JP2015101462A - Feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a structure, by which it can be prevented that particulate matters adhered near an exhaust port of a transportation pipe become a large lamp and drop, in a feeder which feeds the particulate matters by rotation of a screw.SOLUTION: A feeder 1 transports particulate matters to an exhaust port 41 side by rotating a screw 50 disposed in a transportation pipe 40. Further, this feeder 1 has a scraping-off part 80 which scrapes off the particulate matters from a surface near the exhaust port 41 of the transportation pipe 40. The scraping-off part 80 is disposed in approximate with an outer peripheral surface, an inner peripheral surface, or an end face of a transfer direction downstream side of the transportation pipe 40 and near the exhaust port 41 of the transportation pipe 40. When the scraping-off part 80 is rotated, the particulate matters are scraped off from the surface near the exhaust port 41 of the transportation pipe 40. Consequently, it can be prevented that the particulate matters adhered near the exhaust port 41 of the transportation pipe 40 become a large lump and drop.

Description

  The present invention relates to a supply device that supplies a material composed of powder or granules (hereinafter referred to as “powder”) to a subsequent apparatus by using rotation of a screw.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a supply device that supplies powder particles to a subsequent device using rotation of a screw is known. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a powder and granular constant supply device having a screw conveyor that houses a screw inside a cylindrical casing (see paragraph 0009). The granular material quantitative supply device of Patent Document 1 conveys the granular material in the casing to the outlet side by rotating the screw (see paragraph 0010).

JP 2007-176701 A

  In this type of supply device, a part of the granular material discharged from the cylindrical casing may adhere to the end surface or the outer peripheral surface near the discharge port of the casing. In particular, when the conveyed granular material is a semi-solid material containing moisture, the granular material tends to adhere to the casing. Moreover, the granular material adhering to the surface of the casing will eventually grow into a large lump and fall off. Thus, there has been a problem that the accuracy of quantitative supply of the granular material decreases due to repeated adhesion, growth and peeling of the granular material to the casing.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and in a supply device that supplies powder particles by rotating a screw, the powder particles that adhere to the vicinity of the discharge port of the transport pipe fall as a large lump. An object of the present invention is to provide a structure that can prevent this.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the first invention of the present application is a supply device that supplies a granular material to a subsequent device, the substantially cylindrical conveyance pipe extending along the conveyance direction of the granular material, and the conveyance Close to the outer peripheral surface, inner peripheral surface, or end surface on the downstream side in the transport direction in the vicinity of the screw disposed inside the tube, the first drive unit for rotating the screw, and the discharge port of the transport tube A scraping unit disposed; and a second driving unit that rotates the scraping unit.

  2nd invention of this application is a supply apparatus of 1st invention, Comprising: The said screw has the control board which block | closes the said discharge port of the said conveyance pipe partially.

  3rd invention of this application is a supply apparatus of 2nd invention, Comprising: The said scraping-off part is a part extended along the surface of the said conveyance pipe from the said control board, 1st drive part and said 2nd drive The unit is configured by a single drive mechanism.

  4th invention of this application is any supply apparatus from 1st invention to 3rd invention, Comprising: The said scraping part has several blade | wings extended along the surface of the said conveyance pipe | tube.

  A fifth invention of the present application is any one of the supply devices from the first invention to the fourth invention, wherein a slight gap is interposed between the surface of the transport pipe and the scraping portion.

  According to the first to fifth inventions of the present application, the granular material can be scraped off from the surface in the vicinity of the discharge port of the transport pipe by rotating the scraping portion. Thereby, the granular material adhering to the discharge port vicinity of a conveyance pipe | tube can prevent falling as a big lump.

  In particular, according to the second invention of the present application, the bulk density of the granular material can be increased and made uniform in the vicinity of the discharge port. Thereby, the granular material from a discharge port can be discharged | emitted substantially quantitatively. Moreover, the granular material adhering to the discharge port vicinity under the influence of a control board can be scraped off by a scraping part.

  In particular, according to the third invention of the present application, the number of parts of the device can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

  In particular, according to the fourth invention of the present application, it is possible to scrape the granular material from the surface of the transport pipe more frequently. Therefore, it is possible to further suppress the adhesion and growth of the granular material in the vicinity of the discharge port of the transport pipe.

  In particular, according to the fifth invention of the present application, it is possible to suppress wear of the transport pipe and the scraping portion.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the supply apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a fragmentary sectional view of the supply device concerning one embodiment. It is the figure which showed the structure of the discharge port vicinity which concerns on one Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the structure of the discharge port vicinity which concerns on a modification. It is a fragmentary sectional view of the supply device concerning a modification. It is a fragmentary sectional view of the supply device concerning a modification. It is a fragmentary sectional view of the supply device concerning a modification.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<1. Configuration of supply device>
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a supply device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The supply device 1 is a so-called screw feeder that uses the rotation of the screw 50 to supply the granular material to a subsequent device.

  Examples of powder particles handled in the supply apparatus 1 include fine ceramics, metal materials, polymer materials, batteries / electronic materials, composite materials, pharmaceutical materials, food materials, and various technologies such as electronics, energy, medical care, and food. Mention may be made of inorganic and organic fine powders used in the field. However, the powder particles handled in the supply apparatus 1 may be a mixture of a plurality of types of powders or particles, or may be a semi-solid material containing moisture. Moreover, although the particle size distribution of a granular material is about 0.1 micrometer-several dozen micrometer, for example, it is not limited to this.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the supply device 1 of the present embodiment includes a hopper 10, a storage container 20, an agitator 30, a transfer pipe 40, a screw 50, a base unit 60, and a control unit 70.

  The hopper 10 is a member for receiving a granular material charged from above. The hopper 10 has a funnel-shaped side wall 11 that converges downward. At the upper end portion of the hopper 10, a material charging port 12 that opens upward is provided. A material feed port 13 that opens toward the inside of the storage container 20 is provided at the lower end of the hopper 10. The opening area of the material feeding port 13 is smaller than the opening area of the material charging port 12.

  The storage container 20 is disposed below the hopper 10. The hopper 10 and the storage container 20 are fixed to each other by screwing. The internal space of the hopper 10 communicates with the internal space of the storage container 20 through the material feed port 13. Therefore, when a granular material is introduced into the hopper 10, the granular material falls into the storage container 20 through the material feed port 13 and is stored in the storage container 20. Moreover, the storage container 20 has the connection port 21 for connecting the conveyance pipe 40 to the lower end part of the side wall.

  The agitator 30 is a mechanism for stirring the granular material stored inside the storage container 20. The agitator 30 includes a stirring member 31 disposed inside the storage container 20 and an agitator driving unit 32 coupled to the stirring member 31. The agitator driving unit 32 includes, for example, a motor and a gear box that transmits the driving force of the motor to the stirring member 31. When the agitator driving unit 32 is operated, the agitating member 31 is rotated around a horizontally extending rotation axis. Thereby, the granular material stored in the storage container 20 is stirred. As a result, partial aggregation (bridge etc.) of the granular material is suppressed.

  The transport pipe 40 is a substantially cylindrical member that extends from the storage container 20 toward the side. The upstream end of the transport pipe 40 is connected to the connection port 21 of the storage container 20. A discharge port 41 is provided at the downstream end of the transport pipe 40. Hereinafter, the direction from the storage container 20 toward the discharge port 41 along the transport pipe 40 (the direction indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 1) is referred to as “transport direction”. The transport pipe 40 forms a transport path that extends substantially horizontally from the connection port 21 to the discharge port 41 of the storage container 20.

  The screw 50 is a member for transporting the granular material stored in the storage container 20 to the downstream side in the transport direction. The screw 50 includes a screw shaft 51 that extends substantially horizontally along the conveyance direction, and a flight 52 that protrudes outward from the outer peripheral surface of the screw shaft 51. The flight 52 surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the screw shaft 51 in a spiral shape. In the present embodiment, the screw shaft 51 and the flight 52 are composed of a single member.

  The screw shaft 51 and the flight 52 are arranged over both the inside of the transport pipe 40 and the inside of the storage container 20. Further, the end of the screw shaft 51 on the upstream side in the conveying direction extends to the outside of the storage container 20 and is connected to the screw driving unit 53. The screw drive unit 53 includes, for example, a motor and a gear box that transmits the driving force of the motor to the screw shaft 51. When the screw drive unit 53 is operated, the screw 50 rotates about the axis of the screw shaft 51.

  Further, a restriction plate 54 is attached to the end of the screw shaft 51 on the downstream side in the conveyance direction. The restriction plate 54 is located downstream in the transport direction from the flight 52 and rotates together with the screw shaft 51. The discharge port 41 of the transport pipe 40 is partially blocked by a restriction plate 54. Further, the screw 50 has a portion where the flight 52 is not formed between the flight 52 and the regulation plate 54. That is, the internal space of the transport pipe 40 includes a first space 401 in which the flight 52 is disposed, and a second space 402 that is located downstream of the first space 401 in the transport direction and in which the flight 52 is not disposed. Yes.

  Inside the storage container 20, the powder particles stirred by the agitator 30 are filled into the gaps of the flights 52 of the screw 50 disposed below the agitator 30. When the screw 50 rotates, the granular material is pushed by the spiral flight 52 and conveyed to the inside of the conveying tube 40. In addition, the powder 52 is transported from the first space 401 to the second space 402 as the flight 52 rotates also inside the transport pipe 40.

  At this time, in the 2nd space 402 in the conveyance pipe 40, the control board 54 becomes resistance and a granular material is compressed. Thereby, the bulk density of the granular material in the second space 402 is made uniform. The compressed granular material is scraped off by the rotating regulating plate 54 and discharged from the discharge port 41. As a result, the powder particles are continuously supplied from the discharge port 41 to the subsequent apparatus by a substantially constant amount.

  The base part 60 is disposed at the lowermost part of the supply apparatus 1 and supports the above-described parts of the supply apparatus 1. As indicated by a broken line in FIG. 1, a measuring unit 61 configured by a load sensor such as a load cell is provided in the base unit 60. The measuring unit 61 measures the total weight of the hopper 10, the storage container 20, the agitator 30, the transport pipe 40, the screw 50, and the powder particles stored in the supply device 1 at regular sampling times. Then, a measurement signal indicating the measurement value is transmitted to the control unit 70.

  The control unit 70 is electrically connected to the agitator driving unit 32, the screw driving unit 53, and the measuring unit 61 described above. The control unit 70 may be configured by a computer having an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU and a memory, or may be configured by an electronic circuit board. Based on the measurement signal received from the measurement unit 61, the control unit 70 detects the amount of decrease in the granular material stored in the supply device 1 (that is, the supply amount of the granular material to the subsequent device). Further, the control unit 70 drives and controls the agitator driving unit 32 and the screw driving unit 53 so that the amount of decrease is substantially constant.

<2. About scraping part>
FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the supply device 1 in the vicinity of the discharge port 41. FIG. 3 is a view of the vicinity of the discharge port 41 from the direction of the arrow A in FIG. When the supply device 1 is driven, a part of the powder discharged from the discharge port 41 adheres to the end surface 42 of the transfer tube 40 on the downstream side in the transfer direction and the outer peripheral surface 43 near the discharge port 41 of the transfer tube 40. There is a case. The supply device 1 has a scraping unit 80 for scraping off the powder particles adhering to the end surface 42 and the outer peripheral surface 43. Below, the scraping-off part 80 is demonstrated, referring FIG. 2 and FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the restriction plate 54 of the present embodiment includes a central portion 541 and a plurality (eight in the example of FIG. 3) of discharge vanes 542 extending outward from the central portion 541. . The plurality of discharge blades 542 are arranged at intervals in the rotation direction. When the restricting plate 54 is rotated, the granular material compressed in the second space 402 in the transport pipe 40 is scraped off by each discharge blade 542 and discharged from the discharge port 41.

  A part of the discharge blades 542 (two discharge blades 542 separated by 180 ° in the example of FIG. 3) of the regulation plate 54 are extended to the outside in the radial direction from the other discharge blades 542. In the present embodiment, this extended portion is a scraping portion 80. The scraping unit 80 of the present embodiment includes a first plate portion 81 that is close to the end surface of the transfer tube 40 on the downstream side in the transfer direction, and a second plate portion 82 that is close to the outer peripheral surface of the transfer tube 40. The first plate portion 81 extends further outward from the outer end of the discharge blade 542. The second plate portion 82 extends from the outer end of the first plate portion 81 along the outer peripheral surface of the transfer tube 40 to the upstream side in the transfer direction.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, the restriction plate 54 and the scraping portion 80 are configured as an integral member. Thereby, the number of parts of supply device 1 is reduced. When the screw drive unit 53 is operated, the restriction plate 54 and the scraping unit 80 rotate together with the screw 50 as indicated by broken line arrows. That is, in the present embodiment, the first drive unit that rotates the screw 50 and the second drive unit that rotates the scraping unit 80 are realized by the screw drive unit 53 that is a single drive mechanism.

  When the scraping unit 80 rotates, the powder and granular materials are scraped off from the surface near the discharge port 41 of the transport pipe 40. Specifically, the first plate portion 81 comes into contact with the granular material adhering to the end surface of the conveying pipe 40 on the downstream side in the conveying direction, and the granular material is scraped off. Moreover, the 2nd board part 82 contacts the granular material adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the conveyance pipe 40, and the said granular material is scraped off. Thereby, the granular material adhering to the vicinity of the discharge port 41 of the conveyance pipe 40 is prevented from growing into a large lump.

  In particular, in the case of the structure having the restriction plate 54 as in the present embodiment, the granular material tends to adhere to the surface near the discharge port 41 of the transport pipe 40 due to the influence of the restriction plate 54. However, in this supply device 1, by rotating the scraping section 80, it is possible to suppress the adhesion and growth of the powder particles. Therefore, it can prevent that a granular material falls as a big lump. As a result, the discharge amount per unit time of the granular material from the supply apparatus 1 can be further stabilized.

  In addition, the scraping unit 80 of the present embodiment has two scraping blades 83 including the first plate portion 81 and the second plate portion 82. The shape of each scraping blade 83 may be a plate shape or a simple bar shape. Further, the number of scraping blades 83 may be one, but if there are a plurality of scraping blades 83, the frequency of scraping the granular material from the surface of the transport tube 40 can be increased. Therefore, the adhesion and growth of the granular material on the surface of the transport tube 40 can be further suppressed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, a slight gap 84 is interposed between the surface of the transport pipe 40 and the scraping blade 83. In this way, if the scraping blade 83 is not in contact with the transport pipe 40, it is possible to suppress wear of one or both of the transport pipe 40 and the scraping blade 83. However, the conveying tube 40 and the scraping blade 83 may be brought into contact with each other if the wear of the member is difficult to occur or the wear can be allowed.

<3. Modification>
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

  FIG. 4 is a view of the structure in the vicinity of the discharge port 41 according to a modification, viewed from the same position as in FIG. 3. In the example of FIG. 4, the restriction plate 54 is not provided at the discharge port 41 of the transport pipe 40. A scraping portion 80 including one scraping blade 83 is attached to the downstream end of the screw shaft 51 in the conveying direction. As described above, the scraping portion 80 may be attached to the screw shaft 51 without using the restriction plate 54. In addition, a restriction plate 54 and a scraping portion 80 that is a separate member from the restriction plate 54 may be individually attached to the end of the screw shaft 51 on the downstream side in the conveyance direction.

  FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the discharge port 41 of the supply device 1 according to another modification. In the example of FIG. 5, a discharge pipe 44 extending downward is provided at the tip of the discharge port 41 of the transport pipe 40. The granular material that has passed through the restriction plate 54 falls down inside the discharge pipe 44. In the case of such a structure, a part of the granular material may adhere to the inner peripheral surface 45 of the transport pipe 40 on the downstream side in the transport direction from the discharge port 41. For this reason, in the example of FIG. 5, the scraping portion 80 is provided so as to be close to the inner peripheral surface 45 of the transport pipe 40. Specifically, the scraping blade 83 extends from the outer end of the discharge blade 542 of the regulation plate 54 toward the downstream side in the transport direction along the inner peripheral surface of the transport pipe 40. When the scraping portion 80 rotates together with the regulating plate 54, the powder and granular materials are scraped off from the inner peripheral surface 45 of the transport pipe 40. As described above, the scraping unit 80 may scrape off the granular material attached to the inner peripheral surface 45 of the transport tube 40.

  FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the discharge port 41 of the supply device 1 according to another modification. In the example of FIG. 6, the scraping portion 80 does not have the second plate portion 82 but has only the first plate portion 81. As described above, the scraping-off unit 80 may be a member in which the discharge blade 542 of the regulation plate 54 is simply extended to a position outside the inner peripheral surface of the transport pipe 40. That is, the scraping portion of the present invention is disposed in the vicinity of at least one of the outer peripheral surface, the inner peripheral surface, and the end surface on the downstream side in the transport direction in the vicinity of the discharge port of the transport tube. That's fine.

  FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the discharge port 41 of the supply device 1 according to another modification. In the example of FIG. 7, the scraping portion 80 is not fixed to the screw 50. In addition to the screw drive unit 53 as the first drive unit, a second drive unit 85 that rotates the scraping unit 80 is provided. As described above, the first driving unit that rotates the screw 50 and the second driving unit 85 that rotates the scraping unit 80 may be realized by separate driving mechanisms.

  Further, the detailed structure of the supply device may be different from the structure shown in each drawing of the present application. Moreover, you may combine suitably each element which appeared in said embodiment and modification in the range which does not produce inconsistency.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Supply apparatus 10 Hopper 20 Storage container 30 Agitator 40 Transport pipe 41 Discharge port 42 End surface of transport pipe 43 Outer peripheral surface of transport pipe 44 Discharge pipe 45 Inner peripheral surface of transport pipe 50 Screw 51 Screw shaft 52 Flight 53 Screw drive part 54 Regulation Plate 60 Base portion 70 Control portion 80 Scraping portion 81 First plate portion 82 Second plate portion 83 Scraping blade 401 First space 402 Second space 541 Central portion 542 Discharge blade

Claims (5)

A supply device for supplying powder to a subsequent device,
A substantially cylindrical transport pipe extending along the transport direction of the powder and particles,
A screw disposed inside the transport tube;
A first drive for rotating the screw;
In the vicinity of the discharge port of the transport pipe, a scraping portion disposed close to the outer peripheral surface, the inner peripheral surface, or the end face on the downstream side in the transport direction of the transport pipe;
A second drive unit for rotating the scraping unit;
Supply device with. The supply device according to claim 1,
The screw is
The supply apparatus which has the control board which block | closes the said discharge port of the said conveyance pipe partially. The supply device according to claim 2,
The scraping part is a part extending along the surface of the transport pipe from the regulation plate,
The supply apparatus in which a 1st drive part and a said 2nd drive part are comprised with a single drive mechanism. The supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The scraping unit is a supply device having a plurality of blades extending along the surface of the transport pipe. A supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A supply device in which a slight gap is interposed between the surface of the transport pipe and the scraping portion.

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