JP2011111161A - Liquid dripping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid dripping apparatus that enables a high speed operation, produces a less loss of liquefied gas, and enables continuous, highly accurate adjustment of a quantity of liquid to be dripped. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid dripping apparatus includes: valve means including a rotation-side valve and a fixed-side valve which are configured such that their tops face a liquid storage tank, their shapes are substantially disk-like, one of them is rotatable while their opposite faces abut on each other, and one of the opposite faces has a plurality of holes whereas the other has holes or notches corresponding to the holes of the one of the opposite faces; rotating means for rotating the rotation-side valve by a specified angle; means for outputting a signal indicating the passage of a container through a predetermined position; and control means for controlling the rotating means so that only a required quantity of liquid drips into the mouth of a container based on the signal indicating the passage of the container. Since the quantity of liquid to be dripped is controlled by the rotation of the rotation-side disk-shaped valve, a high speed operation is possible and response to the opening/closing of the valve is satisfactory. In addition, the quantity of liquid to be dripped can be altered continuously, and controlled highly accurately. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid dropping apparatus that drops liquid such as liquid nitrogen at an arbitrary accurate flow rate.

  Conventionally, there is a filling method in which a liquid such as a beverage is filled in a metal or plastic container, liquid nitrogen is added immediately before sealing, and the pressure inside the container is increased to prevent deformation. As a method of adding this liquid nitrogen, a method of adding a liquefied gas dropwise from above the container at the time of transportation just before the container such as a can or PET bottle filled with contents is sealed with a lid is adopted. Yes.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a liquefied gas flow down device used for filling liquid nitrogen as described above. This liquefied gas flow down device forms a plurality of nozzle holes by a combination of a cylinder having a plurality of grooves around it and a plug, and continuously and steplessly the flow down of the liquefied gas per unit time by the upper and lower sides of the plug. It can be changed to.

Japanese Patent No. 3587647

  In the conventional liquid dropping apparatus as described above, the dropping amount is adjusted based on the transport speed of the container, but the addition nozzle remains open even when the mouth of the container passes through the addition position. The liquefied nitrogen dropped outside was wasted.

  In recent years, with the manufacture of bottle-shaped products for PET bottles or can containers, the diameter of the mouth of the container has been greatly reduced from 20 mm to 35 mm from the conventional around 50 mm. The amount of liquefied gas that is lost increases. In particular, in the case of hot filling of acidic beverages, since the liquefied gas is added when the beverage temperature is 85 to 90 degrees, it is necessary to add a large amount of liquefied gas, and the loss is further increased.

  Therefore, a method of adding by opening the liquefied gas addition nozzle only when the mouth of the container passes through the addition position can be considered. However, in recent years, there has been a demand for a high production speed of 600 lines / minute or more. In the conventional liquid dropping apparatus as described above, the nozzle is opened and closed by the vertical movement of the plug. Control of the addition amount of the liquefied gas by the opening / closing operation is physically difficult, and there is a problem that the addition accuracy is lowered. In addition, the flow rate instability in the up-and-down operation when the nozzle is opened / closed is long, and the nozzle is opened long before the container passes through, so that the liquefied gas consumed outside the container actually increases. Furthermore, there are concerns about durability due to high-speed operation.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described conventional problems, to provide a liquid dropping device that can operate at high speed, has little loss of liquefied gas, and can adjust the dropping amount continuously and with high accuracy. And

  In the liquid dripping device of the present invention, the nozzle is configured by a sliding structure of the fixed side portion and the sliding side portion, and a plurality of holes penetrating each sliding surface are provided to rotate the sliding side nozzle. It is a liquid dripping device that controls the amount of liquid nitrogen flowing through the holes by controlling the angle.

  The liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention includes a liquid storage tank that stores liquid, and the upper surface of the liquid dropping apparatus drops the desired amount of the liquid to the mouth of a container that passes below. Facing the space connected to the tank, each of which is substantially disk-shaped, one of which can be rotated with respect to the other while the opposing surfaces are in contact with each other. The valve means comprising a rotary side valve and a fixed side valve provided with a hole or notch at a position corresponding to the hole on the opposing surface, and the rotary side valve of the valve means are rotated by a specified angle. The liquid is desired at the mouth of the container based on output information from the rotating means capable of outputting, a container passage signal output means for outputting a passage signal of the container at a predetermined position, and output information from the container passage signal output means. The most important feature that a control means for controlling the rotation means so that dropping only.

  Further, in the liquid dropping apparatus described above, the control means is characterized in that when the mouth of the container is not positioned below, the rotating means is controlled to close the valve means and stop the dropping of the liquid. is there.

  Further, in the liquid dropping apparatus described above, the valve means has a truncated cone shape with a trapezoidal vertical cross section, and the rotation valve is fitted with a rotation side valve having a plurality of holes in a conical side surface portion. It is also characterized in that it comprises a fixed-side valve provided with a truncated cone-shaped recess having a trapezoidal vertical cross-section, and provided with a hole or notch at a position corresponding to the hole of the rotation-side valve.

  Further, the liquid dropping apparatus described above is characterized in that it includes a pressing adjusting means for adjusting a force for pressing the rotating side valve against the fixed side valve.

The liquid dropping device of the present invention has the following effects.
(1) Since the amount of dripping is controlled by the rotation of the disk-shaped rotation-side valve, high-speed operation is possible, and liquid nitrogen is not stirred even when the rotation-side valve rotates, so that the response at opening and closing is good. Therefore, the loss of liquid nitrogen can be reduced even when the operation is performed at high speed.
(2) The dripping amount can be changed continuously and can be controlled with high accuracy.
(3) The valve structure is simple and can be manufactured at low cost.
(4) Since means for adjusting the force (load) applied to the sliding surface of the valve is provided, wear of the sealing surface of the valve can be prevented and durability is improved.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the principal part structure of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is sectional drawing and the top view which show the structure of the nozzle part of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the opening area in the nozzle of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the other structure 1 of the nozzle of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is a time chart which shows operation | movement of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the control apparatus of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is sectional drawing and the top view which show the other structure 2 of the nozzle of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the opening area in the other structure 2 of the nozzle of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention. It is a top view which shows the other structure 3 of the nozzle of the liquid dripping apparatus of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an example in which a liquid such as a beverage is filled in a PET bottle and liquid nitrogen is dropped immediately before sealing will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. The PET bottle 21 filled with the beverage is transported at equal intervals at a predetermined speed set by the transport guide 22 of the container transport device 20 (for example, several hundreds per minute at a transport pitch of about 120 mm). The lower part of 10 is passed at a predetermined speed. However, the passing speed varies depending on the type of product, and the speed gradually changes from 0 to a desired speed when the system is started and stopped. Also, speed changes occur during operation. As the container transfer device 20, any known transfer device such as a conveyor or a feed turret can be used.

  The liquid dropping apparatus 10 of the present invention detects the position and speed of a container by a container sensor 14 corresponding to the container passage signal output means of the present invention, and the liquid is dropped so that a desired amount of liquid nitrogen 25 is dropped into the container 21. The dropping timing and / or dropping amount of nitrogen 25 is adjusted. The PET bottle 21 to which the liquid nitrogen 25 has been added is immediately transported to a known lid mounting device 23, and the lid is mounted when the dropped liquid nitrogen 25 has evaporated to some extent and expelled the internal air.

  The liquid dropping apparatus 10 of the present invention includes a main body 10 composed of a liquid nitrogen storage tank and a nozzle 27 provided below the main body. The liquid dripping device 10 includes a stepping motor 18 that controls the opening and closing of the nozzle, a rotary encoder 26 that detects the angle of the shaft of the stepping motor 18, and a torque motor 19 that controls the pressure (load) applied to the nozzle. Yes. The valve control device 15 opens and closes the electromagnetic valve 16 based on the output from the liquid level sensor 27 provided in the liquid nitrogen storage tank so that the position of the liquid level in the liquid storage tank becomes constant.

  The control device (computer) 11 reads the output information of the container sensor 14 and the rotary encoder 26, and controls the stepping motor 18 and the torque motor 19, so that the liquid dropping device 10 has a desired function when the container 21 comes under the nozzle. An amount of liquid nitrogen 25 is added dropwise. In addition, since the liquid nitrogen 25 dripped outside the container 21 is wasted, it is preferable that the amount of the liquid nitrogen 25 dripped outside is as small as possible.

  A control device (computer) 11 corresponding to the control means of the present invention is a known control computer including an input device 12 such as a keyboard, a display device 13 such as a liquid crystal display device, and an input / output terminal for monitoring control. , Processing described later is executed. The container sensor 14 outputs passage information of the mouth portion of the PET bottle 21 using an optical sensor. In addition, when the position and speed information of the PET bottle 21 is obtained from the container transport device 20, the control may be performed based on the information.

  The stepping motor 18 corresponding to the rotating means of the present invention is a known motor that includes a reduction gear and rotates by a predetermined angle based on a drive signal from the control device 11. The rotary encoder 26 that detects the angle of the axis of the stepping motor 18 may be an encoder that is provided in advance in the stepping motor 18 and outputs a signal only at a predetermined rotation angle. For example, a plurality of holes provided in the nozzle are provided. You may attach the rotary encoder which outputs a signal, whenever the angle which becomes a full open state comes.

  The torque motor 19 corresponding to the pressure adjusting means of the present invention is a known motor capable of controlling the motor torque even when stopped, and the support base 28 to which the stepping motor 18 is fixed moves up and down according to the rotation of the torque motor 19. Is configured to do. Therefore, by applying a predetermined torque in the direction in which the support base 28 moves upward by the torque motor 19, the load on the stepping motor 18 and the shaft 33 applied to the nozzle mounted on the lower end of the shaft 33 is adjusted (cancelled). be able to. As a result, the sliding frictional resistance during the rotation of the nozzle can be reduced to prevent the nozzle from being worn.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the main configuration of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. The main body 10 composed of a liquid nitrogen storage tank is composed of a double metal container having a vacuum chamber 32 therebetween, and keeps the liquid nitrogen 17 at a low temperature by the same structure as a thermos bottle. The liquid level sensor 27 uses an optical fiber 28 to monitor the position of the liquid nitrogen 17 and outputs a signal indicating whether the tip of the optical fiber 28 is in contact with the liquid level. Such a liquid level sensor itself is known.

  The valve control device 15 opens and closes the electromagnetic valve 16 based on a signal from the liquid level sensor 27, and supplies liquefied nitrogen 17 to the liquid storage tank so that the position of the liquid level is constant. Further, the nitrogen gas vaporized in the liquid storage tank is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust pipe 29, and the liquid storage tank is equal to the atmospheric pressure.

  A shaft 33 is installed in the liquid storage tank, and the upper end of the shaft 33 is connected to the shaft of the stepping motor 18 through the seal 31 and the bearing 30. The seal 31 and the bearing 30 are configured so that the shaft 33 can rotate and slide up and down. The shaft 33 extends to the nozzle portion, and a rotation side valve 35 is fixed to the lower end of the shaft 33. The reason why the nozzle 27 is narrowed and extended downward is to avoid interference between the liquid storage tank and other devices.

  A disk-shaped fixed side valve 36 is fixed to the lower end of the nozzle portion that communicates with the liquid storage tank and is filled with liquid nitrogen 17. A concave portion is formed on the upper surface of the fixed side valve 36, and the rotary side valve 35 is engaged. Further, the rotation side valve 35 and the fixed side valve 36 are provided with a plurality of thin holes penetrating vertically at the same position, and the rotation side valve 35 is rotated by the stepping motor 18 via the shaft 33. When the positions of the holes 35 and the fixed side valve 36 coincide with each other, the liquid nitrogen 25 passes through the hole and drops from the lower surface of the fixed side valve 36.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view and a plan view showing the configuration of the nozzle portion of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. 3A is a sectional view of the nozzle portion, FIG. 3B is a plan view of the fixed side valve 36 as viewed from above, and FIG. 3C is a plan view of the rotation side valve 35 as viewed from above. The nozzle 27 is a metal double container having a vacuum chamber 32 as in the case of the liquid storage tank.

  A fixed valve 36 is fixed to the lower end of the nozzle 27. The fixed side valve 36 is a thick disk-shaped member, and a concave portion that engages with the rotary side valve 35 is formed on the upper surface. The rotary side valve 35 fixed to the shaft 33 has, for example, a conical shape cut along a plane perpendicular to the axis and has a trapezoidal cross section. When the rotary side valve 35 is fitted into the concave portion of the fixed side valve 36, the curved surface is fixed. It contacts the curved surface of the side surface of the concave portion of the side valve 36 and the bottom surface does not contact. The rotation side valve 35 and the fixed side valve 36 correspond to valve means in the present invention.

  The rotation-side valve 35 and the stationary-side valve 36 are provided with a plurality of (for example, twelve) thin holes 43 and 42 at equal intervals on the same position. The rotation side valve 35 and the fixed side valve 36 are made of a combination of different materials and are made of a metal material such as stainless steel and a resin material such as PEEK resin. Further, since the side surfaces (curved surfaces) of the rotation side valve 35 and the stationary side valve 36 are slid, surface processing such as coating the surface with a material having high wear resistance may be performed.

  A cylindrical nozzle cover 37 having a circular opening 40 in the lower portion is attached to the outside of the fixed side valve 36. A nozzle inner space 38 is formed between the nozzle cover 37 and the fixed side valve 36, and nitrogen gas 44 is supplied to the nozzle inner space 38 from the outside, and downward from the opening 40 at the bottom of the nozzle cover 37. It is blowing out. This is to prevent the beverage bounced by the dripping of liquid nitrogen and the water vapor in the air from adhering to the hole of the fixed side valve 36 and freezing. The nozzle cover 37 is heated to about 30 degrees by a built-in electric heater (not shown) in order to prevent the splashed beverage from attaching and freezing.

  When the rotation side valve 35 is rotated by the stepping motor 18 via the shaft 33 and the positions of the holes 43 and 42 of the rotation side valve 35 and the fixed side valve 36 coincide, the liquid nitrogen 17 inside the nozzle passes through the holes 43 and 42. Then, it drops from the lower surface of the fixed side valve 36. Further, when the overlap of the holes 43 and 42 of the rotation side valve 35 and the stationary side valve 36 is completely eliminated, the liquid nitrogen 17 does not flow out. Further, when the holes 43 and 42 of the rotation side valve 35 and the fixed side valve 36 partially overlap, the liquid nitrogen 17 in an amount proportional to the opening area of the overlapping portion flows out and drops.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing changes in the opening area of the nozzle of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 4A shows a state in which the fixed side valve hole 42 and the rotary side valve hole 43 are completely overlapped. In this state, the dripping amount becomes maximum. Note that the hatched portion indicates an opening. Further, by making one hole slightly larger than the other hole, the margin of the angle when fully opened is increased.

  FIG. 4B shows a state in which a part of the fixed side valve hole 42 and the rotation side valve hole 43 are overlapped. In this state, the dripping amount is proportional to the opening area of the overlapped part. FIG. 4C shows a state in which the fixed side valve hole 42 and the rotary side valve hole 43 do not overlap at all. In this state, the dropping amount is almost zero.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another configuration 1 of the nozzle of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5A is an example in which a plurality of concentric circles in which a plurality of holes 52 and 53 are arranged at equal intervals are provided. The number of concentric circles and the radius of each concentric circle can be arbitrarily set. FIG. 5B shows a configuration of the nozzle of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3, in which a stationary valve shaft 63 is further provided at the center of the stationary valve 61 and a rotating valve central hole serving as a bearing is provided at the lower end of the rotating valve 60. 62 is provided. By providing the shaft, the rotation side valve 60 can rotate more smoothly.

  FIG. 5C shows the shape of the rotation side valve 70 = the concave shape of the fixed side valve 71 is a cylindrical shape. FIG. 5 (d) shows an example in which the shaft structure shown in (b) is adopted in the valve shape of (c). In the case of (d), since it is not necessary to cover the periphery of the rotation side valve 80 with the fixed side valve 81, the fixed side valve 81 may be a simple disk without a recess as long as the shaft 83 is provided. Further, the structure (a) may be combined with the structures (b), (c), and (d).

  FIG. 6 is a time chart showing the operation of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. In the present invention, in order to improve the utilization efficiency of liquid nitrogen, liquid nitrogen is dropped only while the container is at the lower part of the nozzle, and dropping is stopped as much as possible during a period when there is no container. FIG. 6A is a time chart showing the rate at which liquid nitrogen is charged into the container when the container is transported at a constant speed and liquid nitrogen is continuously dropped in the liquid dropping device. When the container comes directly below, the charging rate becomes 100%, and gradually increases and decreases before and after that.

  FIG. 6B is a time chart showing a first adjustment method of the amount of liquid nitrogen charged into the container. In the liquid dripping apparatus of the present invention, the dripping amount per unit time can be adjusted by the rotation angle of the rotating nozzle 35 as shown in FIG. Therefore, when the time when the container passes a predetermined position immediately before the nozzle is t0, the rotation-side nozzle 35 is rotated at a desired angle corresponding to the amount to be dropped from the fully closed state at time t1.

  At time t2, the desired amount of dripping is reached. At time t3, the rotation-side nozzle 35 is rotated to the fully closed state, and at time t4, the dripping amount becomes zero. Times t1 and t3 are fixed with respect to time t0, and the dropping amount is controlled by adjusting the rotation angle of the rotation-side nozzle 35 to adjust the charging amount. The amount of liquid nitrogen charged is obtained by multiplying the amount of dripping in (b) by the rate of charging in (a). In the case of this method, since the dropping amount is controlled by the rotation angle of the rotation-side nozzle 35, it is necessary to control the rotation angle with high accuracy.

  FIG. 6C is a time chart showing a second method of adjusting the amount of liquid nitrogen charged into the container. In this method, the rotation angle of the rotation-side nozzle 35 is constant, for example, a full opening angle, and the input amount is adjusted according to the opening / closing timing. FIG. 6C shows an example in which the input amount is adjusted by controlling the valve closing times t5 to t7, but the valve opening time t1 may be variably controlled, or the opening time and the closing time. Both may be controlled.

  Furthermore, in the second adjustment method, the rotation angle of the rotation-side nozzle 35 may be controlled together with the opening / closing time. Further, depending on the container transport speed, the first and second adjustment methods may be used separately, such as using the second method when the speed is low and using the first method when the speed is high. .

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the controller of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. This example is an example using the first adjustment method of FIG. When the power is turned on, in S10, the torque motor 19 is controlled to cancel the load applied to the nozzle. In S11, the stepping motor 18 is rotated to the initial position where the rotary encoder 26 outputs a signal. At the time of manufacturing the liquid dropping device, for example, adjustment is made so that the fixed side valve hole 42 and the rotary side valve hole 43 are completely opened at the initial position.

  In step S12, the stepping motor 18 is rotated by a predetermined angle to the fully closed position. In S13, the torque motor 19 is turned off. By turning off the torque motor, the load of the stepping motor 18 and the shaft 33 is applied to the nozzle mounted on the lower end of the shaft 33, and the rotation side valve 35 is pressed against the fixed side valve 36. Liquid nitrogen leakage from the valve is reduced.

  In S14, it is determined whether or not the conveyance is started by whether or not the container sensor 14 newly detects the arrival of the container. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S21, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S15. To do. In S15, the torque motor 19 is controlled to cancel the load applied to the valve. In S16, it is determined whether or not to stop depending on whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous container detection time. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S17, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S13. .

  In S17, it is determined whether or not the opening time set in the sensor interruption process described later has been reached. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S16, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S18. In S18, the valve is opened by rotating the stepping motor 18 by a specified angle set in a sensor interruption process described later.

  In S19, it is determined whether or not the closing time set in the sensor interruption process described later has been reached. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S19, but if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S20. In S20, the stepping motor 18 is rotated to the fully closed position, and the process proceeds to S16. In S21, for example, it is determined whether or not to end depending on whether or not an end operation has been performed. If the determination result is negative, the process proceeds to S14, but if the determination is affirmative, the process ends.

  The sensor interruption occurs when the container sensor 14 at a predetermined position immediately before the nozzle newly detects the arrival of the container. When a sensor interrupt occurs, the current time is read from the clock circuit built in the control device 11 and stored in the ring buffer of the memory in S30. In S31, the previous interrupt time stored in the memory is read, and the difference from the current time is calculated.

  In S32, the rotation angle of the rotation side valve is obtained from the difference calculated in S31 and stored. The method for obtaining the rotation angle may be calculated by a preset approximate expression, or a known interpolation calculation using a correspondence table in which a plurality of difference values registered in advance and corresponding rotation angle values are described. You may ask for. The approximate expression or the table value is obtained by experiment.

  In S33, an opening time is obtained by adding a predetermined value to the current time and stored. The predetermined value is determined in advance by experiment. In S34, the predetermined time is added to the current time to obtain the closing time and stored. The predetermined value is determined in advance by experiment.

  As described above, as a result of trial manufacture and test of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention as described above, it has been about 100 msec until the dropping amount is stabilized after the valve opening control has been performed. It was confirmed that a predetermined dripping amount was obtained at 10 to 15 msec and that the valve was closed at 10 msec after the valve was closed. In the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention, liquid nitrogen loss can be reduced by opening and closing at high speed.

  FIG. 8 is a sectional view and a plan view showing another configuration 2 of the nozzle of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. In the first embodiment described above, the fixed side valve and the rotary side valve are each provided with a hole having the same diameter. However, since the diameter of the hole is as small as about 1 mm, the rotation angle must be adjusted to adjust the opening area where the holes overlap. It was necessary to control with high accuracy. The second embodiment is an embodiment in which the opening area can be adjusted at a wider angle than the first embodiment.

  8A is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the nozzle of the second embodiment, FIG. 8B is a plan view showing the configuration of the fixed side valve 92, and FIG. 8C is a plan view showing the configuration of the rotation side valve 90. FIG. 8D is a plan view showing a state (fully opened position) in which the rotary valve 90 is placed on the fixed valve 92. In the fixed side valve 92, the fixed side valve holes 93 are arranged concentrically at equal intervals in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

  On the other hand, the rotary valve 90 is provided with a notch 91 instead of a hole. For example, the notch 91 may have an arcuate horizontal cross section. When the deepest part of the notch is aligned with the fixed valve hole 93 as shown in (d), the fixed valve hole 93 is fully opened. It is formed to become.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in the opening area in the second configuration 2 of the nozzle of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 9A shows a fully opened state in which the deepest part of the notch 91 is combined with the fixed side valve hole 93. In this state, the dripping amount becomes maximum. Note that the hatched portion indicates the opening.

  FIG. 9B shows a state where the fixed side valve hole 93 and a part of the notch 91 of the rotary side valve overlap each other. In this state, the dropping amount is proportional to the opening area of the overlapped portion. FIG. 9C shows a state where the fixed-side valve hole 93 and the notch 91 do not overlap at all. In this state, the dropping amount is almost zero. Compared with the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the configuration of the second embodiment can control the dropping amount by using a wider angle, which facilitates the control and improves the accuracy of the dropping amount.

  FIG. 10 is a plan view showing another configuration 3 of the nozzle of the liquid dropping apparatus of the present invention. This embodiment is a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, wherein the horizontal cross section of the notch has a sawtooth shape, and a plurality of holes are formed in the fixed side valve 100 with respect to one notch 103 of the rotary side valve 101. 102 is provided. FIG. 10 shows a fully open state. When the rotation side valve 101 is rotated 22.5 degrees, the fully closed state is obtained.

  The plurality of holes 102 corresponding to one notch 103 are arranged in a straight line, and the inclination of the straight line is larger than the inclination of the notch 103. Further, all the holes 102 may be arranged such that the distances between the holes and the central axis are different at equal intervals. In this way, the dripping amount changes substantially continuously according to the rotation angle of the rotation side valve 101.

  The horizontal cross-section of the cutout may be an arc shape or a sawtooth shape, a V shape, a shape in which square brackets “{” are laid sideways (rotated 90 degrees), etc. The horizontal cross section may be a regular polygon. Moreover, about the position of a hole, a side surface shape, and the presence or absence of an axis | shaft, the combination with the structure shown in FIG. 5 is possible.

  The liquid dripping device of the present invention is suitable for any container that is required to quickly put a liquid such as liquid nitrogen or other liquefied gas at a high speed into an arbitrary container filled with an arbitrary liquid. Applicable for use.

10 ... Liquid dropping device 11 ... Control device (computer)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Input device 13 ... Display device 14 ... Container sensor 15 ... Valve control device 16 ... Solenoid valve 17 ... Liquid nitrogen 18 ... Stepping motor 19 ... Torque motor 20 ... Container conveyance device 21 ... Container 22 ... Conveyance guide 23 ... Cover mounting device 25 ... Liquid nitrogen 26 ... Rotary encoder

Claims (4)

In a liquid dropping apparatus that includes a liquid storage tank for storing liquid and drops a desired amount of the liquid to the mouth of a container that passes below,
The upper surface faces the liquid storage tank or a space connected to the liquid storage tank, each has a substantially disc shape, and one of the opposing surfaces can rotate with respect to the other while the opposing surfaces abut. A valve means comprising a rotary side valve and a fixed side valve provided with a plurality of holes on the other side and a hole or notch at a position corresponding to the hole on the opposite surface;
Rotating means capable of rotating the rotation side valve of the valve means by a specified angle;
Container passage signal output means for outputting a passage signal of the container at a predetermined position;
A liquid dropping apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the rotating means so that the liquid drops by a desired amount to the mouth of the container based on output information from the container passage signal output means.   2. The liquid dropping apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the mouth of the container is not positioned below, the control means controls the rotating means to close the valve means to stop the dropping of the liquid. . The valve means has a frustoconical shape with a trapezoidal vertical cross section, and a rotary side valve provided with a plurality of holes or notches in a conical side surface portion;
The rotary valve comprises a fixed-side valve provided with a frustoconical recess having a trapezoidal vertical cross section, and a hole is provided at a position corresponding to the hole or notch of the rotation-side valve. Item 2. A liquid dropping apparatus according to Item 1.   The liquid dripping device according to claim 1, further comprising: a pressure adjusting unit that adjusts a force for pressing the rotation side valve against the fixed side valve.

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