JP2659965B2 - Sealing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is for completely sealing a container in a semi-sealed state, for example, a vial placed in a tray, that is, in a completely sealed state. The present invention relates to a sealing device for use.

(Prior Art) A conventionally adopted sealing device is constituted by a number of horizontal shelves vertically stacked at intervals, and a tray in which semi-sealed containers are placed and accommodated, It is put on each shelf except the top shelf. The top or bottom shelf is held stationary, and all other stages are mounted for up and down movement. When the movable uppermost shelf is pushed down or the movable lowermost shelf is pushed up by an appropriate pressing mechanism, the vertical gap between the respective shelves is reduced, and at the same time, the containers and the Is pushed into the mouth of the container in a semi-sealed state, and the stopper is completely fitted into the mouth of the container, and the container is in a complete state.

The plugging operation using such a plugging device is described in, for example,
As disclosed in 15867, the freeze-drying operation is often followed, in which case the shelves are mounted in a freeze-drying housing. Freeze-drying of the contents of the container is achieved when the container is in a semi-sealed state, ie when the stopper is loosely fitted in the mouth of the container and the interior and exterior of the container are in communication. Thereafter, the container is completely sealed as described above. In the completely sealed state, the inside and the outside of the container are completely shut off, and the contents of the container are kept in a dry state.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional sealing device as described above, even if it is a single device, when it is combined with freeze-drying as described in JP-B-60-15867. However, the tray containing the containers must be manually placed on the shelf.

Therefore, a conventional sealing device is used in an apparatus having an unloading mechanism and capable of achieving continuous or semi-continuous processing, such as an in-line type vacuum drying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-191177. It is virtually impossible to incorporate or connect

Accordingly, it is a main object of the present invention to provide a sealing device that can be incorporated or connected to another continuous processing device or semi-continuous processing device.

(Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve this object, according to the present invention, the tray is arranged at intervals along the horizontal support surface, and moves in the horizontal direction while supporting the tray horizontally on the horizontal support surface. Transport mechanism, and an upward projection, the upper end of the upward projection is located at a lower position below the horizontal support surface, and the upper end of the upward projection is located above the horizontal support surface, and each transport mechanism is positioned between adjacent upward projections. A lower stopper that can move up and down between the receiving upper position and an upper stopper that is located above the horizontal support surface and has a pressing surface on the lower side, and is placed and accommodated in the tray. A sealing device is provided, which is configured to completely seal a semi-sealed container.

(Effect) According to the sealing device as described above, the tray for placing and housing the semi-sealed container is carried by the transport mechanism between the lower sealing device and the upper sealing device, and the lower sealing device is closed. If you raise the stopper,
The tray is lifted upward from the transport mechanism. In this state, when the lower stopper is further raised or the upper stopper is lowered, the container placed and accommodated in the tray and the stopper fitted in the mouth of the container in a semi-closed state. Are pressed together and the container is completely sealed. Thereafter, when the lower stopper is lowered, the tray in which the containers in the completely sealed state are placed and mounted again on the transport mechanism, and this tray can be carried out by the transport mechanism.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the plugging device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The sealing device shown in FIG. 1 has a sealing chamber 10 which can be sealed, which has an inlet gate 11 on the left and an outlet gate 12 on the right. Gates 11 and 12 can be opened and closed by a suitable operating mechanism (not shown). Inside the sealing chamber 10, outside the sealing chamber 10 on the left side of the entrance gate 11, and outside the sealing chamber 10 on the right side of the exit gate 12, there are a main transport mechanism 13, an entrance-side auxiliary transport mechanism 14, and an exit side. The auxiliary transport mechanisms 15 are arranged respectively.

Each of these transport mechanisms 13, 14, and 15 has a number of rollers 13a, 14a arranged so as to have a horizontal support surface.
And 15a, respectively. In each of the transport mechanisms 13, 14 and 15, the roller 1
3a, 14a and 15a are driven to rotate by, for example, a motor (not shown) for carrying work. In addition, each transport mechanism 13, 14,
At 15, the rollers 13a, 14a, 15a are arranged at intervals, so that each transport mechanism 13, 14, 15 has some gap in its horizontal support surface. The horizontal support surface of the main transport mechanism 13
FIG. 1 shows a dashed line 16 and one of the gaps is indicated by an arrow 17 in FIG.

A lower stopper 18 is arranged below the main transport mechanism 13 in the stopper chamber 10. The lower stopper 18 is located at a location corresponding to each of the gaps 17, a location corresponding to the left side of the leftmost roller, and a location corresponding to the right side of the rightmost roller,
It is composed of a disk-shaped body having an upward projection 19, and can be moved up and down between a lowered position and a raised position by an operating mechanism 20, for example, a hydraulic cylinder. The upper ends 21 of all the upward projections 19 are located in a common horizontal plane. First
In the lowered position of the lower closure 18 as shown in the figure, the upper end 21 of the projection 19 is located below the horizontal support surface 16 and above the position shown in FIG. 18
In the raised position, the projection 19 projects upward from the gap 17. (However, the leftmost projection and the rightmost projection are
At the location on the left of the leftmost roller and the location on the right of the rightmost roller, they protrude above the horizontal support surface 16 respectively. In the sealing chamber 10, an upper sealing tool 22 is disposed above the horizontal support surface 16. The upper stopper 22 is constituted by a plate-like body having a pressing surface 23 on the lower side, and can be moved up and down between a lowered position and a raised position by an operating mechanism 24 similar to the operating mechanism 20. .

When the plugging operation is performed by the plugging device having the above-described configuration, the tray on which the semi-sealed container 25 is placed is placed.
26 is first mounted on the entrance side auxiliary transport mechanism 14, as shown on the left side of FIG. Next, when the entrance gate 11 is opened and the transport mechanisms 14 and 13 are operated, the tray 26 is moved in a horizontal direction by the joint operation of these, and
It is carried into the sealing chamber 10, comes to rest on the main transport mechanism 13, and is supported by the main transport mechanism 13 on the horizontal support surface 16. Thereafter, the entrance gate 11 is closed.

Thereafter, when the lower stopper 18 is raised from the lowered position shown to the raised position not shown, the tray 26
Is loaded from the main transport mechanism 13 and supported by the lower stopper 18 at the upper end 21 of the projection 19. Next, when the upper stopper 22 is pushed down toward the lower stopper 18, each container 25 and the stopper 27 fitted in the mouth thereof in a semi-closed state (shown to the left in FIG. 1). ), The stopper is completely fitted into the mouth of the container, and the container is completely sealed. A completely sealed container and its stopper
On the right side in FIG. 1, they are indicated by reference numerals 25a and 27a, respectively.

After the container is completely sealed, the upper stopper 22 and the lower stopper 18 are moved upward and downward, respectively,
The tray 26 in which the container 25a in the completely sealed state is placed and accommodated is again supported by the main transport mechanism 13. Next, the exit gate 12 is opened, and the tray 26 moves in the horizontal direction and is carried out of the sealing chamber 10 by the joint operation of the transport mechanisms 13 and 15, and is supported by the exit-side auxiliary transport mechanism 15. State (shown on the right side of FIG. 1). Finally, the exit gate 12 is closed.

 The sealing device as described above can be modified into types.

First, the upper closure 22 may be fixedly arranged. In this case, the lower closure 18 rises more than in the closure device of FIG. 1 to achieve a complete closure operation with the fixed upper closure 22.

Second, the interior of the sealing chamber 10 can be made to have a specific atmosphere, for example, by a vacuum pump or a special gas source (both not shown) connected to the sealing chamber 10. The complete sealing operation is achieved in this particular atmosphere. Such a particular atmosphere serves, for example, to keep the contents of the container dry or to prevent its alteration.

Third, this sealing device is disclosed in, for example, the above-mentioned JP-A-60-1911.
A part of a freeze-vacuum drying apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 77 can be configured. In this case, for example, the entrance-side auxiliary transport mechanism 14 also functions as a transport mechanism arranged inside a freeze-vacuum drying chamber (not shown), and the entrance gate 11 also functions as an exit gate of the freeze-vacuum drying chamber.

Fourth, when the sealing device is followed by, for example, a container tightening device (not shown), the outlet side auxiliary transport mechanism 15 is required.
Can also serve as a transport mechanism in the winding device.

Fifth, if it is not necessary to accomplish the complete sealing operation in a specific atmosphere, the members forming the sealing chamber 10 can be omitted together with the entrance gate 11 and the exit gate 12 thereof. At this time, the entrance side auxiliary transport mechanism 14 and the exit side auxiliary transport mechanism
15 or one of them is combined with the main transport mechanism 13 to
There can be one transport mechanism.

(Effect of the Invention) Although the sealing device according to the present invention is provided with a transfer mechanism suitable for continuous or semi-continuous processing, the upper stopper and the lower stopper can be moved without applying any force to the transfer mechanism. The joint working of the closures has the effect that the complete closure of the container can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing an embodiment of a sealing device according to the present invention. In the drawing, 13 is a transport mechanism, 18 is a lower stopper, 19 is a protrusion thereof, 21 is an upper end of the protrusion, 22 is an upper stopper, 23 is a pressing surface thereof, 25 and 25a are containers, 26 is a tray, 27 and 27a show stoppers fitted in the mouth of the container.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A transport mechanism for moving the tray in a horizontal direction while supporting the tray horizontally on the horizontal support surface; and an upward projection, wherein an upper end of the upward projection is horizontally supported. A lower stopper which can move up and down between a lower position located below the surface and an upper position where the upper end of the upward projection is located above the horizontal support surface and receives each transport mechanism between adjacent upward projections; An upper stopper provided above the horizontal support surface and having a pressing surface on the lower side, and configured to completely seal the semi-sealed container placed and accommodated in the tray. A sealing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The transportation mechanism, the lower stopper and the upper stopper,
It is arranged in an openable / closable sealing chamber with an openable / closable entrance gate and an exit gate, and outside of the entrance and exit gates, when these gates are opened, the loading and unloading of the tray in cooperation with the transport mechanism. The sealing device according to claim 1, wherein an inlet-side auxiliary transport mechanism and an outlet-side auxiliary transport mechanism that respectively perform the carrying-out are arranged. 3. The sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the upper stopper is configured to be movable up and down.