JP3507665B2 - Gas replacement device in capper and gas replacement method in capper - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a capper,
The present invention relates to a gas replacement device in a capper and a gas replacement method in a capper, which can smoothly and reliably perform gas replacement into an empty space after filling a container with contents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One of the methods for maintaining the quality of foods is to block oxygen. Generally, gas replacement packaging of nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide gas or a mixture thereof is known.

Even in the liquid filling industry, when the container is covered, the air in the empty space after filling the contents of the container is gas-replaced and hermetically sealed. In the replacement method, the section for filling and packaging the contents is formed into one large chamber, which is partitioned from the outside, and the chamber is filled with nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, and therefore the apparatus becomes bulky and expensive. In addition to this, a large factory space is required for this gas replacement.

Alternatively, the gas was replaced by blowing nitrogen gas to the mouth of the container, but the efficiency was poor, and a sufficient gas replacement rate could not be obtained.

Further, when the cap is wound up, the air inside the cap is trapped in the container at the time of winding up, so that the replacement rate is further lowered, and this phenomenon occurs more when the empty size of the container is small.

Therefore, in the art, it has been strongly desired to develop an apparatus and a method capable of obtaining sufficient gas replacement efficiency with a simple structure.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned demands, and in operating a capper, a cap is held by a chuck, a container is held by a gripper, and the cap is attached to the mouth of the container. , A gas replacement chamber is formed by a combination of a first cover attached to the chuck and a second cover attached to the gripper, and a cap is attached to the mouth of the container while supplying gas into the gas exchange chamber. By doing
An object of the present invention is to provide a capper and a gas replacement method in the capper, which can smoothly and reliably perform gas replacement into the empty portion after filling the container with the contents by a low-cost structure.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The means of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object is to attach a cap to a chuck by gripping the cap with a chuck and attaching the cap to the mouth of a container held by a gripper. The outer peripheral portion of the cap gripped by the cylindrical first cover body which is surrounded by forming a predetermined gap in the cap, and the outer peripheral portion of the container mouth attached to the gripper,
Cylinder surrounded by forming a predetermined gap with the mouth of this container
And Jo second covering body, these and gas replacement chamber interior gas space of the first and second cover member combined with both the covering body is formed, the gas to the gas exchange chamber provided on the second cover member let a discharge member for supplying the discharge member in the
Faces the inner surface of the cap held by the chuck.
The gas replacement device in the capper positioned so that the gas is ejected .

Further, the chuck holds the cap,
The container placed on the table is held by the gripper , and the cylindrical first cover is attached to the chuck.
Attach the cylindrical second cover to the ripper,
Depending on whether the table is lowered or the table is raised.
Attached to the gripper and the first cover attached to
By forming a gas replacement chamber in combination with the second cover,
While supplying gas into this gas replacement chamber,
The gas is attached to the
Ejected toward the inner surface of the cap held by the
There is a gas replacement method in the capper.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a gas replacement device in a capper and a gas replacement method in a capper according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The capper A to which the method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied is used at an appropriate place of the processing line in the industry for filling and packaging liquid contents such as food into the container b, and the container mouth b2 is used. A screw cap (a cap may be a cap) may be attached, and when the lid is closed, the air in the empty portion of the container mouth b2 is replaced by an inert gas such as nitrogen. The quality of the product is maintained.

As shown in FIG. 3, the capper A has a rotary shaft 3 continuously rotated at a predetermined speed by a rotating means 2 such as a motor attached to a machine body 1, and a lower portion thereof. A body member 5 having a chuck 4 is attached to the.

The chuck 4 has a cap c.
Is gripped and tightened around the mouth b2 of the container b.
As a gripping mechanism of the cap c, for example, a plurality of sets of claws that are operated by air to move in a retracting direction in a wedge direction are used.

The rotating shaft 3 can be raised and lowered by an elevating means 6, and a spiral groove 8 having a predetermined inclination is formed on the outer peripheral portion of a cylindrical body 7 provided in the machine body 1. The movable piece 9 fixed to the inner shaft of the rotary shaft 3 is engaged with the spiral groove 8, and the movable piece 9 engaged with the spiral groove 8 moves up and down at a predetermined timing as the machine body 1 rotates. .

Further, the filled container b sent onto the table 10 of the machine body 1 is prevented from deviating at the time of applying the cover by the gripper 11 which is constructed so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the container b. , On table 10 or table 1
It is arranged in the vicinity of 0, for example, a pair of rotating arms 12
Holds the outer periphery of the container b, or holds the container b with the arm 12 and the receiving body 13 provided on the table 10.

Next, the gas replacement device H of the embodiment of the present invention used in the above-mentioned capper A has a first cover 14 and a second cover 15 as shown in FIGS.
The gas replacement chamber 16 and the discharge member 17 are basically configured.

The above-mentioned first cover 14 is attached to the chuck 4, and the entire circumference of the outer peripheral portion of the cap c gripped by the chuck 4 has a predetermined gap, that is, does not hinder the gripping operation. The space is formed and surrounded, and is preferably formed into a tubular shape.

The attachment of the first cover 14 to the chuck 4 can be designed arbitrarily. Should be provided in.

The second cover 15 is attached to the gripper 11 to form a predetermined gap in the outer peripheral portion of the container mouth b2, that is, a space portion that does not hinder the gripping operation and the lid covering operation of the cap c. It is preferably enclosed in a tubular shape, and is preferably formed in a tubular shape in accordance with the tubular first covering body 14.

The attachment of the second cover body 15 to the gripper 11 can be designed arbitrarily. For example, the second cover body 15 is erected from the upper part of the gripper 11 to move the claw 4a for holding the cap c forward and backward. It is separated from the container mouth b2 to such an extent that it does not interfere.

Further, if the second cover 15 is divided into two or another plurality as shown in FIG. 5,
The operation is good when the container b is wrapped and released.

The first cover 14 and the second cover 15 are provided.
Is a tubular member that serves as an outward weir to prevent gas leakage. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
The gas replacement chamber 16 is in a fitted state so that an overlapping portion is formed, and the combination of the first and second cover bodies 14 and 15 forms a space in a gas atmosphere in a substantially sealed state. It is configured, and the both cover bodies 14 and 15 formed in the cylindrical shape may be formed in a square shape in addition to the circular cross section.

The fitting state of the first cover body 14 and the second cover body 15 may be either outside or inside. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the second cover body 1 is
5 is located outside, or the first cover 14 is located outside, as shown in FIG.

Further, if the gas replacement chamber 16 formed by both covers 14 and 15 is configured to ensure a substantially sealed state,
The outer edge portions of the both 14 and 15 may be butted to each other. In this case, both 14 and 15 or one of them has a structure capable of expanding and contracting by the tightening dimension of the cap c. .

The above-mentioned discharge member 17 is provided on the first cover 14 and / or the second cover 15, and the gas replacement chamber 16 is provided.
A gas is supplied into the interior, that is, the air in the empty portion b1 of the container mouth b2 is replaced by an inert gas such as nitrogen when the lid is applied. In the present embodiment, the second cover 15 side is provided. Although not shown in the drawing, the discharge hole 18 is provided in the gas replacement chamber 16 so as to face the gas replacement chamber 16, and the discharge hole 18 may project into the gas replacement chamber 16 in a nozzle shape.

Particularly, when the gas is ejected toward the inner surface of the cap c when the cap c is gripped by the chuck 4, the air in the cap c is changed by the gas ejection pressure. It is discharged to the outside and removed, and the ejection direction of the ejection hole 18 or the ejection hole 1
By arbitrarily selecting the mounting position of No. 8, the best gas replacement rate in the cap c and the empty portion b1 can be obtained.

The discharge member 17 is connected to an inert gas supply source 19 by a pipe member 20 and is jetted at a predetermined amount and a predetermined pressure.

Therefore, the gas replacement device H in the capper of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above has the following operation.

The container b, which has been filled with the contents, is sent by a transfer member such as a star wheel (not shown), placed on the table in the capper A, and wrapped by the gripper 11.

On the other hand, the outer peripheral portion of the cap c attached to the container mouth b2 is held by the chuck 4 to stand by for winding.

When the container mouth b2 and the position of the cap c by the chuck 4 are aligned, the main body member 5 is lowered by the elevating means 6 (the table 10 may be raised), and the cap c is moved by a predetermined pressure. The cap c is pressed against the container base b2, and the cap c is rotated by the rotating means 2 to perform the winding tightening.

At this time, that is, in the state shown in FIG. 1, the gas is ejected from the discharge member 17 into the gas replacement chamber 16 and is formed in the vicinity of the cap c, the vicinity of the container mouth b2, and the concave portion which is the inner peripheral portion of the cap c. The gas is blown to make the cap c, the vicinity of the container mouth b2 and the recess of the cap c into a gas atmosphere.

As the capping operation progresses (the cap c descends), the gap between the cap c and the container mouth b2 becomes narrower, but the continuously ejected gas infiltrates and fills the concave portion of the cap c, and As shown in FIG. 1, the saturated gas overflowed in the recessed portion of the cap c is not covered by the cap c.
It hits the inner bottom of the recess, bounces, and flows out of the cap c (see the arrow in the figure).

As a result, the fitting (combination) of the chuck 4 and the first and second covers 14 and 15 provided on the gripper 11 is started to form the gas replacement chamber 16 in a substantially sealed state. A part of the fluid in the gas replacement chamber 16 is discharged to the outside air through a fitting gap (combination) or the like.

Then, a part of the bounce gas described above overflows into the gas replacement chamber 16 and fills the gas replacement chamber 16 with the gas that did not go to the cap c.

Further, a part of the bounce gas is discharged from the container mouth b.
At 2, the gas flows into the empty portion b1 (see the arrow in FIG. 1), and the air in the empty portion b1 is pushed out to replace the gas in the empty portion b1.

This gas discharge is continued until the cap winding is completed, and the gas replacement chamber 16 as well as the cap c and the empty portion b1 are always kept in a gas atmosphere by the jetted gas. Since the cap winding is performed, the gas replacement rate is performed with high efficiency.

If the empty portion b1 is filled with gas in the step before the winding step, the replacement rate is further improved.

[0039]

According to the present invention configured as described above, the gas replacement chamber is formed by the combination of the first cover attached to the chuck and the second cover attached to the gripper. By supplying a gas to the room and attaching a cap to the mouth of the container, it is possible to supply a small amount of gas in the gas replacement chamber having the smallest possible volume, and the gas is replaced with the air in the empty space of the container. The gas replacement rate at the time of applying the lid is greatly improved, and the quality of the contents can be reliably maintained.

Since the device is simple, it can be provided on the market at a low cost, and the number of failures is small, the handling is good, and the space saving of the factory is achieved. It has special effects such as.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a main part of a gas replacement device in a capper according to an embodiment of the present invention, which employs a gas replacement method in a capper, in a cutaway manner.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a capped state by the capper in FIG.

3 is a schematic front view showing the capper in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the device in FIG.

5 is a plan view showing another example of the second cover of the apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

A capper b container b1 container mouth c cap 4 chuck 11 gripper 14 First cover 15 Second cover 16 gas replacement chamber 17 Discharge member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B67B 3/24

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A capper that holds a cap by a chuck and attaches the cap to the mouth of a container held by a gripper, wherein a predetermined gap is formed between the outer periphery of the cap attached and held by the chuck. Formed and surrounded
A cylindrical first covering body, the outer peripheral portion of the attachment the container mouth to the gripper, and the container mouth second tubular that has surrounded to form a predetermined gap in the covering body, these first and let it includes a gas replacement chamber interior gas space of both covering body is formed by a combination of the two covering body, and a discharge member for supplying gas to the gas exchange chamber provided on the second covering body, and the discharge The member is capped by the chuck.
Positioned so that the gas is ejected toward the inner surface of the pump
Gas replacement apparatus in a capper, characterized in that eclipse the. 2. The chuck holds the cap, and the gripper holds the container placed on the table .
Attach the cylindrical first cover to the chuck and attach the grip.
Attach the cylindrical second cover to the par and lower the chuck.
Depending on whether it is lower or the table is raised,
Attached first cover and second attached to the gripper
By forming a gas replacement chamber in combination with the cover,
Capping the container mouth while supplying gas into the gas replacement chamber
The gas is attached to the inner surface of the cap held by the chuck.
A gas replacement method in the capper, which is characterized in that the gas is ejected toward