JP4891033B2 - Filling machine and vent tube - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a filling machine that fills a plurality of containers with liquid while revolving a plurality of filling portions along a revolving track, and a vent tube incorporated therein.

  A filling machine is used to fill a container such as a beer can with a liquid such as beer. There are various types of filling machines. One type includes a filler bowl for storing a liquid and a plurality of filling portions provided at a lower portion of the filler bowl. And each filling part is in contact with the open end of the container to seal the upper part of the container, a sealed tube (tulip), a vent tube arranged inside the sealed tube, a filling valve assembly to which the vent tube is connected, etc. Have

  When filling the liquid, the liquid in the filler bowl is injected into the container through the sealed cylinder while the gas in the container is discharged from the vent tube. This injection continues until the gas in the container cannot escape through the vent tube, that is, until the liquid level of the liquid injected into the container blocks the opening of the vent tube. Therefore, the filling amount (filling) of the liquid into the container is determined by the height of the opening of the vent tube.

  Some vent tubes have an opening at the lower end, and others have an opening at the side. The latter is described in Patent Document 1. The vent tube described in Patent Document 1 is configured by combining an upper vent tube member and a lower vent tube member. Three windows are formed in the lower vent tube member at an angular interval of about 120 degrees. Further, the lower vent tube member has an insertion portion, and an engagement protrusion is formed in the insertion portion. The upper vent tube member has a portion to be inserted, and an engagement groove is formed in the portion to be inserted.

In the connection between the upper vent tube member and the lower vent tube member, the insertion portion of the lower vent tube member is inserted into the inserted portion of the upper vent tube member. At this time, the engagement protrusion of the insertion portion is guided by the engagement groove portion of the insertion portion. After the insertion portion of the lower vent tube member is inserted into the insertion portion of the upper vent tube member, the lower vent tube member is rotated by an appropriate rotation angle (180 degrees), and the snap ring is attached to the snap ring receiving groove. The joining operation of the upper vent tube member and the lower vent tube member is completed.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-43037

  In a filling machine that includes a plurality of filling units and fills a plurality of containers with liquid while revolving the plurality of filling units and the plurality of containers along a revolution path, the liquid level of the liquid filled in the containers is caused by centrifugal force. Tilt. Therefore, when the direction of the opening (window) viewed from the center of the vent tube in the plurality of filling portions (for example, the revolution orbit or the direction based on the radial direction) is different, the filling amount (packing) in the plurality of containers Differences (variations) can occur.

  In Patent Document 1, after the insertion portion of the lower vent tube member is inserted into the insertion portion of the upper vent tube member, the lower vent tube member is rotated by an appropriate rotation angle (180 degrees) to form the lower vent tube member. It is disclosed that the alignment groove provided is aligned with the alignment groove provided in the upper vent tube member (page 4, left column, lines 1 to 3).

  However, in Patent Document 1, the alignment groove provided in the lower vent tube member and the alignment groove provided in the upper vent tube member are not configured to engage with each other. It's just an indicator.

  Therefore, the rotation angle of the lower vent tube with respect to the upper vent tube member may be in a non-uniform state due to lack of operator's attention. Further, the lower vent tube member may rotate after the lower vent tube member is attached to the upper vent tube member (page 7, line 32 to line 39).

  Patent Document 1 also discloses that the liquid level of the liquid in the container is inclined by centrifugal force, and that the difference (variation) in the filling amount (filling) may occur in a plurality of containers due to the centrifugal force. There is no suggestion.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-described problem recognition, and an object thereof is to more reliably reduce, for example, variations in the filling amount caused by the inclination of the liquid level due to the revolution of the container.

A first aspect of the present invention includes a filler bowl for storing a liquid to be filled, and a plurality of filling portions provided at a lower portion of the filler bowl, wherein the plurality of filling portions and the plurality of containers are used as revolving tracks. And a filling machine for filling the plurality of containers with liquid while revolving along the sealing unit, wherein each of the filling parts is in close contact with the open end of the container when the liquid is filled, and seals the upper part of the container; The vent tube disposed inside the sealed cylinder, and a holder for holding the vent tube, the vent tube has an opening formed on a side surface thereof and a direction regulating surface , and the holder includes: It has a guide surface, so that the direction of the opening as viewed from the center of the vent tube coincides with a predetermined direction relative to the said orbit, the open by contact with the direction regulating surface and the guide surface To regulate the direction of the department.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable that the opening includes two holes formed at positions facing each other on the side surface of the vent tube.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the holder regulates the direction of the two holes so that the direction of the two holes substantially coincides with the direction along the tangent of the revolution track. preferable. Alternatively, in the holder, one of the two holes is inside the revolution track, and an angle formed by the direction of the one hole and the direction of the revolution is 0 degree or more and 45 degrees. It is preferable to regulate the directions of the two holes so as to be within the following range.

  A second aspect of the present invention includes a filler bowl for storing a liquid to be filled, and a plurality of filling portions provided at a lower portion of the filler bowl, wherein the plurality of filling portions and the plurality of containers are used as revolving tracks. The vent tube used by being incorporated in a filling machine that fills the plurality of containers with liquid while revolving along the opening, the opening formed on the side surface of the vent tube, and the direction regulating surface formed on the side surface And the direction of the opening viewed from the center of the vent tube is revolved by contact between the guide surface of the holder provided in the filling portion and the direction regulating surface so as to hold the vent tube. The direction of the opening is regulated so as to coincide with a predetermined direction based on the trajectory.

  According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to more reliably reduce the variation in the filling amount caused by the inclination of the liquid level due to the revolution of the container.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The filling machine according to the present invention is suitable for filling a container such as a can, a bottle, or a plastic bottle with a liquid, for example, a beverage such as beer or a soft drink, or a medicine.

  FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a filling machine 50 as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The filling machine 50 of this embodiment is configured to fill the can container 1 with a liquid such as beer. The filling machine 50 includes a support body 30 and a filler bowl 20 disposed so as to face the support body 30.

  The support 30 revolves the container 1 continuously sent from the first conveyance system (not shown) along the revolution path, and then continuously sends it to the second conveyance system (not shown). A plurality of (for example, 120) filling portions 10 are provided along the circumference of the lower portion of the filler bowl 20. The plurality of filling portions 10 revolve along the same revolution trajectory as the revolution trajectory of the container 1. The support 30 and the plurality of filling portions 10 revolve synchronously so that the container 1 is positioned directly below each filling portion 10.

  In such a filling machine 50, the container 1 arranged on the support 30 along the circumference is filled with the liquid in parallel. That is, the container 1 continuously fed from the first transport system is filled with the liquid by the filling unit 10 that revolves on the support 30 while revolving on the support 30, and then is sent out to the second transport system. .

  The filler bowl 20 is a tank that temporarily stores the liquid to be filled in the container 1, and the liquid stored in the filler bowl 20 is injected into the container 1 through each filling portion 10 provided in the lower part thereof.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of each filling unit 10. The container 1 is held by a container holder 32 provided on the support 30 and revolves along the revolution path R. The filling unit 10 includes a sealed tube (tulip) 101 that is lowered when filling the liquid into the container 1 and tightly contacts the open end (opening part) of the container 1 to seal the upper part of the container 1. The sealing cylinder 101 has a sealing member 102 for ensuring the sealing of the container, and this sealing member 102 is pressed against the upper end surface of the container 1.

  A vent tube (gas vent pipe) 120 is disposed inside the sealed cylinder 101. The vent tube 120 is coupled to a filling valve assembly 103 (only a relay pipe at the lower end is shown), and is supported by a vent tube holder 104. An opening 121 is formed on the side surface of the vent tube 120.

  When the liquid is filled, the liquid supplied from the filler bowl 20 is injected into the container 1 through the sealed cylinder 101 as indicated by an arrow A. At this time, the gas in the container 1 is discharged toward the filling valve assembly 103 through the opening 121 of the vent tube 120 and the internal flow path 122. The filling of the liquid ends when the liquid level reaches the upper end of the opening 121 of the vent tube 120. That is, when the liquid level reaches the upper end of the opening 121 of the vent tube 120, the gas in the container 1 is not discharged through the vent tube 120, thereby completing the filling of the liquid. Therefore, the filling amount (filling) of the liquid into the container 1 is determined by the upper end of the opening 121.

  By the way, due to the revolution of the container 1 along the revolution track R, the liquid level of the liquid filled in the container 1 is inclined with the outside of the revolution track R being high and the inside of the revolution track R being low. Therefore, the angle between the direction of the opening 121 (hereinafter also referred to as the direction of the opening) viewed from the center of the vent tube 120 and the revolution trajectory R (more precisely, the tangential direction thereof) has a plurality of filling portions 10. If they do not coincide with each other, the liquid filling amounts in the plurality of filling portions 10 may vary.

  4 and 5 show two examples in which the direction of the opening 121 ′ of the vent tube 120 ′ is different from each other. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the opening 121 ′ faces in the outer direction E of the revolution track R. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the opening 121 ′ is directed in the inner direction D of the revolution track R. In the example shown in FIG. 4, it can be seen that the height of the liquid level LS1 at which filling ends is lower than the liquid level LS2 at which filling ends in the example shown in FIG.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the direction of the opening 121 viewed from the center of the vent tube 120 is a predetermined direction based on the revolution trajectory R (for example, a direction along the tangent line of the revolution trajectory R) in all the filling portions 10. The direction of the opening 121 is regulated by the holder 104 so as to substantially coincide with.

  Here, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the opening 121 preferably includes two holes 121 a and 121 b formed at positions facing each other on the side surface of the vent tube 120. By providing the holes 121a and 121b at the opposing positions in this way, when filling a sparkling beverage such as beer or the like, the opening is blocked by foam generated on the liquid surface, and the filling ends erroneously. Can be reduced. This is because bubbles that have entered from one of the holes are easily pushed out of the other hole by the oscillation of the liquid. In addition, it is considered that the extrusion of bubbles due to the oscillation of the liquid occurs most significantly in the configuration in which the two holes are arranged to face each other.

Direction of the hole portion 121a as viewed from the center of the vent tube 120, the direction of the orbit almost identical to the plus Direction direction along the tangential line of the R, the hole portion 121b viewed from the center of the vent tube 120, orbit it is preferable to substantially match the negative direction in the direction along the tangential line of the R. The plus direction and the minus direction are for convenience to express that both are opposite directions.

  Thus, by making the directions of the two holes 121a and 121b facing each other substantially coincide with the direction along the tangent of the revolution track R, the inclination of the liquid surface of the liquid L filled in the container 1 and the liquid in the inclination direction Regardless of the fluctuation of the surface, the liquid L can close the two holes 121a and 121b almost simultaneously. Thereby, the filling amount (filling) can be further stabilized.

  FIG. 9 shows the results of the relationship between the angle (°) formed by the direction of the two holes 121a and 121b having the same shape and the revolution trajectory R and the filling amount (g), as a result of tests. The angle (°) is an angle formed by the revolution direction DR and the hole 121a (or 121b), and a minus (−) indicates that the hole 121a (or 121b) is inside the revolution track R, and a plus (+) Indicates that the hole 121a (or 121b) is outside the revolution track R. Since the two hole portions 121a and 121b are arranged at opposing positions, the case where the angle is −90 degrees and the case where it is +90 degrees are equivalent. The unit of the numerical value of the test result in FIG. 9 is g (gram). For example, the test result of Sample 1 at an angle of −90 degrees is 369.6 g. From this result, it can be seen that when the angle is in the range of 0 ° or more and −45 ° or less, the standard deviation of the filling amount (filling) is 0.70 g or less, and a good result is obtained. That is, one of the two holes 121a and 121b is inside the revolution track R, and the angle formed by the direction of the one hole and the revolution direction DR is not less than 0 degrees and not more than 45 degrees. It can be seen that relatively good results are obtained when it is within the range. When the directions of the two holes 121a and 121b substantially coincide with the direction along the tangent line of the revolution track R, that is, when the angle is 0 degree, the standard deviation of the filling amount (filling) is 0.60 g. It can be seen that the best results are obtained.

  In the following, the direction of the opening 121 by the holder 104 so that the direction of the opening 121 of the vent tube 120 substantially coincides with a predetermined direction with respect to the revolution track R (for example, a direction along the tangent to the revolution track R). A configuration for regulating the above will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the vent tube 120 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the vent tube 120 and the vent tube holder 104. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the vent tube 120. As described with reference to FIG. 3, the opening 121 of the vent tube 120 preferably includes two holes 121 a and 121 b formed at positions facing each other.

  The vent tube 120 has direction regulating surfaces 124a and 124b. In the example shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the vent tube 120 includes two mutually parallel direction regulating surfaces 124 a and 124 b. The vent tube 120 preferably has a flange 125, and the direction regulating surfaces 124 a and 124 b are preferably disposed below the flange 125. The vent tube holder 104 includes holding portions 104c and 104d having guide surfaces 104a and 104b, respectively.

  When attaching the vent tube 120 to the filling unit 10, first, the upper end of the vent tube 120 is inserted into the relay pipe (the part to which “103” is attached in FIG. 2) of the filling valve assembly 103. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7, the vent tube 120 is inserted between the guide surfaces 104a and 104b while the direction restricting surfaces 124a and 124b of the vent tube 120 are along the guide surfaces 104a and 104b of the vent tube holder 104. . The direction of the opening 121 (holes 121a and 121b) is regulated by the contact between the direction regulating surfaces 124a and 124b and the guide surfaces 104a and 104b. Further, when the flange portion 125 is placed on the holding portions 104c and 104d of the vent tube holder 120, the vent tube 120 is supported from below.

  As described above, by forming the direction regulating surfaces 124a and 124b and / or the guide surfaces 104c and 104b so that the directions of the two holes 121a and 121b substantially coincide with the direction along the tangent to the revolution track R, Regardless of the inclination of the liquid level of the liquid L filled in the container 1 or the fluctuation of the liquid level in the inclination direction, the two holes 121a and 121b can be closed almost simultaneously by the liquid L. In addition, one of the two holes 121a and 121b is inside the revolution track R, and the angle formed by the direction of the one hole and the revolution direction DR is not less than 0 degrees and not more than 45 degrees. It can be seen that relatively good results can be obtained even when the direction regulating surfaces 124a and 124b and / or the guide surfaces 104c and 104b are formed to be within the range.

It is a side view which shows schematic structure of the filling machine as suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of each filling part. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the opening part (hole part) of a vent tube. It is a figure explaining the dispersion | variation in the filling amount by the direction of the opening part of a vent tube. It is a figure explaining the dispersion | variation in the filling amount by the direction of the opening part of a vent tube. It is a figure which shows the structure of the vent tube of suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the vent tube and vent tube holder of suitable embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the vent tube of suitable embodiment of this invention. It is the result of having calculated | required by the test the relationship between the angle (degree) and the filling amount (g) which the direction of two holes of the same shape and a revolution track | orbit make.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container 10 Filling part 20 Filler bowl 30 Support body 50 Filling machine 101 Sealing cylinder (tulip)
102 Seal member 103 Filling valve assembly 104 Vent tube holder 104a, 104b Guide surface 104c, 104d Holding part 120 Vent tube 121 Opening part 121a, 121b Hole part (opening part)
122 Flow path 124a, 124b Direction regulating surface 125 Hut D Inside direction of revolution track E Outside direction of revolution track R Revolution track L Liquid DR Revolution direction

Claims (5)

A plurality of containers including a filler bowl for storing a liquid to be filled and a plurality of filling portions provided at a lower portion of the filler bowl, and revolving the plurality of filling parts and the plurality of containers along a revolution path. A filling machine for filling the liquid with
Each of the filling parts is
A sealed cylinder that tightly seals the upper end of the container in close contact with the open end of the container when filled with liquid;
A vent tube disposed inside the sealed cylinder;
A holder for holding the vent tube,
The vent tube has an opening and a direction regulating surface formed on a side surface thereof,
The holder has a guide surface, and the contact between the direction regulating surface and the guide surface is such that the direction of the opening viewed from the center of the vent tube coincides with a predetermined direction based on the revolution track. to regulate the direction of the opening by,
A filling machine characterized by that.   2. The filling machine according to claim 1, wherein the opening includes two holes respectively formed at positions facing each other on the side surface of the vent tube.   The filling machine according to claim 2, wherein the holder restricts the direction of the two hole portions so that the direction of the two hole portions substantially coincides with a direction along a tangent line of the revolving track. .   In the holder, one of the two holes is inside the revolution track, and an angle formed by the direction of the one hole and the direction of the revolution is not less than 0 degrees and not more than 45 degrees. The filling machine according to claim 2, wherein the direction of the two holes is regulated so as to be within a range. A plurality of containers including a filler bowl for storing a liquid to be filled and a plurality of filling portions provided at a lower portion of the filler bowl, and revolving the plurality of filling parts and the plurality of containers along a revolution path. A vent tube used in a filling machine for filling liquid
An opening formed on a side surface of the vent tube;
A direction regulating surface formed on the side surface,
The direction of the opening viewed from the center of the vent tube is based on the revolving track by the contact between the guide surface of the holder provided in the filling portion and the direction regulating surface so as to hold the vent tube. The direction of the opening is regulated so as to coincide with a predetermined direction.
Vent tube characterized by that.

Images