JP2942730B2 - Vacuum packaging equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to, for example, liquid foods,
TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vacuum packaging machine that deaerates air in a packaging bag and seals an opening of the bag in a state where an article to be packaged such as a powder product is stored in a packaging bag made of a resin film or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional vacuum packaging machine, for example, as described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-159408 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-84167, the container body and the upper opening of the container body are sealed. A pressure vessel having a lid, a vacuum pump for reducing the pressure inside the pressure vessel, and a sealing device arranged in the pressure vessel are provided. As shown in FIG. It is common to provide. An arm 3 extends downward from the lid 2, one end of a coil spring 4 is connected to a lower end of the arm 3, and a coil spring 4 is attached to a bracket 6 provided on the bottom of the container body 5.
The other end is connected, and the lid 2 is urged in the opening direction by the tensile force of the coil spring 4.

[0003]

However, since the lid is made of metal and weighs several tens of kilograms, the tension spring provided for urging the lid in the opening direction is damaged when repeatedly opened and closed for a long period of time. Trouble may occur. In particular, since the end portion of the tension spring is sharply bent in order to connect to the arm or the bracket, stress is concentrated on the bent portion, and metal fatigue is accumulated, and the bent portion is often damaged from the bent portion.

[0004] If the tension spring is broken, the urging force for lifting is lost, so that even if the inside of the pressure-resistant container is returned to the atmospheric pressure, the lid does not open automatically, so that not only the workability is remarkably deteriorated, but also the opening of the container is greatly reduced. If the spring breaks while the cover is on, the lid will fall under its own weight.

[0005] Further, in the conventional vacuum packaging machine in which a pressure-resistant container is provided horizontally, when packaging a liquid or powdered packaged product, the packaged product may leak from the opening of the packaging bag. This leakage causes poor sealing (poor sealing), and if the packaged material leaks, the inside of the pressure-resistant container is soiled, which causes inconvenience such as troublesome cleaning work later.

Further, in a vacuum packaging machine in which the pressure-resistant container is inclined downward toward the operator, the hinge mechanism of the lid is disposed at a high position on the back side of the pressure-resistant container, and the free end of the lid is closed in the closed state. Is stopped at a position lower than the hinge mechanism, and when the inside of the pressure-resistant container is returned to the atmospheric pressure, the free end of the lid is temporarily Since it rises in an arc after approaching, it may give a sense of intimidation to the worker.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-use vacuum packaging apparatus with improved durability of the urging means of the lid.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, and the invention according to claim 1 comprises a container main body and a lid for sealing an upper opening of the container main body. A pressure-resistant container that has a hinge mechanism for supporting the lid body so as to be openable and closable with respect to the container body, and that accommodates a packaging bag that accommodates an article to be packaged; Pump, and a sealing device disposed in the pressure-resistant container and sealing the opening of the packaging bag, the pressure-resistant container, the operation front side facing the operator
And the other side is inclined so as to be lower, and the lid
Hinge mechanism that supports the container to open and close with respect to the container body.
It is installed on the lower side of the pressure vessel and the sealing device is
The arm is extended downward from the hinge mechanism mounting side of the lid, and a compression coil spring mechanism that is compressed in the closed state of the lid and freely expands in the open state is connected to the lower end of the arm. A vacuum packaging apparatus characterized in that the lid is urged in the opening direction by the compression coil spring mechanism.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the vacuum packaging apparatus with the lid opened, as viewed from the operation front side, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the vacuum packaging apparatus with the lid closed.

The vacuum packaging device 11 has a pressure-resistant container 13 provided at an upper portion of a housing 12 in an inclined state, and a gas nozzle 14 for ejecting an inert gas is provided inside the pressure-resistant container 13. A sealing device 16 for sealing the part is provided, and the vacuum pump 1 is placed in the housing 12 below the pressure-resistant container 13.
7, a transformer 18, a control device, etc.
The operation panel 1 is located on the side of the housing 12 located
9 are provided. That is, the inside of the pressure-resistant container 13 in the present invention is provided so as to be inclined such that the operation front side facing the worker is high and the opposite side is low.

The pressure-resistant container 13 is composed of a metal box-shaped container main body 20 having an open upper surface and a lid 21 for sealing the upper surface opening of the container main body 20, and is provided with a hinge mechanism 22 provided on a lower side. The lid 21 is supported to be openable and closable with respect to the container body 20, and the lid 21 can be locked in a closed state by a lock mechanism 23 provided on a high side. It is configured so that the inside of 20 can be confirmed. Further, the other end of the suction side flow path 27 having one end connected to the suction port of the vacuum pump 17 is connected to the exhaust port 26 opened on the lower surface of the container body 20. Therefore,
The pressure-resistant container 1 is covered with the lid 21 over the top opening of the container body 20.
When the vacuum pump 17 is operated in a state where the inside of the container 3 is sealed, the vacuum chamber 29 surrounded by the container body 20 and the lid 21 is opened.
The air inside can be discharged to the outside from the exhaust port 26,
As a result, the inside of the vacuum chamber 29 can be reduced to a pressure close to the vacuum.

A sealing member 30 is provided on the lower surface of the lid 21 corresponding to the opening edge of the container body 20 to ensure the airtightness of the vacuum chamber 29.

Further, since the container body 20 is formed at substantially the same depth, when it is mounted on the housing 12, the bottom surface is inclined in a direction in which the operation front side is high and the opposite side is low.

The hinge mechanism 22 includes a first support member 31 projecting rearward from an upper portion of a lower side surface of the container body 20, a second support member 32 projecting downward from an end of the lid 21,
It comprises a support shaft 33 for rotatably connecting the first support member 31 and the second support member 32. Then, the arm 34 is extended downward from the hinge mechanism 22 mounting side of the lid 21, and the arm 3 is extended.
A compression coil spring mechanism 35 is connected to the lower end of the cover 4, and the compression coil spring mechanism 35 urges the lid 21 in the opening direction.

The compression coil spring mechanism 35 is configured to be compressed in a closed state of the lid 21 and freely expand in an open state. To explain a specific structure, in the embodiment shown in the drawings, as shown in FIG. 5, a spring storage case 37 having a circular section in cross section and having an opening 36 having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter at one end and having the other end closed. A coil spring 3 housed in this spring housing case 37 with its base end in contact with the inner surface of the spring housing case 37 on the opening 36 side and the moving end facing the inner surface on the opposite side.
9, penetrates through the inside of the coil spring 39 from the base end side, one end is connected to the moving end of the coil spring 39 via a spring receiving member 40 abutting on the moving end of the coil spring 39, and the other end is Rod 41 protruding outside from opening 36
And Therefore, in the compression coil spring mechanism 35, the elastic force of the coil spring 39 acts as a force for pressing the spring receiving member 40, and urges the rod 41 in the direction of being pulled into the spring storage case 37. In other words, a load applied to the compression coil spring mechanism 35 via the rod 41 acts in a direction to compress the coil spring 39 from the rod 41 via the spring receiving member 40.

In this embodiment, the rod 41 is connected to the lower end of the arm 34 so as to be rotatable.
A bifurcated connection bracket 42 in which connection pieces having shaft holes are arranged in parallel is attached to the tip of
A ball joint (ball pipe joint) 43 is provided at the end of the spring storage case 37 located on the opposite side to the above. The ball joint 43 includes a male member 43a having a spherical sliding surface and a female member 43b having a spherical sliding surface that covers the outside of the male member 43a.
It is a joint that can freely change the connection angle between the female member 43b.

In order to mount the compression coil spring mechanism 35 having the above-described configuration, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the connection bracket 42 is rotatable by a shaft 45 at the lower end of the arm 34 on the lid 21 side. Connect and container body 2
The ball joint 43 is bolted to a bracket 46 projecting downward from the bottom surface of the "0". When the compression coil spring mechanism 35 is attached to the lower part of the pressure-resistant container 13 in this manner, the lid 21 can be urged in the opening direction by the elastic force of the coil spring 39.

Then, the free end side of the lid 21 is
When the cover 21 is slightly pressed by hand to the 0 side, the cover 21 rotates around the support shaft 33 and covers the opening on the upper surface of the container body 20, and the lock mechanism 23 locks the cover 21. A vacuum chamber 29 surrounded by the container body 20 can be formed. When the vacuum pump 17 is operated in this state, the inside of the vacuum chamber 29 is depressurized and the lid 21 is pressed by the atmospheric pressure. Therefore, even if the lid 21 is released, the lid 21 closes the container body 20. To maintain.

When the lid 21 is closed, the lower end of the arm 34 that rotates integrally with the lid 21 extends the rod 41 of the compression coil spring mechanism 35 (pulls out of the spring storage case 37). Is the spring receiving member 40
And compressed.

In this closed state, a sealing step described later is completed to return the inside of the vacuum chamber 29 to atmospheric pressure, and the lock mechanism 2
When the cover 3 is unlocked by operating 3, the spring receiving member 40 is pressed by the compressed restoring force (elastic force) of the coil spring 39, and the rod 41 is drawn into the spring storage case 37 by this pressing force. In this direction, the arm 34 returns and pivots about the support shaft 33. Therefore, the lid 21 is urged in the opening direction by the restoring force of the coil spring 39. For this reason, when the lid 21 is unlocked after the vacuum packaging is completed, the compression coil spring mechanism 3
By the action of 5, the lid 21 is opened automatically or with a force that can be applied lightly.

When the lid 21 is opened, the hinge mechanism 2
Since the free end side of the lid 21 is higher than the base end side of the lid 21 supported by the shaft 2, the free end of the lid 21 rises in an arc while moving away from the worker.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the free end of the lid 21 from imposing a sense of intimidation on the worker when the lid 21 is opened.

As described above, when the cover 21 is urged in the opening direction by the compression coil spring mechanism 35 in the present invention,
In both the opening operation and the closing operation of the lid 21, no tensile force acts on the coil spring 39, and only a compressive force always acts. Further, since the coil spring 39 does not need to form a bent portion only by cutting both ends of the wound wire, there is no portion where stress is concentrated, and a load acts uniformly over the entire length. Therefore, even if the lid 21 is repeatedly opened and closed, the coil spring 3
No. 9 has no portion in which metal fatigue is intensively accumulated, and is much more durable than the conventional one using a tension spring.

When the arm 34 rotates about the support shaft 33 in accordance with the opening / closing operation of the lid 21, the connection angle of the rod 41 connected to the distal end of the arm 34 changes, and the container body 20 is compressed. Although the angle with the coil spring mechanism 35 changes, since the tip of the rod 41 is pivotally mounted on the arm 34, no excessive load is applied to this connection portion. Therefore, the connecting portion between the rod 41 and the arm 34 is not damaged.

Further, since the end of the spring storage case 37 is connected via the ball joint 43, even if the angle of the spring storage case 37 changes, it follows this angle change without difficulty. And the ball joint 43 can respond regardless of the direction in which it is bent by the spherical joint. Therefore, due to an error in the mounting angle of the arm 34, the spring storage case 3
Even if the angle of 7 moves three-dimensionally, such as moving meandering, no excessive load is applied to the connection portion between the spring storage case 37 and the bracket. On the other hand, in the related art in which the spring storage case 37 is pivotally mounted on the bracket, the spring storage case 37 can only change the angle on a two-dimensional plane about the axis. An unreasonable force is applied to the shaft attachment part, resulting in poor durability.

Further, only a compressive force acts on the connection portion between the spring storage case 37 and the bracket 46.
No pulling force acts. Therefore, the ball joint 43 can also be used in a state where the durability is increased as compared with the case where the ball joint 43 is used to connect a portion where a pulling force acts.

If the mounting position of the ball joint 43 and the bracket 46 can be adjusted, for example, if the ball joint 43 side is configured as a male screw so that the fixing position with respect to the bracket 46 can be adjusted, the extension length of the coil spring 39 can be adjusted. Can be adjusted so that the lid 21
, Or the opening angle of the lid 21 can be adjusted. The same applies to the case where the mounting position of the rod 41 and the connection bracket 42 is configured to be adjustable with screws or the like.

The sealing device 16 is provided near the inclined upper end of the vacuum chamber 29 of the pressure-resistant container 13 having the above configuration. The sealing device 16 is provided on the container body 20 side so as to be able to move up and down, and is elongated in the width direction of the vacuum chamber 29.
0 and an upper heater block 51 fixed to the lower surface side of the lid 21 and elongated in the width direction of the vacuum chamber 29 are disposed at positions facing each other.
2 and 53 are attached, and the lower heater block 50 is driven by the press-contact cylinder 54 to drive the upper heater block 51.
It is configured to be pressed against the side. The press-contact cylinder 54 is partitioned into an upper first chamber and a lower second chamber by a piston 56 urged downward by a return spring 55, and the second chamber is connected to outside air through an open hole 57. The first chamber is connected to the suction-side channel 27 of the vacuum pump 17 via the branch channel 60.

Therefore, the vacuum chamber 29 is closed with the lid 21.
With the pressure in the inside reduced, the electromagnetic valve 61 in the middle of the branch flow path 60
Is opened to allow the branch flow passage 60 to communicate with the first chamber of the cylinder, the first chamber is negatively pressurized, and the piston 56 rises against the bias of the return spring 55, whereby the lower heater block 50 When the package bag 15 is raised and pressed against the upper heater block 51 and heated by the hot wires 52 and 53 in this state, the packaging bag 15 sandwiched therebetween can be sealed by heating and pressing. Then, when the operation of the solenoid valve 61 is stopped and the first chamber communicates with the outside air via the solenoid valve, the piston 56 is lowered by the bias of the return spring 55, whereby the lower heater block 50 returns to the original position. To complete the sealing step. When the packing bag 15 is filled with an inert gas, the sealing step is performed after the inert gas is ejected from the gas nozzle 14 provided on the base 65.

When the sealing step of the packaging bag 15 is completed in this way, the inside of the vacuum chamber 29 is returned to the atmospheric pressure, and
When the user opens the packaging bag 1, the packaging bag 15 in which the packaged object 70 is vacuum-packed can be taken out.

In the above-described embodiment, a single compression coil spring mechanism 35 is provided. However, in the present invention, a plurality of compression coil spring mechanisms may be mounted according to the size and weight of the lid 21.

[0031]

According to the present invention as described above, according to the present invention, resistance to
Raise the pressure vessel on the operation front side facing the operator,
Of the container is inclined so that it is lower, and the lid is
The hinge mechanism that supports the opening and closing freely by opening and closing
And the sealing device is placed closer to the high side in the pressure vessel
Place for packaging liquids and powders.
To prevent the packaged item from leaking from the opening of the packaging bag.
Can be stopped. Therefore, due to this leak
Poor sealing (poor sealing) can be prevented, and packaging
There is no inconvenience such as the thing leaking out and soiling the inside of the pressure-resistant container.

When the pressure-resistant container is tilted downward toward the worker, the free end of the cover rises so as to be far from the worker when the cover is automatically opened by the urging force of the compression coil spring mechanism. It does not give the worker a feeling of intimidation.

Further, from the side where the hinge mechanism is attached to the lid,
The arm is extended to the lower end of the arm, and the lid is sealed.
Coil spring that is compressed in the open state and expands freely in the open state
The lid is urged in the opening direction by the mechanism, so it can be used for a long time
The lid can be opened and closed repeatedly,
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of excessive metal fatigue. I
As a result, the lid is no longer biased due to
Inconveniences such as reduced work efficiency and rapid closing of the lid
Vacuum packaging equipment with excellent durability.
Can be offered.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum packaging apparatus viewed from an operation panel side with a lid opened.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the vacuum packaging device in a state where a lid is closed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a pressure-resistant container and a compression coil spring mechanism with a lid closed.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a pressure-resistant container and a compression coil spring mechanism in a state where a lid is opened.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a compression coil spring mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a pressure-resistant container of a conventional vacuum packaging machine.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Vacuum packaging device 12 Housing 13 Pressure-resistant container 14 Gas nozzle 15 Packaging bag 16 Sealing device 17 Vacuum pump 18 Transformer 19 Operation panel 20 Container body 21 Lid 22 Hinge mechanism 23 Lock mechanism 24 Transparent plate 25 Window 26 Exhaust Port 27 Inlet side flow path 29 Vacuum chamber 30 Seal material 31 First support member 32 Second support member 33 Support shaft 34 Arm 35 Compression coil spring mechanism 36 Opening 37 Spring storage case 39 Coil spring 40 Spring receiving member 41 Rod 42 Connection bracket 43 Ball joint 45 Shaft 50 Lower heater block 51 Upper heater block 52, 53 Heat wire 54 Press-contact cylinder 55 Return spring 56 Piston 57 Opening hole 60 Branch flow channel 61 Solenoid valve 65 Gas nozzle base 70 Packaging

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A container main body and a top opening of the container main body are tightly closed.
The lid that closes and the lid that can be freely opened and closed with respect to the container body
With a hinge mechanism for
And a vacuum for depressurizing the inside of the packaging bag by reducing the pressure inside the pressure container.
A pump, which is disposed in the pressure vessel and seals an opening of the packaging bag.
In a vacuum packaging device comprising: a sealing device;The pressure vessel, the operation front side facing the operator is high,
The other side is inclined so that it is low, and the lid is
A hinge mechanism that supports the body so that it can open and close
Arranged on the lower side, move the sealing device to the higher side in the pressure vessel
Place  Arm extends downward from the hinge mechanism mounting side of the lid
Then, at the lower end of the arm, it is compressed with the lid closed.
Connect a compression coil spring mechanism that freely expands in the open state,
The compression coil spring mechanism urges the lid in the opening direction.
Vacuum packaging apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.