JP3151301B2 - Smoke exhaust mechanism of automatic smoking machine - 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 smoking machine for automatically smoking cigarettes or other cigarettes and automatically analyzing the components contained in the smoke. The present invention relates to a smoke evacuation mechanism for controlling the flow of air around the cigarette and eliminating sidestream smoke rising from the cigarette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When manufacturing and selling cigarettes such as cigarettes, components such as nicotine and tar contained in smoke when smoking the cigarette are analyzed to determine the content and the like. Must be displayed.

[0003] The tobacco leaves of this cigarette roll such as cigarettes are agricultural products, and their properties are not exactly constant. When producing the above cigarette rolls, the cigarette is produced at a predetermined ratio in accordance with the number of cigarettes manufactured. A number of samples are taken out, the samples are smoked by a smoking machine, and the components contained in the smoke are analyzed. Therefore, as the number of manufactured cigarette turns increases, the number of turns to be analyzed also increases.

[0004] The smoking machine is provided with a plurality of smoking ports, and a cigarette or other cigarette winding is attached to these smoking ports via a holder. Then, while igniting the mounted winding, the smoking machine inhales air through the tobacco winding in a predetermined pattern. A Cambridge filter is provided inside the holder to collect components such as tar. Further, other components of the smoke inhaled into the smoking machine are analyzed by the analyzer.

[0005] Conventionally, mounting of a cigarette roll or holder on the smoking machine, elimination of butts, and the like have all been performed manually by an inspector. Therefore, when the number of windings to be inspected increases as described above, simple operations such as mounting these windings and removing butts must be repeated over a long period of time, and the burden on the inspector increases.

[0006] In order to solve such problems, an attempt has been made to develop a device for automatically mounting the above-mentioned windings, igniting and removing butts by a robot. However, the arm of a robot or the like cannot perform subtle operations like human hands. Obstacles that could interfere can not be placed in the vicinity of the smoking opening.

[0007] By the way, it has been found that the flow of air around the cigarette roll whose smoking is measured in this way has a great influence on the analysis result of the smoke component. Therefore, in order to perform an accurate measurement, it is necessary to control the flow of air around the cigarette at the time of the smoking measurement to a constant state.

Conventionally, a smoke hood is provided so as to cover the entirety of the plurality of cigarettes whose smoking is measured. However, when such a hood is provided, there is a problem that the work robot arm or the like interferes with the smoke exhaust hood when the work such as the above-mentioned work robot performs work such as winding, ignition, and butts removal. Occurs.

In order to prevent such interference, it is conceivable to dispose the smoke exhaust hood at an upper position. However, in this case, the cigarette roll whose smoking is to be measured is separated from the smoke exhaust hood. However, there is a problem that the air flow around the tobacco winding cannot be controlled to a constant level.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been developed for use in an automatic smoking machine for automatically mounting, igniting, extinguishing, and removing a cigarette butt. The present invention is to provide a smoke exhaust mechanism which controls the flow of air around the same to make it possible to perform accurate measurement, and which does not interfere with a robot or the like which automatically operates the smoke exhaust hood.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a smoke exhaust hood which is disposed above the above-mentioned smoking mouth and collects sidestream smoke rising from a cigarette attached to the above-mentioned smoking mouth;
It is provided with a fan provided at the upper part of the smoke exhaust hood to eject the collected sidestream smoke upward, and a hood elevating mechanism for moving the smoke exhaust hood up and down.

[0012]

When the cigarette roll is attached to the smoking mouth, and the work of igniting and removing the butts is performed, the above-mentioned smoke exhaust hood is moved upward by the hood elevating mechanism. There is no interference with the arm etc. When the cigarette is smoked, the smoke exhaust hood is lowered by the hood elevating mechanism, and is positioned near and above the cigarette. Thus, the sidestream smoke rising from the tobacco roll is completely trapped by the smoke hood. Further, a fan is provided at an upper portion of the smoke exhaust hood, and the smoke collected by the fan is sent upward and guided to a smoke exhaust duct arranged near a ceiling in the inspection room. Therefore, it is possible to completely collect and discharge the sidestream smoke from the tobacco roll. Since the smoke hood is located near the cigarette winding when measuring the smoking, the air flow around the cigarette winding can be controlled to a constant state, and accurate measurement can be performed. Will be possible. Further, it is not necessary to connect a flexible smoke exhaust hose or the like to the smoke exhaust hood, and the structure is simple and maintenance is easy.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show the entirety of the automatic smoking machine of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a side view. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a smoking machine main body.
The front plate 5 has a plurality of smoking ports 2 protruding therefrom. A holder 3 is attached to each of the smoking openings 2, and a cigarette roll 4 such as a cigarette is attached via the holder 3.

A smoking mechanism 11 as shown in FIG. 4 is provided inside the smoking machine main body 1 so as to correspond to each of the above-mentioned smoking ports 2. This smoking mechanism 11 includes:
A cylinder mechanism 13 is provided. The cylinder mechanism 13 is connected to the smoking port 2 and the smoke collecting bag 1 through a three-way valve 12.
5 is connected. And, this cylinder mechanism 13
The reciprocating drive is performed at a predetermined cycle by the drive mechanism 14, and the three-way valve 12 is switched in response to the operation of the cylinder mechanism 13. Air is intermittently sucked through the cigarette roll 4 attached to the smoking port 2 via the holder 3, and the sucked gas is sent to the collection bag 15 via the three-way valve 12.

The collection bag 15 is connected to a suction pump 17 via a two-way valve 16, and the smoke sent into the collection bag 15 is sucked by the suction pump 17. Further, a gas analyzer 18 is provided at an exhaust port of the suction pump 17.
Is connected.

A Cambridge filter is built in the holder 3, and tar in the smoke from the winding 4 is collected by the Cambridge filter. The other components in the smoke are analyzed by the gas analyzer 18 described above.

A moving mechanism 21 is provided in front of the smoking machine main body 1, and the moving mechanism 21 has a rail 22. The rail 22 is parallel to the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1. Are located in A movable table 23 is provided on the rail 22, and the movable table 23 is configured to move to an arbitrary position along the rail 22. The movable table 23 is provided with a winding table 24 on which the cigarette roll 4 to be inspected is mounted and a holder mounting table 25 on which the holder 3 is mounted.

A robot 31 is attached to the moving table 23 as a winding automatic attaching / detaching device. The robot 31 is a general-purpose arm-type robot that is commercially available, and includes an articulated arm 32. And
A working hand 33 is attached to the tip of the arm 32. The work hand 33 is attached to the arm 32 via a shaft 34, and the work hand 33 is rotatable around the shaft 34. It is rotatable.

The work hand 33 has a gripping mechanism 35 for gripping a cigarette roll, a gripping mechanism for gripping the holder 3 and a cutting mechanism 36 for cutting the burned portion at the tip of the mounted cigarette roll. 35 'and an ignition mechanism 37 for igniting the winding are respectively provided in a protruding manner. These mechanisms are protruded in directions orthogonal to each other, and when performing corresponding work, the work hand 33 is used.
Is rotated about the axis 24, and the axis 34 is rotated with respect to the arm 32, so that the mechanism to be operated faces the front surface of the smoking machine body 1.

Therefore, when the winding is mounted, first, the robot 31 is operated, and the holder on the holder mounting table 25 is gripped by the gripping mechanism 35 'and is mounted on the corresponding smoking opening 2, and Next, the winding on the winding table 24 is gripped by the gripping mechanism 35 and mounted on the holder.

Next, the mounted winding is ignited by the ignition mechanism 37, and smoking is performed in a predetermined mode by the smoking mechanism 11 in the smoking machine main body 1, and the smoke is analyzed.

A combustion position detecting mechanism 41 is provided in the vicinity of each of the smoking ports 2. These combustion position detection mechanisms 41 are provided with infrared sensors, and detect infrared rays emitted from the combustion part of the winding. Then, when the combustion of the winding has progressed to a predetermined position, the infrared sensor detects infrared rays from the burning portion, thereby detecting that the combustion of the winding has advanced to a predetermined combustion length.

When it is detected that the winding has been burned to a predetermined position, the robot 31 operates,
The gripping mechanism 35 'of the working hand 33 grips the cutting mechanism 36 disposed at another location, and the burning part at the leading end of the winding is cut by the cutting mechanism 36 to stop the combustion. Then, the smoke is sucked by the above-mentioned smoking mechanism 11 so that all the smoke remaining inside the winding is sucked.

Further, when the cutting is completed, the robot 31 operates, the gripping mechanism 35 of the working hand 33 faces the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1, and grips and pulls out the butts of the cigarette roll 4. And the mounting of this cigarette, ignition,
After the operations such as stopping the burning by cutting and removing the butts are repeated four times, the holder 3 is removed from the smoking port 2.

The robot 31 is moved by the moving mechanism 21 and positioned in front of an arbitrary smoking opening 2. The above operation is repeated, and the robot 31 is moved to all the smoking openings 2 as described above. Automatically performs winding, mounting of holder, ignition, cutting of combustion part, and removal of butts and holder.

Further, such an automatic smoking machine is provided with a device for removing ash and cigarette butts when smoking the above-mentioned rolls. Hereinafter, this apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

That is, the above-mentioned smoking mouths 2 are provided in a horizontal direction on the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1. A conveyor mechanism 51 is provided below these smoking ports 2. This conveyor mechanism 51 is arranged along the horizontal direction. The conveyor mechanism 51 is provided with a pair of rollers 52 at both ends thereof, and an endless belt 53 is stretched between the rollers 52. These rollers 52 are rotationally driven by a drive mechanism (not shown), whereby the belt 53 runs horizontally in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

The belt 53 is made of a heat-resistant material, for example, a thin metal plate such as stainless steel. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the belt 53 has a wide width having a sufficient margin greater than the length of the winding 4. The belt 53 may be formed of a heat-resistant synthetic rubber, a synthetic resin, or the like, instead of the above-described thin metal plate.

An ashtray container 55 is disposed below the end of the conveyor mechanism 51. Therefore,
The ash 54, butts, etc. of the rolls dropped onto the belt 53 of the conveyor mechanism 51 are conveyed in the horizontal direction by the traveling of the belt 53, and fall into the ashtray container 55 described above.

The conveyor mechanism 51 is preferably operated for a predetermined time each time the burning part at the end of the winding after the smoking operation is completed is cut off, and the butts are removed and fall on the belt 53 for a predetermined time. The ash and butts in the combustion part are immediately conveyed into the ashtray container 5 and eliminated.

As described above, the ash and butts of the dropped combustion part are immediately conveyed into the ashtray container 55 by the conveyor mechanism 51. Is prevented from adversely affecting the analysis result, and more accurate analysis becomes possible.

In this embodiment, the belt 53
Is made of a metal material such as stainless steel, the heat conductivity thereof is high, and the heat of the ash and the like in the burning part that has fallen is dissipated, and the fire is reliably extinguished in a short time.

A smoke exhaust mechanism 60 is provided above each of the smoking openings 2.
5 includes a smoke exhaust hood 61, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and controls the flow of air around the winding 4 attached to each of the smoking openings 2 to a predetermined state. These smoke exhaust hoods 6
1 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and its lower end is open. A small fan 63 is provided above each of the smoke exhaust hoods 61. The sidestream smoke collected in the smoke exhaust hood 61 is sent upward by the fan, and is disposed near the ceiling of the examination room where the automatic smoking machine is installed. Duct 64
The sidestream smoke is discharged to the outside of the room through the smoke discharge duct 64.

These smoke exhaust hoods 61 are configured to be moved up and down by a hood elevating mechanism 62. That is, behind the smoke exhaust hoods 61, air cylinder mechanisms 62 are arranged, and these air cylinder mechanisms 62 are attached to the front plate 5 of the smoking machine main body 1 substantially vertically by mounting brackets 64. I have. The distal end of a piston rod 65 that extends downward from the lower end of the air cylinder mechanism 62 is connected to the smoke exhaust hood 61 via a fitting 66.

Such a smoke exhausting mechanism 60 is equipped with a work such as mounting the holder 3 or a cigarette roll 4 in the above-mentioned smoking port 2, igniting the cigarette roll, cutting off the burning part, removing butts. Is performed, the smoke exhaust hood 61 has been moved upward together with the fan 63. Therefore, the smoke exhaust hood 61 does not interfere with the arm 32 of the robot 31, the work hand 33, and the like.

When the cigarette roll 4 is smoked, the smoke exhaust hood 61 is lowered by the hood elevating mechanism 62, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. The cigarette is located near the winding 4.
Therefore, the air flow around the cigarette winding 4 is controlled to a predetermined state, and the smoking of the cigarette winding 4 is always measured with the surrounding air flow controlled at the predetermined state.

The smoke exhaust hood 61 has a fan 63.
Is provided, and the smoke collected by the fan 63 is ejected upward to guide the smoke to the smoke exhaust duct 64.
Need not be connected to the smoke exhaust duct by a flexible smoke exhaust hose or the like, the structure is simple and maintenance is easy.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a device provided with an automatic winding device for automatically attaching and detaching a cigarette has been described. However, the present invention is limited to a device provided with such an automatic winding device. The present invention can be applied to other various types of automatic cigarette smokers.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, the above-mentioned smoke exhaust hood is moved upward by the hood elevating mechanism when the work of attaching the cigarette winding to the smoking mouth, igniting, and removing butts is performed. It does not interfere with the robot arm or the like that performs these operations. When the cigarette is smoked, the smoke exhaust hood is lowered by the hood elevating mechanism, and is positioned near and above the cigarette. Therefore, it is possible to always control the flow of the surrounding air during the smoking measurement of this cigarette to a predetermined state. Further, it is not necessary to connect a flexible smoke exhaust hose or the like to the smoke exhaust hood, and the structure is simple and maintenance is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire automatic smoking machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the entire automatic smoking machine of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the entire automatic smoking machine of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the smoking mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the smoke exhaust mechanism.

6 is a view taken in the direction of arrows 6-6 in FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Smoking machine main body 2 ... Smoking mouth 11 ... Smoking mechanism 21 ... Moving mechanism 31 ... Robot 33 ... Work hand 60 ... Smoke exhaust mechanism 61 ... Smoke exhaust hood 62 ... Hood elevating mechanism 63 ... Fan 68 ... Air cylinder mechanism

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kokichi Suda 1-31 Kurobeoka, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa Japan Tobacco Inc. Production Technology Development Center (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB Name) G01N 33/00 A24C 5/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A smoking machine comprising: a smoking machine main body; and a plurality of smoking mouths arranged in a horizontal direction on a front surface of the smoking machine main body. The smoking machine main body is arranged above the smoking mouths and attached to the smoking mouths. A smoke exhaust hood that collects sidestream smoke that rises from the cigarette, a fan that is provided at the top of the smoke exhaust hood, and that ejects the collected sidestream smoke upwards; A smoke elevating mechanism for an automatic smoking machine, comprising a hood elevating mechanism for moving the hood. 2. The smoke exhaust mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said hood elevating mechanism is an air cylinder.