JP4435531B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to processing equipment for processing containers such as bottles.

  Beverages such as beer can be shipped in containers such as bottles and cans. Production of a beverage filled in a container can be broadly divided into a step of producing a beverage itself and a step of filling a finished beverage into a container. Here, the latter process is called a post process for convenience. The post-process generally can include processes such as washing the container, filling the washed container with a beverage, and testing. Furthermore, when a reusable container such as a bottle (for example, a container that can be taken out and then filled again with a beverage, etc.) is used, a container in which a problem has occurred during the subsequent process. Can be discharged from the conveyance path of the accepted product or the normal product and sent to the cleaning process again.

  Examples of defects in the post-process include various defects such as defects of the container, cracks, dirt, defects related to the container itself such as foreign matter in the container, defects of the lid such as the crown, defects in the filling (filling amount), and the like. sell.

  In general, in the subsequent process of filling beverages in bottle containers, a waste line for rejecting defective bottle containers that have not been crowned (failed products), and bottle containers with a crown lid. A defective line for rejecting defective products (failed products) will be provided separately. This is because bottle containers with a crown lid need to be provided to the washing machine after removing the crown lid and removing the contents, and processing different from bottle containers without a crown lid is required. This is because that.

Although the present applicant does not recognize prior art documents common to the present application regarding the rejection line, there is Patent Document 1 regarding the rejection device.
JP-A-11-227936

  As mentioned above, it is necessary to separately provide a reject line for defective products without a crown cover and a reject line for defective products with a crown cover in terms of the area and cost required for the installation. There is a big disadvantage. In particular, in large scale installations, each drainage line can reach 100 meters or more, so the disadvantage becomes even more pronounced.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above problem recognition, and an object thereof is to reduce a conveyance path for conveying containers such as bottles, for example.

One aspect of the present invention relates to a processing facility for processing a container, the processing facility including a first device for discharging a container including a container without a lid, and a second device for discharging a container including a container with a lid. , A common transport path for transporting the container discharged from the first device and the container discharged from the front device second apparatus, a first transport path for transporting a container without a lid, and a second transporting a container with a lid. A separator for determining whether or not there is a lid of a container transported through the common transport path, sending a container without a lid to the first transport path, and sending a container with a lid to the second transport path; Is provided.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second device may be configured to discharge a container without a lid in addition to a container with a lid.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first device may be configured to inspect an empty lidless container and discharge rejected products to be sent to the common transport path.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the processing facility further includes a filling device that fills a container of an acceptable product discharged from the first device and attaches a lid, and the first device includes the filling device. It can be configured to discharge the acceptable product for delivery to the device.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second facility inspects whether or not the processing by the filling device has been carried out normally, and discharges the rejected product so as to be sent to the common conveyance path. Can be configured as follows.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the filling amount of the product in the container determined to be an acceptable product by the second device is inspected, and the rejected product is discharged so as to be sent to the common conveyance path. It may be configured to further include a taste inspection device.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the processing facility may be configured to further include a recovery device that recovers a product in a container with a lid sent through the second transport path.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first transport path is configured to communicate with a second common transport path, and the collection device removes a lid of the container and collects the product, thereby the second transport path. The container may be configured to be discharged so as to be sent to a common conveyance path.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the processing facility may be configured to further include a cleaning device that cleans a container without a lid sent through the second common transport path.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning device may be configured to discharge the cleaned container to be sent to the first device.

  According to the present invention, for example, the number of transport paths for transporting containers such as bottles can be reduced.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments that are considered to be the best for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a processing facility according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The processing equipment 1000 of this embodiment is configured to fill the manufactured beer into bottles, process the bottle filled with beer, and complete it as a final product. However, this is only one application example of the present invention, and the present invention can be applied to any processing equipment in which a container is filled with a product such as a liquid or a solid and the container is covered.

  The processing facility 1000 includes transport paths C <b> 1 to C <b> 9 as transport paths for transporting bottles that are treated as acceptable products or normal products (more precisely, bottles that are not determined to be unacceptable products).

  In addition, the processing facility 1000 includes common transport paths RC1 and RC2 and individual transport paths R1 to R4 as transport paths for transporting bottles treated as rejected products. In FIG. 1, bottles treated as rejected products are shown, and bottles treated as acceptable products are omitted. A black circle (●) indicates a rejected bottle with a crown lid attached, and a white circle (◯) indicates a rejected bottle without a crown lid attached. In addition, in FIG. 1, although many bottles treated as rejected products are shown, this is for convenience of explanation, and in reality, there are a few bottles treated as rejected products. Many.

First, the processing of the acceptable product in the processing facility 1000 will be described. Empty bottles being conveyed through the conveying path C 8 is first cleaned by the cleaning machine (wash bottle machine) 80, through the conveyance path C9 empty bottle inspection machine; sent to (EBI Empty Bottle Inspector) 10. The empty bottle inspection machine 10 inspects the bottle for defects, cracks, dirt, foreign matter in the bottle, etc., and sends the acceptable product (the bottle in which no abnormality is found) to the conveyance path C1 for the acceptable product. The bottle in which the abnormality is found is sent to the conveyance path (exhaust line) R3 for rejected products.

  The conveyance path C <b> 1 for acceptable products conveys the bottle to the filling machine (filler) 20. The filling machine 20 fills the bottle sent through the conveyance path C <b> 1 with beer, attaches a crown cap to the bottle with the accompanying stopper 21, and sends the bottle to the inspection machine 30. In the filling machine 20, for example, problems such as poor filling due to an abnormality of the filling valve (poor taste) and poor plugging due to failure of the stopper by the stopper 30 can occur. Therefore, the filling machine 20 can discharge a bottle having an abnormal filling amount or a bottle without a crown lid. The inspection machine 30 is configured to inspect for the presence or absence of such an abnormality, and sends an acceptable product (a bottle in which no abnormality is found) to the conveyance path C2 for the acceptable product, and an unacceptable product (an abnormality is found). The bottle is sent to a common conveyance path (common waste line) RC1 for rejected products.

  The conveyance path C <b> 2 for accepted products conveys a bottle filled with beer and attached with a crown lid to a warm bottle machine (warmer) 40. The warm bottle machine 40 is a device that warms the bottle in order to remove the dew condensation that has occurred on the bottle surface due to beer filling. The bottle that has been heated by the warm bottle machine 40 and from which condensation has been removed is transported to the taste inspection device 50 through the transport path C3.

  The taste inspection device 50 is a device that finally inspects whether or not the amount of beer filled in the bottle (the taste) is within an allowable range. Such an inspection is called a taste inspection. The taste inspecting machine 50 sends out a bottle with a proper taste as an acceptable product to the conveyance path C4 for an acceptable product, and sends a bottle with an inappropriate taste as a failed product to the conveyance path (exhaust line) R4 for an unacceptable product. .

  The bottle that passed the taste inspection is then labeled on the surface by the labeler 90 and sent to the coating machine 100 through the transport path C5, where the surface is coated. The bottle whose coating has been completed is sent to the caser 110 through the transport path C6, where it is put in a case, and sent to a storage or the like through the transport path C7.

  Next, processing of rejected products in the processing facility 1000 will be described. The bottle determined to be a rejected product by the empty bottle inspection machine 10 is sent to a common transport path (common rejection line) RC1 for rejected products through a transport path (rejection line) R3 for rejected products. Here, all the bottles sent to the common conveyance path RC1 through the conveyance path R3 are bottles without a crown lid.

  Moreover, the bottle determined to be a rejected product by the inspection machine 30 arranged at the outlet of the filling machine 20 is sent to a common conveyance path (common rejection line) RC1 for the rejected product. Here, the bottle determined to be a rejected product by the inspection machine 30 is a bottle without a crown lid (for example, a bottle related to a clogging defect) and a bottle with a crown lid (for example, a taste) Defective bottles).

  In this way, both the bottle without the crown lid and the bottle with the crown lid are conveyed by the common conveyance path (common rejection line) RC1 for rejected products. By transporting the bottles in two states through the common transport path (common rejection line) RC1, it is possible to reduce the transport path for transporting rejected products. Especially in large-scale processing facilities, the transport path for transporting rejected products can reach 100 meters or more, so it is necessary to make two transport paths into one transport path. It is extremely useful in terms of area and cost.

  Further, the bottle determined as the rejected product by the taste inspection machine 50 joins the common conveyance path (common rejection line) R4 for rejected products through the conveyance path R4. Here, the bottles that are judged as rejected products by the taste inspection machine 50 are all bottles with a crown lid.

  The bottles of rejected products transported on the common transport path (common rejection line) RC1 for rejected products are separated into a bottle without a crown lid and a bottle with a crown lid by the sorter 60. The former is sent to the individual transport path R1, and the latter is sent to the individual transport path R2. The conveyance path R1 merges with the conveyance path C8 for supplying empty bottles to the washing machine 80 via the common conveyance path RC2.

  The collection machine 70 removes the crown lid attached to the bottle, collects the beer in the bottle, and sends the bottle after the completion to the conveyance path R3. The conveyance path R3 merges with the common conveyance path RC2. The recovered beer may be drained, for example, after being subjected to drainage treatment, or may be sent to the filling machine 20 when available as a product.

  The bottle sent to the conveyance path C8 by the common conveyance path RC2 is sent to the bottle washing machine 80 together with the bottle collected from the market or a new bottle, and is washed in the washing machine 80.

  2A and 2B are diagrams schematically illustrating a configuration example of the sorter 60, where FIG. 2A is a side view and FIG. 2B is a plan view. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 2, the sorter 60 has a sensor 61 for determining the presence or absence of the crown cover of the bottle 1 and the conveyance path of the bottle 1 to the individual conveyance path R1 or the individual conveyance path R2 depending on the presence or absence of the crown lid. And a switching mechanism 62 for switching.

  The sensor 61 includes, for example, an imaging device such as a CCD camera that images the mouth of the bottle from above, and a processor that determines the presence or absence of a crown cover by processing an image captured by the imaging device. Can be done. The processor, for example, by extracting a ring-shaped image of the mouth of the bottle without the crown cover from the captured image or by extracting an image of the crown cover of the bottle with the crown cover from the captured image. The presence or absence of can be determined. Alternatively, the sensor 61 may be configured to image the bottle from the side of the bottle and determine the presence or absence of the crown based on the shape of the mouth of the bottle. In addition, the presence or absence of a crown cover can be determined by various other methods.

  The switching mechanism 62 can be composed of, for example, an air cylinder that operates based on the output from the sensor 61. For example, a bottle that is determined to have a crown lid by the sensor 61 is used for the individual conveyance path R1 by the air cylinder. The bottle that has been pushed out and determined not to have a crown lid is sent to the individual transport path R2 as it is without being pushed out by the air cylinder.

  As described above, the rejected product in the first state without the crown lid and the rejected product in the second state with the crown lid are transported by the common transport path (common drainage line), and then the first state by the sorting machine. By separating rejected products from rejected products in the second state, it is possible to properly handle rejected products in two states while significantly reducing the number of conveyance paths (for example, about 1/2). .

It is a figure which shows roughly the structure of the processing equipment of suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a sorter typically.

Explanation of symbols

RC1 common transport path (common waste line)
R1 Individual transport path (transport path for bottles without lid)
R2 Individual transport path (transport path for bottles with lids)
60 sorter 61 sensor 62 switching mechanism

Claims (10)

A processing facility for processing containers,
A first device for discharging a container including a container without a lid;
A second device for discharging a container including a container with a lid;
A common transport path for transporting the container discharged from the first device and the container discharged from the front device second device;
A first transport path for transporting a container without a lid;
A second transport path for transporting a container with a lid;
Determining the presence or absence of a lid of a container transported through the common transport path, sending a container without a lid to the first transport path, and sending a container with a lid to the second transport path;
A processing facility comprising:   The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second apparatus discharges a container without a lid in addition to a container with a lid.   The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first device inspects an empty lidless container and discharges a rejected product so as to be sent to the common conveyance path. The processing facility further includes a filling device that fills the container of the accepted product discharged from the first device and attaches a lid,
The processing equipment according to claim 3, wherein the first device discharges the acceptable product so as to be sent to the filling device.   The said 2nd apparatus test | inspects whether the process by the said filling apparatus was implemented normally, and discharges | emits the rejected product so that it may be sent to the said common conveyance path. Processing equipment.   It is further provided with a taste inspection device for inspecting the filling amount of the product in the container determined to be an acceptable product by the second device and discharging the rejected product so as to be sent to the common conveyance path. The processing equipment according to claim 4.   The processing facility according to claim 5 or 6, further comprising a recovery device that recovers a product in a container with a lid sent through the second transport path. The first transport path leads to a second common transport path;
The processing equipment according to claim 7, wherein the collection device removes the lid of the container, collects the product, and discharges the container so as to be sent to the second common conveyance path.   The processing equipment according to claim 8, further comprising a cleaning device that cleans a container without a lid sent through the second common transport path.   The processing equipment according to claim 9, wherein the cleaning device discharges the cleaned container so as to be sent to the first device.

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