JP2015100907A - Coolant processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coolant processing device for attaining downsizing thereof and reduction in equipment cost, by minimally restricting the functions of the device.SOLUTION: A vibration conveyor 5 of using an air vibrator 8 as a vibration source is provided in a tank 1 for respectively forming an introduction port 2 of a dirty liquid on one end and a chip discharge part 3 on the other end, and a bucket elevator 4 is arranged in the chip discharge part 3. A filter protective member 9a and a filter member 9 are provided in a position below the introduction port 2 among a carrying body 6 of the vibration conveyor 5, and a clean liquid of passing through the filter protective member 9a and the filter member 9 is stored in the tank 1. Chips left on the filter protective member 9a and the filter member 9 are carried up to the tail end part side of the carrying body 6, and are dropped in an external part by dead weight in a shift position P3 after transferring to a bucket 11 of the bucket elevator 4 in a receiving position P1.

Description

  The present invention relates to a coolant processing apparatus for recovering and reusing a coolant used in machining with a machine tool such as a machining center.

  As is well known, coolant (used as cutting fluid, cutting agent or cutting fluid) used in machine tools for cutting or grinding is collected and separated from chips, and then widely reused. For this purpose, for example, a cutting fluid filtering device as described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed.

  The cutting fluid filtering device described in Patent Document 1 is mainly configured by a tank (filter tank) having an inlet at one end and an obliquely upward rising portion at the other end. In addition to forming an outlet, a conveyor with scrapers attached at appropriate intervals is disposed inside the tank so as to extend from the lower side of the inlet to the obliquely upward rising portion. Further, a partition plate curved along the conveyor is disposed inside the conveyor, and an internal magnet plate is disposed on the back surface of the partition plate below the filtrate outlet. And at least the inlet side end of the magnet plate has a sloped shape, and the lower end of the partition plate is inclined upward.

  According to this structure, although a so-called drum filter is not employed, the filtration performance is maintained over a long period of time, and the cutting fluid can be filtered efficiently and at low cost.

  In addition, the thing of the structure substantially the same as the thing of the structure described in patent document 1 is described also in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2011-177859 and Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2011-177860, for example.

Japanese Patent No. 3752185

  However, in the conventional cutting fluid filtering device described in Patent Document 1, since the scraper of the conveyor circulates in the tank (filter tank), there is uncertainty in so-called liquid draining and carrying out floating chips. In addition, the continuous operation of the conveyor tends to be disadvantageous in terms of energy consumption. In addition, because the tank (filter tank) itself functions as a so-called dirty liquid storage tank (dirty tank), sludge that cannot be separated and collected in the tank can become a decaying component that shortens the life of the coolant. This is not preferable.

  In addition to the tank (filter tank) that functions as a reservoir for dirty liquid (dirty tank), a reservoir (clean tank) for clean liquid is prepared and, as described above, It is necessary to supply the filtered clean liquid from the filtrate outlet formed on the side wall of the tank toward the clean tank and store it in the clean tank. For this reason, the space occupied by the equipment is increased by the amount of the clean tank, and the space efficiency is deteriorated.

  Furthermore, coexistence of a dirty tank and a clean tank necessitates a large amount of cutting fluid to be circulated, resulting in waste of the cutting fluid, and still leaves room for improvement.

  The present invention has been made by paying attention to such problems, and in particular, by minimizing the functions of the apparatus and making it a simple structure, the entire equipment can be reduced in size, and the tank capacity and the total amount of coolant are also minimized. It is an object of the present invention to provide a coolant processing apparatus that is considered to be limited.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a coolant processing apparatus comprising: a tank that stores coolant; an inlet that is formed in an upper surface of one end of the tank and into which coolant mixed with chips is introduced; and the tank A duct-shaped chip discharging part formed so as to rise upward from the other end of the tank, and a vibrating conveyor disposed so that the conveying body extends from a position below the introduction port to a position closest to the chip discharging part in the tank. And the filter member provided in the downward position of the inlet in the conveyance body of the said vibration conveyor, and the chip conveyance means provided in the said chip discharge part shall be provided.

  Then, the coolant introduced from the introduction port is filtered by the filter member and stored in the tank, while the chips left on the filter member by the filtering function of the filter member are removed by the vibrating conveyor at the chip discharge unit. After transporting to the nearest position, it transfers to the chip | tip conveying means in the said chip | tip discharge part, and the chip | tip is discharged | emitted by the chip | tip conveying means outside.

  In this case, in order to reduce the burden on the filter member 9, it is desirable that a filter protection member is disposed on the filter member as described in claim 2.

  In addition, the vibration conveyor gives a driving force to move the chips left on the filter member toward the chip discharge portion by applying predetermined vibration to the transport body. There are many types such as mechanical vibratory conveyor, electromagnetic vibratory conveyor, electric vibratory conveyor or air vibratory conveyor, but from the viewpoint of energy efficiency, use air vibratory conveyor with so-called air vibrator as vibration source. Is desirable.

  Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the conveying body of the vibrating conveyor is trough-shaped or tray-shaped, and includes an opening / closing member that opens and closes the opening of the conveying terminal portion by the conveying body. . And in the state which closed the said opening part with the opening-and-closing member, the chip | tip is stored on the conveyance body, and the chip | tip on a conveyance body comes to the chip conveyance means side only after the said opening part is open | released. It is desirable that

  More specifically, as described in claim 4, the conveying means is a bucket elevator or a bucket type chain conveyor, and chips are removed in a state in which the opening of the conveying terminal portion by the conveying body is closed by an opening / closing member. It is assumed that the chips stored on the transport body are transferred to the bucket elevator or the bucket of the chain conveyor for the first time in a state where the opening is opened.

  Therefore, in at least the invention described in claim 1, since the filter member is provided below the tank inlet, the coolant mixed with chips is solid-liquid separated (filtered) into the coolant and chips with the filter member. The chips are collected by the filter member, and only the coolant from which the chips are removed is stored in the tank. Therefore, only clean coolant is stored in the tank, and the tank substantially functions as a clean tank, so that a so-called dirty tank is not required.

  Then, the chips left on the filter are subjected to so-called liquid cutting in the process of being conveyed toward the chip discharging unit by the vibrating conveyor, and finally transferred to the chip conveying means and then to the outside. It will be carried out.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, only the clean coolant after the chips are removed is stored in the tank, and the tank functions as a so-called clean tank, so a so-called dirty tank is not required. In addition to saving the space by downsizing the equipment, the tank capacity and thus the total amount of coolant stored in the tank can be minimized, which eliminates the waste of the coolant and is advantageous in terms of cost. In addition, it can be reliably collected by the filter member regardless of whether the chips are magnetic or non-magnetic, and the sludge accumulated in the tank is also minimal, so that the life of the coolant can be extended. Become.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the filter protective member functioning as a so-called pre-filter is provided separately from the filter member, thereby reducing the load on the filter member and preventing clogging or the like. There is an advantage that the life of the member can be extended.

  According to invention of Claim 3, 4, the conveyance body of a vibration conveyor is equipped with the opening-and-closing member which opens and closes the opening part of the conveyance termination | terminus part by the conveyance body, and the opening part is closed by the opening-and-closing member. Chips are stored on the transport body, and the chips on the transport body are transferred to the chip transport means side only when the opening is opened. It is possible to effectively perform the coolant, and the coolant taken out together with the chips can be minimized.

  In addition, since the chip conveying means can achieve the intended purpose by intermittent operation without necessarily being continuously operated, it is excellent in terms of energy efficiency.

Side surface explanatory drawing which shows more specific 1st Embodiment of the coolant processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. The principal part expansion explanatory view of FIG. Structure explanatory drawing which shows 2nd Embodiment of the coolant processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. The principal part expansion explanatory drawing of FIG.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory side view showing a more specific form for carrying out the coolant processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an enlarged explanatory view of the main part of FIG. In the present embodiment, an example of an apparatus for filtering a coolant in which relatively large chips such as a spiral generated by turning or the like are mixed is shown.

  In the coolant processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a horizontally long rectangular parallelepiped tank 1 is formed as a main element, and the length of the tank 1 (the horizontal dimension in FIG. 1) is the width (perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1). It is formed to be larger than both the dimension in the direction) and the height (the dimension in the vertical direction in FIG. 1). The upper surface of one end of the tank 1 is formed with an opening 2 having a rectangular shape in plan view, for example, and the other end of the tank 1 is a duct-shaped chip discharging unit 3 that rises upward in an upright posture. Is formed. And in this chip discharge part 3, the bucket elevator 4 as a chip conveyance means is installed so that it may mention later. From the inlet 2 of the tank 1, for example, a used coolant that has been used for cutting by a machine tool such as a machining center (not shown) and mixed with chips (hereinafter, this coolant mixed with chips is called a dirty liquid. ) Will be introduced.

  A vibrating conveyor 5 is disposed in the tank 1 along its longitudinal direction. The vibrating conveyor 5 is mainly composed of a horizontal transport body 6 having a trough-like or tray-like cross-sectional concave shape extending in the width of the tank 1 over the entire width of the tank 1 and extending over the entire length up to the chip discharging portion 3. The carrier 6 is elastically supported on the side wall of the tank 1 via front and rear elastic connecting members 7 such as plate springs or coil springs.

  An air vibrator 8 that is a vibration source is mounted on the side wall of the tank 1. The air vibrator 8 is of a so-called air cylinder type in which a piston rod integrated with a piston is inserted into a cylinder tube, for example, and the piston rod equivalent part is connected to the carrier 6. For example, when the air vibrator 8 vibrates using compressed air supplied from a compressed air source (not shown) as a working fluid, the carrier 6 repeatedly vibrates at a predetermined frequency. A conveying force based on a propulsive force directed from the inlet 2 side toward the chip discharging unit 3 side is generated for the overload.

  There are many types of vibration conveyors, such as a mechanical vibration conveyor, an electromagnetic vibration conveyor, an electric vibration conveyor, etc., in addition to the air vibration conveyor 5 that uses the air vibrator 8 as a drive source as described above. Therefore, any system may be used. However, from the viewpoint of ease of handling, energy efficiency, and the like, it is desirable to use a device that uses the air vibrator 8 as described above as a vibration source.

  As described above, the carrier 6 of the vibration conveyor 5 is disposed in the tank 1 so as to cover almost the entire width and length of the tank 1. Here, a wire mesh-like filter member 9 having a fine mesh, for example, is provided over the length L in the lower side of the introduction port 2 in the transport body 6. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the trough-shaped or tray-shaped transport body 6 in the vibrating conveyor 5 is partially excised from the range of the length L below the introduction port 2, and the excision is performed. In order to reduce the burden on the filter member 9 on the filter member 9, a wire net-like filter member 9 is stretched on the upper side or the lower side of the portion so as not to cause a step as much as possible. A filter protection member 9a such as a metal plate in which a relatively large slit hole is formed, such as punching metal, is disposed with a gap that allows the chips collected by the filter member 9 to be conveyed. As a matter of course, the filter protection member 9a is coarser than the filter member 9, so that the filter protection member 9a substantially functions as a pre-filter.

  Thereby, when the used dirty liquid used for cutting with a machine tool (not shown) is introduced from the introduction port 2, the dirty liquid immediately passes through the filter member 9 and is filtered to become dirty liquid. Large chips contained therein are collected and left on the filter protection member, and small chips that have passed through the filter protection member are left on the filter member 9, and the dirty liquid from which the chips have been removed is immediately cleaned. And stored in the tank 1 as it is. Therefore, the tank 1 functions as a so-called clean tank for storing a clean clean liquid (coolant) after the chips are removed. The relationship between the inlet 2 and the filter member 9 is the same as that shown in FIG.

  A gate plate 10 that can be moved up and down as an opening / closing member for opening and closing an opening having a concave cross section at the transfer terminal end portion of the vibrating conveyor 5 by the transfer body 6 is provided in the tank 1 at a position closest to the chip discharge portion 3. ing. This gate plate 10 is opened and closed by the operation of an actuator (not shown) in conjunction with the movement of a bucket elevator 4 as a chip conveying means to be described later. The opening that makes is closed.

  The duct-shaped chip discharging unit 3 in which the bucket elevator 4 is disposed has a lower end communicating with the tank 1, while the upper end is bent in the horizontal direction and the lower surface is opened as an opening 3a. .

  The bucket elevator 4 is mainly composed of a rectangular box-shaped bucket 11 whose bottom can be opened and closed, and a drive mechanism (not shown) that can drive the bucket 11 up and down and horizontally. The bucket 11 can reciprocate up and down between a descending limit position P1 and an ascending limit position P2, which is also a coolant non-reserving space in the tank 1, and at the same time, can reciprocate horizontally between the ascending limit position P2 and the shift position P3. It has become. In the present embodiment, the bucket elevator 4 is not continuously operated but is intermittently operated at a predetermined cycle managed by a timer.

  Therefore, according to the coolant processing apparatus configured as described above, during operation, the bucket 11 of the bucket elevator 4 stands by at the lower limit position P1, while the vibration elevator 5 has the carrier 6 at a predetermined frequency. Repeats the vibration, and the transfer terminal portion of the transfer body 6 is closed by the gate plate 10.

  In this state, as described above, when the used dirty liquid used for cutting with a machine tool (not shown) is introduced from the introduction port 2, the dirty liquid is immediately removed from the filter protection member 9a. The chips that have been filtered by passing through the filter member 9 and contained in the dirty liquid are collected or captured on the filter protection member 9a or the filter member 9 and left, and the dirty liquid from which the chips have been removed is It immediately becomes a clean liquid and is stored in the tank 1 as it is. Therefore, the tank 1 functions as a so-called clean tank for storing a clean clean liquid (coolant) after the chips are removed. Then, the coolant stored in the tank 1 is supplied to a processing site in the machine tool by a pressure feeding means such as a pump (not shown) and is circulated and reused.

  In this case, the vibration by the vibration conveyor 5 naturally extends to the filter protection member 9a and the filter member 9, so that a so-called liquid draining effect can be expected due to the vibration of the filter protection member 9a and the filter member 9, and the filter member 9 It can also be expected to suppress clogging due to vibration.

  On the other hand, since the chips contained in the dirty liquid remain on the filter protection member 9a and the filter member 9, the chips 9 are directly subjected to vibration by the vibration conveyor 5. When it is assumed that a predetermined amount of chips are placed on the transport body 6 as vibrations, the vibration by the vibration conveyor 5 causes the chips to move horizontally while dancing with a propulsive force toward the chip discharge unit 3 side. Since the adjustment is made in advance, the chips left on the filter protection member 9a and the filter member 9 as described above gradually move toward the chip discharge portion 3 side. And as long as the conveyance termination | terminus part of the conveyance body 6 in the vibration conveyor 5 is closed by the gate board 10, those chips will be integrated | stacked in the position near the gate board 10 among the conveyance bodies 6. FIG.

  Here, when it is time for the bucket elevator 4 managed by the timer to start, the gate plate 10 is lifted for a predetermined time prior to that time, and the transfer terminal portion of the transfer body 6 that has been closed until then is opened. Is done. This open time is also set in advance by a timer. On the other hand, since the vibrating conveyor 5 is continuously operated, it has been stored on the conveying body 6 of the vibrating conveyor 5 with the opening operation of the conveying terminal end of the conveying body 6 accompanying the raising operation of the gate plate 10. The chip falls by its own weight into the bucket 11 waiting at the lower limit position P <b> 1 and is transferred from the transport body 6 of the vibration conveyor 5 to the bucket 11 of the bucket elevator 4.

  When the opening time of the conveyance end portion of the conveyance body 6 elapses, the gate plate 10 moves down again to close the conveyance termination portion of the conveyance body 6.

  Thereafter, when the bucket 10 of the bucket elevator 4 receives a predetermined amount of chips from the carrier 6 of the vibration conveyor 5 at the descending limit position P1, the bucket 10 rises to the ascending limit position P2 and further rises to the ascending limit position P2. To the shift position P3 and then temporarily stop. Then, the bottom of the bucket 11 is opened at the shift position P3, and the chips stored in the bucket 11 are dropped by their own weight. Chips dropped by their own weight from the bucket 11 are collected, for example, in a chip collection box (not shown), and the bucket 11 which is in an empty state returns to the descending limit position P1 by operating reversely after closing the bottom.

  Thereafter, the bucket conveyor 4 repeats the same operation as described above in cooperation with the vibration conveyor 5 and the gate plate 10.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, only clean coolant after so-called solid-liquid separation after chips are removed by the filter member 9 is stored in the tank 1 and functions as a so-called clean tank. Therefore, there is no need for a dirty tank for storing the dirty liquid before solid-liquid separation, and it is possible to reduce the size of the equipment and save space.

  In addition, since the dirty tank is unnecessary, the capacity of the tank 1 and the coolant stored in the tank 1 can be minimized, and the waste of the coolant is eliminated, which is advantageous in terms of cost, and the sludge accumulated in the tank 1 is also extremely small. As a result, the life of the coolant can be extended.

  Furthermore, since the filter member 9 is always subjected to vibration by the vibration conveyor 5, it is possible to expect the effect of draining chips left on the filter member 9 and the effect of preventing clogging of the filter member 9, and the outside is taken out together with the chips. To minimize the amount of coolant.

  In addition, since the bucket conveyor 4 does not necessarily have to be operated continuously, the energy efficiency is also excellent.

  FIG. 3 is a view showing a second embodiment of the coolant processing apparatus according to the present invention, and the same reference numerals are given to parts common to the first embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of the main part of FIG.

  In the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the structure on the tank 1 side is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and only the structure on the chip discharging part 13 side is different. 3 and 4, a duct-shaped chip discharge portion 13 is formed to rise obliquely upward from the other end of the tank 1, and a bucket-type chain conveyor 12 serving as a chip conveying means in the chip discharge portion 13. Is arranged.

  This chain conveyor 12 is equipped with a pair of endless left and right conveyor chains 15 that circulate between drive-side and driven-side chain sprockets 14a, 14b, for example, with buckets 16a, 16b having a substantially V-shaped cross section at a plurality of locations. It is a thing. Here, if there are two buckets 16 a and 16 b mounted on the conveyor chain 15 and the conveyor chain 15 is stationary in FIG. 4, one bucket 16 a is transported by the transport body 6 of the vibrating conveyor 5. It is mounted so as to be in an upward posture at the position receiving position P11 where it is possible to receive the incoming chips, and the other bucket 16b can drop the chips by its own weight through the opening 13a of the chip discharge part 13. It is mounted so as to have a downward posture at the correct discharge position P12. That is, the two buckets 16a and 16b are mounted at positions that bisect the circumferential length of the conveyor chain 15, respectively.

  The operation mode of the chain conveyor 12 is such that the conveyor chain 15 is intermittently driven by a half of its circumference at predetermined time intervals so that the positions of the buckets 16a and 16b are interchanged. It has become. The operation time of the chain conveyor 12 is also managed by a timer.

  Therefore, in this second embodiment, as long as the vibrating conveyor 5 is driven, chips left on the filter member 9 are gradually conveyed toward the terminal end side of the conveying member 6 of the vibrating conveyor 5. Eventually, it is transferred to the bucket 16a waiting at the receiving position P11 on the chain conveyor 12 side so as to drop by its own weight. Then, when the chain conveyor 12 is started as the operation time of the chain conveyor 12, the vibration conveyor 5 is temporarily stopped, and the conveyor chain 15 is moved by a half of the circumference and waits at the receiving position P11 first. The bucket 16a that has been moved to the discharge position P12 and the chips contained in the bucket 16a are discharged to the outside by dropping their own weight, while the empty state that has been waiting at the discharge position P12 until then is discharged. The bucket 16b moves to the receiving position P11, and at that position, reception of chips conveyed by the conveying body 6 of the vibration conveyor 5 is started. The chips discharged from the bucket 16a at the discharge position P12 are collected in a chip collection box (not shown).

  Thereafter, the chain conveyor 12 repeats the same operation as described above in cooperation with the vibration conveyor 5.

  In this 2nd Embodiment, it replaces with the bucket elevator 4 in 1st Embodiment of FIG. 1 as a chip | tip conveying means, and employ | adopts the bucket type chain conveyor 12, 1st The same effect as the embodiment can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tank 2 ... Inlet 3 ... Chip discharge part 4 ... Bucket elevator (chip transport means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 ... Vibrating conveyor 6 ... Conveyance body 8 ... Air vibrator 9 ... Filter member 9a ... Filter protection member 10 ... Gate board (opening-closing member)
11 ... Bucket 12 ... Chain conveyor (chip conveying means)
13 ... Chip discharging part 15 ... Conveyor chain 16a, 16b ... Bucket

Claims (4)

A tank for storing coolant;
An inlet through which the coolant mixed with chips formed on the upper surface of one end of the tank is introduced;
A duct-shaped chip discharging part formed so as to rise upward from the other end of the tank;
Vibrating conveyor arranged so that the conveying body extends from the position below the inlet of the tank to the position closest to the chip discharging unit,
A filter member provided at a position below the inlet of the conveyor of the vibration conveyor;
Chip transport means provided in the chip discharge section,
With
While filtering the coolant introduced from the inlet through the filter member and storing it in the tank,
The chips left on the filter member by the filtering function of the filter member are transported to the nearest position of the chip discharge section by the vibration conveyor, and then transferred to the chip transport means in the chip discharge section, and the chip transport means The coolant processing apparatus is characterized by discharging chips to the outside.   2. The coolant processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a filter protection member having a coarser mesh than the filter member is disposed on the filter member at a predetermined distance. The vibratory conveyor is a trough or tray, and includes an opening / closing member that opens and closes the opening of the conveyance terminal portion of the conveyor.
In a state where the opening is closed by the opening / closing member, chips are stored on the transport body, and the chips on the transport body are transferred to the chip transport means side only when the opening is opened. The coolant processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The conveying means is a bucket elevator or bucket type chain conveyor,
In the state where the opening of the conveyance end portion by the conveyance body is closed by the opening and closing member, chips are stored on the conveyance body, and the chips on the conveyance body are not removed from the bucket elevator or chain conveyor for the first time in the state where the opening is opened. The coolant processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the coolant processing apparatus is transferred to a bucket.

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