpendicular to the base frame 92.
Thus, the drum 101 has an appropriate resistance at the time of rotation, and does not easily rotate with a slight external force.

台 A base plate 93 is provided on the base frame 92 so as to be orthogonal to the horizontal direction. An air cylinder S1 is attached to the base plate 93 in parallel. A slider 131 is attached to the rod head of the air cylinder S1. The slider 131 is slidably attached to the guide rod 13 provided in parallel with the cylinder rod of the air cylinder S1.

The slider 131 is located at a position where it engages with the engagement pin 110 of the rotation control panel 11, and does not engage with the engagement pin 110 when the slider 131 moves to the right in FIG. 2B, and the slider 131 moves to the left. Then, the drum 101 is rotated by engaging with the engagement pin 110. The amount of rotation of the engagement pin 110 by one operation of the slider 131 is 1 / 16th of a rotation.

シ ー ル A seal cap engaging pin 14 is provided over the entire periphery of the inner surface of the drum 101 near the side plate 103. Two sets of the seal cap engaging pins 14 provided at a required interval in the lateral direction constitute one set, and 16 sets are provided at an equal interval in the circumferential direction. The seal cap engaging pin 14 is for setting the seal cap 7 at the pickup position P (shown in FIG. 4) in a predetermined direction, and will be described in detail below.

Please refer to FIG. 5 and FIG.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a seal cap, which is formed of a semi-rigid synthetic resin (having elasticity, flexibility, bendability, and the like, and hardly causing plastic deformation). The seal cap 7 includes a circular suction surface 72, a bank portion 70 formed around the suction portion 72, and a flange portion 71 formed on the outer peripheral portion of the bank portion 70.

横 The horizontal distance between the seal cap engaging pins 14 is set to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the bank 70 and slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the flange 71. The protrusion height of the seal cap engaging pin 14 from the inner surface of the drum 101 is set so that the flange portion 71 does not contact when the suction surface 72 is brought into contact with the inner surface of the drum 101 (FIG. 6). reference).

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the seal cap 7 has the suction surface 72 facing outward, the flange portion 71 comes into contact with the inner surface of the drum 101, so that the seal cap 7 enters between the seal cap engagement pins 14. Occasionally, the flange portion 71 cannot pass through by hitting the seal cap engaging pin 14. On the other hand, if the suction surface 72 faces the inner surface of the drum 101, the flange portion 71 does not catch on the seal cap engaging pin 14, and the bank portion 70 passes between the seal cap engaging pins 14.

Therefore, the seal cap 7 does not catch on the seal cap engaging pin 14 unless the suction surface 72 is directed outward as shown in FIG. 5, and the seal cap 7 is sorted in the front and back directions.
Then, if a number of seal caps 7 are put in the space inside the drum 101 and the drum 101 is rotated in a predetermined direction, the seal caps 7 are sequentially sorted as described above. The seal cap 7 caught between the seal cap engaging pins 14 by this sorting is sent to the pickup position P (shown in FIG. 4) as the drum 101 rotates.
A required number of feed strips 109 are provided on the inner wall of the drum 101 so as to move a large number of seal caps 7 to be inserted toward the seal cap engaging pins 14 as the drum 101 rotates.

(2) Seal Cap Transfer Device The seal cap transfer device 2 has a transfer pipe 25. The transfer pipe 25 is fixedly attached at one end to an L-shaped support frame 96 erected at the base of the base frame 92. As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer pipe 25 is attached such that the end on the fixed side is the highest point and the other end is inclined obliquely downward.
The transfer pipe 25 is formed in a tubular shape having a rectangular cross section, and a passage 26 through which the seal cap 7 rolls down is provided inside. A circular inlet 251 for inserting the seal cap 7 by an air cylinder S2, which will be described later, is provided on an end side surface of the transfer pipe 25 on the fixed side.

Further, on the lower surface of the other end of the transfer pipe 25, a drop port 252 for dropping the seal cap 7 to a seal cap chute 45 of the shaft setting device 4 described later is provided.
A stop device 29 is attached to the upper surface of the transfer pipe 25 near the dropout port 252. The stop device 29 has a stopper rod 290 that protrudes toward the passage 26 when activated. When the stopper rod 290 protrudes, the seal cap 7 that rolls down inside the passage 26 can be stopped.

The rodless cylinder 20 having a required length is horizontally mounted on the support frame 96. The rodless cylinder 20 has a guide rod 21. One end of the rodless cylinder 20 is introduced into the inside of the drum 101 from the through hole 105 of the side plate 103 and extends to a position slightly beyond the position of the seal cap engaging pin 14. The other end of the rodless cylinder 20 extends to a position slightly beyond the position of the inlet 251 of the transfer tube 25.

A slider 22 that slides along the guide rod 21 by air operation is attached to the guide rod 21. An air cylinder S2 is attached to the lower portion of the slider 22 via an attachment 23 so as to be perpendicular to the guide rod 21 in plan view. The air cylinder S2 has a rod head attached diagonally downward as shown in FIG.

The axial direction of the cylinder rod is formed to be the same as the diameter direction of the drum 101 when viewed in FIG. Further, the rod head is provided with a suction portion 24 which can suck and release the seal cap 7 by operating air.
The suction portion 24 when the rod head of the air cylinder S2 is extended corresponds to the seal cap engaging pin 14 at the pickup position P at one stop of the air cylinder S2, and the transfer tube 25 enters at the other stop. It corresponds to the entrance 251.

(3) Elevating Device On the upper part of the base frame 92, a base frame 97 is provided horizontally in a direction opposite to the base frame 92. The platform frame 97 is provided with the elevating device 3 constituting the axis setting means.
The elevating device 3 has a base 30 provided horizontally on the base frame 97. An air cylinder S3 is vertically mounted on the base 30 with the rod head facing downward. Guide tubes 31, 31 are provided upright on both sides of the air cylinder S3 of the base 30. A lifting base 33 is fixed to the rod head of the air cylinder S3. Slide rods 32, 32 are erected on the upper surface of the elevating base 33, and the slide rods 32, 32 are slidably inserted through the guide tubes 31, 31.

(4) Axis setting device On the lower surface of the elevating base 33, a floating board 40 constituting the axis setting device 4 is attached. The floating board 40 is mounted movably in a predetermined range in all directions in the horizontal direction. A base shaft 41 is provided vertically downward at the center of the idler board 40 (see FIG. 4). A position setting cup 42 is fixed below the base shaft 41.

The position setting cup 42 has a bowl shape with a lower opening side widened. When the position setting cup 42 is put on a valve cock V1 described later from above, the inner wall surface of the position setting cup 42 contacts the outer peripheral surface of the valve cock V1 so that the base shaft 41 is formed. It is designed to be centered. Further, the lower end of the base shaft 41 is provided so as to protrude further downward from the mounting portion of the position setting cup 42, and comes into contact with the upper surface of the valve cock V1 at the time of centering, and the height is set at the same time.

A rotating body 410 is rotatably attached to the base shaft 41. The stationary position of the rotating body 410 in the rotating direction in the normal state is approximately set to the position shown in FIG. 4 by the urging means (not shown).
A hanging angle 411 is attached to the outer surface of the rotating body 410 on the left side in FIG. The suspension angle 411 is bent and formed so that the lower side is expanded outward. At the lower end of the hanging angle 411, an arm plate 412 having a U-shape in plan view with both side ends bent inward is attached. Air cylinders S4 and S5 are attached to both ends of the arm plate 412 with the rod heads facing each other. Each rod head is provided with pressing rollers 413 and 414 whose axes are vertical.

An elevating angle 43 is attached to an outer surface of the rotating body 410 opposite to the hanging angle 411 via an elevating slide device 430 so as to be vertically movable. The elevating angle 43 is urged upward by urging means (not shown) such as a spring, and is normally set at a position slightly higher than the height of the elevating angle 43 when the seal cap 7 is mounted. It is.
A base 431 is horizontally attached to the lower end of the elevation angle 43. A seal cap chute 45 is provided upright at an inner end of the base 431.

The seal cap chute 45 has a quadrangular cylindrical shape with a slightly wider upper opening side, and has a lower end as shown in FIG.
That is, a bottom plate 453 is provided at the lower end of the seal cap chute 45, and an inverted U-shaped through hole 450 is provided on the inner side wall. In addition, a circular push hole 451 is provided on the outer wall at a position facing the through hole 450.
The diameter of the circular portion of the through hole 450 is slightly smaller than that of the seal cap 7, and the seal cap 7 does not fall out of the passage 26 unless a constant external force is applied to the seal cap 7.

ほ ぼ At the outer end of the upper surface of the base 431, cooperating gears 446 and 447 having a substantially semicircular shape are provided by engaging the gears with the shafts 440 and 441 in the vertical direction (see FIG. 7). The cooperating gears 446 and 447 are provided with holding arms 442 and 443 whose tips are bent at right angles in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIG. 8, substantially L-shaped cutouts 448 and 449 are formed at the distal ends of the holding arms 442 and 443. The height of the notches 448 and 449 is corrected by sandwiching the valve port V3 from both sides.

ア ー ム Furthermore, arms 444 and 445 are formed at the bases of the holding arms 442 and 443 outward. An air cylinder S6 is attached to the distal ends of the arms 444 and 445. The rod head of the air cylinder S6 is mounted on an arm 444, and the base of the air cylinder S6 is mounted on an arm 445. According to this structure, the holding arms 442 and 443 cooperate at the same rotation angle by the operation of the air cylinder S6.

(5) Seal cap fitting device The seal cap fitting device 5 has an air cylinder S7. The air cylinder S7 is horizontally mounted on the lower surface of the base 431 via the attachment 50. In the air cylinder S7, the axis of the cylinder rod is made to correspond to the push hole 451 and the through hole 450 of the seal cap chute 45 and the central axes of the notches 448 and 449 of the holding arms 442 and 443. An extruding head 51 that can pass through the pushing hole 451 and the through hole 450 is attached to the rod head. The tip diameter of the push head 51 is set so that it can be fitted into the suction surface 72 of the seal cap 7.

(Operation)
The operation of the seal cap mounting device A will be described with reference to FIGS.
(A) A large number of seal caps 7 are inserted into the inside of the drum 101 from the input hole 104, and the air cylinder S1 is operated to intermittently rotate the drum 101 every 1 / 16th. The seal cap 7 is moved toward the seal cap engaging pin 14 by the action of the feed strip 109 as the drum 101 rotates. The seal cap 7 is caught between the seal cap engaging pins 14 with the suction surface 72 facing outward (the state shown in FIG. 5A), and is sent to the pickup position P.
Note that the seal cap 7 is caught between the seal cap engagement pins 14 several times during one rotation of the drum 101, that is, 16 times intermittently.

(A) At the start of the operation of the seal cap mounting device A, the air cylinder S2 is at the position corresponding to the pickup position P (see FIG. 1), and waits until the seal cap 7 is sent to the pickup position P.
When the seal cap 7 is sent to the pick-up position P, a sensor (not shown) senses it, thereby operating the air cylinder S2, extending the cylinder rod, and sucking the seal cap 7 by the suction unit 24. When the seal cap 7 is sucked, the cylinder rod is pulled in, the slider 22 moves to the transfer pipe 25 side, and stops at the position corresponding to the inlet 251.

(C) The air cylinder S2 extends the cylinder rod, and when the seal cap 7 is inserted into the passage 26 from the inlet 251, the suction by the suction portion 24 is released, and the seal cap 7 rolls down in the passage 26.
(D) The cylinder rod of the air cylinder S3 is retracted, and the lift base 33 is raised. The upper opening of the seal cap chute 45 is located immediately below the discharge port 252 of the transfer pipe 25, and the seal cap 7 is dropped from the discharge port 252 to the seal cap chute 45 and hits the bottom plate 453 and stops.

(E) When the gas cylinder B is sent to a predetermined position below the elevating device 3 and the shaft setting device 4, the air cylinder S3 is operated, the cylinder rod is extended, and the elevating base 33 and the shaft setting device 4 are lowered. I do. The position setting cup 42 covers the valve cock V1, and the axis of the base shaft 41 is corrected by the action of the play board 40 so that the axis coincides with the axis of the valve cock V1. Further, the height of the axis setting device 4 is provisionally determined.
(F) The air cylinders S4 and S5 of the arm plate 412 are operated, the cylinder rod is extended, and the pressure pipes 413 and 414 sandwich the valve pipe V2 from both sides. Thereby, the direction of the cylinder rod of the air cylinder S7 is corrected so as to match the axial direction of the valve port V3 in plan view.

(G) The air cylinder S6 is in a standby state with the cylinder rod extended, that is, with the holding arms 442 and 443 opened. After the operation (f), the air cylinder S6 operates and the holding arms 442 and 443. Is closed, and the valve port V3 is sandwiched from both sides. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 8, the axis of the valve port V3, the center axes of the holding arms 442 and 443, the through-hole 450 of the seal cap chute 45, the axis of the push-in hole 451, and the cylinder rod of the air cylinder S7. Is corrected so that the height of the axis is the same.

(H) The air cylinder S7 is operated, and the pushing head 51 of the rod head penetrates through the through hole 450 and the pushing hole 451, pushes out the seal cap 7 from the passage 26, pushes it into the valve port V3, and mounts it.
(V) Each part returns to the initial state in the reverse order to the above order, the gas cylinder B is sent to the next step, and a new gas cylinder B is transported.

In the above step (c), if the supply of the seal cap 7 is carried out quickly and the shaft setting device 4 is fed into the passage 26 while the shaft setting device 4 is operating, the stopping device 29 on the upper part of the transfer pipe 25 is operated to stop the stopper rod. According to 290, the rolled seal cap 7 is stopped. Then, when the mounting of the seal cap 7 by the shaft setting device 4 is completed and the shaft setting device 4 is lifted, the stop of the seal cap 7 by the stopper rod 290 is released, and the seal cap 7 is moved from the discharge port 252 to the seal cap chute. 45, and the above steps (d) to (g) are performed.

While the seal cap 7 is stopped by the stopper rod 290, the air cylinder S2 is stopped corresponding to the pickup position P, but the drum 101 rotates intermittently until the seal cap 7 is sent to the pickup position P. Is performed.
Note that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

The schematic front view which shows a seal cap mounting apparatus. (A) is a schematic side view, (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the rotary feeder of a drum. The principal part enlarged view of FIG. The principal part enlarged view of FIG. (A) is a front view which shows the hooked state of the seal cap, (b) is a bottom view. (A) is a front view which shows the slip-through state of the seal cap, (b) is a bottom view. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view showing a positioning device. Explanatory drawing of the height adjustment part of a positioning device. The perspective view of the principal part which shows the structure of a chute lower part.

Explanation of reference numerals

A seal cap mounting device 1 seal cap setting device 2 seal cap transfer device 3 elevating device 4 axis setting device 5 seal cap fitting device

Claims (1)

A seal cap mounting device that mounts a seal cap on a valve opening of a gas cylinder.
Position setting means for setting the seal cap to the pickup position in a predetermined direction; mounting means for mounting the seal cap to the valve opening of the gas cylinder;
Transfer means for picking up the seal cap at the pickup position and transferring it to the mounting means;
A shaft setting means for setting the mounting direction and the mounting height of the seal cap to the valve port by the mounting means so as to match the axial direction and the axial height of the valve port,
Characterized by having
Seal cap mounting device.

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