JP2517547Y2 - Leak inspection device for soft containers - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Industrial field of application" The present invention relates to a leak inspection device for a soft container, and more particularly to a leak inspection device for inspecting a defective sealing of a soft container such as a tube filled with contents.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as a leak inspection device for a soft container, a conveyor that conveys the soft container, a pressing mechanism that presses and deforms the soft container that is conveyed by the conveyor, and a pressing mechanism that deforms the soft container There is known one provided with a detecting means for detecting a seal defect of a soft container (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-63119).
-294333, JP 62-51428, JP-B 55-3
7877 publication).

"Problems to be solved by the invention" However, in the conventional leak inspection device, in order to synchronize the soft container conveyed by the conveyor and the pressing mechanism for pressing and deforming the soft container, for example, the endless belt has a certain interval. Since the transport conveyor itself is configured as a dedicated transport conveyor for synchronously transporting the soft container, for example, by providing a pocket for accommodating the soft container, there is a drawback that the transport conveyor becomes expensive.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides the above-mentioned conventional leak inspection apparatus with a synchronizing means for carrying the soft container carried by the carrying conveyor in synchronism with the operation of the pressing mechanism.

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, the present invention relates to a conveyor for continuously conveying a soft container, a conveyor arranged on both sides of the conveyor, and projecting toward the center of the conveyor in directions close to each other. And a pressing mechanism having a pair of pressing heads that are moved in the transport direction of the transport conveyor, a detection unit that detects a sealing defect of the soft container that is pressed and deformed by the pressing mechanism, and the pressing mechanism. Is also arranged on the upstream side, and is provided with a synchronizing means that engages with the soft containers conveyed by the transfer conveyor, separates each soft container at a predetermined pitch, and synchronizes with the operation of the pressing head. is there.

[Operation] According to such a configuration, the conveyor conveys not only the soft container but also the soft container and the pressing mechanism can be synchronized by a synchronization means such as a timing screw or a timing wheel. It becomes possible to manufacture at low cost, as compared with the case where the entire conveyor is configured as a dedicated transfer conveyor for synchronously transferring the soft container.

Further, the transfer conveyor is adapted to continuously transfer the soft container, and the pressing heads of the pressing mechanism are arranged on both sides of the transfer conveyor, and are protruded toward the center of the transfer conveyor in the directions close to each other to be soft. Since the container is pressed and deformed and is moved in the transport direction of the above-mentioned transport conveyor, it is possible to continuously inspect the soft container while inspecting its sealing failure, and thus to intermittently stop the soft container. However, the processing capacity can be significantly improved as compared with the case of inspecting.

"Example" Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated example.
In FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, the leak inspection device 1 can detect whether or not the tube 3 as the soft container conveyed by the conveyor 2 is completely sealed.

In the present embodiment, the tube 3 is housed in the holder 5 in an inverted state with the cap 4 facing downward, and the tube 3 is previously screwed into the tube 3 from the bottom opening of the tube 3. That is, the filling liquid is filled from the vertically upper opening, and after filling the filling liquid, both sides of the opening are pressed and welded to seal the opening.

The holder 5 is formed in a substantially cubic shape, and both sides of the holder 5 are supported and guided by a pair of left and right guide members 6 (FIG. 2) so that the holder 5 does not rotate. Further, the tube 3 is fixed to the holder 5 so as not to rotate with respect to the holder 5,
The tube 3 is arranged so that the upper end seal portion 3a is parallel to the carrying direction of the carrying conveyor 2 with respect to the holder 5 whose rotation is restricted by the pair of guide members 6.

A timing screw 7 is provided on one side of the required position of the transfer conveyor 2, and the holder 5 transferred by the transfer conveyor 2 is attached to the timing screw 7.
The tube 3 held by the holder 5 can be conveyed in synchronism with the operation of the pressing mechanism 8 by being engaged with and being conveyed in accordance with the rotation of the timing screw 7.

The pressing mechanism 8 is provided with a pair of pressing heads 10A, 10B, 11A, 11B on opposite sides of the transport conveyor 2, and the pressing heads 10A, 10B and 11A, 11B are opposed to each other.
Thus, the front and rear two tubes 3 conveyed by the timing screw 7 can be pressed from both sides to be deformed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the pressing mechanism 8 includes four rotary shafts 13A, 13B, 14A and 14B which are rotatably supported by vertically arranged four corners of a fixed frame 12. The rotary shafts 13A and 14A provided on the left side of the conveyor 2
The pressure heads 10A and 11A are interlocked with the transfer conveyor 2
Pressing heads 10B and 11B on rotating shafts 13B and 14B located on the right side of
Are linked.

As shown in FIG. 3, gears 15 having the same number of teeth are attached to the lower ends of the rotary shafts 13A to 14B, respectively, and two fixed gears 12 having the same number of teeth are meshed with each other. While supporting 16 rotatably respectively, the gear 15 attached to the rotary shafts 13A, 14A on the left side of one gear 16,
Gears attached to the right side rotary shafts 13B and 14B in the other gear 16
15 mesh each.

As shown in FIG. 1, a drive gear 17 is attached to the lower end of the rotary shaft 13A in addition to the gear 15, and the drive gear 17 is interlocked with a drive motor (not shown) that drives the timing screw 7 described above. ing.

Therefore, when the timing screw 7 is rotationally driven by the drive motor, the rotary shafts 13A to 14B are synchronously rotated via the drive gear 17 and the gears 15 and 16, As shown in FIG. 3, the left rotary shafts 13A and 14A are both counterclockwise, and the right rotary shafts 13B and 1A are counterclockwise.
Both 4B are rotated clockwise at the same number of revolutions.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the arms 21 are attached to the upper ends of the rotary shafts 13A to 14B, respectively, and the support shafts 22 are attached to the ends of the arms 21 in the vertical direction. Then, in a state where the arm 21 and the support shaft 22 provided on the left rotary shafts 13A and 14A are arranged in parallel to each other, a bridge 23A is arranged between the support shafts 22 in parallel with the transport conveyor 2 and Support shaft 2
2 is rotatably supported on the bridge 23A. Therefore, by rotating the left rotary shafts 13A and 14A, the bridge 23A can be rotationally moved while maintaining the parallel state with the conveyor 2.

In addition, a bridge 23B is similarly attached to the support shaft 22 provided on the right rotating shafts 13B and 14B, and the bridges 23A and 23B are
Are opposed to each other at the same height with the center of the transport conveyor 2 sandwiched therebetween, and can be operated symmetrically about the center.

On the front surface of the left bridge 23A, two rods 24A and 25A are horizontally projected toward the right bridge 23B, and the pressing heads 10A and 11A are attached to the tips of the rods 24A and 25A. There is. Then, roughly square elastic members 26 are attached to the front surfaces of the pressing heads 10A and 11A, respectively.

On the other hand, two air cylinder devices 31, 32 are attached to the front surface of the right bridge 23B, and the tips of piston rods 24B, 25B extending from the respective air cylinder devices 31, 32 toward the left bridge 23A. The pressing heads 10B and 11B are attached to the. Further, substantially square elastic members 33 are attached to the front surfaces of the pressing heads 10B and 11B, respectively.

Piston rod 24 of each air cylinder device 31, 32
B and 25B are usually pressure heads 10 provided on the respective cylinder bodies by unillustrated compression springs incorporated in the cylinder bodies.
B and 11B are biased and held in a direction away from the other pressing heads 10A and 11A, but when compressed air is supplied to the air cylinder devices 31 and 32, they are advanced to the forward end position. ing.

Further, the elastic members 26 and 33 attached to the tips of the pressing heads 10A to 11B and contacting the tube 3 have their front surfaces inclined in conformity with the shape of the tube 3 held by the holder 5, and each elastic member Transport conveyor 2 on both sides of members 26, 33
A stopper 34 protruding to the center side of is attached. This stopper 34 has a leak in the tube 3 and
When they are largely pressed and deformed, they come into contact with each other, and it is possible to prevent the tube 3 from being deformed more than necessary.

Further, a sensor 35 is arranged above each of the air cylinder devices 31 and 32, and each sensor 35 is fixed to the fixed frame 12 via a bracket 36. Each sensor
35 detects that the distance between this and the detection plate 37 attached to each of the pressing heads 10B and 11B becomes a predetermined distance or more,
The detection signal can be input to a control device (not shown).

In the above configuration, the holder 5 conveyed by the conveyor 2 while being guided by the pair of left and right guide members 6 is engaged with the timing screw 7 to press the pressing mechanism 8.
Will be conveyed in synchronism with the operation of.

The rotary shafts 13A to 14B of the pressing mechanism 8 are rotationally driven in synchronization with the rotation of the timing screw 7, and when the rotary shafts 13A to 14B are synchronously rotated, the rotary shaft 13A on the left side is rotated. , The tip of the left pressure head 10A, 11A is moved in a circular locus via the bridge 23A linked to 14A, and similarly, the right pressure head 10B, 11B.
Will move along a circular trajectory in the opposite direction.

By such circular movement of the pressing heads 10A to 11B,
The elastic members 26 and 33 provided at the tips of the tubes come close to each other to press the tube 3 from both sides, and further, follow the movement of the pressed tube 3.
Therefore, even if the tube 3 is continuously conveyed by the conveyor 2, it is possible to secure a relatively long pressing time of the tube 3 by the pressing heads 10A to 11B.

The right pressing heads 10B and 11B provided at the tips of the air cylinder devices 31 and 32 are held at the forward end position by the pressure of the compressed air supplied to the air cylinder devices 31 and 32. Tube 3 if there is no leak in
It is pushed out from the forward end position by the reaction force from. In this case, the sensor 35 and the pressing heads 10B, 1
The distance from the detection plate 37 provided in 1B does not open more than necessary, and the pressing deformation force of the tube 3 at this time is to adjust the pressure of the compressed air supplied to the air cylinder devices 31, 32. Can be adjusted by.

On the other hand, when there is a leak in the tube 3, the reaction force from the tube 3 is small, so the pressing heads 10B, 11B are
Remains held at the forward end position, and therefore the distance between the sensor 35 and the detection plate 37 is opened to a predetermined value or more.
A leak in the tube 3 can be detected. Then, the tube 3 in which the leak is detected is discharged from the transport conveyor 2 by a reject mechanism (not shown) on the downstream side.

In this embodiment, since the upper portion of the tube 3 is pressed and deformed, the upper end seal portion 3a is arranged so as to be parallel to the transport direction of the transport conveyor 2, but the central portion of the tube 3 is pressed and deformed. Needless to say, there is no need for such a case.

Further, although the timing screw 7 is used as the synchronizing means for synchronizing the holder 5 with the operation of the pressing mechanism 8 in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and a timing wheel or the like may be used.

Further, depending on the configuration of the soft container, it is not necessary to hold the soft container on the holder 5, and in this case, the soft container is directly pressed by the synchronizing mechanism such as the timing screw 7 and the pressing mechanism 8
Of course, it can be synchronized with.

[Advantage of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since a normal conveyor can be used as the conveyor of the leak inspection apparatus, even if a timing screw or a timing wheel is used as the synchronizing means, the conventional Since it can be manufactured at a lower cost than the device, and it is possible to inspect for defective sealing while continuously conveying the soft container,
As compared with the case where the soft container is inspected while being intermittently stopped, the processing capacity can be significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of the main part of FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Leak inspection device 2 ... Conveyor 3 ... Tube (soft container) 4 ... Holder 7 ... Timing screw (synchronizing means) 8 ... Pressing mechanism 10A, 10B, 11A, 11B ... Pressing head 23A, 23B ... Bridge 31, 32 ... Air cylinder device 35 ... Sensor (detection means) 37 ... Detection plate

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A conveyor for continuously conveying a soft container,
A pressing mechanism that is arranged on both sides of the transfer conveyor and has a pair of pressing heads that are protruded toward the center of the transfer conveyor in a direction close to each other to press and deform the soft container and that are moved in the transfer direction of the transfer conveyor. A detecting means for detecting a sealing failure of the soft container pressed and deformed by the pressing mechanism, and a soft container which is arranged on the upstream side of the pressing mechanism and which is conveyed by the conveying conveyor. A leak detecting device for a soft container, comprising: a synchronizing means for separating the soft container at a predetermined pitch and synchronizing the operation of the pressing head.