JP2013001417A - Liquid filling apparatus and liquid filling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid filling apparatus in which a liquid can be quickly filled by using an electric motor without causing entrainment of air bubbles in the liquid.SOLUTION: The liquid filling apparatus includes: a filling nozzle 1 for supplying the liquid toward a container PB while keeping the relative position of a liquid filling direction with respect to the container PB; an electric cylinder for adjusting the flow rate of the filling nozzle 1; a load cell 21 for measuring the filled amount of the liquid supplied from the filling nozzle 1 to the container PB; and a control part 50 for specifying the liquid level of the liquid in the container PB on the basis of the measured filled amount and controlling the operation of the electric cylinder so as to obtain the flow rate to be filled corresponding to the specified liquid level.

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for quantitatively filling beverages such as tea and mineral water and other liquids into various containers PB represented by PET bottles and bottles.

Conventionally, as a filling device for filling various containers PB with a liquid, for example, a device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known.
The filling device of Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that the filling nozzle is lowered to the lower limit position in the vicinity of the lower end in the container PB, and then the liquid is delivered from the filling nozzle while raising the filling nozzle. In Patent Document 1, when a liquid material is quantitatively filled into a PET bottle or a glass bottle having an upper constricted opening whose opening diameter becomes narrower at the upper part, the filling nozzle reaches the lower end position of the upper constricted mouth. The purpose of this is to solve the problem that if the filling flow rate is reduced to a low flow rate, the time required for filling the container PB with a fixed amount of liquid becomes long. That is, in Patent Document 1, after the filling nozzle reaches the lower end position of the upper constriction opening formed in the upper part of the container PB, the rising speed of the filling nozzle is adjusted without adjusting the filling flow rate of the liquid material. And the relative positional relationship between the liquid level of the liquid in the container PB is adjusted to be substantially constant. By doing so, it is said that the time required to finish filling a predetermined amount of liquid can be shortened.
However, the filling method in which the filling nozzle is inserted into the container PB as in Patent Document 1 can control the distance from the liquid surface to the filling nozzle to be substantially constant, thereby preventing bubbles from being caught in the filled liquid. Is preferable. However, from the viewpoint of hygiene, the filling method in which the filling nozzle is inserted into the container PB is not so often used.

  Conventionally, as this type of filling device, an air-driven flow rate adjusting valve has been used, but the air-driven flow rate adjusting valve has a problem that fine opening degree adjustment is difficult and opening / closing accuracy is inferior. Further, when the supply pressure from the filling liquid tank fluctuates over a certain range, the liquid level cannot be controlled, and there is a problem that bubbles are involved in the filling liquid or the liquid is insufficient. In order to solve this problem, Patent Document 2 proposes adjusting an opening / closing amount of a flow rate adjustment valve by PID control which is a kind of feedback control using an electric motor (servo motor).

JP 2002-37203 A JP 2010-126230 A

In the beverage industry, for example, a 500 ml container PB is required to be filled in a very short time of 4 seconds or less. In order to finish the filling in a short time, the liquid filling flow rate may be increased. However, the increase in the filling flow rate becomes a cause of bubble entrainment. Therefore, the filling flow rate cannot be simply increased.
Using feedback control as in Patent Document 2 is one means for obtaining an appropriate filling flow rate, but there is no time for feedback control of the electric motor in short-time filling within 4 seconds for a 500 ml container PB. This is the actual situation. Therefore, the filling device according to Patent Document 2 is not suitable for such short-time filling.
The present invention has been made based on such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid filling apparatus and method that can realize short-time filling using an electric motor. The object of the present invention is to further prevent entrainment of bubbles in such a liquid filling apparatus and method.

When the present inventor has studied to adopt feedforward control that controls the filling flow rate based on the liquid level calculated based on the filling amount into the container PB, it is sufficient for short-time filling that the present invention is intended for. It was confirmed that it can respond to.
In addition, the inventor does not insert a filling nozzle into the container PB, but fills the container PB with a liquid while maintaining the relative positional relationship between the filling nozzle disposed outside the container PB and the container PB. On the premise of (hereinafter referred to as nozzle stationary filling), studies were made to achieve the object of the present invention. As a result, in nozzle stationary filling, even if the filling flow rate is the same, the presence or absence of entrainment of bubbles differs depending on the height (liquid level) of the liquid level from the bottom of the filled liquid container PB, specifically, It has been found that the lower the liquid level, the more likely the bubbles are involved even if the filling flow rate is small, and vice versa, the higher the liquid level, the less likely the bubbles are involved. Therefore, by setting the liquid filling flow rate corresponding to the liquid level on the basis of this tendency, it is possible to realize short time filling without causing bubble entrainment.

The liquid filling apparatus of the present invention based on the above examination results includes a filling nozzle, an electric motor, a filling amount measuring unit, and a control unit.
The filling nozzle supplies the liquid toward the container PB via the flow rate adjustment valve while maintaining the relative position in the liquid filling direction with respect to the container PB.
The electric motor operates the flow rate adjustment valve of the filling nozzle.
The filling amount measuring unit measures the filling amount of the liquid supplied from the filling nozzle to the container PB.
The control unit specifies the liquid level of the liquid in the container PB based on the measured filling amount. The control unit controls the operation of the electric motor so as to obtain a filling flow rate corresponding to the specified liquid level.
In the present invention, the filling flow rate refers to the amount of liquid supplied per unit time, and the filling amount refers to the total amount of liquid supplied to the container PB. The amount of both can be taken as a volume or as a mass (weight).

In the present invention, at least the following two methods are listed as a method for the control unit to specify the liquid level.
In the first method, the liquid level is obtained while supplying the liquid to the container PB based on the measured filling amount and the container specification data. The container specification data here need only include, for example, at least the shape and dimensions of the container PB that contains the liquid. For example, if the weight is measured as the filling amount, the liquid level can be obtained by calculation based on the shape and dimensions of the container PB if the weight is known.
In the second method, the filling amount-liquid level data in which the filling amount and the liquid level in the container PB are associated is held in advance. When the control unit acquires the liquid filling amount from the filling amount measuring unit, the control unit can specify the liquid level at the filling amount with reference to the filling amount-liquid level data.
In both the first method and the second method, the control unit controls the operation of the electric motor so that a liquid filling flow rate corresponding to the specified liquid level is obtained.

In the liquid filling apparatus of the present invention, the control unit can specify the filling flow rate as follows.
The control unit holds liquid level-filling flow rate data in which the liquid level is associated with the filling flow rate at which the liquid can be filled without causing bubble entrainment at the liquid level. The control unit specifies the filling flow rate of the liquid filling the container PB by comparing the obtained liquid level with the liquid level-filling flow rate data.
In this liquid filling apparatus, liquid filling is performed according to the filling flow rate based on the liquid level-filling flow rate data, so that quick filling can be more reliably realized without causing bubble entrainment.

The liquid filling apparatus of the present invention can correspond to a plurality of types of containers PB having different specifications.
In this case, the controller stores the container specification data and the liquid level-filling flow rate data in association with each other for each of the plurality of types of containers PB. The control unit controls the filling flow rate for the container PB based on the container specification data and the liquid level-filling flow rate data corresponding to the container PB selected from the plurality of types of containers PB.
According to the present invention, even if the container PB filled with the liquid is changed to one having a different specification, the container specification data is provided for each of the plurality of types of containers PB, so that the liquid level in the container PB is accurately determined. Can be sought.
Similarly, the liquid filling device of the present invention can accommodate different types of liquids.
In this case, the control unit holds the liquid level-filling flow rate data in association with each other for each of the plurality of types of liquids. The control unit controls the filling flow rate for the liquid based on the liquid level-filling flow rate data corresponding to the liquid selected from the plurality of types of liquids.
According to the present invention, even if the liquid is changed to a different type, the liquid level-filling flow rate data is provided for each of the plurality of types of liquid, so that the liquid level in the liquid can be accurately obtained.

  The present invention also provides a liquid filling method for supplying a liquid toward the container PB from a filling nozzle in which the relative position in the liquid filling direction with respect to the container PB is maintained. In this liquid filling method, the flow adjustment valve of the filling nozzle is adjusted to be opened and closed by an electric motor, the filling amount of the liquid supplied from the filling nozzle to the container PB is measured, and the container is based on the measured filling amount. The liquid level in the PB is specified, and the operation of the electric motor is controlled so as to obtain a filling flow rate corresponding to the specified liquid level.

  According to the present invention, by setting the liquid filling flow rate according to the liquid level, rapid filling can be realized without causing entrainment of bubbles. In addition, the present invention controls the operation of the electric motor so that the liquid filling flow rate corresponding to the liquid level obtained by the calculation can be obtained, so that the filling time for the 500 ml container PB within 4 seconds can be accommodated. Control of the filling flow rate can be realized.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the drink filling equipment in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the liquid filling apparatus in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the filling nozzle in this Embodiment. The calculation formula which calculates | requires the liquid level of the liquid with which the container PB was filled in the calculating part is shown. The container PB to which the arithmetic expression shown in FIG. 4 is applied is shown. An example of the liquid level-filling flow rate data held in the data holding unit is shown. An experimental method for obtaining liquid level-filling flow rate data is shown. It is the table | surface which matched the presence or absence of bubble entrainment in association with the liquid level which increased the filling flow rate, and the increased filling flow rate. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the filling of the liquid to the container PB by a liquid filling apparatus. An example of the container specification data and liquid level-filling flow rate data held in the data holding unit is shown. An example of the filling amount-liquid level data hold | maintained at a holding | maintenance part is shown.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the beverage filling facility in the present embodiment includes a supply conveyor 01, a transfer wheel 02, a liquid filling device 03, a transfer wheel 04, a capper 05, a discharge wheel 06, and a discharge conveyor 07 as components. .
In this beverage filling facility, each of the transfer wheel 02, the liquid filling device 03, the transfer wheel 04, the capper 05, and the discharge wheel 06 has an outer peripheral portion so that the container PB (for example, a plastic bottle) can be conveyed while being gripped. Are provided with holders at equal intervals along the circumferential direction. As a result, the transfer wheel 02 to the discharge wheel 06 rotate, hold the container PB, convey it, and deliver it.

  For this reason, the container PB conveyed by the supply conveyor 01 is gripped by the holder of the transfer wheel 02 at the position A and conveyed from the position A to the position B. At the position B, the container PB is transferred from the transfer wheel 02 to the liquid filling device 03, held by the holder of the liquid filling device 03, and conveyed from the position B to the position C. When transported from the position B to the position C, the container PB is filled with the liquid via the filling nozzle provided in the liquid filling device 03.

  Further, the container PB is transferred from the liquid filling device 03 to the transfer wheel 04 at the position C, from the transfer wheel 04 to the capper 05 at the position D, from the capper 05 to the discharge wheel 06 at the position E, and to the discharge wheel 06 at the position F. Is delivered to the discharge conveyor 07 and conveyed. In the capper 05, capping for covering the container PB is performed.

Hereinafter, the liquid filling device 03 which is a characteristic part of the beverage filling device will be described with reference to FIG.
In the liquid filling device 03 shown in FIG. 2, the turning table T rotates in a horizontal plane around the turning axis C. A plurality of filling nozzles 1 and a plurality of holders 20 are arranged in pairs on the outer peripheral edge of the swivel table T at equal intervals along the circumferential direction.
A liquid storage tank 30 is disposed above the filling nozzle 1. The liquid storage tank 30 rotates synchronously with the filling nozzle 1 and the turntable T. The liquid storage tank 30 and each filling nozzle 1 are connected by a liquid supply pipe 40. The filling nozzle 1 pours the liquid L flowing down from its lower end into the container PB while maintaining the relative positional relationship in the filling direction of the liquid L with respect to the container PB, that is, the vertical direction. The arrangement of the liquid storage tank 30 is arbitrary, and the present invention naturally allows it to be placed at a position separated from the swivel table T. The details of the filling nozzle 1 will be described later.
The holder 20 is fixed to the swivel table T and holds the container PB at a position below the filling nozzle 1. A load cell 21 (filling amount measuring unit) is assembled to the holder 20 and the weight of the liquid L to be filled can be measured. The weight of the liquid L can be measured by resetting the weight of the container PB to zero by calibration. The measurement data obtained by the load cell 21 is output toward the control unit 50 (calculation unit 51). Note that the present invention allows the filling amount to be measured by a flow meter 41 that measures the volume of the liquid L that passes through instead of the load cell 21.
A liquid L such as a beverage to be filled in the container PB is stored inside the liquid storage tank 30. Further, in the interior of the liquid storage tank 30, in the space above the stored liquid L, a gas such as carbon dioxide is stored for a carbonated beverage and nitrogen gas is stored for a non-carbonated beverage. To prevent deterioration.
The liquid supply pipe 40 has an upper end communicating with the liquid storage tank 30 and a downstream end communicating with the liquid supply pipe 11 c of the filling nozzle 1 to connect the liquid storage tank 30 and the filling nozzle 1. .

As shown in FIG. 3, in the filling nozzle 1, the valve main body 11 is connected to the electric cylinder 3 (electric motor) by the coupling structure 2 and the shaft coupling 17, and the liquid supply pipe 40 from the liquid storage tank 30 is connected to the filling nozzle 1. It is connected to the liquid supply pipe 11c.
The filling nozzle 1 includes a lower valve discharge port 11a of the valve body 11, an upper valve shaft guide 11d, an intermediate valve mounting flange 11b, and a liquid supply pipe 11c. The rod 13, the throttle 14, and the movable valve body 15 are incorporated so as to be movable in the axial direction. The upper end of the valve shaft 10 is tightly coupled to the rod shaft 32 of the electric cylinder 3 by a shaft coupling 17.

Since the electric cylinder 3 is known in various configurations, the details thereof are omitted here. For example, a rotary motor that converts a rotary motion of a motor such as a servo motor into a linear motion by a ball screw, or a nut by using a hollow motor. Generally, a screw type shaft (rod) is converted into a linear motion by rotating the side.
The electric cylinder 3 includes a cylinder body 31 and a rod shaft 32. For example, the above-described servo motor is provided in the cylinder body 31, and the ball screw and the rod shaft 32 for converting the rotational motion of the servo motor into a linear motion are tightly coupled. The electric cylinder 3 can control the advance / retreat position and advance / retreat speed of the rod shaft 32 by controlling the rotational position and speed of the servo motor. Since the movable valve body 15 is connected to the rod shaft 32 via the valve shaft 10 or the like, the electric cylinder 3 can control the advance / retreat position and advance / retreat speed of the movable valve body 15. The driving of the electric cylinder 3 is controlled by a control unit 50 described later.

The movable valve body 15 is in contact with a fixed valve seat 11e provided immediately above the valve discharge port 11a, or is opposed to the fixed valve seat 11e with a gap therebetween, whereby a filling liquid passage through which a filling liquid such as a beverage is supplied via the liquid supply pipe 11c. A function of the flow rate adjusting valve 5 for adjusting the opening degree of 18 is provided.
The valve rod 13 is a shaft-like component having a movable valve element 15 at the lower end and a throttle 14 at the upper end, and is tightly connected to the valve shaft 10 by, for example, screwing.

  The filling nozzle 1 can control the position of the movable valve body 15 relative to the fixed valve seat 11 e by driving the electric cylinder 3. When filling with the filling liquid, the movable valve body 15 is separated from the fixed valve seat 11e. Among them, when the filling flow rate is reduced, the movable valve body 15 is moved closer to the fixed valve seat 11e, and when the filling flow rate is increased, the movable valve body 15 is moved away from the fixed valve seat 11e. The main purpose of the present embodiment is to change the distance from the movable valve body 15 to the fixed valve seat 11e in accordance with the liquid level of the liquid L, but the viscosity of the liquid L (liquid type) filled in the container PB. It is also adjusted by. That is, when the same filling flow rate is obtained, the filling liquid with low viscosity moves the movable valve body 15 closer to the fixed valve seat 11e, and the filling liquid with high viscosity moves the movable valve body 15 away from the fixed valve seat 11e. Therefore, the distance from the movable valve body 15 to the fixed valve seat 11e is adjusted. As described above, the filling nozzle 1 fills the liquid L while appropriately adjusting the position of the movable valve body 15.

According to the filling nozzle 1 in which the driving source of the movable valve body 15 is the electric cylinder 3, the driving speed of the movable valve body 15 can be easily changed, so that an arbitrary filling flow rate can be set quickly. Further, since the movable valve body 15 can be easily stopped at an arbitrary position, the filling flow rate can be set in multiple stages. Therefore, the filling nozzle 1 can easily and quickly cope with various filling conditions, and this makes it possible to realize the filling flow rate control by the liquid level, which will be described later.
Further, in the conventional filling nozzle using a pneumatic cylinder, a response delay occurs in each valve, and it is difficult to control the filling flow rate flexibly. In addition, when used for a long time, dust may enter the orifice in the pneumatic cylinder, and the drive of the movable valve body 15 may be supported. Then, the container PB may be discharged from the filling device without being filled with the specified amount of filling liquid. On the other hand, the filling nozzle 1 uses the electric cylinder 3 as a drive source for the movable valve body 15 and does not require an air supply facility.

The liquid filling device 03 includes a control unit 50.
The controller 50 controls the flow rate of the liquid L that fills the container PB from the filling nozzle 1 by adjusting the operation of the electric cylinder 3 that is the drive source of the movable valve body 15. The control unit 50 that executes this control includes a calculation unit 51, a data holding unit 52, and an instruction unit 53.

  The calculation unit 51 calculates the liquid level of the liquid L filled in the container PB by calculation. The calculation unit 51 (control unit 50) acquires data (liquid weight data) related to the weight of the container PB output from the load cell 21. In addition, the calculation unit 51 acquires the container specification data and the liquid level-filling flow rate data for the container PB from the data holding unit 52.

When the calculation unit 51 sets the position of the surface of the liquid L filled in the container PB from the bottom surface of the container PB, that is, the liquid level to h _L , the calculation unit 51 calculates the liquid level h _{L according} to the equation (1) shown in FIG. Can be sought.
Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the container PB is divided into n equal parts with a minute interval Δh in the height direction, and each divided section is divided into d1, d2,..., Dn from below the container PB. And Each of the cross sections d1, d2,..., Dn has a circular opening, and the area of the opening is a1, a2,. Then, the weight W1 of the liquid L filled from the lowermost surface of the container PB to the cross section d1 is obtained by the equation (2) shown in FIG. 4, and is filled from the lowermost surface of the container PB to the uppermost cross section dn. The total weight W of the liquid L filled in the container PB is obtained by the equation (3) shown in FIG. Since Δh is H / n, the weight W (t) of the liquid L filled from the bottom surface of the container PB to an arbitrary position (liquid level) h _L (t) in the height direction is shown in FIG. It can be obtained from equation (4). From the formula (4), the position h _L (t) is expressed by the formula (5) shown in FIG. 4. If the weight W (t) of the liquid L filled in the container PB is known, the container PB The liquid level of the liquid L can be determined. In the formula (5), the weight W (t) is equivalent to the measurement data from the load cell 21 in the formula (1), and the portion related to the container PB is the container of the formula (1) as shown in the formula (6) shown in FIG. It is equivalent to the specification data A. The container specification data A is held in advance in the data holding unit 52.
As described above, the calculation unit 51 uses the container specification data A held by the data holding unit 52 by acquiring the liquid weight data (filling amount) of the liquid L filled in the container PB from the load cell 21. Thereby, the estimated value of the liquid level corresponding to the weight can be obtained by calculation based on the equation (1).

  When the beverage filling facility of the present embodiment fills the liquid L into a plurality of types of containers PB having different specifications, the container holding data for each container PB is held in the data holding unit 52. Prior to filling with the liquid L, the calculation unit 51 acquires the container specification data from the data holding unit 52 by selecting the container specification data corresponding to the container PB filled with the liquid L. The liquid level can be determined. In this regard, an example of container specification data will be described later.

Next, the computing unit 51 specifies the filling flow rate corresponding to the liquid level based on the liquid level and the liquid level-filling flow rate data obtained as described above.
An example of the liquid level-filling flow rate data held in the data holding unit 52 is shown in FIG. The liquid level-filling flow rate data is data in which the liquid level is associated with the filling flow rate of the liquid L in which bubbles are not entrained at the liquid level. If the liquid L is filled at the filling flow rate in the lower area where hatching is applied from the liquid level-filling flow rate curve of FIG. 6, no bubbles are involved. In particular, if the filling flow rate on the liquid level-filling flow rate curve is adopted, filling can be completed in the shortest time without causing bubble entrainment.
When the liquid level is obtained based on the equation (1), the calculation unit 51 compares the liquid level-filling flow rate data shown in FIG. 6 and specifies the filling flow rate corresponding to the liquid level.

The instruction unit 53 operates the movable valve body 15 via the electric cylinder 3 based on the filling flow rate specified by the calculation unit 51. Specifically, the instruction unit 53 holds opening degree data of the filling nozzle 1 corresponding to the filling flow rate, and the filling nozzle corresponding to the filling flow rate is obtained by acquiring the filling flow rate specified by the calculation unit 51. 1 is specified, and the electric cylinder 3 is operated based on the opening.
In addition, the instruction unit 53 holds data regarding the total weight (set filling amount) of the liquid L to be finally filled in one container PB, and acquires liquid weight data from the load cell 21. When the instruction unit 53 compares the liquid weight data with the set filling amount and detects that the filling of the liquid L into the container PB has been performed until the set filling amount is reached, the instruction unit 53 operates the electric cylinder 3 to fill the filling nozzle. 1 is instructed to close at a predetermined time.

Here, an example of an effective technique for obtaining the liquid level-filling flow rate data will be introduced with reference to FIG.
[conditions]
The container PB (for example, a pet pot having a capacity of 500 ml) is filled with the liquid L (for example, mineral water) at a filling flow rate (for example, 50 ml) to the extent that the liquid level does not fluctuate up to the prescribed liquid level described below.
Specified liquid level = 30, 50, 60, 80, 100, 120mm
When the specified liquid level is reached, it is increased to the predetermined filling flow rate described below.
Predetermined filling flow rate = 100 to 300 ml / sec.
The maximum and minimum values of the liquid level immediately after increasing the filling flow rate were read, and the liquid level fluctuation amount was determined as follows.
Liquid level fluctuation amount = Liquid level maximum value−Liquid level minimum value As a result, the lower the liquid level, the larger the liquid level fluctuation amount, and the larger the increasing filling flow rate, the larger the liquid level fluctuation amount. confirmed. For example, when the liquid level was 30 mm, the liquid level fluctuation amount was 25 mm when the filling flow rate was increased to 100 ml / sec, and the liquid level fluctuation amount was 50 mm when the filling flow rate was increased to 150 ml / sec.

Moreover, the bubble entrainment state immediately after increasing the filling flow rate was observed.
FIG. 8 summarizes the presence or absence of entrainment of bubbles in association with the liquid level with an increased filling flow rate and the increased filling flow rate. As shown in FIG. 8, there is a boundary where no bubble entrainment occurs with respect to the liquid level with the increased filling flow rate and the increased filling flow rate. FIG. 8 shows that in order to complete the filling of the liquid L in the shortest time without causing bubble entrainment, the liquid L is filled at the maximum filling flow rate (critical filling flow rate) at which the bubble entrainment does not occur. It suggests that you should do. For example, when the liquid level is 30 mm, the filling flow rate is 100 ml, when the liquid level is 60 mm, the filling flow rate is 150 ml, and when the liquid level is 100 mm, the filling flow rate is 175 ml. If the flow rate is controlled, the filling of the liquid L can be completed in the shortest time without causing bubble entrainment. In this way, the liquid level-filling flow rate data can be obtained from FIG. 8, and this liquid level-filling flow rate data is held in the data holding unit 52 of the control unit 50. Note that the liquid level fluctuation amount corresponding to the critical filling flow rate, that is, the critical liquid level fluctuation amount is as shown in FIG. 8, and the filling flow rate can be controlled using this as a scale.

  The liquid level-filling flow rate data may vary depending on the type of the liquid L and the specification of the container PB filled with the liquid L. Therefore, when the beverage filling facility of the present embodiment supports different types of liquid L and containers PB of different specifications, the liquid level-filling flow rate data corresponding to the types of liquid L and specifications of the containers PB is retained. It is necessary to hold the part 52. And the calculating part 51 specifies a filling flow volume based on the said liquid level-filling flow volume data.

Next, the procedure of filling the liquid P into the container PB by the liquid filling device 03 will be described with reference to FIG.
Filling of the liquid L is started on the condition that the container PB is transported to a predetermined filling position (position B in FIG. 1) of the liquid filling apparatus 03 (S101 in FIG. 9).
When the filling of the liquid L starts, the calculation unit 51 of the control unit 50 acquires the liquid weight data output from the load cell 21 and acquires the container specification data and the liquid level-filling flow rate data from the data holding unit 52 ( FIG. 9 S103, S105, S107).

  The calculating unit 51 uses the obtained liquid weight data and container specification data to calculate the liquid level at the liquid weight (S109 in FIG. 9). This calculation is performed based on the equations (1) to (6) shown in FIG.

  Next, the calculation unit 51 specifies the filling flow rate corresponding to the liquid level based on the obtained liquid level and the liquid level-filling flow rate data (S111 in FIG. 9). Data regarding the filling flow rate is sent from the calculation unit 51 to the instruction unit 53. The instruction unit 53 operates the electric cylinder 3 so that the flow rate of the liquid L discharged from the filling nozzle 1 toward the container PB coincides with the filling flow rate specified by the calculation unit 51, and thereby the fixed valve seat 11e is operated. The position of the movable valve body 15, that is, the opening degree of the filling nozzle 1 is adjusted (S113 in FIG. 9).

The above procedure (S103 to S113) is continuously performed until the set filling weight is reached (S115 No in FIG. 9). By doing so, liquid filling can be performed in a short time without causing bubble entrainment.
On the other hand, when the set filling weight is reached, the instruction unit 53 instructs the electric cylinder 3 to close the filling nozzle 1 (FIG. 9 S115 Yes, FIG. 9 S117).
Thus, when the container PB filled with the liquid L is transported to the predetermined filling position (position C in FIG. 1) of the liquid filling apparatus 03, the filling process of the liquid L is completed (S119 in FIG. 9).

According to the embodiment described above, feed-forward control that controls the filling flow rate according to the liquid level calculated based on the filling amount of the liquid L into the container PB is adopted. Filling can be completed quickly.
Moreover, since this embodiment calculates | requires a liquid level by calculating while supplying the liquid L to the container PB based on the measured filling amount and container specification data, even if the container PB to be filled is changed, The liquid level can be accurately obtained simply by holding the container specification data corresponding to it and selecting it.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the filling of the liquid L that fills the container PB based on the liquid level-filling flow rate data in which the liquid level and the filling flow rate that can be filled with the liquid L without causing bubble entrainment are associated. Since the flow rate is specified, quick filling can be more reliably realized without causing entrainment of bubbles.

Although the said embodiment demonstrated one kind of container PB and one kind of liquid L as object, this invention can respond even if there are multiple types of both the container PB and the liquid L. FIG.
Suppose that the containers PB to be processed are containers A, B,..., N, and the liquids L to be filled are liquid α, liquid β, and liquid γ. As shown in FIG. 10, the data holding unit 52 holds container specification data corresponding to the containers A, B,. Further, the data holding unit 52 holds the liquid level-filling flow rate data corresponding to the container A, the container B,..., The container N for each liquid L (liquid type). Then, the control unit 50 has a function of selecting the container PB and the liquid L. Then, prior to performing the processing by the beverage filling device, the container PB filled with the liquid L is selected from the container A, the container B,..., The container N, and the filled liquid L is the liquid α, By selecting from the liquid β and the liquid γ, the container specification data and the liquid level-filling flow rate data acquired by the calculation unit 51 can be specified according to the container type and the liquid type.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although a liquid level is specified based on the measured filling amount and container specification data, this invention is not limited to this. For example, the data holding unit 52 holds the filling amount-liquid level data in which the filling amount and the liquid level of the container PB filled with the liquid L are associated with each other in advance. In the filling amount-liquid level data, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the filling amount and the liquid level are associated with each container PB. When the calculation unit 51 acquires the filling amount from the load cell 21, the liquid level at the filling amount can be specified by comparing the filling amount-liquid level data.
The method of specifying the liquid level by calculation based on the measured filling amount and container specification data has the advantage that the amount of data held in the data holding unit 52 can be reduced, while referring to the filling amount-liquid level data. Since the method for specifying the liquid level is referred from the data table (for example, FIG. 11), there is an advantage that the liquid level can be specified quickly because it is not necessary to perform an operation.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, although the example which changes a filling flow rate continuously according to a liquid level was shown, this invention is not limited to this, A filling flow rate is changed in steps. Allow that. However, continuously changing the filling flow rate is advantageous for filling the liquid L at a filling flow rate that reflects the critical filling flow rate.
In addition to this, as long as it does not depart from the gist of the present invention, the configuration described in the above embodiment can be selected or changed to another configuration as appropriate.

PB Container 01 Supply conveyor 02 Transfer wheel 03 Liquid filling device 04 Transfer wheel 05 Capper 06 Discharge wheel 07 Discharge conveyor 1 Filling nozzle 2 Coupling structure 3 Electric cylinder 5 Flow rate adjusting valve T Turning table 10 Valve shaft 11 Valve body 11a Valve discharge port 11b Valve mounting flange 11c Supply pipe 11d Valve shaft guide 11e Fixed valve seat 13 Valve body rod 15 Movable valve body 17 Shaft joint 18 Filling liquid passage 20 Holder 21 Load cell 30 Liquid storage tank 31 Cylinder body 32 Rod shaft 40 Liquid supply pipe 50 Control unit 51 Calculation unit 52 Data holding unit 53 Instruction unit

Claims (10)

A filling nozzle for supplying the liquid toward the container PB via a flow rate adjustment valve while maintaining a relative position in the liquid filling direction with respect to the container PB;
An electric motor for operating the flow regulating valve;
A filling amount measuring unit for measuring a filling amount of the liquid supplied from the filling nozzle to the container PB;
A control unit that specifies the liquid level of the liquid in the container PB based on the measured filling amount, and controls the operation of the electric motor so as to obtain a filling flow rate corresponding to the specified liquid level;
A liquid filling apparatus comprising: Based on the measured filling amount and container specification data, the liquid level is obtained while supplying the liquid to the container PB.
The liquid filling apparatus according to claim 1. Based on the measured filling amount and the filling amount-liquid level data in which the filling amount and the liquid level of the container PB are associated with each other, the liquid level is obtained while supplying the liquid to the container PB.
The liquid filling apparatus according to claim 1. The controller is
Holding the liquid level-filling flow rate data in which the liquid level and the filling flow rate at which the liquid can be filled without causing entrainment of bubbles at the liquid level;
The filling flow rate is identified by comparing the obtained liquid level with the liquid level-filling flow rate data.
The liquid filling apparatus according to claim 2 or 3. The controller is
The container specification data and the liquid level-filling flow rate data are stored in association with each other for each of the plurality of types of containers PB,
Based on the container specification data corresponding to the container PB selected from the plurality of types of the containers PB and the liquid level-filling flow rate data, the filling flow rate for the container PB is controlled.
The liquid filling apparatus according to claim 4. The controller is
The liquid level-filling flow rate data is associated and held for each of the plurality of types of liquids,
Controlling a filling flow rate for the liquid based on the liquid level-filling flow rate data corresponding to a liquid selected from a plurality of types of the liquid;
The liquid filling apparatus according to claim 4 or 5. A liquid filling method for supplying the liquid toward the container PB from a filling nozzle in which the relative position in the liquid filling direction with respect to the container PB is maintained,
The flow adjustment valve of the filling nozzle is adjusted to open and close by an electric motor,
Measure the filling amount of the liquid supplied from the filling nozzle to the container PB,
Specifying the liquid level of the liquid in the container PB based on the measured filling amount, and controlling the operation of the electric motor so as to obtain a filling flow rate corresponding to the specified liquid level,
A liquid filling method characterized by the above. Based on the measured filling amount and container specification data, the liquid level is obtained while supplying the liquid to the container PB.
The liquid filling method according to claim 7. Based on the measured filling amount and the filling amount-liquid level data in which the filling amount and the liquid level of the container PB are associated with each other, the liquid level is obtained while supplying the liquid to the container PB.
The liquid filling method according to claim 7. Holding the liquid level-filling flow rate data in which the liquid level and the filling flow rate at which the liquid can be filled without causing entrainment of bubbles at the liquid level;
The filling flow rate is identified by comparing the obtained liquid level with the liquid level-filling flow rate data.
The liquid filling method according to claim 8 or 9.

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