JP3344777B2 - Liquid leak inspection 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 leakage inspection device for inspecting a container for liquid leakage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a beer keg container or the like is required to be airtight after filling a container with a fluid.

[0003] The structure of a beer barrel, particularly the structure in the vicinity of a mouthpiece where airtightness is required, will be described.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the vicinity of a base portion of a beer barrel.

[0005] The beer barrel 201 shown in FIG. 3 is a barrel having a hollow inside, and a cylindrical base 202 is provided at an opening on the upper surface thereof. The valve part 20 is provided inside the base part 202.
3 is screwed and fixed, and the seal ring 204
Sealed with. The valve unit 203 includes a frame 211 screwed into the base 202, and a frame 211.
And a beer pipe 205 whose lower end extends to near the bottom of the barrel.
1, the outside of the beer pipe 205 is the gas flow chamber 2
06. Beer pipe 205 is a compression spring 20
8, the upper end of which is provided with an elastic member and is sealed with a flange-shaped gas valve 2.
07, and the beer pipe 205 is pushed down, so that the beer barrel 201
The inside and outside are connected. A beer valve 209 urged upward by a compression spring 210 is provided at the upper end of the beer pipe 205, and when the beer valve 209 is pushed down, the upper end and the lower end of the beer pipe 205 communicate with each other. It has a structure to do.

In the beer barrel 201 having the above-described structure, the gas valve 207 and the beer valve 209 are opened, and carbon dioxide gas is supplied from the gas valve 207 into the beer barrel. It is pushed out of the barrel via the valve 209.

[0007] As described above, the structure of the beer barrel 201 is such that the joint between the base 202 and the valve 203, the beer valve 209 and the gas valve 207 are sealed by elastic members so that beer does not leak from the inside of the barrel. I have.
However, if the beer leaks, the quality of the beer after filling cannot be maintained. For this reason, in a container such as a beer keg, when the beer is filled, usually, the leakage of the beer is carefully inspected.

As an apparatus for inspecting this liquid leakage, an apparatus as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 has been conventionally proposed, in which a fixed amount of pure water as a detection solvent is injected into a barrel base. By measuring the conductivity of the injected pure water, liquid leakage is detected.

First, an inspection method using the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 will be described.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining an inspection procedure in a conventional liquid leakage inspection apparatus.

First, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the beer 202 which has passed through the seal ring 204 and leaked from between the base 202 and the valve section is flown into the base 202 by wind pressure. Cap 2 from almost the entire top surface of
02, the air curtain generating pipe 302
While blowing more air, a certain amount of pure water 303 is injected into the inside of the base 202 through the straight pipe 301 by the solenoid valve.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the conductivity sensor 304 is lowered by a predetermined distance using an air cylinder or the like, so that the electrode 305 is flooded with pure water 303, and the conductivity at this time is measured. If the conductivity is higher than a predetermined value serving as a measurement reference, the barrel is rejected as a leaking barrel.

Next, an inspection method using the apparatus shown in FIG. 5 will be described.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional liquid leakage inspection device.

The conductivity sensor 401 fixed to the support plate 403 shown in FIG. 5 can be lowered by a predetermined distance by an air cylinder or the like. Support plate 40
3, a pure water injection pipe 404 is attached, and the pure water injection pipe 404 is fixed so that pure water flows from a part of the upper end periphery of the base 202, which is a part where leakage occurs due to a failure of the seal ring 204. The amount is to be injected.

With such a configuration, the conductivity sensor 4
01 is lowered by a predetermined distance, and the electrode 402 is
2 and the conductivity of the beer barrel is inspected by injecting pure water into the base 202 and measuring the conductivity.

[0017]

The apparatus shown in FIG. 4 uses an air curtain generating pipe to inject beer leaking due to a defective seal ring into the inside of the mouthpiece by air, and then inject pure water. When the leaked beer evaporates and sticks, it cannot be poured into the mouthpiece, and cannot be detected.

Further, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 5, pure water is injected by a pure water injection pipe so that pure water flows from a part of an upper peripheral edge of a base portion which is a part where leakage occurs due to a defective seal ring. There is a problem that other parts which are not covered are not inspected.

Further, in the conductivity sensor used in the apparatus shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the position of the electrode at the lower end is determined by the stroke of the air cylinder. As a result, when detecting beer barrels having different heights, the positions of the electrodes of the conductivity sensor that are affected by pure water in each beer barrel vary. At this time, if the surface area of the electrode of the conductivity sensor which is affected by a certain amount of pure water is not uniform, there is also a problem that the measurement result becomes uneven.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object to provide a liquid leakage inspection apparatus which reliably detects leakage due to a seal ring defect and improves inspection accuracy. The purpose is.

[0021]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a liquid injection means for injecting a detection solvent into a space formed in a liquid outlet with a stopper provided at the liquid outlet of the container as a bottom. And a conductivity sensor for measuring the conductivity of a mixed solution of the liquid leaking at the liquid port and the detection solvent, wherein the electrode of the conductivity sensor is filled in the space. A driving means for moving toward the mixed solution, and a constant position where the electrode of the conductivity sensor is immersed in the mixed solution filled in the space, in order to maintain a constant position of the conductivity sensor. A regulating means for contacting the container during the immersion movement in the mixed solution to restrict the amount of movement of the conductivity sensor to a constant value; connecting the driving means and the conductivity sensor to each other; Measuring means comprising an urging means for energizing the side, and regulating the position so that the surface area of the electrode of the conductivity sensor is uniformly immersed in the mixed solution filled in the space. It is characterized by. In the above-described liquid leakage inspection device, the liquid injection means may be arranged so that the detection medium flows into the liquid port through a peripheral edge of the liquid port.

[0022]

According to the present invention as described above, when the conductivity sensor is moved to a space formed in the liquid inlet / outlet with the stopper provided at the liquid inlet / outlet of the container at the bottom, the regulating means comes into contact with the container, Since the movement of the conductivity sensor is regulated, the surface area of the electrode of the conductivity sensor is uniformly immersed in the mixed solution filling the space.

On the other hand, when the detection solvent is injected by the injection means, the detection solvent is injected from the vicinity of the liquid inlet / outlet, so that the detection solvent becomes incompatible with the liquid inlet / outlet due to the sealing failure of the stopper. Is mixed together with the liquid leaked around and is injected into the space.

Then, the conductivity of the mixture of the detection solvent and the leaked liquid is measured by a conductivity sensor, and a liquid exceeding a predetermined value is determined to be a leaking container and rejected, whereby a defective seal is detected with higher precision. Can be detected.

Further, the urging means for urging the conductivity sensor toward the container is provided in the measuring means, so that even when measuring containers having different heights, the liquid inlet / outlet of the container and the restricting means can be used. The measuring section of the conductivity sensor is always in close contact, and is always disposed at a predetermined position in the space.

[0026]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an inspection procedure using an embodiment of a liquid leakage inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, a ring-shaped water injection pipe 5 shown in FIG. 1A is used as a means for injecting the test solvent. The water injection pipe 5 is connected to a pure water supply source (not shown), and has a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the base 2 of the beer barrel 1 and is disposed above the base 2 of the beer barrel 1. Also,
A large number of discharge ports (not shown) are formed on the lower surface of the water injection pipe 5 so that the pure water supplied from the pure water supply source is discharged toward substantially the entire circumference of the upper end face of the base 1. I have.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1B, the measuring means is provided on a second supporting plate 10 fixed to the first supporting plate 7 via a biasing means 11 by an electrode as a measuring part. 9 such that the conductivity sensor 8 is located below the second support plate 10.
Is fixed, and a lowering stopper 12 is integrally provided on the lower surface of the second support plate 10 as a restricting means capable of contacting the upper end surface of the mouthpiece 2 of the beer barrel 1. The urging means 11 always urges the second support plate 10 downward. When an upward force is applied to the second support plate 10, the urging means 11 contracts, and the first support plate 7 and the second Has a structure in which the distance from the support plate 10 is reduced. An air cylinder (not shown) is fixed above the first support plate 7, and the first support plate 7 is fixed to a rod 6 of an air cylinder that can protrude by a predetermined amount in the vertical direction. I have. The air cylinder has a projecting amount of the rod such that when the rod is completely projected, the lower end surface of the descending stopper 12 comes into contact with the upper end surface of the base 2 and the urging means 11 is somewhat contracted. Further, the length of the descending stopper 12 is set such that the electrode 9 of the conductivity sensor 8 is held at a predetermined position in the upper recess of the valve part 3 when the descending stopper 12 comes into contact with the upper end surface of the base 2. , The electrode 9 is shorter than the length of the electrode 9.

Based on the above configuration, first, as shown in FIG. 1A, a water injection pipe 5 is disposed above the mouthpiece 2 of the beer barrel 1, and pure water is discharged from each outlet of the water injection pipe 5. Release a predetermined amount. The diameter of the water injection pipe 5 is larger than the outer diameter of the pipe 2, and the pure water is discharged almost all around the upper end face of the base 2. It flows into and accumulates in the upper recess of the valve section 3. At this time, if the seal between the base portion 2 and the valve portion 3 by the seal ring 4 is incomplete and beer leaks from between the base portion 2 and the valve portion 3, the leaked beer is discharged from the water injection pipe 5. The water flows into the upper recess of the valve section 3 together with the pure water.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, the measuring means is arranged above the mouthpiece 2 of the beer barrel 1, and the rod 6 of the air cylinder is made to protrude. As a result, the conductivity sensor 8 is lowered, and the electrode 9 is immersed in the pure water collected in the upper recess of the valve section 3. When the conductivity sensor 8 is lowered, the position of the conductivity sensor 8 is regulated by the contact of the lowering stopper 12 with the upper end surface of the base 2, so that the electrode 9 of the conductivity sensor 8 must be connected to the valve 3. Are held in place in the upper recesses of the. Also, beer barrel 1
The electrode 9 reaches a predetermined position before the rod 6 of the air cylinder is completely protruded, and the lowering stopper 12 contacts the base 3 and the urging means 1
As the 1 contracts, the electrode 9 is held at a predetermined position.

When the rod 6 of the air cylinder has finished projecting, the conductivity sensor 8 measures the conductivity of the pure water accumulated in the upper recess of the valve section 3. When beer is mixed in pure water, the conductivity increases. If the conductivity exceeds a predetermined value, beer is leaked, and leakage of beer can be inspected. At this time, the beer leaking from the seal ring 4 also flows into the upper recess of the valve unit 3 by discharging pure water from the water injection pipe 5 over substantially the entire periphery of the upper end surface of the mouthpiece unit 2 as described above. Leakage from the seal ring 4 can also be detected with higher accuracy.

Next, another embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the liquid leakage inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

The liquid leakage inspection apparatus according to the present embodiment is such that the liquid injection means and the measurement means are integrated. As shown in FIG. 2, the engaging portion 14 put on the mouth portion 2 of the beer barrel 1 is
Support plate fixed to air cylinder rod (not shown)
Are fixed via urging means 22 similar to that shown in FIG. A base recess 14a into which the base 2 is inserted is formed on the lower surface of the engaging portion 14, and water is injected into the bottom wall (upper surface in the drawing) of the base 14a with an inside diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the base 2. Recess 14b is formed. A portion of the bottom wall of the base recess 14a of the engaging portion 14 facing the upper end surface peripheral edge of the base 2 is provided at the upper end surface peripheral edge of the base 2 when the engaging portion 14 is put on the base 2. Is provided with a seal ring 3 for hermetic sealing.

The engagement portion 14 has a water supply hole 1 communicating the outside of the engagement portion 14 with the water injection recess 14b of the engagement portion 14.
6 and a drain hole 17 are respectively formed, and a pure water supply pipe 23 to which pure water is supplied is connected to the water supply hole 16. The engaging portion 1 is provided in the water injection recess 14b of the engaging portion 14.
4, an auxiliary water injection member 15 is provided. The lower part of the water injection auxiliary member 15 is a conical member, and the bottom surface thereof is located above the base 2 when the engaging portion 14 is put on the base 2. Also, the diameter of the bottom surface of the water injection auxiliary member 15 is larger than the inner diameter of the mouthpiece portion 2, and accordingly, the inner wall of the water injection concave portion 14 b is chamfered over the entire circumference so as to form a gap between the water injection auxiliary member 15 and the water injection auxiliary member 15. Is given. Further, the water injection auxiliary member 15 is provided with a water injection auxiliary member 15 in order to efficiently inject pure water into the base 2.
The air hole 18 which connects the upper surface and the bottom surface of this is formed.

The conductivity sensor 20 is connected to the water injection auxiliary member 17.
, And is fixed with the electrode 21 facing downward.

Based on the above configuration, the engaging portion 14 is lowered by an air cylinder (not shown), and the seal ring 13 is pressed against the base 2. As a result, the periphery of the upper end surface of the base 2 is sealed, and the electrode 21 of the conductivity sensor 20 is held at a predetermined position in the upper recess of the bulb 3.

Next, a certain amount of pure water is supplied from the pure water supply pipe 23 through the water supply hole 16 into the water injection recess 14b of the engaging portion 14. Then, the pure water supplied into the water injection recess 14b flows along the side wall of the water injection auxiliary member 15, but the bottom surface of the water injection auxiliary member 15 is located higher than the upper end surface of the mouthpiece 2. The pure water flowing along the side wall 15 falls over the entire circumference of the upper end surface of the base 2, and passes through the joint between the base 2 and the valve 3 where the beer leaks out therefrom. Flow into the office. Further, at this time, since the communication hole 18 that connects the bottom surface and the top surface of the water injection auxiliary member 15 is provided, the pure water can be efficiently flown into the base 2.

When the supply of the pure water is completed, the conductivity of the pure water collected in the upper recess of the valve section 3 is measured by the conductivity sensor 20, and the leakage of the beer from the beer barrel 1 is inspected.

Also in this embodiment, the beer leaking from the seal ring 13 flows into the upper concave portion of the valve section 2 together with the pure water flowing through the water injection auxiliary member 15, similarly to the one shown in FIG. Can be detected with higher accuracy.

Here, a description will be given of the result of comparing the leak detection rates of the liquid leakage inspection apparatus of the present embodiment with the conventional liquid leakage inspection apparatus.

As an experimental method, one drop of beer was dropped on a portion where leakage due to a defective seal ring occurred (joining portion between the base portion and the valve portion near the top end of the base portion), and a sample was prepared. The leak detection rates were compared between the liquid leakage inspection device and the conventional liquid leakage inspection device shown in FIG.

[0044]

[Table 1] (Experimental results) As shown in Table 1, only 25 out of 60 samples could be detected by the conventional apparatus, and 26 out of 30 samples could be detected by the apparatus of the present embodiment. Thus, the leak detection rate increased significantly with the improvement.

In the above-described embodiment, the liquid leakage inspection apparatus of the present invention has been described for a beer keg container. However, the present invention is not limited to a beer keg container, and a stopper such as a valve provided at a liquid port may be provided. The present invention can be applied to, for example, a container for a carbonated beverage which is required to be airtight and has a space formed at the liquid outlet as a bottom.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, the electrode of the conductivity sensor is immersed in a test solvent filled in the space formed in the liquid inlet / outlet with the stopper provided at the liquid inlet / outlet of the container as the bottom. In order to keep the position to be fixed, a regulating means is provided which abuts on the container when the conductivity sensor is immersed and moved in the test solvent to limit the movement amount of the conductivity sensor to a constant value, and in the space, By configuring the surface area of the electrode of the conductivity sensor to be uniformly immersed in the filled test solvent, highly accurate leak detection can be performed. Further, by further providing a liquid injection means for injecting the inspection solvent from around the liquid inlet / outlet of the container, it is possible to reliably pour the liquid leaking into the liquid inlet / outlet of the container due to a defective seal into the space and perform the inspection. it can.

Further, by providing the urging means for urging the conductivity sensor to the container side in the measuring means, the position of the measuring part of the conductivity sensor which is affected by the detection solvent varies even in containers having different heights. Measurement can be performed without any problem, and the measurement result becomes highly accurate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an inspection procedure using an embodiment of a liquid leakage inspection apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the liquid leakage inspection device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the vicinity of a mouth portion of a beer barrel.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining an inspection procedure in a conventional liquid leakage inspection apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional liquid leakage inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Beer barrel 2 Cap part 3 Valve part 4,13 Seal ring 5 Water injection pipe 6 Rod of an air cylinder 7 First support plate 8,20 Conductivity sensor 9,21 Electrode 10 Second support plate 11,22 Energizing means Reference Signs List 12 Lowering stopper 14 Engagement part 14a Recess for base 14b Recess for water injection 15 Water injection auxiliary member 16 Water supply hole 17 Drainage hole 18 Air hole 23 Pure water supply pipe

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuo Ito Sapporo Beer Co., Ltd. Sapporo Brewery Co., Ltd. Sapporo Brewery Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsuneo Shinta 542-1 Toiso Toiso, Eniwa-shi, Hokkaido Sapporoville Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-62-52425 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01M 3/32 G01M 3/04

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A liquid injection means for injecting a solvent for detection into a space formed in the liquid outlet with a stopper provided at the liquid inlet and outlet of the container as a bottom, and a liquid leaking at the liquid inlet and the detector A conductivity sensor for measuring the conductivity of the mixed solution with a solvent; and a conductivity leak sensor, comprising: a driving unit for moving an electrode of the conductivity sensor toward the mixed solution filled in the space. In order to make the position where the electrode of the conductivity sensor is immersed in the mixed solution filled in the space constant, in contact with the container when the conductivity sensor is immersed in the mixed solution, Measuring means comprising regulating means for restricting the amount of movement of the conductivity sensor to a constant amount, and urging means for connecting the driving means and the conductivity sensor and for urging the conductivity sensor toward the container. To For example, liquid leakage inspecting device, characterized in that the surface area of the conductivity sensor electrodes in the mixed solution is filled in the space is positioned regulated so as to be uniformly immersed. 2. The liquid leakage inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid injection means is arranged so that the detection medium flows into the liquid port through a periphery of the liquid port.