JP4038534B2 - Air conveying device for goods - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for conveying articles such as plastic bottles and paper cups using a transport pipe by an air flow.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a factory that manufactures or fills plastic bottles, paper cups, and the like, when the articles are conveyed by air using a transport pipe, means for conveying the articles one by one is employed to prevent damage to the articles. However, the supplied articles are often conveyed at a positive pressure in the transport pipe, and the articles transported at a high speed are smoothly decelerated at the transport pipe discharge section to prevent damage when the articles are discharged. There has been no simple article air conveyance device that can keep the sanitary properties of articles and the environment high in the conveyance section and the discharge section.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In a device that pneumatically transports articles in a transport pipe, transports the interior of the transport pipe at high speed, smoothly decelerates the transport of the article in the transport pipe discharge section, prevents damage in the discharge section of the article, and in the transport pipe and the discharge section The present invention proposes an air conveyance device for articles that can maintain high sanitary properties.
[0004]
The invention described in claim 1 An article air transport apparatus comprising: an article supply means for individually separating articles and supplying the articles one by one into the transport pipe; and an article transport means for transporting the article in the transport pipe using a negative pressure air flow . The suction part of the negative pressure air flow installed in the vicinity of the discharge part is divided into at least two areas on the upstream side and downstream side of the article, and the ratio of the suction amount in the upstream area and downstream area of the article is controlled. The gist of the present invention is to provide an article air conveyance device comprising article decelerating means for providing an air flow that runs backward to the progress of the article by the negative pressure air flow intake control device .
[0005]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the air conveying apparatus for articles according to the first aspect, wherein the positive pressure holding means is provided by a positive pressure pressurizing apparatus using clean air in the supply section of the article to the transport pipe and the upstream region connected thereto. The gist of the present invention is to provide an air conveying apparatus for articles.
[0006]
The invention of claim 3 In an air conveying method for articles in which articles are individually separated and supplied one by one into the transport pipe and the articles are transported in the transport pipe using the negative pressure air flow, an intake portion of the negative pressure air flow in the vicinity of the discharge section of the transport pipe Is divided into at least two regions on the upstream and downstream sides of the article, and the ratio of the suction amount in the upstream and downstream regions of the article is controlled to thereby reverse the air flow against the progression of the article. The gist of the present invention is to provide an air conveying method for an article, which reduces the conveying speed of the article.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a side view showing the entirety of an air conveying apparatus for articles intended for plastic bottles as an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view taken in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 3 and 4 are side views showing another embodiment of the apparatus for supplying articles into the transport pipe, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the apparatus for performing the intake control of the negative pressure air flow.
[0009]
In FIG. 1, an article discharge area 27 indicates an area where, for example, an article B such as a plastic bottle is filled with a beverage or the like. The article B is continuously supplied in an upright state on the supply conveyor 8, and an article separation belt. The conveyance speed is regulated by 2 and the articles B are separated individually by changing to the speed of the supply conveyor 8 at the outlet of the article separation belt 2. The positive pressure chamber 3 constituting the positive pressure pressurizing means surrounds a region including the supply portion 7 of the article B to the transport pipe 6 and the supply conveyor 8 in the upstream region, and the passing portion of the supply conveyor 8 and the article B is It is open. The positive pressure chamber 3 is provided with a positive pressure fan 4 and is supplied with positive pressure air removed by a filter 5. This positive pressure air leaks out of the positive pressure chamber 3 from the opening and is also sent to the transport pipe 6 at the same time. As a result, the positive pressure chamber 3 is kept at a slight positive pressure, and the positive pressure chamber 3 and the transport from the outside. It works to prevent dust from entering the pipe 6.
[0010]
The transport pipe 6 is composed of a metal or plastic pipe depending on the use conditions of the apparatus, and is continuously disposed from the supply position to the discharge position of the article, and air is sucked by the blower 15 disposed downstream to transport the transport pipe 6. An air flow 9 is formed in 6. In the present embodiment, the articles B on the supply conveyor 8 are supplied in a state of falling from the supply section 7 to the transport pipe 6 in an upright state, and the supply conveyor 8, the article separation belt 2 and the supply section 7 serve as article supply means. Constitute. The article B rides on the air flow 9 in the transport pipe 6 and is conveyed to the receiver unit 16 at a high speed. The receiver unit 16 decelerates the conveying speed as described later, is restrained by the belt conveyor 17, and is regulated by the belt conveyor 18. It is discharged onto the article discharge conveyor 19 at a speed. FIG. 2 shows a plan view as viewed in the direction of the arrow X in FIG. 1, and the article B on the supply conveyor 8 is restrained by the article separation belt 2 and decelerated, and after passing through the article separation belt 2, returns to the speed of the supply conveyor 8. The state where the space | interval of articles | goods leaves | separates and an article | item is cut | disconnected separately is shown.
[0011]
In addition, a transport pipe 10 is separately provided downstream of the belt conveyor 18, and a flap 31 is driven by an air cylinder 30 via a hinge at the downstream end portion thereof so that the discharge portion distal end 11 can be opened and closed. It is arranged. When the article B does not exist in the transport pipe 10 at the start of operation of the apparatus, the flap 31 is closed, and the article B is conveyed by flowing air into the transport pipe 6 by the function of the blower 15. By this initial operation, the presence of the article B in the transport pipe 10 is sensed by a separate sensor (not shown), the flap 31 is opened, and the gap between the article B and the transport pipe 10 is reduced during article transport, The air inflow amount from the downstream end of the transport pipe 10 is limited. Due to the restriction of the amount of air sucked from the transport pipe 10, most of the air sucked by the blower 15 is sucked from the supply unit 7 in the positive pressure chamber 3 to become clean positive pressure air, and smoothly flows the air flow 9. It can be generated and conveyed.
[0012]
In the following, referring to FIG. 1, the article deceleration means by negative pressure air flow intake control based on the configuration of the receiver unit 16 will be described. The receiver case 14 includes an upstream chamber 20 and a downstream chamber 21 and is basically blocked from the outside except for the passage of the article B. A plurality of vent holes 22 and 23 are provided on the outer periphery of the transport pipe 6a as a passage for the article B inside the receiver unit 16 so as not to hinder the smooth progress of the article B. The upstream chamber 20 and the downstream chamber 21 respectively. It is connected with. Each of the upstream chamber 20 and the downstream chamber 21 is provided with individual piping and air volume control valves 24 and 25 and connected to the blower 15. When the blower 15 is operated to adjust the air volume of the air volume control valves 24 and 25, the amount of air discharged from the upstream chamber 20 and the downstream chamber 21 can be different, so the negative pressure in the upstream chamber 20 and the downstream chamber 21 is negative. The difference occurs in the air discharge amount from the vent holes 22 and 23 on the outer periphery of the transport pipe 6a.
[0013]
For example, when the air volume adjustment valve 24 is opened and the air volume is increased and the air volume from the air volume adjustment valve 25 is reduced, a decelerated air flow 26 is generated that reverses the progress of the article as shown in the figure, and the conveyance speed of the article is reduced. I can do it. The intensity of the deceleration air flow 26 can be controlled by adjusting the opening of the air volume adjusting valves 24 and 25 and controlling the rotational speed of the blower. The blower 15 may be installed outside the article discharge area 27 as shown, or may be installed inside and exhausted outside the article discharge area 27 by a hose or the like.
[0014]
The means for supplying the article B to the transport pipe 6 is not particularly limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and the article B is stopped at the lower part of the transport pipe 6 as shown in FIG. It is also possible to supply and convey the articles into the upper transport pipe 6 in an upright state while assisting the ascent. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the article B supplied on the conveyor in a horizontal state is supplied and transported into the transport pipe 6, and the article supplied using a chute is supplied into the transport pipe 6. Various configurations are possible within the scope of the present invention. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the configuration of the receiver unit 16 is also connected between the upstream chamber 20 and the downstream chamber 21 via a bypass air volume adjusting valve 28, and from the upstream chamber 20 via the main air volume adjusting valve 29 by the blower 15. Various configurations can be used within the scope of the present invention, such as adjusting the bypass air volume adjusting valve 28 to adjust the strength of the deceleration air flow 26 as the configuration for intake.
[0015]
In addition, the conditions such as the size of the article B and the diameter of the transport pipe 6 are specified, and a specific throttle is installed in the intake pipe connected to the upstream chamber 20 and the downstream chamber 21 to generate the deceleration air flow 26. Various configurations can be employed within the scope of the present invention. Moreover, although the discharge side of the article B is assumed to discharge the article B on the conveyor in the embodiment, the use of the discharge side other than the embodiment is also possible, such as when the article B is discharged into the storage hopper, The configurations of the belt conveyors 17, 18 and the flaps 31 are not particularly limited to the embodiments, and various configurations in accordance with the gist of the present invention can be used.
[0016]
【The invention's effect】
According to the invention described in claim 1, by separately separating the articles and supplying them one by one into the transport pipe, the articles can be stably supplied to the transport pipe, and a negative pressure air flow is used. By conveying the article within the transport pipe, it is possible to avoid the ejection of air that may contain contaminants such as dust in the area on the discharge side of the article. In addition, the intake part of the negative pressure air flow installed in the vicinity of the discharge part of the transport pipe is divided into at least two regions on the upstream side and the downstream side of the article, and in the upstream and downstream areas of the article It is possible to prevent the damage of the article by controlling the ratio of the suction amount to generate an air flow reverse to the progress of the article and softly reducing the article conveyance speed in the article discharge section .
[0018]
According to the invention of claim 2 , claim 1 In the supply section of the article in the transport pipe and the upstream area to be connected, a positive pressure area using clean air is provided, so that the air used for conveying the article is kept clean and contamination of the article can be prevented. At the same time, the contaminated air is not discharged to the discharge side area of the article, and the discharge side area of the article can be kept clean.
[0019]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the articles are individually separated and supplied one by one into the transport pipe, the articles are transported in the transport pipe using a negative pressure air flow, and in the vicinity of the discharge portion of the transport pipe. The article conveyance speed can be softly reduced to prevent the article from being damaged, and the article can be conveyed by air with excellent sanitary properties.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory side view showing the whole; FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an arrow X in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a side view showing another embodiment of an apparatus for supplying articles; FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the supplying apparatus. FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the apparatus for performing the intake control of the negative pressure air flow.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Whole apparatus 2 Goods separation belt 3 Positive pressure chamber 4 Positive pressure fan 5 Filter 6 Transport pipe 7 Supply part 8 Supply conveyor 9 Air flow
10 Transport pipe
11 Discharge end
12 Auxiliary air
14 Receiver case
15 Blower
16 Receiver unit
17 Belt conveyor
18 Belt conveyor
19 Goods discharge conveyor
20 Upstream chamber
21 Downstream room
22 Vent
23 Vent
24 Air flow adjustment valve
25 Air flow adjustment valve
26 Deceleration air flow
27 Goods discharge area
28 Bypass air volume adjustment valve
29 Main adjustment valve
30 air cylinder
31 flaps
B goods

Claims (3)

An article air transport apparatus comprising: an article supply means for individually separating articles and supplying the articles one by one into the transport pipe; and an article transport means for transporting the article in the transport pipe using a negative pressure air flow . The suction part of the negative pressure air flow installed in the vicinity of the discharge part is divided into at least two areas on the upstream side and downstream side of the article, and the ratio of the suction amount in the upstream area and downstream area of the article is controlled. An article air conveying device comprising article decelerating means for providing an air flow reverse to the progress of the article by the negative pressure air flow intake control device. The air conveying apparatus for articles according to claim 1, characterized in that a positive pressure holding means by a positive pressure pressurizing apparatus using clean air is provided in a supply section of the article to the transport pipe and a connected upstream region. Air conveying device for goods to be used. In an air conveying method for articles in which articles are individually separated and supplied one by one into the transport pipe and the articles are transported in the transport pipe using the negative pressure air flow, an intake portion of the negative pressure air flow in the vicinity of the discharge section of the transport pipe Is divided into at least two regions on the upstream and downstream sides of the article, and the ratio of the suction amount in the upstream and downstream regions of the article is controlled to thereby reverse the air flow against the progression of the article. Is provided, and the article conveying speed is reduced to reduce the article conveying speed.

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