JP2946431B2 - Liquid filling device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid filling apparatus for filling a container with a certain amount of liquid such as a liquid detergent, shampoo, rinse, bath agent, mouthwash and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a means for filling a container with a fixed amount of liquid, an air sensor is arranged at a predetermined position to control the amount, and a load cell for controlling the amount by measuring the weight. There is a capacity control method in which only the filling amount per container is injected to control the amount. However, the above-mentioned air sensor control method is somewhat expensive, and there is a problem in that if bubbles are generated at the time of filling the liquid, the air sensor malfunctions and the amount varies considerably. Further, the load cell method can reduce the variation in the amount, but has a problem that the cost is considerably increased and the production capacity is low. Further, although the capacity control system simplifies the apparatus, it has a problem that the cost is slightly high and the amount varies.

[0003] In order to solve these problems, a level control method has been proposed. In this level control method, a liquid filling device as shown in FIG. 4 is used. That is,
This liquid filling device includes a cylinder 10, a filling member 20,
The operation member 30 is roughly constituted.

[0004] The cylinder 10 has a cylindrical shape, an insertion hole 11 is formed in the bottom, and a communication hole 12 is formed in the lower side surface.
It is sealed by a sealing cap 13. Filling member 20
Has a sealing member 21 for closing the upper opening of the cylinder 10 together with the sealing cap 13, and a liquid receiving hole 22 for receiving the liquid from the tank T is formed in the sealing member 21. The filling member 20 has a liquid filling small cylinder 23, which is continuous with the liquid receiving hole 22 and hangs downward from the lower part of the cylinder 10 so as to protrude long. A filling nozzle 24 for discharging liquid is provided in the portion, and an O-ring 25 is fitted to the tip of the filling nozzle 24 to completely seal the tip of the filling nozzle 24.

Further, the operating member 30 includes a plunger 31
And the plunger portion 31 is inserted into the insertion hole 11 of the cylinder 10.
Is mounted in a fluid-tight manner,
By interposing a coil spring 32 between the cylinder 10 and the first cylinder 1, the cylinder 10 can move up and down with respect to the cylinder 10. The flange 31a provided on the upper part of the plunger part 31 is
A gap 33 is formed between the inner peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface. A guide member 34 with which the upper end of the mouth-neck portion 2 of the container 1 abuts is screwed into a lower portion of the operating member 30. An opening / closing small tube 35 extending from the guide member 34 to the filling nozzle 24 of the liquid filling small tube 23.
The opening / closing small cylinder 35 and the liquid filling small cylinder 23
And the communication hole 12 of the cylinder 10 through the gap 33.
There is formed a passage 36 communicating with the passage.

In the above configuration, when the liquid is filled, the opening / closing small cylinder 35 of the operating member 30 is pushed up by the upper end of the mouth and neck portion 2 of the container 1 abutting against the guide member 34 and pressing the same. While the liquid is injected, the air and the liquid in the container 1 are discharged from the communication hole 12 of the cylinder 10 through the passage 36 and the gap 33 as the liquid level rises.

Next, a liquid filling step by the liquid filling apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The container 1 is placed on a plurality of tables 4 arranged at predetermined intervals in a ring shape,
One cycle of liquid filling is completed by one rotation of the plurality of tables 4 at a predetermined speed. A roller 5 is rotatably provided below the table 4.
A high bottom surface is formed in the moving path. Therefore, the table 4 moves up and down as the rollers 5 travel on the high bottom surface.

In FIG. 5, (a) to (f) show one cycle of liquid filling. In (a), the roller 5 is located on the lower surface 6, and the liquid filling device is located immediately above the container 1. Since the filling nozzle 24 is housed in the opening / closing small cylinder 35, the liquid is not filled in the container 1. Then
In (b), the roller 5 is located on the upward slope 7, the upper end of the mouth and neck 2 of the container 1 abuts on the guide member 34, the guide member 34 rises, and the operating member 30 resists the urging force of the coil spring 32. Then, the opening / closing small cylinder 35 is pushed up, and the filling nozzle 24 is filled with the liquid. In this case, since the passage 36 is in a closed state, the air in the container 1 is not discharged.

Further, in (c) and (d), the roller 5 is located on the high surface 8, and the opening / closing cylinder 35 is further pushed up, so that the closed passage 36 is also opened. Is filled, and the container 1
The air and the liquid inside are discharged from the communication hole 12 of the cylinder 10 through the passage 36, and this liquid is collected in the tank T. In (e), the liquid is filled by the filling nozzle 24 in a state where the roller 5 is located on the downward slope 9 and the opening / closing small cylinder 35 is pushed down to close the passage 36. Then, when the roller 5 is again positioned on the lower surface 5 as in (f), the filling nozzle 24 is housed in the small opening / closing cylinder 35, and one cycle of filling is completed.

[0010]

However, in the conventional liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the passage 36 is closed immediately before the filling of the liquid by the filling nozzle 24 is completed. This means that the container 1 swells. For this reason, when the container 1 is restored at the end of the filling, the liquid overflows from the container 1, and the variation in the amount increases. In order to prevent this, it was necessary to take measures such as reducing the filling speed or reducing the amount of liquid filling the container 1. In the liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. 4, it is conceivable to enlarge the passage 36 in order to allow the residual air in the container 1 to escape quickly, but the passage 36 cannot be made extremely large because it is restricted by the diameter of the container 1.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent liquid overflow without slowing down the filling speed or reducing the liquid filling amount. It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid filling device which stabilizes the liquid.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a liquid filling apparatus according to the present invention comprises a cylinder having an insertion hole at the bottom and a communication hole at the bottom.
A sealing member provided with a liquid receiving hole for sealing an upper portion of the cylinder and receiving a liquid, and hanging down a liquid charging small cylinder which is continuous with the liquid receiving hole and protrudes from below the cylinder; A filling member provided with a filling nozzle at the lower end of the small cylinder, and a plunger portion attached to the insertion hole of the cylinder in a liquid-tight manner and vertically movable with respect to the cylinder,
A guide member with which the mouth and neck of the container abuts is fixed at a lower portion, and a small opening / closing cylinder is vertically provided from this guiding member, and a communication hole of the cylinder is provided between the small opening / closing cylinder and the small liquid filling cylinder. An operating member having a passage communicating therewith, and at the time of filling, the opening and closing small cylinder of the operating member is pushed up to inject liquid from the filling nozzle, and as the liquid level rises, air and liquid in the container are increased. A liquid filling device for discharging liquid from a communication hole of a cylinder through the passage, a first position for filling the liquid into a liquid receiving hole of the filling member, and a second position for discharging air and liquid in the container. Filling the container with the liquid by the filling nozzle
The switching valve is switched from the first position to the second position at the end of the operation .

[0013]

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, when the filling of the liquid into the container by the filling nozzle is completed , the switching valve is set to
By switching from the first position for filling liquid to the second position for discharging air and liquid in the container, residual air in the container is quickly released from the switching valve, and the container is restored. As a result, there was no liquid overflow, and there was no variation in the amount.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Note that the same or corresponding parts as in the conventional configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 4 and 5, and description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid filling apparatus according to the present embodiment is provided with a three-way switching ball valve 40 as a switching valve in the liquid filling apparatus shown in FIG. The three-way switching ball valve 40 is connected to a liquid receiving hole 22 formed in the sealing member 21 of the filling member 20, and is provided in the casing 41.
2 is provided rotatably. The casing 42 has a liquid receiving port 43 for receiving the liquid from the tank T, and a container 1.
A communication hole 44 for discharging air and liquid in the inside is formed. The sphere 42 has a flow path having a T-shaped cross section, and is configured to be switched with the movement of the table 4 by a cam (not shown). Therefore, in the three-way switching ball valve 40, the liquid receiving port 43 and the liquid receiving hole 22 communicate with each other through the flow path of the ball 42 so that the first liquid can be filled.
1 (shown in FIG. 1), the communication hole 44 and the liquid receiving hole 22.
Can be switched to a second position for discharging the air in the container 1 and the liquid accompanying the rise in the liquid level.

Next, a process for filling a container with a fixed amount of liquid by the liquid filling apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, (a) to (e) show one cycle of liquid filling. In (a), the roller 5 is located on the lower surface 6, and the liquid filling device is located immediately above the container 1 and the filling nozzle 24 Is stored in the opening / closing small cylinder 35, the liquid is not filled in the container 1. Next, in (b), the roller 5 is positioned on the upward slope 7, the upper end of the mouth-neck portion 2 of the container 1 abuts on the guide member 34, the guide member 34 rises, and the operating member 30 pushes the urging force of the coil spring 32. , The opening and closing small cylinder 35 is pushed up and the filling nozzle 24 is exposed. However, in this case, since the ball 42 of the three-way switching ball valve 40 is located at the second position where the communication hole 44 and the liquid receiving hole 22 communicate with each other, only the air in the container 1 is discharged, The liquid is in a state of not being poured.

Further, in (c), the ball 42 of the three-way switching ball valve 40 is switched to the first position where the liquid receiving port 43 and the liquid receiving hole 22 communicate with each other and the liquid can be filled, and the roller 5 Is located on the high surface 8, the opening / closing small cylinder 35 is further pushed up, and the closed passage 36 is also opened. The liquid is filled by the filling nozzle 24, and the air in the container 1 and the The liquid is discharged from the communication hole 12 of the cylinder 10 through the passage 36 and the gap 33, and the liquid is collected in the tank T.

(D) is at the end of filling of the liquid (filling
(When a predetermined amount of liquid is filled immediately before the end of the cycle) , the roller 5 is positioned on the high surface 8, the opening / closing small cylinder 35 is pushed up, and the filling nozzle 24 remains exposed. The ball 42 of the switching ball valve 40 is switched from the first position to the second position. Therefore, the residual air in the container 1 is quickly released through the filling nozzle 24, the liquid filling small cylinder 23, the liquid receiving hole 22, and the communication hole 44, and the container 1 is restored. As a result, the liquid does not overflow, and the liquid can be filled up to the shoulder opening 3 (see FIG. 3) of the container 1.
Then, when located in the roller 5 is low surface 6 again as in (e), the small tube for closing by the urging force of the coil spring 32 35
Is depressed, and the filling nozzle 24 is housed in the small opening / closing cylinder 35, thereby completing one cycle of filling.

Next, an experimental example will be described based on Table 1.

[Table 1]

In Table 1, which shows this experimental example, Comparative Examples 1 and 2 are liquid filling apparatuses shown in FIG. 4, which are different from each other in filling pressure. In the experimental example, the number of the tables 4 was 12, and a liquid detergent for home use containing a surfactant was used as the filling liquid, and the specific gravity of the liquid was 1.005 g / cc.
It is. The standard deviation S indicates the degree of variation in the amount of the filled liquid, and the head space (HS) is a dimension from the shoulder opening 3 of the container 1 to the level of the filled liquid as shown in FIG. As described above, according to Table 1, in this example, the filling amount was increased and the standard deviation S was decreased compared to Comparative Examples 1 and 2,
And the size of the head space could be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified. For example, although the three-way switching ball valve 40 is used as the switching valve in the above embodiment, a three-way switching cylindrical valve or the like may be used.

[0021]

As described above, according to the liquid filling apparatus according to the present invention, the liquid overflow is prevented without slowing down the filling speed or reducing the liquid filling amount. The liquid can be filled and the container does not become dirty due to liquid overflow, so that maintenance is not required. In addition, since the quantity is stable, defective products can be eliminated, the production efficiency is improved, and the cost is reduced because the structure is simple.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of a liquid filling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a liquid filling step by the apparatus of FIG.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a front view and a side view showing a container used in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a conventional liquid filling device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a liquid filling step by the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container 2 Mouth neck 3 Shoulder mouth 4 Table 10 Cylinder 12 Communication hole 20 Filling member 22 Liquid receiving hole 23 Liquid filling small cylinder 24 Filling nozzle 30 Operating member 31 Plunger part 32 Coil spring 34 Guide member 35 Opening / closing small cylinder 36 Passage 40 three-way switching ball valve (switching valve) 41 casing 42 ball 43 liquid receiving port 44 communication hole

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-99390 (JP, A) JP-A-58-125496 (JP, A) Fully open Showa 51-7347 (JP, U) Really open Showa 62- 139999 (JP, U) Shokai 56-59594 (JP, U) Shogun 31-590 (JP, Y1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B67C 3/00-3 / 34

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cylinder having a through hole at the bottom and a communication hole at the bottom, and a sealing member having a liquid receiving hole for sealing an upper portion of the cylinder and receiving a liquid, the liquid receiving hole being provided. A liquid filling cylinder protruding from the lower side of the cylinder is continuously suspended, and a filling member provided with a filling nozzle at a lower end of the liquid filling small cylinder is provided. A plunger is attached to the container so that it can move up and down, a guide member with which the mouth and neck of the container abuts is fixed at the lower part, and an opening / closing small tube is vertically suspended from this guiding member. An operating member having a passage communicating with the communication hole of the cylinder between the small cylinder for use and the opening and closing small cylinder of the operating member being pushed up at the time of filling to inject liquid from the filling nozzle. , The liquid level rises A liquid filling apparatus for discharging air and liquid in a container from a communication hole of a cylinder through the passage, wherein a first position for filling the liquid into a liquid receiving hole of the filling member and air and liquid in the container are provided. A switching valve for switching between a first position and a second position for discharging the liquid, and switching the switching valve from the first position to the second position at the end of filling of the container with the liquid by the filling nozzle. Liquid filling device.