JP2009126567A - Powder filling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a powder filling apparatus capable of preventing powder from being crushed and at the same time easily changing either the amount of powder filled or a time for filling powder. <P>SOLUTION: This powder filling apparatus has a constitution including a filling cylinder 2 for use in discharging powder, a disk 4 rotatably arranged below a discharging port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 so as to disperse the powder to surrounding area with a centrifugal force, a rotary motor 10 for freely rotating the disk 4, and a control device 20 for controlling a rotational driving of the rotary motor 10. The control device 20 controls the rotational driving of the rotary motor 10 in such a way that the amount of powder dispersed from the disk 4 per unit time is less than that discharged from the filling cylinder 2 to the disk 4, and the amount of powder dispered per unit time is adjusted according to a desired filling amount. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a granular material filling apparatus for filling a container or the like with a granular material that is easily crushed.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a granular material filling device for filling granular material, for example, there are devices described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 filed earlier by the present applicant.
The granular material filling apparatus of Patent Document 1 is an apparatus that supplies a predetermined amount of granular material by rotation of an auger screw inside a cylindrical portion. This apparatus comprises a filling pressure measuring means for detecting a thrust load applied when the auger screw rotates as a filling pressure, and a filling pressure discriminating means for discriminating an abnormality in the filling pressure, and the measured filling pressure has an excessive filling pressure pattern. When it responds, it is the structure which outputs an abnormal signal and makes an emergency stop.

  In the powder filling apparatus of Patent Document 2, a scattering disk is attached to the lower end portion of an auger screw shaft in an auger cylinder. The powder is conveyed downward by the rotation of the auger screw shaft, temporarily received by the scattering disk, and scattered from the open portion to the surroundings by the rotation of the auger screw shaft. This device is also a device for supplying a predetermined amount of granular material by rotation of the auger screw shaft, and the scattering disk prevents the granular material from falling from the lower end of the auger screw shaft.

The granular material filling device of Patent Document 3 is provided with a rod-shaped shaft extending in the vertical direction inside a nozzle, and a shutter that opens and closes the lower end opening of the nozzle at the lower end of the shaft. The granular material is dammed in a state in which the shutter closes the nozzle, and falls down from the gap with the lower end opening of the nozzle by adjusting the lowering of the shutter, and is filled in a predetermined amount in a container or the like.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-155452 JP 2007-91241 A JP 2005-88895 A

  Now, the filling devices of Patent Documents 1 and 2 to which the auger screw is applied convey the inside of the filling cylinder downward by pushing the powder agglomerate by the rotation of the auger screw. For this reason, a large filling pressure is applied to the conveyed granular material. In particular, when clogging of powder particles occurred, a great load was applied in the thrust direction of the auger screw. Therefore, for example, when foamed granules are filled as a granular material, the granules may be crushed by the filling pressure during transportation.

  For such filling of the granular material, it is preferable to use a filling device such as Patent Document 3 that conveys the granular material by dropping due to its own weight, and to prevent the granular material from being crushed. However, since the filling device of Patent Document 3 cannot adjust the filling amount of the granular material by rotating the auger screw, the filling amount per unit time of the granular material is adjusted by the discharge area of the granular material. Since this discharge area is set by the product of the position of the shutter and the circumference of the nozzle, even if the shutter is moved a little, the circumference is integrated and the discharge area changes greatly. As a result, it is difficult to adjust the filling amount per unit time of the powder, the filling time is short, and when the filling amount is large, the filling accuracy of the powder may be reduced. It was difficult to change.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, and it aims at provision of the granular material filling apparatus which can change a filling amount and filling time easily while preventing crushing of a granular material.

In order to achieve the above object, the granular material filling device of the present invention comprises:
A filling cylinder for discharging the powder particles from the outlet;
A disk that is rotatably arranged below the discharge port of the filling cylinder, receives the powder particles discharged from the discharge port on the upper surface, and scatters around with centrifugal force accompanying rotation,
Disk rotating means for freely rotating the disk;
And a control means for controlling the disk rotating means to adjust the scattering amount of the granular material due to the centrifugal force of the disk according to the target filling amount.

  According to this configuration, since the granular material is dropped without using the auger screw, it is possible to prevent the granular material from being crushed without applying a large pressure to the granular material. As a result, it becomes easy to maintain the quality of easily crushed powder particles such as foamed granules. The powder particles are scattered around by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the disk. For this reason, when the control means controls the disk rotating means, the centrifugal force applied to the powder particles changes, that is, the amount of the powder particles scattered can be freely changed. Therefore, it becomes possible to easily change the filling amount and filling time of the granular material, and the change range is wide.

The present invention can also be configured to include a disk position adjusting means for adjusting the distance between the upper surface of the disk and the discharge port of the filling cylinder.
By this disc position adjusting means, the vertical position of the disc with respect to the discharge port of the filling cylinder can be adjusted, for example, according to the angle of repose of the granular material, and the falling of the granular material from the disc can be reduced. Thus, the granular material filling apparatus is an apparatus that can appropriately adjust the vertical position of the disk according to the characteristics of the granular material by the disk position adjusting means.

  The disk position adjusting means is connected to the control means, raises the disk so as to close the discharge port of the filling cylinder when the rotation of the disk is stopped, and opens the discharge opening of the filling cylinder when the rotation of the disk starts. Thus, the disk can be lowered. Thus, when the rotation is stopped, the discharge port of the filling cylinder is closed by the disk, so that it is possible to more reliably prevent the powder particles from falling from the disk. Further, since dust or the like does not accumulate on the disc, more hygienic management is possible.

  The disc is preferably formed in a disc shape and has an outer peripheral edge at a position higher than the center portion. By making the outer peripheral edge of the disk higher than the center part, even if the disk has a small diameter, it is possible to deposit falling powder particles without spilling. Moreover, the other member of a granular material filling apparatus can be made small by applying the disk of a small diameter.

  The disk rotating means can be constituted by, for example, a rotating motor that rotates a rotating shaft. That is, the upper end of the rotary shaft is connected to the rotary motor, extends in the hollow portion of the filling cylinder in the axial direction, the lower end protrudes from the discharge port, and the disk is attached. The disk is preferably formed such that a joint portion with the rotating shaft is formed in an arc shape and a corner portion of the outer peripheral edge is curved. By forming the disk in this way, the powder particles discharged from the filling cylinder to the disk can be smoothly washed away and scattered around the disk when the disk is rotated. Therefore, the granular material does not continue to stay on the disk, and the granular material does not deteriorate.

  The control means is such that the amount of powder particles scattered from the disk per unit time is less than the amount discharged from the filling cylinder to the disk, and the amount of powder particles scattered per unit time depends on the target filling amount. It is preferable to control the rotational drive of the disk rotating means to adjust.

  With this control, the amount of particles per unit time scattered from the disk is less than the amount discharged from the filling cylinder, so that the particles can be quantitatively scattered according to the rotation of the disk. , Variation in filling amount can be reduced. Further, by changing the rotational speed of the disc, the amount of scattering per unit time of the granular material can be adjusted, and more accurate filling becomes possible.

  As explained above, according to the granular material filling device of the present invention, the granular amount can be easily changed by controlling the rotation of the disk while preventing the granular material from being crushed. can do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 are views showing a granular material filling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic structure of the granular material filling apparatus.
As shown in the figure, the granular material filling device of the present embodiment has a structure including a granular material supply funnel 1, a filling cylinder 2, a rotating shaft 3, a disk 4, and a hopper 5. is there.

  The powder supply funnel 1 is formed in an inverted conical shape, and is provided with a supply port 6 for supplying powder in the upper part. A cylindrical filling tube 2 that allows the powder particles to fall downward is communicated with the lower end of the powder material supply funnel 1. The filling cylinder 2 extends in the up-down direction, and the lower end portion serves as a discharge port 2a for the granular material.

  The rotating shaft 3 is a rod-like member that is coaxially disposed in the hollow portion of the filling cylinder 2. The rotating shaft 3 has an upper end connected to a rotary motor (disk rotating means) 10, extends in the hollow portion of the filling cylinder 2 in the axial direction, and a lower end protrudes from the discharge port 2 a of the filling cylinder 2. A dish-shaped disk 4 is attached to the lower end of the rotating shaft 3.

  A rotary motor 10 serving as a disk rotating means is connected to an external control device (control means) 20 and is configured to freely rotate the disk 4 at the lower end of the rotating shaft 3. The control device 20 outputs a signal for appropriately adjusting the rotational speed of the disk 4 to a speed set in advance by the operator, and controls the rotational drive of the rotary motor 10.

  The disk 4 is formed to have a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the filling cylinder 2, and is configured to receive powder particles falling from the discharge port 2 a of the filling cylinder 2. As a result, the disk 4 accumulates the granular material discharged from the filling cylinder 2 when the rotation of the rotary motor 10 is stopped, and the granular material accumulated during the rotation and the granular material discharged from the filling cylinder 2 are subjected to centrifugal force. To scatter around. Further, the outer peripheral edge 4a of the disk 4 is formed at a position higher than the central portion to which the rotary shaft 3 is connected. Therefore, the disk 4 can prevent particles falling even when having a small diameter from falling from the outer peripheral edge 4a, and can be in a predetermined accumulation state at both the rotation and the rotation stop.

The hopper 5 is formed in an inverted conical shape, and is disposed so as to surround the periphery of the disk 4 disposed on the hollow portion. Thereby, the hopper 5 can receive the granular material scattered from the disk 4 on the inner peripheral surface. Further, the hopper 5 is provided with a pouring cylinder 7 for discharging powder particles at the lower end, and a container conveyed from a conveying device (not shown) is automatically arranged below the pouring cylinder 7. The This container is filled with the powder from the pouring cylinder 7.
In this embodiment, the hopper 5 is used in the powder and particle filling device. However, without using the hopper 5, a container is disposed below the disk 4 so that the particles scattered from the disk 4 are directly disposed. It is good also as a structure which receives and fills with a container.

  The rotary motor 10 is attached to a slide portion 13 of a disk position adjusting device (disk position adjusting means) 12 via a bracket 11 and is configured to be vertically movable by the slide portion 13. The disk position adjusting device 12 adjusts the vertical position of the disk 4 at the lower end of the rotary shaft 3 by moving the rotary motor 10 up and down. As a result, the gap distance D between the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 and the disk 4 is changed, and therefore, the discharge area in which the powder particles are scattered around when the disk 4 is rotated can be changed. .

Here, the vertical position of the disk 4 with respect to the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 is set so as to eliminate spillage according to the angle of repose of the granular material accumulated when the rotary motor 10 is stopped, the area and shape of the disk 4, and the like. It is preferable to set. Generally, a granular material has a repose angle formed by a critical ridgeline where collapse starts with respect to the bottom surface in a state where the granular material is naturally dropped and accumulated in a mountain shape. For particles with a small angle of repose, the gap D between the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 and the disk 4 is adjusted to be narrow so that the particles do not fall off when the disk 3 stops rotating. can do. On the other hand, for a granular material having a large angle of repose, the gap D between the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 and the disk 4 is adjusted to be wide, and the amount of scattered powder is increased when the disk 3 rotates, It is possible to increase the filling speed.
The granular material filling apparatus having such a configuration can quantitatively fill the granular material into the container by controlling the rotational drive of the rotary motor 10 to rotate the disk 4 intermittently.

Next, operation | movement of the granular material filling apparatus of this embodiment is demonstrated. FIG. 2 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of the lower part of the filling cylinder of the granular material filling apparatus according to the present embodiment.
When the powder is supplied into the powder supply funnel 1 from the supply port 6, it is temporarily stored in the powder supply funnel 1, and further moves according to the inclination of the funnel. Flows into 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the granular material falls as it is in the filling cylinder 2 and is discharged to the disk 4 from the discharge port 2a. Here, the conventional granular material filling device (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2) using an auger screw applies a large filling pressure to the granular material by conveying the auger screw in the filling cylinder 2, and the granular material. There was a risk of crushing. However, since the granular material filling apparatus of this embodiment leaves the granular material to fall by its own weight without using an auger screw, it does not apply a large pressure to the granular material. As a result, it is possible to prevent the granular material from being crushed in the filling cylinder 2, and it becomes easy to maintain the quality of the granular material that is easily crushed, such as foamed granules.

  When the rotation of the disk 4 is stopped, the granular material dropped from the discharge port 2a is accumulated on the upper surface of the disk 4, and the discharge port 2a is closed. At this time, since the granular material deposited on the disk 4 is pressed by the granular material above the filling cylinder 2, it spreads over the repose angle area A, but the outer peripheral edge 4a of the disk 4 is high. Therefore, the falling of the granular material is prevented, and the retention area B of the granular material is formed.

  When the control device 20 drives the rotary motor 10 to rotate, the disk 4 also rotates through the rotary shaft 3. Therefore, the granular material existing in the staying region B when the rotation is stopped is scattered from the open portion on the lateral side to the surroundings by the centrifugal force during the rotation. Also, the granular material in the repose angle region A deposited on the disk 4 is pushed out to the outer peripheral edge 4a side by the centrifugal force of rotation and scattered from the stay region B to the surroundings. Further, the granular material accumulated in the filling cylinder 2 is discharged onto the disk 4 from the discharge port 2 a by the amount scattered from the disk 4. That is, when the disk 4 is rotated, the powder particles are moved from the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 to the staying region B, and a smooth flow is generated that scatters from the outer peripheral edge 4a of the disk 4.

  Further, in the disk 4 of the present embodiment, the central joint portion 4b attached to the rotary shaft 3 is formed in an arc shape, and the outer peripheral edge 4a of the disk 4 is formed by curving corners. Thereby, it can extrude to the position which disperses smoothly with a centrifugal force, without the granular material of the upper surface vicinity of the disk 4 staying. Therefore, the granular material does not stay on the disk 4 and the granular material does not deteriorate.

  The amount of powder particles scattered by the rotation of the disk 4 varies depending on the amount of powder particles scattered per unit time, the rotation time of the disk 4, and the like. In the control device 20 of the present embodiment, in particular, the rotational drive of the rotary motor 10 is controlled, and the centrifugal force acting on the granular material on the disk 4 is changed, so that the amount of scattering of the granular material per unit time is filled as desired. It is adjusted according to the amount. The control device 20 calculates the rotational speed of the disk 4 from the filling amount of the granular material set by the operator, appropriately instructs the rotational speed to the rotary motor 10, and the scattering amount of the granular material from the disk 4. Adjust. The rotational speed of the disk 4 is determined by the rotation time of the disk 4, the discharge area determined from the interval D between the discharge port 2 a of the filling cylinder 2 and the disk 4, the characteristics of the granular material, etc. Calculated by taking into account. In practice, the amount of scattered particles may be measured and fed back to the rotational speed of the disk 4.

Further, the control device 20 controls the rotational speed of the disk 4 so that the amount of powder particles scattered from the disk 4 per unit time is smaller than the amount discharged from the filling cylinder 2. Thereby, a granular material is scattered by the hopper 5 without being influenced by the discharge rate from the filling cylinder 2 of a granular material. As a result, the granular material filling apparatus can realize highly accurate filling.
The granular material scattered by the disk 4 collides with the inner peripheral surface of the hopper 5 and falls downward due to its own weight. Then, the container is filled from the dispensing cylinder 7 of the hopper 5.

  As described above, according to the granular material filling apparatus of the present embodiment, since the auger screw is not used, the granular material is not crushed without applying a filling pressure in conveying the granular material. Further, by adjusting the rotational speed of the disk 4, the centrifugal force applied to the powder on the disk 4 can be changed, and the amount of scattering per unit time of the powder can be adjusted. Accordingly, the powder filling device is a device that can easily change the filling amount and filling time of the powder.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, various application implementation or deformation | transformation implementation is possible as needed. For example, the disk rotating means of the present invention may be configured to rotate the disk 4, and may be configured to support and rotate the disk 4 by providing a rotation shaft on the bottom surface of the disk 4.

[Modification 1]
FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing Modification 1 of the granular material filling apparatus according to the present embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the outer peripheral edge 4a of the disk 4 may be formed with a convex portion 14 protruding upward. The convex portion 14 can more reliably prevent the powder particles from falling from the disk 4. Therefore, the granular material can be retained in a narrow range, and the diameter of the disk 4 can be reduced. As a result, the other members of the powder filling apparatus such as the hopper 5 can be made smaller, thereby increasing the collection time of the powder and shortening the filling time of the entire apparatus.

[Modification 2]
FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a second modification of the granular material filling device according to the present embodiment, where (a) is when the disk is rotated and (b) is when the disk is stopped.
In the granular material filling device according to the second modification, the disk position adjusting device 12 is connected to the control device 20. As shown in FIG. 4, the control device 20 of the powder filling device raises the disc 4 so as to close the discharge port 2 a of the filling cylinder 2 when the disc 4 stops rotating, and when the disc 4 starts to rotate, The disk 4 can be controlled to be lowered so as to open the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2.

  The disk position adjustment device 12 causes the control device 20 to slide the slide portion 13 that supports the rotation motor 10 at a predetermined timing to move the vertical position of the disk 4. As a result, the disk 4 opens and closes the discharge port 2 a of the filling cylinder 2. In this opening and closing operation, the disk 4 gradually rises while scattering the powder particles by rotation, so that almost no powder particles remain outside the filling cylinder 2 at the time of closing, and the powder particles are placed in the filling cylinder 2. Can be accommodated. Thus, by closing the discharge port 2a of the filling cylinder 2 with the disk 4 when the rotation is stopped, it is possible to more reliably prevent the powder particles from falling off the disk 4. Further, since dust or the like does not accumulate on the disc, more hygienic management is possible.

A test for actually filling the granular material was performed using the granular material filling apparatus of the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the rotational speed and the filling amount based on the test result obtained by changing the rotational speed of the disk.
In this test, foamed granules are used as the powder particles to be filled, and all other conditions are the same, for example, the rotation time of the disk 4 is 15 seconds, and only the rotation speed of the disk 4 is changed. The filling amount to be filled is measured. As shown in FIG. 5, it can be seen that the filling amount of the powder increases as the rotational speed of the disk 4 increases. By controlling the rotational speed of the disk 4 in this way, the filling amount of the granular material can be easily controlled, and the filling accuracy can be improved.

It is side surface sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the granular material filling apparatus of this embodiment. It is side surface sectional drawing which expands and shows the lower part of the filling cylinder of the granular material filling apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is side surface sectional drawing which shows the modification 1 of the granular material filling apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is side surface sectional drawing which shows the modification 2 of the granular material filling apparatus which concerns on this embodiment, (a) is at the time of rotation of a disk, (b) is at the time of rotation stop of a disk. In the granular material filling device according to the present embodiment, it is a graph showing the relationship between the rotational speed and the filling amount based on the test result obtained by changing the rotational speed of the disk.

Explanation of symbols

1: funnel for supplying powder, 2: filling cylinder, 2a: discharge port, 3: rotating shaft, 4: disk, 4a: outer peripheral edge, 4b: joined portion, 5: hopper, 6: supply port, 7: note Departure pipe,
10: Rotation motor, 11: Bracket, 12: Disc position adjusting device, 13: Slide part, 14: Convex part,
20: control device,
A: Repose angle region, B: Residence region,

Claims (6)

A filling cylinder for discharging the powder particles from the outlet;
A disk that is rotatably arranged below the discharge port of the filling cylinder, receives the granular material discharged from the discharge port on the upper surface, and scatters around with centrifugal force accompanying rotation,
Disk rotating means for freely rotating the disk;
And a control means for controlling the disk rotating means to adjust the scattering amount of the powder particles due to the centrifugal force of the disk in accordance with a target filling amount. 2. The granular material filling apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a disk position adjusting means for adjusting a distance between an upper surface of the disk and a discharge port of the filling cylinder. The disk position adjusting means is connected to the control means,
When the rotation of the disk is stopped, the disk is raised so as to close the discharge port of the filling cylinder, and when the rotation of the disk is started, the disk is lowered so as to open the discharge port of the filling cylinder. The granular material filling device according to claim 2. The granular material filling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the disk is formed in a disk shape and has an outer peripheral edge at a position higher than a center portion. The disk rotating means is a rotating motor that rotates a rotating shaft,
The rotary shaft has an upper end connected to the rotary motor, extends in the hollow portion of the filling cylinder in the axial direction, and protrudes from the discharge port with the lower end protruding from the discharge port.
The powder according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the disk is formed such that a joint portion with the rotating shaft is formed in an arc shape and a corner portion of an outer peripheral edge is curved. Body filling device. The control means is configured such that a scattering amount per unit time of the powder particles scattered from the disk is smaller than an amount discharged from the filling cylinder to the disk, and a scattering amount per unit time of the particles is a target filling amount. The granular material filling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the rotational drive of the disk rotating means is controlled so as to adjust in accordance with the frequency.

Images