JP2512248B2 - Automatic viscosity measuring device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic viscosity measuring device capable of automatically measuring the viscosity of a liquid sample.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art JIS K 2215 (lubricating oil for internal combustion engine) defines a tester for measuring the low temperature apparent viscosity of lubricating oil for internal combustion engine. In the tester shown in FIG. 5, a lubricating oil as a sample is injected into a cylindrical storage hole 101 formed on the upper surface of the heat retaining body 100. The lubricating oil filled in the storage hole 101 is kept at a predetermined low temperature by the refrigerant passing through the jacket 102. The storage hole 1
A rotor 103 is inserted in the rotor 01, and a flexible shaft 104 of the rotor 103 has a pulley 105 and a belt 10.
6 is driven by a motor 107, and the rotor 103
Rotates in the storage hole 101 against the viscosity of the lubricating oil. A rotating shaft of a power generator 108 is engaged with the belt 106, and the power generator 108 generates power according to the rotation speed of the rotor 103.

In the measurement, the coolant is circulated to keep the lubricating oil of the sample at a predetermined low temperature, and the motor 107 is driven at a constant voltage. The rotor 103 immersed in the lubricating oil in the housing hole 101 rotates at a speed corresponding to the viscosity of the lubricating oil. The speed of the rotor 103 is the same as that of the generator 1
It is measured by the power generation amount of 08.

That is, since the speed of the rotor 103 and the viscosity of the lubricating oil have a functional relationship, if the relationship between the two is drawn in advance using a standard viscosity oil, this figure will be used to describe the rotor 103. The apparent viscosity of any sample can be determined from the velocity reading.

A supply hole 109 for filling a sample into the storage hole 101 of the tester is opened on the side surface of the heat retaining body 100. Conventionally, the tip of the syringe was inserted into the supply hole 109 and the sample in the syringe was manually injected into the tester.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In order to supply the sample while preventing foreign matter from entering the sample, it is preferable to use a syringe capable of injecting the sample in a highly sealed state. However,
As mentioned above, it is necessary to rely on human hands to operate the syringe, but such manual sample supply work is inefficient, and it is necessary to supply multiple types of samples one after another for efficient measurement. There was a problem that I could not.

The present invention is an automatic viscosity measuring device capable of automatically operating a plurality of syringes filled with a liquid sample, efficiently supplying each liquid sample one after another, and automatically measuring the viscosity thereof. Is intended to provide.

[0008]

The automatic viscosity measuring apparatus according to the present invention comprises a conveying means for sequentially setting a plurality of cock-equipped syringes filled with a liquid sample at predetermined positions, and the cock set at the predetermined positions. A cock operating means for operating a cock of a syringe with a syringe, a piston operating means for pressing a piston of the syringe with a cock set at the predetermined position, and a viscosity of the liquid sample injected by a liquid sample from the syringe with a cock. And a tester for measuring.

[0009]

The syringe with a cock filled with the liquid sample is set at a predetermined position by the conveying means. At this predetermined position, the cock operating means opens the cock of the syringe with a cock. Subsequently, at the same position, the piston operating means presses the piston of the cocked syringe. The liquid sample in the cocked syringe is fed to the tester and the viscosity is measured.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an automatic viscosity measuring device A for measuring the low temperature apparent viscosity of lubricating oil as a liquid sample according to the JIS.
1 shows a schematic configuration of the embodiment. In the figure, 1 is an automatic supply device for automatically supplying lubricating oil as a liquid sample contained in a plurality of cocked syringes 2 (hereinafter referred to as syringes 2) one after another. Further, 3 is a tester for measuring the low temperature apparent viscosity of the lubricating oil supplied from the automatic supply device 1.

First, the automatic feeder 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. Above the base plate 4, upper and lower circular substrates 5 and 6 are fixed via a plurality of pillar members (not shown). These base plate 4 and both substrates 5 and 6 form a structure to which each component of the present apparatus 1 is attached, and a cylindrical cover 7 provided on the base plate 4 serves to form both substrates 5 and 6. It covers the outer peripheral surface of the.

A hole is formed in the center of each of the substrates 5 and 6. The flange portion 9 of the mounting pipe 8 is fixed to the hole of the lower substrate 6, and the tubular portion 10 of the mounting pipe 8 is fixed to the upper substrate 5.
Projecting upward from the hole.

A rack base 12 is rotatably attached to a cylindrical portion 10 of the attachment tube 8 via a bearing 11. A rotating rack 13 is attached to the rack base 12 as a transporting means for the syringe 2. The rotating rack 13 is composed of two upper and lower discs 14 and 15, and the lower disc 15 is above the substrate 5 and is above the rack base 12.
The upper disk 14 is fixed to the flange 12a of the above, and the upper disk 14 is coaxially connected to the lower disk 15 by a pillar member 16.

Mounting holes 14a and 15a are formed on the outer periphery of the rotary rack 13 at corresponding positions of the upper and lower disks 14 and 15, respectively. The upper and lower mounting holes 14a, 1
Six sets of 5a are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.
Six syringes 2 can be attached.

A receiving ring 17 made of Teflon is mounted in the mounting hole 15a of the lower disk 15. Although there is no receiving ring on the upper disc 14, a receiving member 18 made of Teflon is provided on the collar portion 2a of the syringe 2 attached thereto. The receiving member 18 is provided with a pin 20 at the same position as the cock 19 with respect to the central axis of the syringe 2. Further, the mounting hole 14a of the upper disc 14 is provided with a groove 21 into which the pin 20 is inserted, at the inner edge of the disc 14 in the radial direction. As a result, when the syringe 2 with the receiving member 18 is mounted downward in the mounting holes 14a, 15a of the carousel 13, the syringe 2
The cock 19 will always face the center of the carousel 13.

The disc 1 on the upper side of the carousel 13
4, a fixing member 22 is slidably provided for each mounting hole 14a. The fixing member 22 is a collar portion 2a of the syringe 2 mounted on the rotary rack 13 in a predetermined direction.
, So that the syringe 2 can be securely fixed.

A pulley 23 is fixed to the shaft portion 12b of the rack base 12. A pulse motor 24 is provided on the lower substrate 6. And the pulley 2
A belt 26 that transmits a rotational force is wound between the pulley 3 and the pulley 25 provided on the rotation shaft of the pulse motor 24.

An air cylinder 27 is fixed at a predetermined position on the lower substrate 6 with its rod directed upward. The tip of the rod of the air cylinder 27 serves as a positioning pin 28, which is projected and retracted from a hole provided at a predetermined position of the upper substrate 5. Positioning holes 29 are formed in the disk 15 below the rotary rack 13 at positions corresponding to the set positions of the syringes 2, respectively, and the positioning pins 28 of the air cylinder 27 are inserted into the rotary rack 1.
The positioning of 3 is performed.

According to such a structure, the two discs 1 are
In the carousel 13, which is composed of 4, 15, a disk 14,
A plurality of syringes 2 can be installed downward along the outer periphery of 15. Then, by driving the pulse motor 24, the rotary rack 13 can be rotated. Therefore, by appropriately controlling the pulse motor 24, the arbitrary syringe 2 can be set to a predetermined sample supply position, and the positioning pin 28 is moved up by the driving of the air cylinder 27 and inserted into the positioning hole 29. Positioning can be performed.

A disc-shaped bush 30 is fixed to the flange portion 9 of the mounting tube 8 through a hole in the lower substrate 6. A bearing 31 is provided at the center of the bush 30, and an inner ring of the bearing 31 has a bolt shaft 32.
Is rotatably attached. The bolt shaft 32 is installed vertically along the center of rotation of the rotary rack 13, and is attached to the inner ring of the bearing 31 so that the bush 3
0 and a small-diameter rod portion 33 protruding downward, and the bush 30
And a threaded portion 34 located above. A pulley 35 is fixed to the rod portion 33 protruding downward. Further, the substrate 6 is provided with a pulse motor 36. A belt 38 that transmits a rotational force is wound around the pulley 35 and a pulley 37 provided on the rotation shaft of the pulse motor 36.

A cover tube 40 is fixed to the cylindrical portion 10 of the mounting tube 8. The cover tube 40 is located at the center of the rotary rack 13, projects upward from the center hole of the upper disk 14, and accommodates the bolt shaft 32 therein.
A guide member 41 having a rectangular guide hole 42 is fixed to the upper end of the cover tube 40. Also, the cover tube 40
A nut member 43 is engaged with the threaded portion 34 of the bolt shaft 32 inside.

On the upper surface side of the nut member 43, a piston operating portion 44 is mounted as a piston operating means for pressing the piston 2b of the syringe 2. The piston operating portion 44 is based on an elevating cylinder 45 having a lower end fixed to the upper surface side of the nut member 43.
The elevating cylinder 45 has a rectangular tube shape, and the guide member 41 is provided.
Is fitted in the rectangular guide hole 42 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, and the movement in the rotational direction is restricted. A fixed arm 46 is horizontally fixed to the upper end of the elevating cylinder 45 toward the sample supply position. The fixed arm 4
At the tip of 6, a movable arm 47 is horizontally mounted so as to be swingable. Therefore, both arms 46, 4
Even if the rotary rack 13 is mistakenly turned when 7 is in the lower position and the syringe 2 comes into contact with the movable arm 47, the movable arm 47 can escape to the side, so there is little risk of damaging the syringe 2. On the lower surface of the tip of the movable arm 47,
Pressing protrusion 48 that abuts the rear end of the piston 2b of the syringe 2.
Is provided.

The fixed arm 4 of the piston operating portion 44
6 and the movable arm 47 are provided at a position to press the piston 2b of the syringe 2 which is set to the sample supply position by the rotary rack 13 and the positioning pin 28 described above.

In such a structure, when the pulse motor 36 is driven, the bolt shaft 32 rotates. The elevating cylinder 45 fixed to the nut member 43 engaged with the bolt shaft 32 cannot rotate due to the restriction of the guide member 41. Therefore, the nut member 43 moves up and down with the rotation of the bolt shaft 32, and the piston operating portion 44 including the lift cylinder 45 and the arms 46 and 47 also moves up and down.

At the lower end of the rod portion 33 of the bolt shaft 32,
A speed reducer 50 is attached. The output shaft of the speed reducer 50 is provided with an upper limit detection cam 51 and a lower limit detection cam 52 for detecting the upper limit position and the lower limit position of the piston operating portion 44, respectively. Each of these cams 51 and 52 is configured to turn on the upper limit detection micro switch 53 and the lower limit detection micro switch 54 at the upper limit and lower limit positions of the piston operating portion 44, respectively.

The rotary rack 13 and the positioning pin 28
1 of the syringe 2 set to the sample supply position by the
In the vicinity of 9, a rotating arm 60 as a cock operating means
Is provided. The rotating arm 60 has a substantially cylindrical shape,
A groove into which the cock 19 of the syringe 2 is inserted is formed on the circular distal end surface in the radial direction from the center. The rotating arm 60 is attached to an air cylinder 61 installed horizontally outward on the base plate 4 through columns and brackets, and projects outward from a hole 7a provided in the cover 7 to supply the sample. It is adapted to engage the cock 19 of the syringe 2 in the position.

At the rear of the air cylinder 61, a rotary shaft 62 that interlocks with the central axis of the rotary arm 60 projects. A pinion 63 is provided on the rotary shaft 62. The pinion 63 rotates integrally with the rotary shaft 62 and the rotary arm 60, but in the axial direction, the pinion 63 slides by stopping at a predetermined position with respect to the rotary shaft 62.

An air cylinder 64 is attached to the bracket to which the air cylinder 61 is attached with the rod facing upward. A rack 65 is provided at the tip of the rod and engages with the pinion 63.

In the above construction, when the air cylinder 61 is operated, the rotary arm 60 advances and engages with the cock 19 of the syringe 2 in the groove on the tip surface. Then, when the air cylinder 64 is operated, the pinion 63, the rotary shaft 62, and the rotary arm 60 are integrally rotated by the movement of the rack 65, and the cock 19 is operated in the opening direction.

A connecting portion 70 made of Teflon is provided immediately below the injection port of the syringe 2 set to the sample supply position. A dish-shaped sample receiver 7 is provided around the connecting portion 70.
1 is provided. A flexible supply line 72 is connected to the connecting portion 70 and is guided to the adjacent tester 3. The connection part 70 and the sample receiver 71 are moved up and down by an air cylinder 73 provided on the base plate 4 so that connection and disconnection with the injection port of the syringe 2 can be performed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the supply line 72 from the automatic supply device 1 is connected to the tester 3 via an electromagnetic valve 74. An oil drain line 75 branches from a supply line 72 between the electromagnetic valve 74 and the tester 3, and is connected to a suction means side (not shown) via an electromagnetic valve 76.

The tester 3 used in the automatic viscosity measuring apparatus A of this embodiment is a tester having a basic structure defined by JIS and provided with a flange 80 for sample recovery. Constituent parts similar to those of the related art are designated by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5, and description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the tester 3 of this embodiment, the flange 80 is attached to the upper surface of the heat retaining body 100 via an O-ring. The flange 80 is an annular member in which a relatively low circumferential inner wall 82 is provided inside a circumferential outer wall 81, and overflows the inner wall 82 to form the outer wall 81.
The sample accumulated in the circumferential groove portion 83 between the inner wall 82 and the inner wall 82 can be recovered from the recovery hole 84. Inside the flange 80, a suction tube 85 for sample collection is provided on the upper surface of the heat retaining body 100 so that the suction port is in contact with the suction tube 85. As shown in FIG. 4, the suction pipe 85 is connected to the oil drain line 75.

Although not shown, the tester 3 of this embodiment has
A refrigerant supply device for supplying a refrigerant is provided in the jacket 102 of the heat retaining body 100. Further, in order to prevent frosting of the tester 3 and to prevent the sample supplied into the tester 3 from being affected by the outside air temperature and humidity, a dry inert gas at room temperature (for example, in the flange 80) (for example, N ₂ ) is supplied.

In the automatic viscosity measuring apparatus A of the present embodiment described above, the automatic liquid sample feeder 1 and the tester 3 are used.
And each solenoid valve 74 of the supply line 72 and the oil drain line 75,
The components such as 76 are centrally controlled by control means such as a personal computer. That is, when the syringe 2 is set, the setting position and the type of the sample are input to the control means, and thereafter the JIS is sequentially operated according to a preset procedure.
According to the test, the results are recorded. Of course, it is also possible to switch to manual if necessary.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be specifically described. 1. Setting of Syringe 2 (1) 6 kinds of plural kinds of samples for each of plural syringes 2
Each 0 cc is sampled, and these are set in the respective mounting holes 14a and 15a of the carousel 13. At this time, the cock 19 of each syringe 2 faces the center of the carousel 13.

2. Operation of the device (2) The control means is started. First, the pulse motor 24 is driven and the rotary rack 13 is rotated. The syringe 2 at the designated setting position remains at the sample supply position. (3) The positioning pin 2 is driven by driving the air cylinder 27.
8 rises and is inserted into the positioning hole 29 of the rotary rack 13 to fix the position of the rotary rack 13.

(4) The rotating arm 60 is moved forward by the air cylinder 61 to hold the cock 19 of the syringe 2. (5) The air cylinder 73 raises the sample receiver 71 and the connecting portion 70, and the connecting portion 70 and the injection port of the syringe 2 are connected.

(6) The air cylinder 64 operates. That is, the rack 65 rotates the pinion 63 to move the pinion 6
The rotating arm 60 interlocking with the rotating body 3 rotates 90 ° to open the cock 19 of the syringe 2. (7) The electromagnetic valve 76 of the oil drain line 75 is closed, and then the electromagnetic valve 74 of the supply line 72 is opened.

3. Injection into tester 3 (8) The pulse motor 36 drives a preset number of pulses, and the piston operating portion 44 descends to press the piston 2b of the syringe 2. About 10 of the samples of the syringe 2
cc is injected into the tester 3. (9) The solenoid valve 74 of the supply line 72 is closed and the solenoid valve 76 of the oil drain line 75 is opened. The sample in the tester 3 is pulled out by the vacuum force. By this operation, the pre-oil remaining in the tester 3 is co-washed.

(10) After repeating the operations (7), (8) and (9) five times, the solenoid valve 76 is closed and the solenoid valve 74 is closed.
Is opened and 10 cc of the sample left at the end is injected into the tester 3. (11) In the tester 3, the sample in the flange 80 for preventing overflow is always pulled out by the suction pipe 85. Therefore, the sample is always kept at the required level.

(12) The air cylinder 61 is driven to rotate the rotary arm 60 to close the cock 19 of the syringe 2. (13) A dry inert gas is supplied into the flange 80. For this reason, frost does not form on the cooled portion of the tester 3, and the sample is not easily affected by the ambient temperature.

4. Measurement (14) The refrigerant supply device operates, the refrigerant circulates in the tester 3, and the cooling of the tester 3 is started. The tester 3 is automatically controlled to the set temperature. (15) After the stipulated time (180 seconds) has elapsed, the motor 107 is rotated to activate the rotor 103 and the generator 108.

(16) After the stipulated time (60 seconds) has elapsed, the starting force of the generator 108 is read by a rotor speed meter (not shown), and the motor 107 is stopped. (17) A heater circuit (not shown) is activated to warm the tester 3. (The temperature is about 25-40 ° C.)

(18) Using a calibration curve prepared in advance, the low temperature apparent viscosity of the sample is obtained from the measured value of the electromotive force of the generator 108. This calculation is performed by a personal computer integrated with the control unit, and the result is displayed on a display screen and recorded on a recording medium such as a floppy disk.

(19) The solenoid valve 76 of the oil drain line 75 is opened, and the sample in the tester 3 is extracted. (20) The electromagnetic valve 74 of the supply line 72 is closed, the rotating arm 60 is rotated by the air cylinder 64, and the cock 19 of the syringe 2 is closed.

(21) The connecting portion 7 is connected by the air cylinder 73.
0 and the sample receiver 71 are lowered, and the syringe 2 and the connecting portion 70
Disconnect. (22) The air cylinder 61 retracts the rotary arm 60 to release the cock 19 of the syringe 2 from the rotary arm 60. The rotating arm 60 is housed in the cover 7 of the device 1.

(23) The pulse motor 36 rotates in the reverse direction to raise the piston operating portion 44 until the upper limit detecting microswitch 53 is activated. (24) The positioning pin 28 is lowered by the air cylinder 27 so that the rotary rack 13 can move freely. Then, the operation from (2) above is repeated, and the measurement is sequentially performed in the order of preset samples.

Since the syringe with a cock can seal the sample, there is no problem such as evaporation of the sample or mixing of dust, and the usage amount can be read on the scale. The automatic viscosity measuring apparatus A according to the embodiment described above is capable of handling a large number of syringes 2 with a cock at the same time.
And a tester 3 equipped with a flange for overflow prevention, an inert gas supply device, etc., connect them with a supply / waste oil line having various solenoid valves, and control them with a personal computer or the like. There is. Therefore, it is possible to handle a plurality of syringes 2 sealed with various kinds of lubricating oils at the same time, select desired samples in sequence, and efficiently measure the low temperature apparent viscosity with the tester 3. That is, according to a preset program, sample selection, setting of the syringe at the supply position,
It is possible to successively perform cleaning inside the tester, sample injection, viscosity measurement, data processing and recording.

Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment, if five kinds of standard viscosity oils are put into the syringes and attached to the apparatus, the viscosity measurement and the data processing are automatically performed by a predetermined procedure. It is also possible to easily create a calibration curve based on the JIS. Then, using such a calibration curve, the viscosity of a sample of unknown viscosity can be sequentially and automatically measured.

Further, the apparatus of this embodiment not only measures the low temperature apparent viscosity of the lubricating oil according to JIS as described in the embodiments but also various viscosity measurements of various kinds of liquid samples in general. It can be used to measure physical properties.

In the above-described embodiment, the disc-shaped rotary rack 13 rotated by the pulse motor 36 is used to set a plurality of syringes 2 in the sample supply device sequentially. Other mechanisms may be used as the transporting means. For example, the syringe may be selected and transported by a hand-shaped transport mechanism that can move in three directions of XYZ, or a plurality of syringes may be circulated and transported by a belt conveyor-type transport mechanism to transport a specific syringe to a specific position. It may be set to.

[0053]

According to the automatic viscosity measuring device of the present invention, a plurality of syringes with a cock filled with a liquid sample are sequentially set to a predetermined position by the conveying means, the cock is opened by the cock operating means, and the piston is operated. The sample is pushed out by means, and the sample is injected into the tester to automatically measure the viscosity.

Therefore, by using a plurality of syringes with a cock suitable for handling a liquid sample, it is possible to automatically and efficiently perform the viscosity measurement work of a plurality of types of liquid samples.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an automatic supply device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an automatic supply device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of a tester according to an example.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic viscosity measuring device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an overall configuration diagram of a tester for measuring a low temperature apparent viscosity of a lubricating oil of an internal combustion engine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Viscosity automatic measuring device 1 Liquid sample automatic supplying device 2 Syringe with cock 2b Piston 13 Rotating rack as conveying means 19 Cock 44 Piston operating part as piston operating means 60 Rotating arm as cock operating means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication location G01N 35/04 G01N 35/04 A 35/10 35/06 D (72) Inventor Kazushi Wakaizumi Saitama 3-14-20 Harayama, Urawa-shi, Japan Inside the company Urawa Plant, Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-53-131884 (JP, A) JP-A-62-63846 (JP, A) JP-A-56-94238 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transfer means for sequentially setting a plurality of cocked syringes filled with a liquid sample to predetermined positions, a cock operation means for operating the cocks of the cocked syringes set to the predetermined positions, and the predetermined one. An automatic viscosity measuring device comprising: piston operating means for pressing the piston of the cocked syringe set to a position; and a tester for injecting a liquid sample from the cocked syringe to measure the viscosity of the liquid sample.