JP2006347548A - Cap turn-tightening device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a cap to be turn-tightened by rotation-driving a servo-motor by a desired fixed torque for a specified rotating period of time, to reduce the cost of the device itself by simplifying a controlling means, and at the same time, to enable a plurality of gripping arms which are provided in a capper head to be opened/closed by the movement of a grip operating shaft, and to simplify the structure of the capper head, and at the same time, to simplify the structure of the capper head, to miniaturize it and to reduce the weight of the capper head. <P>SOLUTION: In this cap turn-tightening device, when a bottle container 5 on which the cap 9 has temporarily been tightened, an elevating body 13 is moved to a turn-tightening position by operating an elevation operating member 15. Then, the grip operating shaft 41 is moved by operating a grip operating member 43, and the cap 9 is gripped by rocking respective gripping arms 31 in the gripping directions. Then, the servo-motor 23 is rotation-driven by the desired fixed torque for the specified rotating period of time under the cap 9 gripped state, and a control is performed in such a manner that the cap 9 is turn-tightened on the bottle container 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cap tightening device that winds a cap temporarily tightened to the mouth of a bottle container that hermetically accommodates various beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other fluids and various solids.

  In the bottle container described above, in order to prevent the contained fluid from leaking out or moisture in the outside air from being mixed in, the cap is firmly screwed to the mouth for the bottle. However, if the cap is tightly screwed, it will be difficult for the user to open the cap. Needs to be tightened with an appropriate torque capable of achieving both sealing performance and opening performance.

For example, in the conventional cap tightening device shown in Patent Document 1, a detection device for detecting the cap tightening angle is provided, and the torque of the servo motor is determined in accordance with the cap tightening angle detected by the detection device. Is controlling.

However, in the cap tightening device shown in Patent Document 1 described above, it is necessary to control the cap tightening torque based on the cap tightening angle, which complicates the control means and increases the device itself. There is a problem of cost.

Also, when the cap is tightened around the mouth of the bottle, it is necessary to firmly grip the cap with a gripping member provided in a capper head attached to a rotating shaft connected to a servo motor. It is necessary to support a plurality of gripping members in the capper head so as to be able to swing and to provide an operating member such as a cylinder for opening and closing these gripping members, which complicates the structure of the capper head itself and increases its size and weight. Have a problem to do.
JP 2003-205998 A

  The problem to be solved is that it is necessary to control the tightening torque of the cap based on the tightening angle of the cap. This complicates the control means and increases the cost of the apparatus itself. In addition, it is necessary to support a plurality of gripping members in the capper head so as to be swingable and to provide an operating member such as a cylinder for opening and closing these gripping members, which complicates the structure of the capper head itself and increases its size and size. It is in the point of weight.

  The present invention is rotatably supported by an elevating body, and has a rotary shaft having a hollow portion, a servo motor that rotationally drives the rotary shaft in a cap tightening direction, and can swing within a capper head fixed to the rotary shaft. A plurality of gripping arms that are supported and have claw portions for gripping the cap, an elastic member that constantly urges each gripping arm in the opening direction, and can slide in the axial direction within the hollow portion of the rotating shaft A gripping operating shaft that is supported and presses each gripping arm against the elastic force of the elastic member to swing in the gripping direction, and the gripping operating shaft moves in the axial direction to swing each gripping arm in the gripping direction. The gripping operation member and the lifting body are moved up and down between a separation position where the claw portion of each gripping arm is detached from the cap temporarily tightened on the bottle container and a tightening start position where the claw portion of each gripping arm is positioned on the cap. Elevating member and cap When the temporarily tightened bottle container is placed, the lifting operation member is operated to move the lifting body to the winding position, and then the gripping operation member is operated to move the gripping operation shaft to Control means for swinging in the gripping direction to grip the cap, and then controlling the servo motor to rotate at a desired constant torque and rotation time to wind the cap around the bottle container while the cap is gripped. The most important feature is the provision.

  In the present invention, the cap can be wound by rotating the servo motor at a desired constant torque and rotation time, and the control means can be simplified and the cost of the apparatus itself can be reduced. In addition, a plurality of gripping arms provided in the capper head can be opened and closed by moving the gripping operation shaft, thereby simplifying the structure of the capper head and reducing the size and weight.

  In the present invention, when the bottle container with the cap temporarily tightened is placed, the lifting operation member is operated to move the lifting body to the winding position, and then the gripping operation member is operated to move the gripping operation shaft. Then, each gripping arm is swung in the gripping direction to grip the cap, and then the servomotor is rotated at a desired constant torque and rotation time in the gripping state of the cap to wind the cap around the bottle container. It is assumed that the best mode is controlled.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing embodiments.
1 and 2, a fixing means 7 for clamping and fixing the lower part of the bottle container 5 is provided at the lower part of the main body part 3 of the cap tightening device 1. The fixing means 7 includes a fixing plate 7a, a pressing plate 7b that moves relative to the fixing plate 7a, and a pressing operation member 7c such as an air cylinder that reciprocates the pressing plate 7b. The bottle container 5 fixed and held by the fixing means 7 is used for accommodating various fluids such as various beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and various solids, and is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the mouth 5a. A screw portion (not shown) is integrally formed.

On the other hand, an inner screw portion (not shown) that is screwed into the outer screw portion 5b is integrally formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cap 9 that is temporarily tightened in a screwed state to the mouth portion 5a of the bottle container 5. Yes. The outer screw portion of the mouth portion 5a and the inner screw portion of the cap 9 are continuously formed with screw portions having different leads and pitches for temporarily fastening and winding the cap 9 to the mouth portion 5a.

A cap 9 is previously screwed into a mouth portion 5a of the bottle container 5 fixed and held by the fixing means 7 in a temporarily tightened state. The cap 9 is temporarily tightened with respect to the bottle container 5 by manual or a cap temporary tightening device (not shown) different from the cap tightening device 1, and the cap 9 is attached to the mouth portion 5 a, the outer screw portion and the inner screw. This is performed by screwing together the temporarily tightening screw portions.

A pair of left and right guide shafts 11 shown in the figure having an axis in the vertical direction are erected on the main body 3 with a fixing means 7 interposed therebetween, and a lifting frame 13 as a lifting body can be raised and lowered on the guide shaft 11. It is supported. The elevating frame 13 is moved up and down with the operating shaft 15 a of the elevating operation member 15 formed of an air cylinder or the like having a base end fixed to the main body 3. The lifting / lowering frame 13 is positioned on the main body 3 corresponding to the winding start position side of the lifting / lowering frame 13. A position detector 17 is provided for detecting the lowering to the predetermined winding tightening start position.

A lower portion of the rotary shaft 19 having an axis line in the vertical direction on the elevating frame 13 and having a hollow portion 19 a at the center of the shaft is rotatably supported via a bearing 21. A timing belt 25 meshed with a pulley 23 a attached to an output shaft of a servo motor 23 fixed to the lifting frame 13 is stretched on the pulley 19 b fixed to the upper portion of the rotating shaft 19. With rotation, the rotating shaft 19 is rotated in the winding direction of the cap 9 with respect to the mouth portion 5a. The servo motor 23 incorporates a rotation amount detector 23a such as a rotary encoder, and detects the rotation speed of the capper head 29 based on the rotation amount of the output shaft based on a signal from the rotation amount detector 23a. The servo motor 23 is provided with a current detector 27 to detect a drive current applied to the servo motor 23.

The upper part of the capper head 29 is fixed to the lower part of the rotary shaft 19, and in the capper head 29, in the illustrated example, three gripping arms 31 are equally divided around the axis of the rotary shaft 19. Are supported so as to be swingable. An actuating body 33 is pivotally supported on the upper part of each gripping arm 31 via a link arm 35, and the actuating body 33 is an elastic member 37 such as a compression spring provided between the bottom plate of the capper head 29. Due to this elastic force, the gripping arm 31 is always moved upward to swing each gripping arm 31 in the opening direction in which the lower portions are separated from each other. For example, silicon rubber or the like has a high coefficient of friction and is attached with a claw 39 having elasticity to prevent scratching at the tip of each gripping arm 31. In the illustrated example, the three gripping arms 31 are used, but the number of the arms may be two, four or more.

A gripping operating shaft 41 having an axial line in the vertical direction is supported in the hollow portion 19a of the rotating shaft 19 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. A gripping operation member 43 such as an air cylinder is attached to the elevating frame 13 positioned above the axis of the gripping operation shaft 41, and an operation shaft (not shown) of the gripping operation member 43 is an axis of the gripping operation shaft 41. The upper end is configured to be connectable via a thrust bearing 45.

In FIG. 3, the sequencer 51 of the control means 50 stores program data for executing a cap tightening operation described later. The servo driver 53 includes a program memory in the interface 55. The torque data is a plurality of torque data related to the rotational torque of the servo motor 23 that is appropriately set according to the types of the bottle container 5 and the cap 9 when the cap 9 is tightened. Accordingly, data relating to a plurality of different drive current values applied to the servomotor 23 is stored as torque data.

The rotation time data is the rotation time of the capper head 29 necessary for tightening, which is appropriately set according to the type of the bottle container 5 and the cap 9, when the cap 9 is tightened in the memory in the servo driver 53. A plurality of times related to the rotation drive time of the servo motor 23 is stored as rotation time data. Then, from the plurality of torque data and rotation time data stored in the memory in the servo driver 53, desired rotation torque data and rotation time set according to the bottle container 5 and the cap 9 to be tightened. Data is stored in the work area of the memory.

A mode selection means 57 is connected to the sequencer 51, and the servo motor 23 required according to the types of the bottle container 5 and the cap 9 to be tightened by operating the buttons 57a and 57b provided on the mode selection means 57. Recalls the torque and rotation time setting mode. Note that data setting in various modes related to the torque and rotation time of the servo motor 23 required according to the types of the bottle container 5 and the cap 9 is performed by connecting a microcomputer (not shown) to the sequencer 51 and using the microcomputer. Do.

The position detector 17 of the lifting frame 13 is connected to the sequencer 51, and the lifting frame 13 is detected when the claw portion 39 of each gripping arm 31 is lowered to a predetermined winding tightening start position located on the outer peripheral side of the cap 9. Output a signal.

The servo motor 23 is connected to the servo driver 53 via the interface 55, and the servo motor 23 is rotationally driven based on the torque data and the rotation time data stored in the memory. The servo driver 53 drives and controls the servo motor 23 at a predetermined number of rotations for a desired time based on a rotation amount detection signal from a rotation amount detector 23a attached to the servo motor 23. The servo driver 53 controls the drive current applied to the servomotor 23 based on the drive current value detected by the current detector 27 so that the rotational torque of the servomotor 23 becomes constant.

The sequencer 51 is connected to a lifting operation circuit 59, a gripping operation circuit 61, and a fixed operation circuit 63. The lifting operation circuit 59 operates the connected lifting operation member 15 to move the lifting frame 13 up and down. The gripping operation circuit 61 operates the gripping operation member 43 connected thereto to execute a gripping operation and a grip releasing operation of the cap 9 by the gripping arm 31. The fixing operation circuit 63 operates the pinching operation member 7c connected to cause the bottle container 5 placed on the fixing means 7 to perform the fixing operation and the fixing releasing operation.

Next, the tightening action of the cap 9 by the cap tightening device 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, in step 71, the setting mode relating to the torque and rotation time of the servo motor 23 required according to the types of the bottle container 5 and the cap 9 to be tightened by operating the buttons 57a and 57b of the mode selection means 57 is called. After that, in step 73, the bottle container 5 with the cap 9 temporarily tightened is placed on the fixing means 7. Next, after the winding tightening start button 76 (shown in FIG. 3) is turned on in Step 75, the pinching operation member 7c of the fixing means 7 is operated to fix the placed bottle container 5 in Step 77. The lifting / lowering frame 13 is moved downward by operating the lifting / lowering operating member 15 to reduce the operating shaft 15a.

Next, when it is detected in step 79 that the position detector 17 is turned on as the elevating frame 13 is lowered and the elevating frame 13 has reached the winding tightening start position, in step 81 the grip actuating member 43 is activated. Then, the gripping operating shaft 41 is moved downward in the axial direction, and the operating body 33 with which the lower end of the shaft abuts is moved downward in the figure against the elastic force of the elastic member 37, whereby each gripping arm 31 is moved in the gripping direction. The cap 9 is swung to grip the cap 9 with a desired gripping force corresponding to the lowering stroke of the gripping operation shaft 41, and the servo motor 23 is rotationally driven with the rotational torque of the selected mode to move the capper head 29 in the tightening direction. Rotate. (See FIGS. 5 and 6)

During the operation in step 81, the lowering of the elevating frame 13 is stopped when the grip arm 31 grips the cap 9, but the operation of the elevating operation member 15 is continued, A gap 84 is formed between the elevating frame 13 and an interval between screw strokes of the cap 9 when the cap 9 is wound around the mouth portion 5a (see FIG. 7). When the gap 84 is formed between the operating shaft 15a of the elevating operation member 15 and the elevating frame 13, the load of the elevating frame 13 acts on the cap 9 held by the holding arm 31, and the cap 9 is pressed against the mouth 5a. Further, when the servomotor 23 is driven, the servomotor 23 is driven and controlled to have a preset rotational torque based on the current detection signal from the current detector 27.

Next, the drive of the servo motor 23 by the rotational torque set in step 83 is continuously wound on the mouth 5a for the set rotation time. At that time, as shown in FIG. 8, the lifting frame 13 follows the screwing accompanying the tightening of the cap 9 with respect to the mouth 5a by the gap 84 formed between the lifting frame 13 and the upper end of the operating shaft 15a. The cap 9 is lowered to enable smooth winding of the cap 9.

Next, when the rotation time of the servomotor 23 or the capper head 29 reaches a predetermined time set in advance in step 85, the drive of the servomotor 23 is stopped and the gripping operation member 43 is moved back to perform the gripping operation. After releasing the gripping of the cap 9 by the gripping arm 31 by returning the shaft 41 to the original position, the lifting and lowering operation member 15 is moved backward by step 87 and the operation shaft 15a is extended to push the lifting and lowering frame 13 upward. Next, in step 89, the fixing of the bottle container 5 by the fixing means 7 is released, the bottle container 5 with the cap 9 wound around the mouth portion 5a is taken out, and the process proceeds to step 73 described above.

  In this embodiment, the gripping operation shaft 41 provided in the hollow portion 19a of the rotating shaft 19 is configured to swing each gripping arm 31 so that the cap 9 can be gripped. Therefore, the structure of the capper head 29 is simplified. Can be reduced in size and weight. Further, when the cap 9 is tightened around the mouth portion 5a, the screw portion of the mouth portion 5a and the cap 9 is galvanized by the structure in which the elevating frame 13 can be lowered following the screwing of the cap 9. It can be prevented from fitting.

The present invention can be modified as follows.
1. In the above description, the rotation drive of the servo motor is stopped when the rotation time of the capper head 29 or the servo motor 23 has passed a predetermined time. However, the drive of the servo motor 23 is performed as in the invention according to claim 2. Even if the cap 9 is tightened by detecting that the lifting frame 13 has been lowered to a predetermined position with reference to the winding start position of the lifting frame 13 in the starting position, the rotation drive of the servo motor 23 is stopped. Good.

2. In the above description, the cap 9 is continuously tightened even when the servo motor 23 is equal to or lower than the preset rotational torque, but the servo motor 23 is equal to or lower than the required rotational torque. In this case, the drive of the servo motor 23 is stopped and the winding operation is interrupted, and a notification means (not shown) such as a buzzer and a warning is operated to notify the operator of the abnormal rotational torque of the servo motor 23. It may be configured to.

3. In the above description, the drive current value applied to the servomotor 23 is detected by the current detector 27, and the servomotor 23 is closed-loop controlled based on this drive current value to make the rotational torque constant. A configuration in which the servomotor 23 is controlled in an open loop based on rotational torque data set without providing the detector 27 may be employed.

4). In the cap tightening device 1 shown in the embodiment, the carry-in device is arranged on one side of the fixing means 7 and the carry-out device is arranged on the other side, and the bottle container 5 with the cap 9 temporarily tightened by the carry-in device to the fixing means 7 places. You may comprise so that the bottle container 5 by which the cap 9 was wound up with the carrying-out apparatus may be taken out one by one sequentially.

Further, in each station along the outer periphery of the rotating disk provided with a plurality of fixing means for fixing the bottle container 5 at equal intervals on the outer peripheral side, for example, a bottle carry-in device, a filling device, a cap temporary fastening device, The cap tightening device and the bottle carry-out device are arranged in order, and after the empty bottle container is sequentially supplied to each fixing means by the bottle carry-in device, the contents are put into the bottle container by the filling device along with the intermittent rotation drive of the rotating disk. The cap is temporarily tightened at the mouth of the bottle container filled with the content by the cap temporary fastening device, the cap temporarily tightened by the cap winding device is tightened, and the content is filled by the bottle carry-out device The bottle container with the cap tightened may be configured as an automatic filling system that takes out the rotating disk and carries it out to the next process.

It is a perspective view which shows the outline of a cap winding apparatus. It is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-section which shows the internal structure of a holding | grip and rotation mechanism. It is an electrical block diagram which shows the control outline. It is an operation | movement figure which shows the winding operation | movement of the cap by a cap winding apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the descent state of a raising / lowering body. It is explanatory drawing which shows the holding state of a cap. It is explanatory drawing which shows the raising / lowering body after cap holding. It is explanatory drawing which shows the tightening state of a cap.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cap tightening apparatus 5 Bottle container 9 Cap 13 Elevating frame 15 as elevating body Elevating operation member 19 Rotating shaft 19a Hollow portion 23 Servo motor 29 Capper head 31 Holding arm 37 Elastic member 39 Claw portion 41 Holding operation shaft 43 Holding operation member 50 Control means

Claims (3)

A rotating shaft that is rotatably supported by the lifting body and has a hollow portion in the axial direction, a servo motor that rotationally drives the rotating shaft in the cap tightening direction, and a swingable support that is supported in a capper head fixed to the rotating shaft. A plurality of gripping arms each having a claw portion for gripping a cap temporarily fastened to the bottle container at one end, an elastic member that constantly urges each gripping arm in the opening direction, and a hollow shaft A grip that is supported so as to be slidable in the axial direction within the section, and whose one shaft end presses the other end of each gripping arm against the elastic force of the elastic member to swing each gripping arm in the gripping direction. An operating shaft, a gripping operating member that moves the gripping operating shaft in the axial direction and swings each gripping arm in the gripping direction, and an elevating body from a cap in which at least the claw portion of each gripping arm is temporarily fastened to the bottle container Detachable position and each gripping arm A lifting / lowering operation member that raises and lowers between the tightening start positions that position the claw portion on the cap, and a bottle container that is temporarily tightened with the cap is placed on the lifting / lowering operation member to actuate the lifting body. To move the grip actuating member to move the grip actuating shaft, swing in the gripping direction of each gripping arm to grip the cap, and drive the servo motor to rotate at a desired constant torque. A cap tightening device comprising control means for controlling the tightening of a cap on a bottle container by stopping driving of a servo motor when the head rotates for a predetermined rotation time set in advance. A rotating shaft that is rotatably supported by the lifting body and has a hollow portion in the axial direction, a servo motor that rotationally drives the rotating shaft in the cap tightening direction, and a swingable support that is supported in a capper head fixed to the rotating shaft. A plurality of gripping arms each having a claw portion for gripping a cap temporarily fastened to the bottle container at one end, an elastic member that constantly urges each gripping arm in the opening direction, and a hollow shaft A grip that is supported so as to be slidable in the axial direction within the section, and whose one shaft end presses the other end of each gripping arm against the elastic force of the elastic member to swing each gripping arm in the gripping direction. An operating shaft, a gripping operating member that moves the gripping operating shaft in the axial direction and swings each gripping arm in the gripping direction, and an elevating body from a cap in which at least the claw portion of each gripping arm is temporarily fastened to the bottle container Detachable position and each gripping arm A lifting / lowering operation member that raises and lowers between the tightening start positions that position the claw portion on the cap, and a bottle container that is temporarily tightened with the cap is placed on the lifting / lowering operation member to actuate the lifting body. To move the grip actuating member, move the grip actuating shaft, swing in the gripping direction of each gripping arm to grip the cap, and rotate the servo motor with the desired constant torque to tighten the cap. A cap tightening device comprising control means for controlling the tightening of the cap on the bottle container by stopping the drive of the servo motor when the elevating body moves from the tightening start position to a predetermined position. An elevating body supported by a guide shaft provided in the main body so as to be movable up and down, a rotary shaft supported rotatably by the elevating body, having an axis in the vertical direction, and having a hollow portion at the center of the axis, and elevating A servo motor that is fixed to the body and that rotates the rotating shaft in the direction of tightening the cap, a capper head that is fixed to the lower part of the axis of the rotating shaft, and is supported so as to be able to swing within the capper head. A plurality of gripping arms having claw portions for gripping caps temporarily fastened to the bottle container, an operating body supported to be swingable with respect to the other end of each gripping arm, An elastic member that urges each gripping arm to swing in the opening direction, and a gripping operation that is supported so as to be slidable in the axial direction within the hollow portion of the rotating shaft, and whose one end is in contact with the operating body Fixed to the shaft and the lifting body, the gripping operation shaft is The gripping actuating member that moves the gripping arm so that each gripping arm swings in the gripping direction against the elastic force of the elastic member, and the lifting and lowering body at least the claws of each gripping arm. A lifting / lowering operation member that moves up and down between a disengagement position where the portion is detached from the cap temporarily tightened on the bottle container and a winding tightening start position where the claw portion of each gripping arm is positioned on the cap; When mounted, each gripping arm is swung in the gripping direction by a gripping operation shaft that operates by moving the gripping operation member in a state where the lifting and lowering body is operated and the lifting body is moved to the winding position. The servo motor is rotated at a desired constant torque and the servo motor is stopped when the rotation time reaches a desired time, and the cap is wound around the bottle container. Cap tightening device provided with a control means for controlling.

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