JP4508968B2 - Stirring device and monitoring system using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an agitation device used in various industries such as pharmaceuticals, foods, cosmetics, fine chemicals, and petrochemicals, and in particular, the agitation can be performed by various control operations under unmanned conditions under an air blocking tank (stirring tank) condition. The present invention relates to a stirring device effective for a closed type and a monitoring system using the stirring device.

In recent years, in various industries such as pharmaceuticals, foods, cosmetics, fine chemicals, petrochemicals, and the like, stirring processes using a stirring apparatus are performed in a wide variety.
In this type of agitation device, the agitation treatment is often performed under various control operations (for example, bacterial control operations) under the conditions of an air blocking tank (agitating tank) and unmanned.
Conventionally, as a stirrer using this type of closed stirring tank (hereinafter referred to as a closed stirrer), a stirring blade is rotatably disposed in a stirring tank capable of storing a stirring liquid via a bearing, and a magnetic cup. There has already been provided a device that transmits a rotational driving force to a stirring blade via a ring drive transmission mechanism (see Patent Document 1).
In this embodiment, the driven side magnetic coupling is mounted on the stirring blade in the stirring tank, while the driving side magnetic coupling is disposed outside the stirring tank, and the stirring blade is driven in a non-contact manner through these magnetic couplings. Since it was made possible, it is extremely effective in that a stirring process for preventing liquid leakage and contamination mixing can be performed without using a mechanical seal.

JP 2001-353432 A (Embodiment of the Invention, FIG. 1) JP 2000-185223 A (Embodiment of the Invention, FIG. 1)

However, in this type of closed type agitator, it is unavoidable that the rotating shaft and bearing of the agitating blade are worn due to secular change, and depending on the type of agitated liquid (chemical solution, etc.), the wear progresses. The degree is extremely difficult to predict due to complicated factors such as the chemical properties of the stirring liquid.
Therefore, regular maintenance is indispensable for this type of hermetic stirring apparatus.
At this time, if the maintenance time is lost, the stirring device may be damaged, and as a result, there is a concern that the stirring solution may be contaminated and deteriorated. There was a technical problem of increasing the size.

As means for solving such a technical problem, there has already been proposed one that detects vibration information of a rotating part of a stirring device by a vibration detection sensor and detects abnormality of a rotating mechanism or a bearing (for example, a patent) Reference 2).
In the prior art described in Patent Document 2, a vibration detection sensor is installed in an outer cylinder disposed at the bottom of the stirring tank, and the vibration of the bearing is transmitted to the vibration detection sensor provided in the outer cylinder via a movable support portion. Therefore, if the outer cylinder itself vibrates due to other factors, there is a concern that the vibration detection sensor erroneously detects.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above technical problems, and a stirring device capable of accurately grasping the degree of wear progress of the shafts and bearings of the stirring blade accompanying aging. The monitoring system used is provided.

That is, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a stirring blade 3 is disposed in a stirring tank 1 that can contain a stirring liquid 2, and a rotating shaft of the stirring blade 3 is rotatably supported via a bearing 4. in stirrer, stirred tank 1 stirred at provided outside the drive source from 6 driving force comprises a driving shaft that rotates based on the driving side rotor 7 and the stirring tank 1 is connected to the stirring impeller 3 blades 3 A rotor ring that rotates coaxially with the rotation axis of the rotor and the rotor ring is disposed around the outer periphery of the drive shaft of the drive rotor 7 with respect to the radial direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the stirring blade 3 Magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism having a rotor 8 and non-contact coupling between the drive shaft of the drive-side rotor 7 and the rotor ring of the driven-side rotor 8 via the partition wall 1a of the stirring tank 1 by the magnetic coupling 9 5 and A high frequency oscillation type proximity sensor 10 provided in the partition wall 1a of the stirred tank 1 facing the end portion along the direction of the rotational axis of the rotor ring of the dynamic side rotor 8, along the rotation axis direction of the rotor ring of the driven side rotor 8 and the end portion close to the magnetic coupling 9 and the auxiliary magnetic field generating member 11 for generating an auxiliary magnetic field toward Rutotomoni said proximity sensor 10 side is provided separately from, and further comprising a.

In such technical means, the present case is premised on an aspect including the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism 5.
Here, as the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism 5, there is an aspect in which the drive side rotor 7 and the driven side rotor 8 are arranged in the vertical direction . In the present invention, however, the radial direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the stirring blade 3 is used. Thus, an embodiment is adopted in which an inner rotor as the driving side rotor 7 disposed on the inner side and an outer rotor as the driven side rotor 8 disposed on the outer periphery of the inner rotor are employed. If such an inner rotor / outer rotor system is used, a large magnetic field acting area by the magnetic coupling 9 can be ensured, and driving efficiency can be kept good.

The proximity sensor 10 is premised on a high frequency oscillation type. Here, the high-frequency oscillation type is a mode in which a detection coil generates a high-frequency magnetic field, and when a detection object approaches the magnetic field, an induced current flows through the detection object by electromagnetic induction, and the impedance of the detection coil changes due to this current. Say. In addition, the proximity sensor 10 is a shield type or a non-shield type, but considering the heat resistance, corrosion resistance, etc., the proximity sensor 10 is preferably a shield type. However, a shield part which is a non-shielded type and a separate part may be used.
Further, the auxiliary magnetic field generating member 11 is provided separately from the magnetic coupling 9 and is typically a permanent magnet, but widely includes any one that generates an auxiliary magnetic field.

Moreover, as a preferable aspect of the driven-side rotor 8, a structure in which a magnetic metal yoke is provided in the vicinity of a magnetic field generating member that constitutes the magnetic coupling 9 is exemplified.
In general, when the driven rotor 8 itself is made of magnetic metal, there is a concern that the magnetic field lines from the magnetic field generating member 11 as well as the magnetic field lines from the auxiliary magnetic field generating member 11 are sealed. For this reason, normally, the driven rotor 8 itself is made of a non-magnetic metal, and a method of capturing the lines of magnetic force using a magnetic metal yoke is adopted as necessary.
In particular, with respect to the end of the driven-side rotor 8 facing the proximity sensor 10, if a yoke that is too thick is disposed, the auxiliary magnetic field from the auxiliary magnetic field generating member 11 is sealed in the yoke, and the proximity sensor 10 side It is necessary to pay attention to the arranged yoke because there is a concern that the auxiliary magnetic field toward the head is not generated.

Moreover, as a preferable aspect of the proximity sensor 10 of the aspect by which the stirring liquid 2 is heated, there exists an aspect which arrange | positions the proximity sensor 10 via a corrosion-resistant cover with respect to the stirring tank inner wall surface. In this case, the corrosion-resistant cover may be provided as an element of the proximity sensor, or may be a shield component separate from the proximity sensor.
Furthermore, as a mode for ensuring the detection accuracy of the proximity sensor 10, it is preferable that the distance between the driven rotor 8 and the detection surface of the proximity sensor 10 is equal to or greater than the stable detection distance d. Here, the stable detection distance d indicates a distance at which the detection operation by the proximity sensor 10 is stably performed, and varies depending on the type of the proximity sensor 10, but in particular, the proximity sensor 10 using a heat-resistant shield is 5 mm or more. It is preferable that

The present invention is not limited to the agitation device as described above, but also covers a monitoring system using the same.
In this case, the present invention only needs to include the above-described stirring device 15 and the monitoring device 16 that remotely monitors a change in detection output from the proximity sensor 10.
As a typical aspect of this monitoring system, the monitoring device 16 performs an abnormality process for determining that the stirring device 15 is abnormal under the condition that the change in detection output of the proximity sensor 10 exceeds an allowable range. Examples of the abnormal processing here include warning processing such as warning transmission and warning display, operation stop control of the stirring device 15, and the like.

According to the present invention, the stirring blade is rotationally driven via the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism, and the stirring tank is opposed to the end portion along the rotation axis direction of the rotor ring of the driven rotor of the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism. Since the proximity sensor is arranged on the partition wall and an auxiliary magnetic field generating member capable of generating an auxiliary magnetic field toward the proximity sensor side is provided near the end of the rotor ring of the driven side rotor along the rotation axis direction. It is possible not only to perform stirring processing to prevent liquid leakage and contamination, but also to detect stirring by detecting changes in the positional relationship with the driven rotor of the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism using a proximity sensor. It is possible to ascertain the degree of progress of wear associated with the aging of the blade shaft and bearing.
In particular, in the present invention, the auxiliary magnetic field generated by the auxiliary magnetic field generating member works to interfere with the high-frequency magnetic field of the proximity sensor, and even if the driven rotor and the proximity sensor are spaced apart to some extent, the sensitivity of the proximity sensor Therefore, it is possible to extend the detection distance by the proximity sensor in the layout, and accordingly, extend the distance between the driven rotor and the stirring tank partition surface where the proximity sensor is arranged. It becomes possible. For this reason, even if the stirring blades run out due to wear due to the aging of the shafts and bearings of the stirring blades, there is no possibility that the driven rotor contacts the rotating contact with the stirring tank partition wall. It is possible to reliably grasp the degree of wear progression associated with the aging of the stirring blade shaft and the bearing with respect to an arbitrary stirring liquid type while effectively preventing the occurrence of damage.

  In addition, if such a stirrer is used, it becomes possible to monitor the detection output from the proximity sensor with a monitoring device. A monitoring system for remotely monitoring the degree of wear progress can be easily constructed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a monitoring system for a stirring device to which the present invention is applied.
In the figure, the agitation device 20 includes an agitation tank 21 that can accommodate, for example, a heated agitation liquid 22, and a part of the agitation tank 21, for example, an agitation blade unit 23 disposed at the bottom.
In the present embodiment, the stirring blade unit 23 is fixed in a state where a hollow support 24 is bulged into the stirring tank 21 at the bottom of the stirring tank 21 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. The support base 24 constitutes a part of the bottom of the agitation tank 21, and a fixed shaft 25 protrudes upward from the top of the support base 24, and a bush-like shape is formed around the fixed shaft 25. A stirring blade 27 is rotatably supported via a bearing 26.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the agitating blade 27 has a rotating shaft body 27a that is rotatably supported by the bearing 26. The rotating shaft body 27a is provided with a disk-like flange 27b extending around the rotating shaft body 27a. A predetermined number (four in this example) of blade members 27c are attached to the shaped flange 27b at predetermined angular intervals. Reference numerals 27d and 27e are a predetermined number of stirring liquid flow holes provided in the disc-shaped flange 27b.

The stirring blade unit 23 has a magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism 30, and is drivingly connected to the drive motor 40 via the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism 30.
In the present embodiment, the magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism 30 is provided in the support base 24 (corresponding to the outside of the agitation tank 21), and is a drive that transmits the drive force from the drive motor 40 via the drive direction conversion mechanism 41. A side rotor (inner rotor) 31 and a driven rotor (outer rotor) 32 connected to a stirring blade 27 in the stirring tank 21, and a magnetic cup with a partition wall of the support 24 sandwiched between the rotors 31, 32. The ring 33 is non-contact coupled.

In this example, the drive-side rotor 31 is made of a nonmagnetic metal (for example, made of stainless steel / aluminum) that is rotatably provided coaxially with the fixed shaft 25 of the support base 24 and is driven to rotate based on the drive force from the drive motor 40. ), And an inner side coupling magnet (for example, rotational force and axial linear force) of the magnetic coupling 33 is provided around the drive shaft 311 facing the portion swelled in the stirring tank 21. 331) are arranged at predetermined intervals along the circumferential direction.
On the other hand, the driven rotor 32 supports a rotor ring 322 made of non-magnetic metal (for example, SUS-316L) via a support arm 321 hanging downward from the disc-shaped flange 27b of the stirring blade 27, and this rotor ring 322. The outer coupling magnet 332 of the magnetic coupling 33 (for example, a curved magnet in which the SN pole is positioned in the vertical direction is used to transmit the rotational force and the axially straight traveling force) to the inner coupling magnet 331. A magnetic yoke (323) made of magnetic metal (for example, SS-400) is disposed on the back side of the outer side coupling magnetic pole 332 so as to be magnetically attracted to each other. The magnetizing force is increased.
In the present embodiment, the coupling magnets 331 and 332 may be appropriately selected including neodymium.

Further, in the present embodiment, a proximity sensor 50 is disposed at a portion of the support base 24 that constitutes the bottom of the agitation tank 21 that faces the rotational axis direction end of the driven rotor 32.
As the proximity sensor 50, a high-frequency oscillation type having a heat-resistant shield is used.
That is, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the proximity sensor 50 incorporates a detection coil 52 and an internal circuit 53 that constitute a detection surface of the sensor main body 51, and the detection surface of the sensor main body 51 is formed. A corrosion resistant cover (for example, using Teflon (registered trademark)) 54 is used. In this embodiment, the corrosion-resistant cover 54 is exposed on the inner wall surface of the agitation tank 21, but may be any material that is corrosion-resistant to the agitation liquid 22 and does not affect the high-frequency magnetic field. Absent. If the corrosion resistant cover 54 does not have corrosion resistance with respect to the stirring liquid 22, it may be disposed so as not to be directly exposed to the inner wall surface of the stirring tank 21.
Here, the internal circuit 53 includes an oscillation circuit 531, a detection circuit 532 that detects the oscillation state of the oscillation circuit 531, and an output circuit 533 that increases and outputs the output of the detection circuit 532.
The operation principle of the proximity sensor 50 of this aspect is that when a detection object (metal) 55 approaches the high-frequency magnetic field 56 generated by the detection coil 52, an induced current (eddy current) flows to the detection object 55 by electromagnetic induction, and this current causes The impedance of the detection coil 52 is changed, and the oscillation is stopped or the change state of the oscillation frequency is detected.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the auxiliary magnetic field magnet 60 is disposed at the end portion in the rotation axis direction of the rotor ring 322 of the driven side rotor 32. The auxiliary magnetic field magnet 60 generates the auxiliary magnetic field 70 toward the proximity sensor 50. In particular, in the present embodiment, the yoke 323 extends to a portion adjacent to the auxiliary magnetic field magnet 60. The magnetizing force of the auxiliary magnetic field 70 from 60 is increased by the yoke 323.

In the present embodiment, the detection output from the proximity sensor 50 is input to a monitoring device 100 capable of remote monitoring, as shown in FIG. 2, and the monitoring device 100 includes an alarm transmission unit and a warning display unit. In the condition where the detection output of the proximity sensor 50 exceeds a predetermined range, abnormal processing such as alarm transmission by the alarm transmission unit and warning display by the trend display unit is performed. Here, the abnormal process is not limited to these processes. For example, the stirring process by the stirring device 20 may be stopped immediately.
Note that the monitoring device 100 does not perform the above-described abnormality processing if the detection output of the proximity sensor 50 is within a predetermined range.

Next, the operation of the monitoring system for the stirrer according to the present embodiment will be described.
Now, it is assumed that the stirring liquid 22 to be heated is accommodated in the stirring tank 21, and the stirring tank 21 is stirred in various control operations under the air blocking condition and unmanned.
Here, when the stirring blade unit 23 is operating stably, the stirring processing by the stirring blade 27 is performed smoothly.
At this time, since the stirring blade 27 is stably rotated, the distance between the driven rotor 32 and the proximity sensor 50 is kept constant, and the proximity sensor 50 detects the position fluctuation of the driven rotor 32. Never do.

On the other hand, for example, when the fixed shaft 25 or the bearing 26 of the stirring blade 27 changes with time, there is a concern that the rotational motion of the driven-side rotor 32 may occur and the operation of the stirring blade unit 23 becomes unstable.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, when the rotational axis direction end of the rotor ring 322 of the driven rotor 32 approaches the proximity sensor 50 side, an induced current is generated on the bottom surface A of the rotor ring 322 that is a detection object by electromagnetic induction. Flowing. Due to this induced current, the impedance of the detection coil 52 of the proximity sensor 50 changes, and the oscillation from the proximity sensor 50 stops or the oscillation frequency changes.
The monitoring device 100 recognizes such a change in the detection output of the proximity sensor 50, and executes predetermined abnormality processing (for example, alarm transmission) in real time. As a result, the stirring device 20 is monitored remotely by self-diagnosis by the monitoring device 100, and safety in operation is ensured.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the proximity sensor 50 having the corrosion-resistant cover 54 is used. However, this type of proximity sensor 50 (particularly the heat-resistant shield type) has a significantly short detection distance, and the stirring liquid 22 such as a chemical solution. Therefore, the corrosion resistant cover 54 is required as a protective cover. For this reason, there is a concern that the detection distance of the proximity sensor 50 is further reduced, leading to a structural defect.
That is, in the comparative form model (model without the auxiliary magnetic field magnet 60) shown in FIG. 7, the distance between the detection surface of the proximity sensor 50 and the bottom surface A of the driven rotor 32, which is a detection object, is the stable detection distance m ′ (for example, 5 mm: When only the object to be detected is a magnetic metal), if the thickness m1 ′ (for example, 2 mm) of the corrosion-resistant cover 54 is subtracted, the inner wall surface of the agitation tank 21 (corresponding to the inner surface of the support 24) B and the driven side The distance from the bottom surface A of the rotor 32 is substantially m2 ′ (m′−m1: 3 mm in this example), and the material of the bottom surface A of the driven side rotor 32 that is the detection object is a non-magnetic metal (SUS-316L). ), The stable detection distance m ′ is further reduced, and the distance between the inner wall surface (corresponding to the inner surface of the support base 24) B of the stirring vessel 21 and the bottom surface A of the driven rotor 32 is substantially m2. Less than '(eg 2m ) And a.

Therefore, under the condition that the stirring blade 27 rotates at a medium speed region rotational speed of 100 to 300 RPM, when the stirring liquid 22 becomes high due to a change in the chemical reaction and the viscosity of the solution and falls into an overload state, the driving rotor 31 and The magnetic coupling holding force between the driven rotors 32 loses overload and causes slip, and the agitating blade 27 vibrates greatly.
In this case, under conditions where the fixed shaft 25 and the bearing 26 of the stirring blade unit 23 are worn due to aging, the inner wall surface (corresponding to the inner surface of the support base 24) B of the stirring tank 21 and the bottom surface A of the driven rotor 32 Is substantially less than m2 ′ (for example, 2 mm), and therefore, if the driven rotor 32 swings, the bottom surface A of the driven rotor 32 and the inner wall surface B of the stirring tank 21 (the surface of the corrosion resistant cover 54 of the proximity sensor 50). ) May cause rotational contact due to surface wobbling, and the concern that the driven rotor 32 or the bottom of the agitation tank 21 may be damaged is very high. In the unlikely event, the agitation liquid 22 is contaminated and altered. Expected to suffer significant damage.

In contrast, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, an auxiliary magnetic field magnet 60 in which an auxiliary magnetic field is directed toward the proximity sensor 50 is incorporated at the lower end of the driven rotor 32 in the rotation axis direction, and the bottom surface of the driven rotor 32. An auxiliary magnetic field 70 is generated in A, and a condition for causing the auxiliary magnetic field 70 and the high-frequency magnetic field 56 of the proximity sensor 50 to interfere with each other is created, and the stable detection distance m can be extended.
That is, by making the auxiliary magnetic field 70 interfere with the high frequency magnetic field 56 of the proximity sensor 50, it is possible to increase the working distance of the high frequency magnetic field 56 of the proximity sensor 50, thereby increasing the stable detection distance m of the proximity sensor 50. Therefore, the distance between the driven rotor 32 and the rotating wall surface of the stirring vessel 21 can be separated to some extent, and contact between the two is effectively avoided.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of the stirring apparatus which concerns on this invention, and the monitoring system using the same. It is explanatory drawing which shows embodiment of the stirring apparatus to which this invention was applied, and the monitoring system using the same. It is explanatory drawing which shows the detail of the stirring apparatus used by this Embodiment. It is a plane explanatory view of the stirring device of FIG. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the operation principle of the proximity sensor used by this Embodiment, (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the example of its internal circuit. It is explanatory drawing which shows the periphery principal part of the proximity sensor of the stirring apparatus which concerns on this Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the periphery principal part of the proximity sensor of the stirring apparatus which concerns on the form of a comparison.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Stirrer tank, 1a ... Bulkhead, 2 ... Stirring liquid, 3 ... Stirring blade, 4 ... Bearing, 5 ... Magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism, 6 ... Drive source, 7 ... Drive side rotor, 8 ... Driven side rotor, 9 ... Magnetic coupling, 10 ... Proximity sensor, 11 ... Auxiliary magnetic field generating member, 15 ... Stirring device, 16 ... Monitoring device

Claims (6)

In a stirring device in which a stirring blade is disposed in a stirring tank in which a stirring liquid can be accommodated and the rotating shaft of the stirring blade is rotatably supported via a bearing.
A drive-side rotor provided with a drive shaft provided outside the agitation tank and rotating based on a driving force from a drive source, and a rotor ring connected to the agitation blade in the agitation tank and rotated coaxially with the rotation axis of the agitation blade And the rotor ring includes a driven rotor disposed around the outer side of the drive shaft of the drive rotor with respect to a radial direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the stirring blade, and the drive shaft of the drive rotor , A magnetic coupling drive transmission mechanism for non-contact coupling between the rotor ring of the driven rotor and the magnetic coupling via the partition wall of the stirring tank;
A high-frequency oscillation type proximity sensor provided on the partition wall of the stirring tank facing the end portion along the rotation axis direction of the rotor ring of the driven rotor;
Characterized in that and an auxiliary magnetic field generating member for generating an auxiliary magnetic field toward the proximity sensor side together provided separately from said magnetic coupling towards the end portions along the rotation axis direction of the rotor ring of the driven rotor A stirrer. The stirrer according to claim 1, wherein
A stirrer characterized in that the driven rotor is made of a non-magnetic metal, and a magnetic metal yoke is disposed in the vicinity of a magnetic field generating member constituting the magnetic coupling. In the aspect in which the stirring liquid is heated in the stirring apparatus according to claim 1,
The agitation device, wherein the proximity sensor is disposed on the inner wall surface of the agitation tank via a corrosion-resistant cover. The stirrer according to claim 1, wherein
A stirrer characterized in that the distance between the driven rotor and the detection surface of the proximity sensor is equal to or greater than the stable detection distance. A stirring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
A monitoring system for an agitation device comprising a monitoring device for remotely monitoring a change in detection output from a proximity sensor. In the monitoring system of the stirring apparatus according to claim 5 ,
The monitoring device is a monitoring system for an agitation device, which performs an abnormality process for determining that the agitation device is abnormal under a condition where a change in detection output of the proximity sensor exceeds an allowable range.

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