JP2020186737A - Multi-passage rotary joint - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve washability of a rotary joint including multiple passages.SOLUTION: In a rotary joint 20 in which a center rotation part 40A is rotatably coupled to a joint fixing part (a housing) 42, a first liquid passage 38 which allows a liquid to circulate therein is provided within the center rotation part 40A. An annular second liquid passage 44 is provided between an inner peripheral surface of a lower fixing part 42B of the joint fixing part 42 and an outer peripheral surface of the center rotation part 40A so as to enclose the first liquid passage 38. At least two liquid supply ports which introduce the liquid are provided at the second liquid passage 44, and the liquid supply ports are formed offset from an axis R of the center rotation part 40A.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a rotary joint that supplies a liquid from a fixed side to a rotating side through a plurality of flow paths.

As a device for filling a container with a liquid, a rotary filling device is known in which a plurality of filling nozzles are provided around a rotating body and the container is filled with the liquid from the filling nozzles while rotating. Further, as the rotary filling device, the first and second filling nozzles are alternately arranged around the rotating body, and the first and second filling liquids are supplied from the first and second filling liquid supply sources, respectively. It is also known that the product liquid can be independently supplied through the pipeline (see Patent Document 1).

In the configuration of Patent Document 1, a second liquid supply pipeline is provided along the rotation axis of the rotating body, and the first liquid supply pipeline is concentrically arranged so as to surround the second liquid supply pipeline. The first and second liquid supply pipelines are rotated integrally with the rotating body, and the lower end thereof is branched into each filling nozzle. The upper end of the second liquid supply pipe extends upward from the upper end of the first liquid supply pipe and is connected to a fixed portion to which the bent pipe is attached. The upper end of the second liquid supply pipeline is liquid-tightly and rotatably connected to the fixed portion to form a rotary joint. Further, the upper end of the first liquid supply pipeline surrounds the circumference of the second liquid supply pipeline, and is connected to a fixed portion to which a straight tubular pipeline is attached from the side. The upper end of the first liquid supply pipeline is liquid-tightly and rotatably connected to the fixed portion to form a rotary joint.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-158358

On the other hand, in the filling device, it is usually necessary to regularly clean the liquid supply line. In the cleaning of the liquid supply pipeline, the cleaning liquid is circulated through the liquid supply pipeline to be cleaned to clean each pipeline. However, for example, the first liquid supply pipeline of Patent Document 1 is provided so as to surround the second liquid supply pipeline, and the fixed portion forming the rotary joint at the upper end thereof is filled with liquid from the side of the shaft. Is supplied to. Therefore, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the first liquid supply pipe in a form of wrapping around the second liquid supply pipe, and the cleaning liquid is not sufficiently distributed to the upper part on the opposite side of the supply port in the rotary joint. , Detergency problems may occur.

An object of the present invention is to improve the cleanability of a rotary joint provided with a plurality of flow paths.

The multi-channel rotary joint according to the first invention of the present invention is a rotary joint that rotatably connects a rotating body to a housing on a fixed side, and a first liquid passage for flowing a liquid inside the rotating body. Is provided, and an annular second liquid passage formed so as to surround the first liquid passage is provided between the inner peripheral surface of the housing and the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body, and the second liquid passage is provided. Is provided with at least two liquid supply ports for introducing the liquid, and the liquid supply ports are formed so as to be offset from the axis of the rotating body.

The multi-channel rotary joint according to the second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the liquid supply port is inclined from horizontal to upward toward the second liquid passage. ..

The multi-channel rotary joint according to the third invention of the present invention is introduced from the liquid passage in the first or second invention by forming a part of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body into a tapered shape upward. It is characterized by raising the liquid to be produced.

According to the present invention, the cleanability of a rotary joint provided with a plurality of flow paths can be improved.

It is a vertical sectional view of the rotary filling device provided with the multi-channel rotary joint which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the multi-channel rotary joint of FIG. It is a horizontal sectional view of a rotary joint.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a rotary filling device including a multi-channel rotary joint according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the rotary filling device 10 of the present embodiment, the rotary wheel 16 is rotatably held by the fixed base portion 12 via the bearing 14. The rotary wheel 16 is integrally formed with the lower rotary wheel 16A that can rotate around the vertical axis R with respect to the base portion 12 and the lower rotary wheel 16A in the rotational direction, and is vertically oriented via a spline mechanism or the like. Is provided with an upper rotary wheel 16B that can be raised and lowered. The multi-channel rotary joint 20 of the present embodiment is attached to the center of the top surface of the upper rotary wheel 16B.

The rotary joint 20 is attached to the upper rotating wheel 16B, and as will be described later, a joint rotating portion (rotating body) 40 that integrally rotates around the rotating shaft R together with the upper rotating wheel 16B, and a part of the joint rotating portion 40. It is provided with a joint fixing portion (housing) 42 that covers the periphery and rotatably holds the joint rotating portion 40 inside. The joint fixing portion 42 is held in a fixed state, and a plurality of liquid supply pipes are connected as described later.

A gear 17 is provided at the lower end of the lower rotary wheel 16A along the outer circumference. The gear 17 engages with the drive gear 18A attached to the rotary drive servomotor 18 installed on the base portion 12, and the rotation of the rotary drive servomotor 18 causes the lower rotary wheel 16A and the upper rotary wheel 16B to rotate. And the joint rotating portion 40 of the rotary joint 20 is integrally rotated around the vertical axis R.

The upper rotary wheel 16B includes a pair of upper and lower horizontal lower rotary plates 22A and an upper rotary plate 22B. The lower rotary plate 22A is provided with neck grippers 24 for holding the neck of the container C such as a bottle at predetermined intervals along the outer circumference thereof, and the upper rotary plate 22B is provided with each neck gripper 24 along the outer circumference thereof. The filling nozzles 26 are arranged at predetermined intervals at positions corresponding to. Further, the upper rotary wheel 16B can be raised and lowered with respect to the lower rotary wheel 16A by using the upper rotary wheel elevating mechanism 28, whereby the lower rotary plate 22A and the upper rotary plate 22B can be integrally lifted and lowered. ..

The upper rotary wheel elevating mechanism 28 is composed of, for example, an elevating servomotor 28A attached to the upper rotary wheel 16B and a ball screw mechanism 28B. That is, the height of the upper rotary wheel 16B can be adjusted by engaging the screw rotated by the elevating servomotor 28A with the nut attached to the lower rotary wheel 16A. As a result, the height of the bottom surface of the container C can be adjusted to the reference position according to the size of the container C held by the neck gripper 24.

The neck gripper 24 is held by the lower rotating plate 22A via the gripper opening / closing mechanism 24A, and the gripper opening / closing mechanism 24A is operated by a drive mechanism (not shown). On the other hand, the filling nozzle 26 is attached to the elevating plate 22C supported by the upper rotating plate 22B via a nozzle height adjusting mechanism 26A using an air cylinder or the like. That is, the height of the filling nozzle 26 with respect to the upper rotating plate 22B can be integrally adjusted by raising and lowering the elevating plate 22C by the nozzle height adjusting mechanism 26A. The height adjustment of the filling nozzle 26 by the nozzle height adjusting mechanism 26A is adjusted according to the height (length) of the mouth portion of the container C, whereby the filling nozzle 26 at the time of filling and the mouth opening of the container C are adjusted. The gap between them is adjusted to a predetermined distance.

Further, each filling nozzle 26 is attached to the elevating plate 22C via the nozzle elevating mechanism 26B, and fills the container C with liquid while the rotary wheel 16 goes around. The right side of FIG. 1 shows a state in which the filling nozzle 26 is lowered to the filling position, and the left side shows a state in which the filling nozzle 26 is raised to the nozzle cleaning position.

Further, in the present embodiment, a cleaning cup 30 is provided corresponding to each filling nozzle 26. The cleaning cup 30 is provided at the tip of the swing arm 30A, and the swing arm 30A is swingably attached to the lower rotating plate 22A adjacent to the gripper opening / closing mechanism 24A. In the filling nozzle 26 for performing the cleaning operation described later, the swing arm 30A is moved to the cleaning position immediately below the filling nozzle 26 in which the cleaning cup 30 is in the nozzle cleaning position as shown on the left side of FIG. The cleaning liquid discharged from the 26 is received by the cleaning cup 30. The cleaning liquid poured into the cleaning cup 30 is discharged through the drainage pipe 30B.

On the other hand, in the filling nozzle 26 for performing the filling operation, as shown on the right side of FIG. 1, the swing arm 30A is rotated in the horizontal plane, and the cleaning cup 30 is moved to the cup retracting position retracted from directly below the filling nozzle 26. Will be moved to. This prevents the filling nozzle 26, which descends to the filling position during the filling operation, from interfering with the cleaning cup 30.

One end of each of the two nozzle liquid supply pipes 32A and 32B is connected to each filling nozzle 26, and the other end of the nozzle liquid supply pipes 32A and 32B is arranged at the top of the upper rotary wheel 16B, respectively, and has multiple flow paths. The rotary joint 20 is connected to a multi-channel manifold 34 attached to the center of the top surface thereof. The multi-channel manifold 34 of the present embodiment is provided with two systems of first and second manifolds 34A and 34B.

The first and second manifolds 34A and 34B are composed of two upper and lower stages. The first manifold 34A is configured as a lower stage and includes a large number of branch pipes 36A arranged radially around the rotation axis R. The second manifold 34B is configured as an upper stage, and includes a large number of branch pipes 36B arranged radially around the rotation axis R on the first manifold 34A. The rotary wheel 16 of the present embodiment is provided with, for example, an even number of filling nozzles 26, and every other filling nozzle 26 is connected to the first manifold 34A and the second manifold 34B via the nozzle liquid supply pipes 32A and 32B. Will be done. In FIG. 1, the filling nozzle 26 on the right side is connected to the second manifold 34B via the nozzle liquid supply pipe 32B, and the filling nozzle 26 on the left side is connected to the second manifold 34A via the nozzle liquid supply pipe 32A. Has been done.

Next, the configuration of the multi-channel rotary joint 20 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the rotary joint 20.

As described above, the rotary joint 20 includes a joint rotating portion 40 and a joint fixing portion 42 surrounding the joint rotating portion 40. The joint rotating portion 40 is attached to the center of the top of the multi-channel manifold 34 and is integrally rotated together with the rotary wheel 16 and the multi-channel manifold 34.

The joint rotating portion 40 is between the hollow central rotating portion 40A having the vertically extending first liquid passage 38 in the center and the central rotating portion 40A surrounding the lower portion of the central rotating portion 40A in an annular shape. It is provided with an outer shell rotating portion 40B that forms a liquid passage. On the other hand, the joint fixing portion 42 covers the upper end portion of the central rotating portion 40A and constitutes the upper end portion of the first liquid passage 38, and is below the upper fixing portion 42A and from the outer shell rotating portion 40B. Also includes a lower fixing portion 42B that covers the periphery of the upper central rotating portion 40A and the upper portion of the outer shell rotating portion 40B to form the second liquid passage 44. The central rotating portion 40A and the outer shell rotating portion 40B are rotatably and liquid-tightly arranged in the upper fixing portion 42A and the lower fixing portion 42B, respectively, via bearings and sealing members.

Further, the lower end portion of the central rotating portion 40A protrudes downward from the lower end portion of the outer shell rotating portion 40B, is fitted into the multi-channel manifold 34, and is connected to the lower first manifold 34A. That is, the first liquid passage 38 that can be formed in the central rotating portion 40A is connected to the first manifold 34A. On the other hand, the lower end of the outer shell rotating portion 40B is attached to the top of the multi-channel manifold 34. As a result, the second liquid passage 44 formed around the central rotating portion 40A is connected to the upper second manifold 34B.

The lower fixing portion 42B forming the second liquid passage 44 above the outer shell rotating portion 40B is provided with a plurality of liquid supply pipes 48 from the side, and in the present embodiment, the two liquid supply pipes 48 are provided. Be done. Each of the liquid supply pipes 48 communicates with the second liquid passage 44, and the same type of liquid is supplied from each of the liquid supply pipes 48 from two directions. For example, when the filling liquid is supplied to the second liquid passage 44, the filling liquid is supplied from all the liquid supply pipes 48, and when the cleaning liquid is supplied, the cleaning liquid is supplied from all the liquid supply pipes 48. ..

Next, the connection structure of the liquid supply pipe 48 and the second liquid passage 44 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Note that FIG. 3 is a schematic horizontal cross-sectional view at a height at which the liquid supply pipe 48 of the multi-channel rotary joint 20 is connected.

As shown in FIG. 2, each axis of the liquid supply pipe 48 is tilted upward at a predetermined angle toward the second liquid passage 44. Further, around the height at which the liquid supply pipe 48 communicates with the second liquid passage 44, the outer diameter of the outer peripheral surface of the central rotating portion 40A constituting the inner peripheral wall of the second liquid passage 44 becomes smaller as it goes upward. It is formed in a tapered shape (tapered portion), and the width of the second liquid passage 44 is expanded. The outer inner peripheral surface of the second liquid passage 44 is a cylindrical surface having substantially the same inner diameter over the entire length of the passage. Further, the tapered portion provided in the second liquid passage 44 extends from the liquid supply pipe 48 to a position higher by a predetermined height to form the upper end of the second liquid passage 44.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the axes of the liquid supply pipe 48 are offset by a predetermined distance from the rotation axis R (center of gravity of the second liquid passage 44) to the opposite sides. That is, the two liquid supply pipes 48 are arranged rotationally symmetrically at 180 °. With the above configuration, the liquids discharged from the liquid supply port of the liquid supply pipe 48 into the second liquid passage 44 are respectively along the outer circumference of one of the second liquid passages 44 (while rotating clockwise in the illustrated example). It rises and flows vigorously to the upper end of the tapered part. The liquid supplied from the liquid supply pipe 48 to the tapered portion then flows downward along the second liquid passage 44, is diffused radially at the lower end, and is supplied to each branch pipe of the second manifold 34B. The liquid flowing through the first flow passage 38 flows down from above to below, is diffused radially at the lower end, and is supplied to each branch pipe of the first manifold 34A.

As described above, in the present embodiment, by attaching two or more liquid supply pipes with their shafts offset from the rotation shaft, the liquid supplied from each liquid supply pipe to the second liquid passage is one of them. Since it can vigorously wrap around to the back side of the central rotating portion along the outer peripheral surface, the cleaning performance of the rotary joint when cleaning is performed by supplying the cleaning liquid from the liquid supply pipe is improved.

In the present embodiment, the liquid supply pipe is arranged so as to be tilted upward, but the liquid supply pipe may be substantially horizontal and the supply portion of the second liquid passage may be cleaned only by the swirling flow of the supply liquid. it can.

Further, in the rotary joint of the present embodiment, the liquid can be supplied through the two systems, but the number of systems can be increased to three or more by concentrically providing the liquid passages on the outside of the second liquid passage 44.

Further, in the present embodiment, the lower fixing portion 42B is provided with two liquid supply pipes 48 in a 180 ° rotational symmetry, but the axes of the three liquid supply pipes 48 are offset from the rotation axis R by 120 °. It may be arranged rotationally symmetrically, or more liquid supply pipes 48 may be provided.

10 Rotary filling device 20 Multi-channel rotary joint 34 Multi-passage manifold 38 First liquid passage 40 Joint rotating part 40A Central rotating part (rotating body)
40B outer shell rotating part 42 joint fixing part (housing)
42A Upper fixing part 42B Lower fixing part 44 Second liquid passage 48 Liquid supply pipe C Container

Claims (3)

In a rotary joint that rotatably connects a rotating body to a fixed housing
A first liquid passage for circulating liquid is provided inside the rotating body, and is formed so as to surround the first liquid passage between the inner peripheral surface of the housing and the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body. An annular second liquid passage is provided,
The second liquid passage is provided with at least two liquid supply ports for introducing liquid, and the liquid supply ports are formed so as to be offset from the axial center of the rotating body. Joint. The multi-channel rotary joint according to claim 1, wherein the liquid supply port is inclined from horizontal to upward toward the second liquid passage. The multi-channel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a part of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body is tapered upward to raise the liquid introduced from the liquid passage. Rotary joint.

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