JP2008119626A - Centrifugal dehydrator for container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a centrifugal dehydrator which dispenses with an opening and closing door to reduce a treatment time, and surely generates downward swirl to improve dehydration performance. <P>SOLUTION: A conical swirl guide cylindrical body 130 and a rotationally driving plate 140 for rotating a container at high speed are disposed above a table 120 driven so as to move up and down. A washed container C is mounted on the table 120 and raised. The washed container C is held by the rotationally driving plate 140 and the table 120 in the swirl guide cylindrical body 130, and rotated at high speed to be centrifugally dehydrated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a centrifugal dewatering device for draining water by draining a container washed by a washing machine with centrifugal force.

Conventionally, an article storage container, a folding bag or a pallet for storing and transporting articles is used from the viewpoint of dirt and hygiene, washed with a washing machine, dried and then reused. Uses a centrifugal dehydrator because of its short processing time and high efficiency.
As such a centrifugal dewatering device, a chain conveyor for placing and transporting a material to be dewatered is disposed on a turntable that is rotationally driven by a motor in the case body, and the water to be dewatered conveyed by the chain conveyor. There is a type in which an object is held by a holding unit fixed to a turntable and a movable holding unit that is moved up and down by an air cylinder to perform centrifugal dehydration (see Patent Document 1).

In addition, a turntable that is rotationally driven in the case body is arranged up and down, and a positioning and holding mechanism composed of a fixed holding portion and a movable holding portion is arranged so as to position and hold the material to be dehydrated between the turntables. And a swirling airflow guide cylinder surrounding the turntable and the positioning and holding mechanism is provided to suppress the occurrence of air pressure density during the dehydration process in which the turntable is rotated at a high speed and to generate a gentle downward swirling airflow. Some of them are generated to prevent the cleaning liquid from scattering from above (see Patent Document 2).
JP 2000-218194 A JP 2002-336736 A

  However, in these conventional centrifugal dewatering devices, the case body and the swirling airflow guide cylinder body must be provided with an inlet / outlet in order to place the material to be dewatered on the turntable or chain conveyor that is driven to rotate. To prevent accidents such as splashing of water droplets and flying due to the centrifugal force of the object to be processed, an opening / closing door is provided at the entrance and exit, so that opening / closing operation time is required and much processing time for the object to be cleaned is required. In addition, since there is an opening / closing door, there is a problem that irregularities are formed on the inner wall of the case body, and water droplets scattered from the object to be cleaned hit the irregularities, thereby hindering smooth drainage.

  In addition, in the centrifugal dehydrator of Patent Document 1, since the case body is square, there is a problem that air current is easily disturbed, and the water current is reattached to the material to be dehydrated due to the air current disturbance. The centrifugal dehydrator 2 uses a swirling airflow guide cylinder, so that the turbulence of the airflow can be prevented, but since the swirling airflow guide cylinder is formed in a vertical cylindrical shape, the airflow direction goes up and down. There is a possibility, and there is a problem that water droplets riding on the airflow reattach to the dehydrated object.

  In addition, these centrifugal dewatering devices hold the two opposite sides of the dehydrated material on the turntable by a fixed holding part, and hold the other two sides by a movable holding part. In order to enter, the turntable must be stopped and controlled so that the movable holding portion coincides with the entrance / exit, which causes a problem that the control mechanism becomes complicated and position control takes time.

  Therefore, in view of the problems of the prior art described above, the present invention eliminates the need for an open / close door, shortens the processing time, allows smooth drainage, and reliably generates a downward swirling airflow for dehydration. To provide a centrifugal dewatering device capable of improving the performance and simplifying the control device without requiring stop control.

The present invention provides a conical swirl airflow guide cylinder and a rotary drive plate for rotating a container above a table, and a centrifugal dewatering device so as to perform centrifugal dewatering in the swirl airflow guide cylinder by raising the container with the table. As a result, it has been found that the above-mentioned problems can be solved, and the present invention has been achieved.
That is, the present invention is based on the following configuration.

(1) Vertically driven table, transport means for transporting the cleaned container to the table, and a conical swirl airflow guide that is disposed coaxially with the table and has an upper opening having a smaller diameter than the lower opening. A cylindrical body, a water droplet storage portion disposed in a lower portion of the swirling airflow guide cylinder, and an upper portion inside the swirling airflow guiding cylinder, which is placed on the table and is rotated at a high speed. A rotation drive plate that sets the distance between the container transport surface of the transport means and the lower end of the water droplet storage unit to be larger than the height of the container, and lowers the table below the container placement surface of the transport means A centrifugal dewatering device for a container, characterized in that it is disposed in a container.
(2) The rotation drive plate includes a number of pop-out prevention members arranged so that one or more sides are located on the inside or outside in the vicinity of the four sides of the container. A centrifugal dehydration apparatus for a container according to (1), comprising a protrusion protruding downward, the height of the protrusion being freely displaced according to an external force.

  In the present invention, the swirling airflow guide cylinder is formed in a conical shape with the upper opening having a smaller diameter than the lower opening, and the water droplet storage part is disposed in the lower part. As a swirling flow occurs, water droplets scattered from the container and adhering to the inner peripheral surface smoothly flow down along the inner peripheral surface and guided to the water droplet storage part, and even small water droplets have a lower flow velocity below, Since it can be reliably captured in the water droplet storage section and the inner peripheral surface is smooth, abnormal turbulence does not occur, so water droplets are not blown away and reattachment to the container does not occur, greatly improving dehydration performance. Can be improved.

  In addition, the distance between the container transport surface of the transport means and the lower end of the water droplet storage unit is set to be larger than the height of the container, and the table to be driven up and down is positioned below the container placement surface of the transport means. At the time of starting up, the upper surface thereof is positioned at the same or lower side as the container mounting surface of the conveying means, the container is conveyed on the table through the space between the container conveying surface and the lower end of the water droplet storage unit, and the table is raised to raise the container Can be carried out through the lower opening of the swirling airflow guide cylinder, and the dehydration process can be carried out, so that the door is not required, the manufacturing cost of the device can be reduced, and the container is not required to open and close the door. The processing time can be shortened and the processing efficiency can be improved.

  Furthermore, since the swirling airflow guide cylinder functions as a protective cover, the dehydration operation can be performed safely, and maintenance and inspection are easy because an exterior such as a sealed case body is not required.

  Further, the rotation drive plate includes a number of jump-out prevention members arranged so that one or more sides are located on the inside or outside in the vicinity of the four sides of the container, and the jump-out prevention members protrude downward from the lower surface of the rotation drive plate. Since the height of the protrusion is freely displaced according to the external force, the protrusion of the protruding member located at the edge of the container is the upper edge when the container is sandwiched between the table and the rotary drive plate. Because it is moved upward by being pushed by the part, it is held by the protrusions of the pop-out prevention member located on the inner side and / or the outer side near the four sides of the container, regardless of the stop position of the rotation drive plate. Can be prevented. Therefore, safety during operation is ensured, and it is not necessary to stop the rotary drive plate at a fixed position, so that an inexpensive control device can be obtained.

The centrifugal dewatering device of the present invention is a conical shape having a table that is driven up and down, a conveying means that conveys a cleaned container to the table, and is coaxially arranged above the table, with the upper opening having a smaller diameter than the lower opening. A swirl airflow guide cylinder, a water droplet storage part disposed in the lower part of the swirl airflow guide cylinder, and an upper portion of the swirl airflow guide cylinder, placed on the table and rotated at a high speed A rotation drive plate, and the distance between the container transport surface of the transport means and the lower end of the water droplet storage unit is set to be larger than the height of the container, and the table is disposed below the container placement surface of the transport means. The basic configuration may be any specific form.
For example, the conveying means may be constituted by a conveyor such as a chain conveyor or a rail and an extrusion member, and the container may be slid on the rail by the extrusion member. The swirling airflow guide cylinder can be formed of metal or synthetic resin, but is preferably formed of metal for safety. When formed of metal, the inner peripheral surface of the swirling airflow guide cylinder has excellent water repellency or hydrophilicity. May be applied to promote smooth flow of water droplets adhering to the inner peripheral surface. Further, the rotational drive plate may have any shape as long as it does not rotate eccentrically, such as a circular, regular polygon or star regular polygon.

Hereinafter, the Example of this invention is described in detail based on FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front view of the centrifugal dehydrator of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the centrifugal dehydrator of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the centrifugal dehydrator of the present embodiment. 4 is a front view of the stopper of the present embodiment, FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view of the main part of the centrifugal dehydrator of the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the swirling airflow guide cylinder of the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view, FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the main part of the swirling airflow guide cylinder of the present embodiment, FIG. 8 is a plan view of the rotary drive plate of the present embodiment, and FIG. 9 is the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the pop-out prevention member of the present embodiment, FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory view when the stopper of the present embodiment is stopped, and FIG. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of completion | finish of dehydration of the stopper of a present Example, FIG. 13 is a top view which shows the arrangement state of arrangement | positioning of a rotational drive plate and a container.
FIG. 1 shows a state in which the front frame of the frame is removed, a part of the drive mechanism of the rotary drive plate is shown in cross section, and the motor is not shown. Further, in FIG. 2, illustration of a part of the drive mechanism of the rotary drive plate is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the centrifugal dehydration apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a transport unit 110 that transports a cleaned container C to a table, a table 120 on which the container C transported by the transport unit 110 is placed, and a table A swirl airflow guide cylinder 130 and a container rotation drive plate 140 are provided coaxially above 120 and are attached to a frame F framed by prisms or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the transport unit 110 transports the cleaned container C into the centrifugal dehydrator 100, the transport rail 114 that transports the transported container C to the table, and transports the container C. As shown in FIG. 2, the carry-in rail 111 includes two rails supported by a rail holding plate 112 attached to the middle of the frame F, and includes a front portion 111a. Is extended from the frame F to the outside, and an extrusion member 113 is disposed above the rear portion 111b, and an intermediate rail 111c is disposed at the rear portion 111b so that the container C can be stably pushed onto the transport rail 114. Has been.

  The pushing member 113 includes a pushing rod 113a and a rodless cylinder 113b. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one end of the pushing rod 113a is supported by a slider 113c of a rodless cylinder 113b attached to the upper part of the frame F. It is fixed via the member 113d, and the push rod 113a moves in the left-right direction with a predetermined stroke by driving the rodless cylinder 113b, thereby pushing the container C to the transport rail 114.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, on the inner side of the rear portion 111 b of the carry-in rail 111, there is a support rail 114 made up of two rails arranged so as to be orthogonal to the carry-in rail 111. It is held by the member 115. In addition, the table 120 is disposed between the two rails in the middle of the conveyance rail 114, the conveyance rail 114 behind the table 120 is formed on the inclined surface 114a, and the intermediate rail 114b is disposed to change the position. The container can be discharged out of the machine stably.

  A pair of alignment guide plates 116 and a pair of container guide plates 117 for aligning the containers C to be transported are provided on both sides of the transport rail 114. The alignment guide plates 116 are disposed on the front side of the table 120, and the container guide plates 117 are The width of the container guide plate 117 arranged on both sides of the table 120 is slightly longer than the diagonal line of the container C so that the dehydrated and lowered container C is always contained between the pair of container guide plates 117. Further, a stopper 118 is provided in the vicinity of the outlet side of the table 120 so that the center of the transported container C becomes the center of the table.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the stopper 118 fixes the tip of the arm 118b to the middle of the stopper 118a formed of a round bar so as to straddle the two rails, and the lower part of the arm 118b is fixed to the rotating shaft 118c. At the same time, the balance weight 118d is attached, and when no load is applied, the balance weight 118d is rotated about the rotation shaft 118c toward the table 120 so that the stopper 118a is positioned on the transport rail 114. Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the table 120 is disposed on the upper surface of the transport rail 114, that is, below the container transport surface, and the rotating shaft 121 is fixed to the center of the bottom surface, and is rotated by the bearing of the bearing case 122 disposed at the lower portion. The shaft 120 is supported to make the table 120 freely rotatable. In addition, a cylinder 123 having a guide 123 a is disposed at the bottom of the bearing case 122, and the tip of the piston rod 123 b built in the cylinder 123 and the tip of the guide 123 a are fixed to the bottom of the bearing case 122 to fix the table 120. I try to lift it. Although the table 120 is rotatable in this embodiment, it may be fixed (not shown) in order to prevent the table 120 from continuously rotating due to inertia.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 is formed in a conical shape having an upper and lower opening, and is disposed on the same axis as the table 120, and the upper opening 130 a is a lower opening as shown in FIGS. It has a smaller diameter than 130b and is attached to the upper portion of the frame F via a plurality of attachment fittings 131 provided on the outer periphery of the upper end portion. In addition, a water droplet storage part 132 is annularly arranged at the lower part, and the inside of the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 is a low rising rib inside 132a, the outside is a high rising outside rib 132b, and the bottom 132c and the swirling airflow guiding cylinder 130 It is attached to the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 by a mounting bracket 132d so that a space is formed between the lower end and the lower end. On the outer periphery of the water droplet storage part 132, a drain pipe 132e is provided for draining water droplets flowing down and stored along the inner peripheral surface of the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 to the outside. Further, the space between the transport rail 114 and the lower end of the water droplet storage part 132 is made larger than the height of the container C to form a space for carrying the container into the table 120.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the rotary drive plate 140 is arranged coaxially with the table 120 and above the inside of the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130, and the lower end of the drive shaft 141 is fixed at the center of the upper surface. A timing pulley 142 is fixed to the upper end of the drive shaft 141, and an intermediate portion is attached to the base plate 144 via a bearing case 143. The base plate 144 includes a plurality of air circulation ports 144 a and is attached to the upper part of the frame F. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a servo motor 145 is attached to the upper surface of the base plate 144 via a support 146, a timing pulley 147 is fixed to the rotating shaft 145a of the servo motor 145, and the drive shaft 141 A timing belt 148 is wound between the timing pulley 142 and the rotation of the servo motor 145 is transmitted to the rotary drive plate 140.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the rotary drive plate 140 is formed of a thick plate or the like, and is a regular polygonal flat plate having a star shape on the outer periphery to reduce the weight. A plurality of openings 140a are formed to allow passage and weight reduction. Further, on the outer peripheral portion, a number of concentric protrusion preventing members 150 are provided so that at least one side is located on the inner side or the outer side in the vicinity of the four sides of the upper edge of the container. The pop-out preventing member 150 includes a pin-shaped protrusion 151 that protrudes downward from the lower surface of the rotary drive plate 140 and whose protrusion height can be displaced by an external force. The protrusion 151 that protrudes downward protrudes the container during high-speed rotation. It is possible to prevent.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the pop-out preventing member 150 accommodates a pin-shaped protrusion 151 having an arcuate end surface inside the cylindrical body 152, so that the protrusion height can be displaced by an external force. A spring 153 is mounted between the upper surface and the inner upper surface of the cylindrical body 152, and is sealed with a cap 154. The outer periphery of the cylindrical body 152 is threaded and fixed to the container rotation drive plate 140 with a nut 155.

Since the centrifugal dehydration apparatus of the container of the present embodiment has the above-described configuration, the cleaned container is dehydrated as follows.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the container C washed and discharged from a washing machine (not shown) is placed on the front portion 111 a of the carry-in rail 111 and carried into the centrifugal dehydrator 100, and carried in When it reaches the rear part 111b of the rail 111, it is detected by the sensor 119 and stops at a predetermined position. Since the pushing member 113 is disposed above the rear part 111b, as shown in FIG. 1, the rodless cylinder 113b is driven to push the pushing bar 113a onto the conveying rail 114 with a predetermined stroke, and The container C is slid on the transport rail 114 and transported onto the table 120.

  Since the stopper 118 is disposed on the outlet side of the table 120, as shown in FIG. 11, the rib CR front end on the bottom surface of the container hits the stopper portion 118a and further advances, so that the stopper portion 118a is centered on the rotation shaft 118c. When the container C is turned to the outlet side and comes into contact with the upper surface of the transport rail 114, the container C stops, and at the same time, the rodless cylinder 113b of the pushing member 113 is reversely driven to return the pushing rod 113a to the original position.

When it is detected by a sensor (not shown) that the container C is set on the table 120, the guided cylinder 123 is driven to raise the table 120, and the container C is accommodated in the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130. The container C is sandwiched between the table 120 and the rotary drive plate 140. Next, the servo motor 145 is driven to rotate the rotary drive plate 140 at high speed via the timing pulley 147, the timing belt 148, the timing pulley 142 and the drive shaft 141.
At that time, as shown in FIG. 8, the rotation driving plate 140 is provided with one or more protrusion prevention members 150 having protrusions 151 protruding from the lower surface on the inner side or the outer side in the vicinity of the four sides of the container. A large number of protrusions 151 are freely displaced in height according to the external force, so that the protrusion of the protruding member 150a located at the upper edge of the container is pushed upward by the upper edge, and as shown in FIG. Since the protrusions 151 of the other pop-out members 150 protrude downward as they are, the container C is held by the protrusions 151 of the pop-out prevention members 150b near the inside and outside of the four sides, and can be prevented from popping out during high-speed rotation. .

  When the container C is rotated at a high speed by the high-speed rotation of the container rotation drive plate 140, the water adhering to the container C becomes water droplets by centrifugal force and is blown off in the outer peripheral direction, and the inner peripheral surface 130c of the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 It collides with and adheres. Since the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 is formed in a conical shape with the upper opening 130a having a smaller diameter than the lower opening 130b, air flows in from the air circulation port 144a provided in the base plate 144 and passes through the upper opening 130a. Since the exhaust air is exhausted from the opening 130b, a downward swirling flow is generated, and the swirling flow in the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface 130c has a bottom 132c of the water droplet storage portion 132 and a lower end of the swirling air flow guide cylinder 130 as shown in FIG. The water droplets adhering to the inner peripheral surface smoothly flow down along the inner peripheral surface due to their own weight and a downward swirling flow, and are guided to the water droplet storage unit 132. Further, since the inner peripheral surface 130c of the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 is smooth, it does not generate an abnormal turbulent flow, so that water droplets are not blown off and reattachment to the container C does not occur. Further, since a high rising rib 132b is provided outside the water droplet storage portion 132, small water droplets are not easily scattered, and the swirling airflow guide cylinder 130 has a conical shape, so that the area through which air passes gradually increases. The swirling flow becomes slow, and small water droplets are reliably collected in the water droplet storage part 132 and discharged to the outside through the drain pipe 132e.

  When the dehydration process of the container C is completed, the servo motor 145 is stopped and the rotary drive plate 140 is stopped, and then the table 120 is lowered. At this time, since the stopper 118 has returned to an unloaded state, as shown in FIG. 12, the bottom surface of the rib CR of the lowered container C rides on the stopper portion 118a, and the container C to be dehydrated next becomes When transported onto the table 120, the dehydrated container C is pushed out, slides down by the inclined surface 114a provided on the exit side of the transport rail 114, and moves to a transport conveyor (not shown).

  Then, the above dehydration operation is continuously performed. On the rotational drive plate 140, a large number of protrusion prevention members 150 are arranged so that one or more sides are located on the inside or outside in the vicinity of the four sides of the container. 150 includes a protrusion 151 whose height is freely displaced according to an external force. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13, in the arrangement of the container C1, the pop-out prevention member 150c is positioned on each side toward the inside or outside near the four sides. However, in the arrangement of the container C2, the pop-out preventing member 150d is positioned on each side toward the inside or outside in the vicinity of the four sides, and these protrusions 151 protrude from the lower surface of the rotary drive plate 140 as shown in FIG. Since the four sides can be held by the pop-out preventing member 150 at any position of the drive plate 140, it is not necessary to stop the rotary drive plate 140 at a specific position. Therefore, the processing time can be shortened and the control device can be simplified, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The front view of the centrifugal dehydrator of a present Example. The top view of the centrifugal dehydrator of a present Example. The side view of the centrifugal dehydrator of a present Example. The front view of the stopper of a present Example. The principal part enlarged front view of the centrifugal dehydrator of a present Example. Sectional drawing of the turning airflow guide cylinder of a present Example. The principal part enlarged view of the turning airflow guide cylinder of a present Example. The top view of the rotational drive board of a present Example. The side view of the rotational drive board of a present Example. Sectional view of the pop-out prevention member of this embodiment Operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of container conveyance of the stopper of a present Example. Operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of the container fall of the stopper of a present Example. The top view which shows the arrangement state of arrangement | positioning of a rotation drive plate and a container.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Centrifugal dehydration apparatus 110 ... Conveying means 111 ... Carry-in rail 111a ... Front part 111b ... Rear part 111c ... Intermediate rail 112 ... Rail support plate 113 ... Extrusion member 113a ... Extrusion bar 113b ... Rodless cylinder 113c ... Slider 113d ... Support member 114 ... Conveying rail 114a ... Inclined surface 114b ... Intermediate rail 115 ... Support 116 ... Alignment guide plate 117 ... Container guide plate 118 ... Stopper 118a ... Stopper portion 118b ... Arm 118c ... Rotating shaft 118d ... Balance weight 119 ... Sensor 120 ... Table 121 ... Rotating shaft 122 ... Bearing case 123 ... Cylinder 123a ... Guide 123b ... Pis Rod 130 ... turning airflow guide cylinder 130a ... upper opening 130b ... lower opening 130c ... inner peripheral surface 131 ... locking metal fitting 132 ... water droplet reservoir 132a ... inner rib 132b ... Outer rib 132c ... Bottom 132d ... Mounting bracket 132e ... Drain pipe 140 ... Rotary drive plate 140a ... Opening 141 ... Drive shaft 142 ... Timing pulley 143 ... Bearing case 144 ... Base plate 144a ... Air flow port 145 ... Servo motor 146 ... Support 147 ... Timing pulley 148 ... Timing belts 150, 150a, 150b, 150c, 150d ... · Pop-out prevention member 151 ··· projection 152 ··· cylindrical body 153 ··· spring 154 ··· cap 155 ··· Tsu door C, C1, C2 ··· container CR ··· rib F ··· frame

Claims (2)

  A table that is driven up and down, a conveying means that conveys the cleaned container to the table, a conical swirling airflow guide cylinder that is disposed above and coaxially with the table, and whose upper opening has a smaller diameter than the lower opening; A water droplet storage section disposed at a lower portion of the swirling airflow guide cylinder, and a rotational drive plate disposed at an upper portion inside the swirling airflow guide cylinder and rotating the container placed and raised on the table at a high speed The distance between the container transport surface of the transport means and the lower end of the water droplet storage unit is set larger than the height of the container, and the table is disposed below the container transport surface of the transport means A container centrifugal dehydrator.   The rotation drive plate includes a number of jump-out prevention members arranged so that one or more sides are located on the inside or outside in the vicinity of the four sides of the container, and the jump-out prevention members protrude downward from the lower surface of the rotation drive plate. The container according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is freely displaced according to an external force.

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