JP2014237458A - Liquid filling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid filling device usable also for a different diameter container, and usable also for gas-containing liquid and no gas-containing liquid, and suppressing the occurrence of liquid splash and liquid scatter when filling liquid.SOLUTION: A liquid filling device 1 includes: a liquid storage tank 5 for storing gas-containing liquid or no gas-containing liquid; a liquid supply pipe 10 communicated with the liquid layer of the liquid storage tank 5; a flow quantity switching valve 3 for switching a liquid flow quantity, provided in the middle of the liquid supply pipe 10; and a filling valve 2 provided with a liquid passage 16 communicated with the liquid supply pipe 10, and a valve body 3p opening/closing the liquid passage 16. The liquid filling device 1 is formed to switch from adapting the flow quantity switching valve 3 to high-speed filling in the case of hermetically sealing the container in the filling port of the filling valve 2 followed by filling the gas-containing liquid or no gas-containing liquid, and to adapting the flow quantity switching valve 3 to low-speed filling in the case of separating the container from the filling port of the filling valve 2 followed by filling the no gas-containing liquid.

Description

    The present invention relates to a liquid filling apparatus for filling a container with a liquid.

Conventionally, in a rotary type liquid filling apparatus that fills a container with a liquid, a filling valve that fills the container with a liquid is arranged on the circumference equally, and a conveying device that holds and conveys the container corresponding to each filling valve is provided. There is known an apparatus that can be used from a small container body diameter (or a large container diameter) to a large container body diameter. (Patent Document 1)
On the other hand, there is known a liquid filling apparatus that can be used for both filling with gas-filled liquid and gas-free liquid with little mold change. (Patent Documents 2 and 3)

  In recent years, with the diversification of consumer preferences, the types of liquids to be filled have increased, and the frequency of mold change between gas-filled liquids and gas-free liquids has increased. Can be filled without changing the mold, and can be used for both the small and large container body diameter (or container diameter) without changing the mold. There is a growing demand for liquid filling devices.

JP 2010-76915 A (FIG. 2) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-289415 (FIG. 1) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-40511 (FIG. 1)

  According to Patent Document 1, a container is gripped by a movable arm that opens and closes with a fixed acceleration arm and a fixed shaft as fulcrums, and the shape of the container gripping portion of the fixed acceleration arm and the movable arm is changed from a small diameter to a large diameter of the container. As a shape that can be accommodated, it is also used for different diameter containers.

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since one end of the container body to be gripped is shifted to the fixed arm side, the container center is shifted between the small diameter and the large diameter, and the container center and the filling valve center coincide with each other. May not. In this case, if filling is performed in a non-seal state where the container port is separated from the filling valve, liquid splashes and splashes when the liquid is filled from the filling valve, and the liquid adheres to the container mouth and the filling nozzle port. This may lead to contamination such as generation of mold.

  According to Patent Document 2, a liquid storage tank that stores gas in two layers of gas and liquid, a liquid supply pipe that supplies liquid from the liquid layer of the liquid storage tank via a flow meter and a flow rate adjustment valve, A filling valve for supplying the liquid to the liquid, and a part of the lower part of the filling valve is configured to be detachable, and can be attached to and detached from either the gas-filled liquid or the gas-free liquid. The combined use is enabled.

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 2, since a part of the lower part of the filling valve is configured to be detachable, a mold changing part is required, and it takes time to change the mold, which may reduce the production efficiency and cost. There is a fear that will become high. In addition, there is no technical disclosure on the handling of small and large diameter containers (corresponding to different diameter containers).

  In view of the circumstances described above, the present invention provides a liquid filling apparatus that can be used as a different diameter container, can be used as both a gas-filled liquid and a gas-free liquid, and does not cause liquid splashing or liquid jumping during liquid filling. It is intended to provide.

The present invention solves the above problems by the following means.
The liquid filling apparatus of the present invention is a liquid filling apparatus that is used for filling liquids into containers of different diameters and is used for both filling with gas and filling with no gas. A liquid storage tank for storing the gas-containing liquid or the gas-free liquid, a liquid supply pipe communicating with the liquid layer of the liquid storage tank, and a flow rate switching for switching a liquid flow rate provided in the middle of the liquid supply pipe A filling valve provided with a valve, a liquid passage communicating with the liquid supply pipe, and a valve body that opens and closes the liquid passage, and the container is hermetically sealed to a filling port of the filling valve to fill the gas-filled liquid or the gas When filling with no liquid, the flow rate switching valve is adapted for high speed filling, and when the container is separated from the filling port of the filling valve and filled with no gas liquid, the flow rate switching valve is switched for low speed filling. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, in the liquid filling apparatus, a flow rate switching valve for switching between high-speed filling or low-speed filling is provided in the middle of the liquid supply pipe from the liquid storage tank to the filling valve, and the container is hermetically sealed at the filling port of the filling valve. When the gas-filled liquid or the gas-free liquid is filled, the flow rate switching valve is adapted for high-speed filling. When filling the gasless liquid in a non-sealed state in which the container is separated from the filling port of the filling valve, the flow rate switching valve is switched to the low-speed filling. As a result, when filling the container with the gas-free liquid in the non-sealed state, even if the center of the filling valve and the center of the container may not match, the filling speed from the filling valve to the container is reduced due to the low-speed filling, At the time of liquid filling, there is an effect that liquid splashing and liquid jumping do not occur.

It is the fragmentary top view of the line which has arrange | positioned the liquid filling apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention, and is made into a partially cutaway view. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a front view of the liquid filling apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention, and is a partial cross section figure, The filling valve has shown the closed state. In the liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the filling valve is in an open state and the container is separated from the filling valve, and a part of the illustration is omitted. In the liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the filling valve is in an open state, and the container is hermetically sealed by the filling valve, which corresponds to FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the symbol 40 (container body gripping means) in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. In addition, constituent elements in the following embodiments include those that can be easily assumed by those skilled in the art or those that are substantially the same.

(Embodiment of the Invention)
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a line in which a liquid filling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is arranged, and is a partially cut view.
FIG. 2 is a front view of the liquid filling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, which is a partial cross-sectional view, showing the filling valve in a closed state.
FIG. 3 shows a state in which the filling valve is open and the container is separated from the filling valve in the liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and a part of the illustration is omitted.
4 shows a state in which the filling valve is open and the container is hermetically sealed by the filling valve in the liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and corresponds to FIG.
5 is an enlarged plan view of the symbol 40 (container body gripping means) in FIG.

  In FIG. 1, an empty container (hereinafter, referred to as a can as an example of a container, which may be referred to as a can) C transported in the direction of arrow F1 by a supply conveyor 51 is set at a predetermined interval by a timing screw 51S. A container stand corresponding to the filling valve 2 that is evacuated and is equally provided on the rotating disk 54 of the rotary liquid filling apparatus 1 at the illustrated position 56 via the star wheel 53 (hereinafter, the container is a can) A container body gripping means (hereinafter also referred to as a can body gripping means in the case where the container is a can) 40 is fed onto the body part 44 (which may be referred to as a can base). Hereinafter, the container 58 may be referred to as a can body) and is filled with the liquid by the filling valve 2 while the rotating disk 54 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 1a, and then the illustrated position 58 is obtained. Can torso gripping hands So that the gradually discharged from the can base 44 to the conveyor 52 by a fixing accelerator arm 41 to be described later of 40.

The cans C discharged to the conveyor 52 are kept at a predetermined pitch by a finger chain 52F of the conveyor 52, taken into a can seamer (not shown) in the direction of arrow F2, and a can lid (not shown) is wound up.
Here, the pitch interval of the finger chain 52F is set larger than the pitch interval of the filling valve 2 of the liquid filling apparatus 1 in relation to the pitch interval of a can seamer (not shown).

First, the can body gripping means 40 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The can body gripping means 40 is rotated in a hole in the support portion 45 by two fixed acceleration arms 41 attached to the support portion 45 assembled to the rotating disk 54 shown in FIG. It is mainly composed of a movable arm 46 attached to the upper part of the free shaft 47.
The can table 44 is attached to the support portion 45.
Here, in FIG. 5, the case of the small diameter of the can body to be handled is shown by a solid line can SC, and the case of the large diameter of the can body to be handled is shown by a two-dot chain line can LC. In some cases, the small and large cans of the can body to be handled may be referred to as can C, including can SC and can LC.

The movable arm 46 swings in a direction to sandwich the can C by closing to the fixed acceleration arm 41 side by the biasing force of a spring body (not shown) when the can C is gripped with the shaft 47 as a fulcrum. When releasing, the swinging mechanism (not shown) is configured to swing in the opening direction from the fixed acceleration arm 41 side against the bias of the spring body.
Here, the urging force of the spring body sandwiches the body portion of the can C in such a light state that the can C is not moved by the centrifugal force when the rotating disk 54 shown in FIG. 1 rotates.

The fixed acceleration arm 41 has a radius of curvature suitable for the case of the small diameter of the can body handled by the curved portion 411 (in the case of the can SC), and when the can body to be handled has a large diameter (in the case of the can LC). Is shaped to be engaged at two points as shown.
On the other hand, the movable arm 46 has a shape having a curved portion 461 so that the trunk portion is engaged in the vicinity of the distal end portion 462 in the case of the can SC or the can LC as shown in the figure. It has become.
For this reason, the center LCc of the can LC held by the can body gripping means 40 and the center SCc of the can SC are not concentric.
In addition, although the description about the said curved part 411 and the bending part 461 demonstrated the shape of the can barrel to handle as two types, a small diameter and a large diameter, for convenience of explanation, it is maximum from the minimum diameter of the can barrel to handle. A shape suitable for the range up to the diameter may be used, and the purpose of the different diameter container is the same, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 5 shows a state where the can SC or can LC is sandwiched between the fixed acceleration arm 41 and the movable arm 46 indicated by a solid line or a two-dot chain line and the body is gripped.
FIG. 5 shows the case where the center LCc of the can LC and the center 2c of the filling valve 2 described later are concentric, and the center SCc of the can SC and the center 2c of the filling valve 2 described later are eccentric. ing.

Next, the filling valve 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The filling valve 2 has a liquid passage 16, and is disposed inside the inner cylinder 15 integrally formed with the valve body 19 fixed to the rotating disk 54 shown in FIG. 1, and the inner cylinder 15. The liquid valve 14 has a liquid valve packing 14p that opens and closes the liquid passage 16 by being separated from the 15 liquid valve seal surface 15s, and the liquid is supplied from the filling nozzle port 15f of the liquid passage 16 below the liquid valve opening and closing portion. The can C (filled can SC shown in the figure or canned LC shown in the two-dot chain line shown in the figure) is filled. (In FIGS. 2 and 3, the can SC and the can LC are decentered and the right side of the figure is in a substantially overlapping position.)

  The filling liquid passage 16 is connected to a liquid supply pipe 10 that communicates with the liquid layer 5L of the liquid storage tank 5 that stores gas-filled liquid or gas-free liquid, and passes in the middle of the liquid supply pipe 10. A flow meter 4 for measuring the liquid flow rate and a flow rate switching valve 3 for switching the liquid flow rate are provided, and a predetermined amount of liquid is supplied from the liquid storage tank 5.

  The switching valve 3 has a liquid passage hole 3hb open, and when the valve body 3p operated by an actuator (not shown) moves in the direction of the arrow 3f to open the liquid passage hole 3ha. When the liquid passes through the hole 3ha as shown in the illustrated flow Fa and through the hole 3hb as shown in the illustrated flow Fb, the flow rate becomes large (corresponding to high-speed filling), and the valve body 3p moves in the direction opposite to the arrow 3f. When the hole 3ha of the liquid flow path is closed, the liquid passes through only the hole 3hb as shown by the flow Fb in the figure, so that the flow rate is small (corresponding to low speed filling).

As shown in the figure, the liquid valve 14 is connected to a movable portion of an actuator 25 attached to a mount 26 on the housing 27 via a housing 27 that is liquid-tightly fixed to the valve body 19 at the top. The liquid valve packing 14p is separated from the liquid valve seal surface 15s by moving up and down by the operation of the actuator 25. The liquid valve 14 slides in a liquid-tight manner with respect to the housing 27.
The liquid valve 14 is provided with four rectifying blades 14v for liquid rectification.

  An outer cylinder 17 is airtightly attached to the lower part of the valve body 19 on the outer peripheral side of the inner cylinder 15, and a gap 17 c is formed between the outer peripheral side of the inner cylinder 15 and the inner peripheral side of the outer cylinder 17. When the gas-filled liquid is filled, it becomes a counter passage, the gap 17c is connected to the pipe 31, and the pressurized gas in the liquid storage tank 5 is supplied to the 17c and the outer cylinder 17 via the on-off valve 31v. The counter gas is supplied into the can C through a hole 17h provided in the lower part on the inner peripheral side. As will be described later, when the gasless liquid is filled, the gap 17c and the hole 17h also serve as a vent passage.

Inside the cylindrical portion of the outer cylinder 17 is a seal packing 12p that is sealingly engaged with the can mouth portion of the can C on the can base 44 (in the drawing, the can mouth portion SC1 of the can SC or the can mouth portion LC1 of the can LC). The centering bell 12 has an outer peripheral surface hermetically sealed with the outer diameter side inside the cylindrical portion of the outer cylinder 17 and slides in the vertical direction by a vertical movement of a roller 28r and the like which will be described later. And then comes up and down.
The inclined seal surface 12pa that seals and seals the can mouth portion of the seal packing 12p is centered as described later for both the can mouth portion SC1 and the can mouth portion LC1 to be handled, and can be sealed and sealed in an appropriate state. It has a wide inclination angle and width.

  A gap 17g is formed between the inner peripheral part of the centering bell 12 and the inner diameter side inside the cylindrical part of the outer cylinder 17, and the gap 17g accumulates in the can C after filling with gas-filled liquid. The pressure gas passes through the hole 17v provided in the outer cylinder 17, the pipe 32, and the on-off valve 32v so that the pressure gas is sniffed (discharged).

The centering bell 12 is provided with a hook 21 made of a spring material in the groove 12g, a flange 22 is fitted between the step 12s of the centering bell 12 and the hook 21, and the lower portion of the guide shaft 28 is fastened. It is fastened to the flange 22 by a tool 28m.
Further, the guide shaft 28 is engaged with a cam (not shown) by a roller (cam follower) 28r rotatably attached to a shaft attached to a bracket 28c fixedly attached to the guide shaft 28. And is guided to a sliding guide (not shown) fitted to a guide plate 29 attached to a fixed frame (not shown) and a sliding guide (not shown) fitted to the flange 19 f of the valve body 19. It has come to be.
The cam (not shown) is provided in a predetermined section of rotation in the direction of arrow 1a shown in FIG. 1 in the liquid filling apparatus 1, and the guide is disposed in a predetermined section after the filling of the can C by the filling valve 2 is completed. The cam trajectory is set so as to raise the shaft 28.

  Further, the upper portion of the guide shaft 28 is fastened to the plate 24 by a fastening tool 28n. An actuator 23 is attached to the guide plate 29 via a bracket 23b, and the guide shaft 28 is moved up and down via the shaft 23s and the plate 24 by the operation of the actuator 23.

  The filling valve 2 can be positioned by raising and lowering to an appropriate position according to the height of the can C by an elevating drive device (not shown). That is, the bottom of the can C is placed on the can base 44 whose height position is fixed, and the height position of the filling valve 2 corresponding to the height of the can C is not shown in the elevation drive device (not shown). Positioning is performed by the above.

Next, the operation of the liquid filling apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
First, the effect | action which hold | grips the trunk | drum part of the can C about the can body gripping means 40 is demonstrated.
While the rotating disk 54 rotates from the position 55 shown in FIG. 1 to the position 56 by synchronous rotation with the star wheel 53, the can C conveyed by the star wheel 53 and the can body gripping means 40 are engaged, At the position 56, the movable arm 46 swings from the opening direction to the closing direction and holds the can C therebetween.

The can C gripped by the can body gripping means 40 at the position 56 is filled with the liquid from the filling valve 2 during the rotation from the position 56 to the position 57.
Here, for convenience of explanation, a case where the can SC is first filled with a gas-filled liquid will be described with reference to FIG.
When filling the can SC with the gas-filled liquid, when the can SC is near the position 56 shown in FIG. 1, the guide shaft 28 is lowered via the roller 28r and the bracket 28c engaged and guided by a cam (not shown). When the centering bell 12 that moves up and down integrally with the guide shaft 28 is lowered, the seal packing 12p comes into contact with the can mouth portion SC1 of the container SC. At this time, the center of the can SC placed on the can base 44 is contacted. SCc and the center 2c of the filling valve 2 are eccentric, but the can SC is sealed because the can SC is gripped by the fixed acceleration arm 41 and the movable arm 46 of the can barrel gripping means 40. When abutting and engaging with the inclined sealing surface 12pa of the packing 12p, it is hermetically sealed while being centered.

After the inside of the container SC is hermetically sealed with the seal packing 12p, the on-off valve 32v is kept closed by a command from a control device (not shown), the on-off valve 31v is opened for a predetermined time, and the pressure gas in the liquid storage tank 5 is After being supplied into the can SC through the gap 17c and the hole 17h and the pressure in the can SC becomes the same as the gas pressure in the liquid storage tank 5, the on-off valve 31v is closed by a command from a control device (not shown). Then, the actuator 25 is actuated to raise the liquid valve 14, the liquid valve packing 14p is separated from the liquid valve seal surface 15s, the liquid passage 16 is opened, and the liquid enters the can SC by the measurement of the flow meter 4 shown in FIG. When a predetermined amount is filled, the liquid valve 14 is closed by the operation of the actuator 25 according to a command from the control device, and the flow of the liquid is stopped.
In this case, the flow rate switching valve 3 shown in FIG. 2 is switched so that the liquid flow rate to be filled is a flow rate corresponding to high-speed filling (180 mL / second as an example).

  After stopping the flow of liquid into the can SC, the open / close valve 32v is opened by a command from a control device (not shown), and the pressure gas in the filled can SC is filled with the gap 17g, the hole 17v, the pipe 32, and the open / close valve. After the inside of the filled can SC has the same pressure as the atmosphere, the guide shaft 28 ascends via the roller 28r through the roller 28r, and the centering bell 12 and the can SC The hermetic seal with the mouth portion SC1 is released, and the filling is completed.

The can SC that has been filled is released from the gripping state of the can body while the movable arm 46 swings from the closed to the open direction while the rotating disk 54 shown in FIG. 1 rotates from the position 57 to the position 58. 1 is actuated so that it is accelerated and discharged in the conveying direction of the conveyor 52 from the can barrel engaging portion of the fixed acceleration arm 41 at the position 58 shown in FIG.
Although the above description has been given for the case of the can SC, the same applies to the case of the can LC, and thus a duplicate description is omitted.
Since the center SCc of the can SC and the center 2c of the filling valve 2 are concentric and the can mouth portion SC1 is hermetically sealed by the seal packing 12p, the liquid being filled does not splash around, No matter what happens, it will not scatter around.

In the above description, the case where the liquid to be filled in the can C is a gas-containing liquid, but even when the liquid is a gas-free liquid, the opening of the can C is hermetically sealed while being centered by the seal packing 12p and filled. The liquid flow rate can be filled by the flow rate switching valve 3 so as to be a flow rate corresponding to high-speed filling (180 mL / second as an example).
In the case of a gas-free liquid, the on-off valve 31v is opened, the centering bell 12 is lowered, and the can C is filled with the gas-filled liquid with respect to the can C by the seal packing 12p. When the liquid valve 14 is opened after sealing and sealing the center, the space above the liquid level in the liquid storage tank 5 is at atmospheric pressure, so that the liquid is filled into the can C by gravity drop, and the can The air in C is vented (discharged) to the upper space in the liquid storage tank 5 through the hole 17h, the gap 17c, the piping 31, and the on-off valve 31v. Since it overlaps, description is abbreviate | omitted.
Also in this case, as in the above description, the liquid being filled does not splash around, and even if dripping occurs, it does not splash around.

Regarding the filling of the gasless liquid, depending on the type of liquid, the seal packing 12p may be filled without sealing and sealing the opening of the can C (also referred to as non-seal filling).
Next, non-seal filling of the gasless liquid will be described with reference to FIG.
At the time of non-seal filling, the roller 28r is not engaged with the cam (not shown), and the actuator 23 is operated to keep the centering bell 12 in the raised state via the plate 24 and the guide shaft 28. The center of the filling valve 2 and the center of the can C (the center SCc in the case of the can SC and the center LCc in the case of the can LC) in a non-contact state (non-sealed state) between the lower part of the filling valve 2 and the mouth of the can C The can C is filled from the filling valve 2 without being centered.
In this case, the flow rate switching valve 3 is switched so that the flow rate of the liquid to be filled becomes a flow rate corresponding to low-speed filling (for example, 90 mL / second).

  As described above, in the liquid filling apparatus according to the present embodiment, the lower portion of the filling valve 2 and the mouth portion of the can C can be used for both the sealing filling in a hermetically sealed state and the non-sealing filling. In the case of non-seal filling with no liquid, the flow rate of the liquid to be filled is set to a low-speed filling flow rate by the flow rate switching valve 3, and the filling speed from the filling valve 2 to the container is reduced. Even if the centers do not match, there will be no splashing or splashing when filling the liquid, so no liquid will adhere to the can mouth and filling nozzle, leading to contamination such as mold generation. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 (Rotary type) liquid filling apparatus 2 Filling valve 3 Flow rate switching valve 4 Flow meter 5 Liquid storage tank 40 Can barrel gripping means (container barrel gripping means)
41 Fixed acceleration arm 44 Can stand (container stand)
46 Movable arm C can (container)
LC (large body diameter) can (container)
LC1 (can LC) can mouth part (container mouth part)
SC (small diameter) can (container)
SC1 (can SC) can mouth part (container mouth part)

Claims (1)

A liquid filling apparatus that is used for filling liquids of different diameters and is used for both gas-filled liquid filling and gas-free liquid filling,
A liquid storage tank for storing the gas-containing liquid or the gas-free liquid;
A liquid supply pipe communicating with the liquid layer of the liquid storage tank;
A flow rate switching valve for switching a liquid flow rate provided in the middle of the liquid supply pipe;
A liquid passage communicating with the liquid supply pipe and a filling valve provided with a valve body for opening and closing the liquid passage;
When the container is hermetically sealed to the filling port of the filling valve and filled with the gas-filled liquid or the gas-free liquid, the flow rate switching valve is adapted for high-speed filling.
The liquid filling apparatus, wherein when the container is separated from the filling port of the filling valve and filled with the gas-free liquid, the flow rate switching valve is switched to support low-speed filling.

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