JP4916838B2 - Control method for liquid filling - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a control method when a liquid product such as a shampoo or body soap is quantitatively filled into a container such as a pouch.

Conventionally, in the above apparatus for performing liquid quantitative filling, as shown in FIG. 7, after the liquid product in the storage tank 42 is sucked into the filling cylinder 43 (FIG. 7 (a)), the liquid product is put into a container such as a pouch. Some of the containers 44 are filled with a liquid product by discharging from a filling nozzle 45 that moves forward and backward with respect to 44 filling ports 44a (FIG. 7B). The first liquid passage 46 connected to the filling cylinder 43 communicates with the second and third liquid passages 47 and 48 connected to the storage tank 42 and the filling nozzle 45 through a three-way valve 49, respectively. By switching the communication state of the three-way valve 49, the liquid product can be discharged from the filling nozzle 45 after the liquid product is sucked into the filling cylinder 43 from the storage tank 42.
Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a type that employs a stroke type three-way valve 50 in which the valve body reciprocates in the housing as shown in FIG. 8 in contrast to a rotary type three-way valve 49 in which the valve body rotates in the housing. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). This is preferable in terms of speeding up switching of the communication state of each liquid flow path and suppressing variations in the discharge amount of the liquid product.

On the other hand, in performing the liquid constant filling, a circulation path is set upstream of a predetermined supply path, a liquid is circulated in advance in the circulation path at a predetermined flow rate, and then a valve for the supply path is set. There is also a control method in which a predetermined amount of liquid is stably supplied from the initial supply by opening (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Further, in controlling the filling amount of the liquid into the container with the cooperation of the flow meter and the valve, the relationship between the actual flow rate detected by the flow meter and the flow rate predicted to flow out of the valve when the valve is closed is obtained. Based on the relationship, the valve is controlled so that a predetermined amount of liquid can be supplied (see, for example, Patent Document 3), or the flow rate is calculated based on the pulse output from the electromagnetic flow meter according to the flow rate of the liquid. In some cases, a predetermined amount of liquid can be supplied by calculating while correcting the flow rate per pulse from the actual flow rate measured by test filling (see, for example, Patent Document 4).
JP-A-8-198205 Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-307069 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-2585 JP 11-105989 A

  By the way, in recent years, liquid products such as shampoos, hair rinses, body soaps, and kitchen detergents are basically produced in a variety of small quantities in consideration of user preference. Under such circumstances, there are various sizes of containers such as pouches for filling the liquid product, and when a piston-type liquid constant-quantity filling apparatus such as Patent Document 1 described above is used for these filling operations, as much as possible. In order to be able to cope with various kinds of containers, it is preferable to dispose a filling nozzle in a standby state with a predetermined amount apart from the container to be conveyed.

However, in a relatively simple and low-cost configuration in which, for example, the piston in the filling cylinder and the filling nozzle are interlocked using the same drive source, the filling nozzle is retracted before entering the filling port of the container or from the filling port. Later, the liquid product may be discharged by the stroke of the piston. In this case, especially when the discharge flow rate of the liquid product is increased in order to shorten the filling time, the liquid product discharged from the filling nozzle is likely to be scattered around the filling port of the container, which may require cleaning in a later process. In the case of a pouch, there is a problem that it causes a welding failure of the filling port.
Therefore, the present invention is a piston-type liquid constant-fill control method in which the piston in the filling cylinder and the filling nozzle are interlocked using the same drive source, and liquid filling work into various containers is enabled. The purpose of the above is to suppress the scattering of the liquid product around the filling port of the container.

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the invention described in claim 1 is that after the liquid product in the storage tank is sucked into the filling cylinder, the liquid product is discharged from the filling nozzle that advances and retreats with respect to the filling port of a predetermined container. In this way, the liquid constant quantity filling control method for quantitatively filling the liquid product in the container, wherein the first liquid flow path connected to the filling cylinder is connected to the storage tank and the filling nozzle, respectively. After the liquid product is sucked from the storage tank into the filling cylinder by communicating with the second and third liquid flow paths via a three-way valve, and the three-way valve is switched to a tank side communication state or a nozzle side communication state, In the control method of liquid constant filling that enables the liquid product to be discharged from the filling nozzle, when the three-way valve is in the tank side communication state, the piston in the filling cylinder is set to the liquid suction side. A liquid suction step for sucking a liquid product in an amount obtained by adding a predetermined surplus to the filling amount of the container from the storage tank into the filling cylinder; and after the liquid suction step, the three-way valve is disposed on the tank side. When the communication state remains, the piston strokes toward the liquid discharge side, and a part of the predetermined surplus of the liquid product in the charging cylinder is returned to the storage tank, and the charging nozzle is After the nozzle entering step to enter the depth, and after the nozzle entering step and after the three-way valve is switched to the nozzle side communication state, the piston further strokes to the liquid discharge side, and the liquid product in the filling cylinder is put into the container. quantitative filling quantifying filling, after after the quantitative filling step and the three-way valve is switched to the tank side communication state, scan the piston to the limit position of the liquid discharge side And Rourke, the remainder of said predetermined surplus of liquid product in the filling cylinder with returning to the storage tank, the filling nozzle is characterized in that it comprises a nozzle retracting step for retracting the outer case.

The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that the three-way valve is of a stroke type that reciprocates the valve body within the housing.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to employ a relatively simple and low-cost piston-type filling device in which the piston in the filling cylinder and the filling nozzle are interlocked using the same drive source, and the filling nozzle is a container. By controlling the operation of the three-way valve to start filling after entering a predetermined depth, the filling start position and timing from the filling nozzle can be controlled regardless of the volume, viscosity, fluidity and foaming property of the liquid product. It can be set arbitrarily. Thereby, scattering of the liquid product around the filling port of the container before the quantitative filling can be prevented, and the discharge efficiency of the liquid product can be increased to improve the working efficiency so as to shorten the filling time.

In addition, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to control the operation of the three-way valve so as to stop the filling before the filling nozzle moves out of the container, and to the vicinity of the filling port of the container after the quantitative filling. It is possible to reliably prevent the liquid product from splashing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the communication between the liquid flow paths can be switched at high speed with respect to the rotary three-way valve, and the quantitative filling accuracy can be improved.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 is for quantitatively filling a liquid product such as a shampoo or body soap into a container such as a pouch. The liquid product is discharged from the filling nozzle 4 that advances and retreats with respect to the filling port of the container, whereby the liquid product is quantitatively filled into the container. The first liquid passage 6 connected to the filling cylinder 3 communicates with the second and third liquid passages 7 and 8 connected to the storage tank 2 and the filling nozzle 4 via the three-way valve 5, By switching the communication state of the three-way valve 5, the liquid product can be discharged from the filling nozzle 4 after the liquid product is sucked into the filling cylinder 3 from the storage tank 2.

  The piston 15 and the filling nozzle 4 in the filling cylinder 3 are provided with a single electric motor 9 as a drive source. The rotational movement of the drive shaft of the electric motor 9 is converted into reciprocating movement of the piston 15 and the filling nozzle 4 via the power transmission mechanisms 11 and 12 and the connecting rods 13 and 14. The connecting position of the connecting rod 13 on the piston 15 side and the power transmission mechanism 11 can be changed, so that the stroke amount of the piston 15 can be changed to facilitate the handling of containers with different filling amounts. The connecting position between the connecting rod 14 on the filling nozzle 4 side and the power transmission mechanism 12 may be changed in the same manner.

  The filling cylinder 3 sucks the liquid product by moving the piston 15 downward in the figure, and discharges the liquid product by moving the piston 15 upward. Further, the filling nozzle 4 moves downward in the figure to approach the container at the filling work position, and moves upward in the figure to separate from the container. The filling nozzle 4 is, for example, a standby position above the filling operation position while the piston 15 is lowered (while liquid product is sucked into the filling cylinder 3) by the action of an intermittent mechanism built in the power transmission mechanism 12, for example. And while the piston 15 ascends (while the liquid product is discharged), it reciprocates up and down once. Although the reciprocating time of the filling nozzle 4 is not limited to ½ of the reciprocating time of the piston 15, they reciprocate in synchronization with each other.

The three-way valve 5 is a stroke type that reciprocates the plunger 22 within the valve cylinder 21.
A first port 23 for connecting the first liquid flow path 6 is provided at an axial intermediate portion of the valve cylinder 21, and the second liquid flow path 7 is provided on one axial side (the upper side in the drawing) of the valve cylinder 21. A second port 24 for connecting the third liquid flow path 8 is provided on the other axial side of the valve cylinder 21 (lower side in the figure).

  The plunger 22 has first and second valve bodies 22 a and 22 b at an axial intermediate portion and one end portion (lower end portion), respectively, and the other end portion (upper end portion) of the plunger 22 is connected to the valve cylinder 21. Connected to the solenoid 26 (driving means). The first valve body 22 a contacts or separates from the first valve seat 27 provided between the first and second ports 23 and 24 in the valve cylinder 21, so that the first and second ports 23 and 24 are in contact with each other. Block or communicate between them. Similarly, the second valve body 22b is brought into contact with or separated from the second valve seat 28 provided between the first and third ports 23 and 25 in the valve cylinder 21, so that the first and third ports 23 , 25 is blocked or communicated.

  When the first valve body 22a contacts the first valve seat 27 and shuts off between the first and second ports 23 and 24 (between the filling cylinder 3 and the storage tank 2), the second valve body 22b is The first and third ports 23 and 25 are separated from the two valve seats 28 (between the filling cylinder 3 and the filling nozzle 4). This state is a nozzle side communication state in the three-way valve 5. When the first valve body 22a is separated from the first valve seat 27 and communicates between the first and second ports 23 and 24, the second valve body 22b contacts the second valve seat 28 and Block between the first and third ports 23, 25. This state is a tank side communication state in the three-way valve 5. These valve elements 22a and 22b (plunger 22) stroke in the valve cylinder 21 by the operation of the solenoid 26, whereby the three-way valve 5 is switched to the nozzle side communication state or the tank side communication state.

  The filling nozzle 4 is formed by fitting a stopper rod 17 in a cylindrical nozzle body 16 so as to be able to reciprocate. One end (lower end) of the plug bar 17 can open and close the nozzle port 19 at the tip of the nozzle body 16, and the other end (upper end) of the plug bar 17 is a solenoid connected to the base end of the nozzle body 16. (Drive means) 18 is connected. When the plug rod 17 strokes the nozzle body 16 by the operation of the solenoid 18, the discharge of the liquid product sent into the nozzle body 16 from the nozzle port 19 is started or stopped.

  The operations of the electric motor 9 and the solenoids 18 and 26 are controlled by a control device 29 such as a host computer. The control device 29 calculates the stroke amounts of the piston 15 and the filling nozzle 4 in the filling cylinder 3 from the number of rotations of the electric motor 9, switches the communication state of the three-way valve 5 at a predetermined timing, and the nozzle port 19 of the filling nozzle 4. By opening and closing, the liquid product can be quantitatively filled into the pouch container 31 at the work position.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the pouch container 31 is carried in and out of the filling work position below the filling nozzle 4 by a conveying means such as a conveyor. The pouch container 31 has an upper opening 32 that opens upward, and the filling nozzle 4 can be moved forward and backward through the upper opening 32. A band-shaped range at the edge of the upper opening 32 is a welding range 33 for sealing the pouch container 31 after filling with the liquid product. Here, the pouch container 31 at the filling operation position and the filling nozzle 4 at the standby position above the pouch container 31 are separated from each other by a predetermined amount so that the pouch container 31 can be loaded and unloaded. Is possible.

  Here, in the liquid constant-quantity filling device 1, the amount of liquid product sucked into the filling cylinder 3 during the full stroke downward (to the liquid suction side) of the piston 15 is based on a predetermined filling amount into the pouch container 31. Is set to increase. Specifically, when the piston 15 makes a full stroke downward, an amount of liquid product obtained by adding a predetermined surplus to the filling amount of the pouch container 31 is sucked into the filling cylinder 3. The surplus at this time is about 20% of the filling amount of the pouch container 31 in the case of a liquid product having a relatively high viscosity, and about 30% of the filling amount in the case of a liquid product having a relatively low viscosity. The dimension F in the figure indicates the full stroke range of the piston 15.

  When the liquid product filled in the filling cylinder 3 is quantitatively filled into the pouch container 31, first, a part (for example, about half) of the surplus in the liquid product in the filling cylinder 3 is stored in the storage tank 2. While returning, the filling nozzle 4 is lowered to enter the pouch container 31 at the filling work position, and thereafter, the three-way valve 5 is switched to start the quantitative filling of the liquid product into the pouch container 31. In addition, after completion of the quantitative filling, the three-way valve 5 is switched while the filling nozzle 4 is allowed to enter the pouch container 31, and the discharge of the liquid product from the filling nozzle 4 is stopped, and then the filling nozzle 4 is raised. While retracting out of the pouch container 31, the excess liquid product remaining in the filling cylinder 3 is returned to the storage tank 2. In the figure, the dimension Y1 is the stroke range (first surplus stroke range) of the piston 15 corresponding to the discharge of the surplus before the quantitative filling, and the dimension J is the stroke range (quantitative stroke range) corresponding to the quantitative filling of the liquid product. The dimension Y2 indicates the stroke range (second surplus stroke range) of the piston 15 corresponding to the discharge of the surplus after the fixed amount filling.

Next, a procedure for quantitatively filling a liquid product into a predetermined pouch container 31 using the quantitative filling apparatus 1 will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 2, when the three-way valve 5 is in the tank side communication state, the piston 15 in the filling cylinder 3 descends to the lower limit position (stroke limit position to the liquid suction side) of the full stroke range F ( When the stroke toward the liquid suction side), the liquid product is sucked into the filling cylinder 3 by adding a predetermined surplus to the filling amount in the pouch container 31, and the liquid suction process into the filling cylinder 3 is completed. At this time, the filling nozzle 4 stands by at the standby position which is the upper limit position (stroke limit position opposite to the container), and the upper opening 32 is opened upward at the filling work position below the filling nozzle 4. An empty pouch container 31 is conveyed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3, when the three-way valve 5 remains in the tank side communication state, the piston 15 in the filling cylinder 3 rises (strokes toward the liquid discharge side) within the first surplus stroke range Y1. When starting, a part (for example, about half) of the surplus in the liquid product in the filling cylinder 3 is returned into the storage tank 2 via the first liquid channel 6, the three-way valve 5, and the second liquid channel 7. . At this time, the filling nozzle 4 descends (strokes toward the container side) in synchronization with the rise of the piston 15, and the nozzle port 19 of the filling nozzle 4 is below the welding range 33 in the pouch container 31 as shown in FIG. 4. When it is located (inside the container), the piston 15 strokes the first surplus stroke range Y1, and the nozzle entering step into the pouch container 31 is completed.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 5, when the three-way valve 5 is switched to the nozzle side communication state after the nozzle entering step and the nozzle port 19 of the filling nozzle 4 is opened and the piston 15 starts to rise within the filling stroke range J, The liquid product in the filling cylinder 3 is filled into the pouch container 31 through the first liquid flow path 6, the three-way valve 5, the third liquid flow path 8, and the filling nozzle 4. At this time, since the nozzle port 19 of the filling nozzle 4 is positioned below the welding range 33 of the pouch container 31, adhesion of the liquid product to the welding range 33 before quantitative filling is suppressed. Here, the filling amount of the pouch container 31 is determined according to the filling stroke range J of the piston 15. In other words, the filling stroke range J and the surplus stroke ranges Y1, Y2 of the piston 15 are appropriately determined according to the container to be transported.

  The filling nozzle 4 starts to rise (stroke to the side opposite to the container) after passing through the lower limit position (stroke limit position to the container side) during constant filling into the pouch container 31. Then, when the piston 15 has completely stroked the filling stroke range J (when the quantitative filling is completed), the quantitative filling process to the pouch container 31 is completed. At this time, the nozzle port 19 of the filling nozzle 4 is located below the welding range 33 of the pouch container 31, and at this time, the three-way valve 5 is switched to the tank side communication state and the nozzle port 19 of the filling nozzle 4 is closed. The discharge of the liquid product from the nozzle port 19 is stopped.

  In the state where the discharge of the liquid product is stopped, as shown in FIG. 6, the filling nozzle 4 is detached from the pouch container 31, whereby the adhesion of the liquid product to the welding range 33 after the quantitative filling is suppressed. In the state where the discharge of the liquid product is stopped, the piston 15 rises in the second surplus stroke range Y2, and the surplus liquid product remaining in the filling cylinder 3 is removed from the first liquid flow path 6 and the three-way valve. 5 and the second liquid flow path 7 to return to the storage tank 2 and the nozzle retracting process from the pouch container 31 is completed.

  At this time, the piston 15 strokes up to the upper side (liquid discharge side) of the second surplus stroke range Y2, that is, the upper limit position of the full stroke range F (stroke limit position to the liquid discharge side). On the other hand, the filling nozzle 4 returns to the standby position, and at this time, the pouch container 31 after fixed filling is transported from the filling work position, and another empty pouch container 31 is transported to the filling work position.

  As described above, in the liquid quantity filling control method in the above embodiment, after the liquid product in the storage tank 2 is sucked into the filling cylinder 3, the liquid product is advanced and retracted with respect to the upper opening 32 of the pouch container 31. By discharging from the filling nozzle 4, the liquid product is quantitatively filled into the pouch container 31, and the first liquid flow path 6 connected to the filling cylinder 3 includes the storage tank 2 and the filling nozzle 4. Are connected to the second and third liquid flow paths 7 and 8 respectively connected to each other via the three-way valve 5, and the three-way valve 5 is switched to the tank side communication state or the nozzle side communication state so that the storage tank 2 After the liquid product is sucked into the filling cylinder 3, the liquid product can be discharged from the filling nozzle 4, and when the three-way valve 5 is in the tank side communication state, A liquid suction step in which the stone 15 strokes toward the liquid suction side, and sucks in an amount of liquid product obtained by adding a predetermined surplus to the filling amount of the pouch container 31 from the storage tank 2 into the filling cylinder 3; When the three-way valve 5 remains in the tank side communication state after the suction process, the piston 15 strokes to the liquid discharge side, and the excess liquid product in the filling cylinder 3 is returned to the storage tank 2; A nozzle entering step in which the filling nozzle 4 enters a predetermined depth in the pouch container 31, and after the nozzle entering step and after the three-way valve 5 is switched to the nozzle side communication state, the piston 15 further strokes to the liquid discharge side. And a quantitative filling step for quantitatively filling the liquid product in the filling cylinder 3 into the pouch container 31.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to employ the relatively simple and low-cost piston-type liquid fixed-quantity filling device 1 in which the piston 15 in the filling cylinder 3 and the filling nozzle 4 are interlocked using the same drive source, and the filling nozzle 4 By controlling the operation of the three-way valve 5 so as to start filling after entering a predetermined depth in the pouch container 31, it is possible to remove the liquid product from the filling nozzle 4 regardless of the volume, viscosity, fluidity and foaming property of the liquid product. It is possible to arbitrarily set the filling start position and timing. As a result, it is possible to prevent the liquid product from being scattered around the upper opening 32 (filling port) of the pouch container 31 before the quantitative filling, and to improve the working efficiency by increasing the discharge flow rate of the liquid product in order to shorten the filling time. it can.

  Further, in the liquid constant filling control method, after the constant filling step and after the three-way valve 5 is switched to the tank side communication state, the piston 15 is stroked to a limit position on the liquid discharge side, and the filling cylinder 3 The excess liquid product remaining inside is returned to the storage tank 2, and the filling nozzle 4 is provided with a nozzle retracting step for retracting out of the pouch container 31, so that the filling nozzle 4 is filled before retracting out of the pouch container 31. It is possible to control the operation of the three-way valve 5 so as to stop the operation, and it is possible to reliably prevent the liquid product from being scattered around the upper opening 32 of the pouch container 31 after the fixed amount filling.

  Furthermore, in the above-described liquid metering filling control method, the three-way valve 5 is a stroke type that reciprocally moves the valve bodies 22a and 22b in the valve cylinder 21, so that each of the three-way valves of the rotary type is different. Communication between the liquid flow paths 6, 7, and 8 can be switched at high speed, and the quantitative filling accuracy can be improved.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, a container filled with a liquid product is not limited to a pouch container. For example, a plastic container, a laminated tube, and a glass container having a fixed shape to which a screw cap or the like can be attached and detached. Or various metal containers etc. may be sufficient. In addition, liquid products may include various products such as shampoos, rinses, treatments, liquid soaps, cosmetic liquids, cleaning agents, liquid detergents, softeners, liquid toothpastes and mouthwashes.

It is a block diagram of the liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus in the Example of this invention. It is 1st operation | movement explanatory drawing of the principal part of the said liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus. It is 2nd operation | movement explanatory drawing of the principal part of the said liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus. It is a 3rd effect | action explanatory drawing of the principal part of the said liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus. It is a 4th operation explanatory view of the principal part of the above-mentioned liquid fixed-quantity filling device. It is a 5th operation explanatory view of the principal part of the above-mentioned liquid fixed-quantity filling device. It is a figure which shows the liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus using the conventional rotary type | mold three-way valve, (a) shows the block diagram equivalent to FIG. 2, (b) shows the block diagram equivalent to FIG. It is a figure which shows the liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus using the conventional stroke type three-way valve, (a) shows the block diagram equivalent to FIG. 2, (b) shows the block diagram equivalent to FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid fixed quantity filling apparatus 2 Storage tank 3 Filling cylinder 4 Filling nozzle 5 Three-way valve 6 First liquid flow path 7 Second liquid flow path 8 Third liquid flow path 15 Piston 21 Valve cylinder (housing)
22a, 22b Valve body 31 Pouch container (container)
32 Upper opening (filling port)

Claims (2)

After the liquid product in the storage tank is sucked into the filling cylinder, the liquid product is discharged from a filling nozzle that advances and retreats with respect to a filling port of a predetermined container, thereby quantitatively filling the liquid product into the container. A method of controlling filling,
The first liquid flow path connected to the filling cylinder communicates with the second and third liquid flow paths connected to the storage tank and the filling nozzle, respectively, via a three-way valve, and the three-way valve is in a tank side communication state. Alternatively, by switching to the nozzle side communication state, after the liquid product is sucked from the storage tank into the filling cylinder, the liquid product can be discharged from the filling nozzle.
When the three-way valve is in the tank side communication state, the piston in the filling cylinder is stroked to the liquid suction side, and an amount obtained by adding a predetermined surplus to the filling amount into the filling cylinder from the storage tank to the filling cylinder A liquid inhalation process for inhaling a liquid product of
After the liquid suction step and when the three-way valve remains in the tank side communication state, the piston strokes to the liquid discharge side, and a part of the predetermined surplus of the liquid product in the filling cylinder is stored in the storage tank And a nozzle entry step in which the filling nozzle enters to a predetermined depth in the container,
After the nozzle entry step and after the three-way valve is switched to the nozzle side communication state, the piston is further stroked to the liquid discharge side, and a quantitative filling step for quantitatively filling the liquid product in the filling cylinder into the container ,
After the quantitative filling step and after the three-way valve is switched to the tank side communication state, the piston is stroked to a limit position on the liquid discharge side, and the remaining portion of the predetermined surplus of the liquid product in the filling cylinder is stored in the storage tank And a nozzle retraction step in which the filling nozzle retreats out of the container . 2. The method for controlling liquid filling according to claim 1 , wherein the three-way valve is of a stroke type that reciprocates a valve body within a housing.

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