JP5262606B2 - Cap mounting apparatus and cap mounting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for fitting a cap capable of inspecting fitting between a container and a cap highly precisely and efficiently when the cap is fitted to the container after a content is filled in a recycling process of the container, and to provide a method for fitting a cap. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus for fitting a cap includes a cap supplying part 10, a cap gripping part 4, and a cap lifting/lowering mechanism 5. The apparatus for fitting a cap includes a compressive force measuring device 3, can measure a fitting strength and a pulling-out strength, measures the fitting strength of the cap when the cap 17 is fitted, and measures the pulling-out strength of the cap when the cap is pulled out. The method for fitting a cap uses the apparatus for fitting a cap to pull the cap out while the pulling-out strength of the cap is measured, after the cap is fitted while the fitting strength of the cap is measured, and then, the cap is fitted on the container 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cap mounting apparatus and a cap mounting method for mounting a cap on a container mouth, and in particular, a toner discharge port formed at one end of a plastic container that contains toner and the toner discharge port are closed by fitting. The present invention relates to a cap mounting device for a toner container having a plastic cap and a cap mounting method.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multi-function machine having at least two functions, toner is consumed by use, so that the consumed amount must be sequentially supplied to the developing device. In general, a lot of toner is replenished to a developing device from a toner container such as a toner cartridge or a toner bottle, and these toner containers are replaced when the toner in the toner container becomes empty.

  In recent years, due to effective use of resources and protection of the natural environment, it has been demanded to recycle items that have been disposed of up to now, and toner containers are also subject to recycling. When the toner container is recycled, there are recycle of reuse in which the collected container is filled with toner again, and recycle of reuse in which the collected container is pulverized and recycled to use the material. In recycling for reuse, it is necessary to clean the collected toner container and to inspect whether it can withstand reuse.

By the way, the location where the tolerance is the most severe in the dimensions of the toner container is the inner diameter, and the standard range is quite small. This is because if the inner diameter of the toner container is larger than the standard range, the cap is likely to come off and there is a risk of toner leakage, and if it is smaller than the standard range, the attached cap can be attached and detached smoothly. This is because a problem that it cannot be performed occurs.
Since the toner container may have a discharge port damaged by use or deformed under various environments, an inner diameter inspection is naturally performed at the time of recycling for reuse.

Even if it is a recycled product, the standard range of the inner diameter of the toner container is similarly narrow and may be out of the range. In particular, when dimensional changes occur depending on the environment in which the containers collected for recycling for reuse are stored, a large amount of toner containers may fall outside the standard range of the inner diameter.
When the number of toner containers that can be recycled and reused is small, there is a problem that the profitability of reuse and recycling deteriorates.

  In response to this problem, by forming a plurality of convex portions in the circumferential direction of the cap body, it is possible to prevent toner leakage and inconvenience in removing the cap even if the inner diameter of the container varies. There has been provided a toner container that can expand the standard range and is optimal for recycling (see Patent Document 1).

  The technology described in Patent Document 1 has greatly reduced the probability of off-specification of the inner diameter of containers collected for recycling. However, if the use environment or storage environment at the time of recovery is still poor, it is out of specification. There is a possibility that will occur. For this reason, it is essential to inspect the toner container to be reused in the recycling process.

  By the way, since new toner containers and caps produced in factories are usually produced by lots by molding machines, if it is confirmed in advance that the dimensional difference within the lot is small, the entire lot will be checked by sample inspection by sampling. It is a general inspection method to determine pass / fail. On the other hand, since the recycled containers are generally containers of different lots, it is difficult to guarantee the quality of the product only by sample inspection. For this reason, 100% inspection is required instead of sample inspection.

  In order to perform 100% inspection, it is necessary to automate the inspection, but an apparatus for evaluating the fitting of the cap to the toner container has not been proposed. As an applicable technique, for example, a method is known in which a force gauge is attached to an ultrasonic motor type lifting device, and a member attached to the tip of the force gauge is pressed against an egg to measure the shell strength of the egg (Patent Document 2). reference). It is conceivable to apply this method to measure the indentation strength when the cap is pressed against the toner container.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-104926 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-62325

  Even if the inner diameter of the recycled toner container and the outer diameter of the cap are both within the dimensional standards, the combination of the upper and lower limits of the standard width may cause problems such as toner leakage and cap removal being severe. There is. Therefore, the final product quality can be ensured by measuring the pulling strength and pushing strength between the container and the cap to be finally combined and confirming whether these values are within the specified range. However, in a recycling process where it is virtually impossible to guarantee a lot, it is important to inspect all parts in order to evaluate the fit of the container and cap that are finally combined after filling the contents. There is a problem of getting worse.

  Furthermore, in the cap of the toner container described in Patent Document 1, for example, if the flange portion of the cap and the top surface of the toner container come into contact with each other, the measured value of the indentation strength rapidly increases, and accurate measurement is performed. Therefore, it is necessary to control the timing of measurement. In such measurement, since it is extremely difficult to perform visual measurement, it is essential to automate the fitting strength measurement.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems in the prior art, and is used in a container recycling process to increase the fit between the container and the cap when the cap is attached to the container after filling the contents. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cap mounting device that can be inspected accurately and efficiently, and a cap mounting method using the cap mounting device.

The present invention provided to solve the above problems is as follows.
[1] A cap supply unit that supplies a cap that closes the mouth of the container by fitting, a cap gripping unit that grips the supplied cap, and the cap gripping unit is moved up and down to attach the cap to the container A cap mounting device having a cap lifting mechanism,
A compressive force measuring device is provided between the cap lifting mechanism and the cap gripping part, the compressive force measuring device can measure the fitting strength and the pulling strength, and when the cap is attached to the container, A cap mounting apparatus for measuring a fitting strength of the cap and measuring a pulling strength of the cap when the cap mounted on the container is pulled out.
[2] The cap mounting device according to [1], wherein the cap lifting mechanism is driven by a stepping motor, and a stop position and an operation speed of the cap gripping portion can be arbitrarily set.
[3] A contact displacement sensor that measures the distance between the cap gripped by the cap gripper and the top surface of the container on which the cap is mounted is provided, and an output from the contact displacement sensor The cap mounting apparatus according to any one of [1] to [2], wherein the mechanism is controlled.
[4] A non-contact displacement sensor that measures a distance between the cap gripped by the cap gripping portion and a top surface of the container on which the cap is mounted, and an output from the non-contact displacement sensor is the cap The cap mounting apparatus according to any one of [1] to [2], wherein the lifting mechanism is controlled.
[5] A container lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers the container, and a stopper member that stops the container from rising by contacting the periphery of the mouth of the container,
The cap lifting mechanism is mounted with the cap on the basis of the height of the top of the container at a position where the container is stopped by a stopper member, and the compression force measuring device measures the fitting strength of the cap. The cap mounting device according to any one of [1] to [2].
[6] The maximum value of the compression force measured after the cap comes into contact with the cap and the collar of the cap and the top surface of the container comes into contact with each other. The cap mounting device according to any one of [1] to [5], wherein the cap mounting device is measured as follows.
[7] An alarm unit is provided, and the alarm unit issues an alarm when any of the fitting strength and the pull-out strength measured by the compressive force measuring device is out of a preset default range. The cap mounting apparatus according to any one of [1] to [6], wherein:
[8] A reset switch is provided as an operation switch. When an alarm is issued from the alarm unit, the operation of the apparatus is temporarily stopped by receiving an input from the reset switch, and then the cap lifting mechanism is raised. The cap mounting device according to [7], wherein the cap is pulled out from the container.
[9] A method for attaching a cap to a container mouth, wherein the cap is mounted while measuring the fitting strength of the cap using the cap attaching device according to any one of [1] to [8]. A cap mounting method comprising: pulling out the cap from the container while measuring the pull-out strength of the cap, and then mounting the cap in the container after mounting the container.

  According to the present invention, in the container recycling process, after the contents are filled, when the cap is mounted on the container, the cap mounting apparatus and the cap mounting capable of inspecting the fit between the container and the cap with high accuracy and efficiency A method can be provided.

As an effect of the present invention, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a cap supply unit that supplies a cap that closes the mouth portion of the container by fitting, a cap gripping unit that grips the supplied cap, and the cap gripping unit A cap mounting device including a cap lifting mechanism for lifting and lowering the cap and mounting the cap on the container,
A compressive force measuring device is provided between the cap lifting mechanism and the cap gripping part, the compressive force measuring device can measure the fitting strength and the pulling strength, and when the cap is attached to the container, Since the cap fitting device measures the fitting strength of the cap and measures the pull-out strength of the cap when the cap attached to the container is pulled out, when attaching the cap to the container, The fitting strength and the pulling strength can be efficiently measured, and the total number can be guaranteed.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the cap mounting apparatus according to the first aspect, the cap lifting mechanism is driven by a stepping motor, and the stop position and the operation speed can be arbitrarily set. It is possible to guarantee the total number of cap fitting strengths for a container with a non-constant lot, such as a sealed container.
According to the invention of claim 3, in the cap mounting device according to any one of claims 1 to 2, the distance between the cap gripped by the cap gripping portion and the top surface of the container to which the cap is mounted. Since the output from the contact displacement sensor controls the cap lifting mechanism, the container position can be accurately measured by the contact displacement sensor, and the top surface of the container and the cap collar are Since raising and lowering of the cap can be stopped before the contact, accurate fitting strength can be measured.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cap mounting device according to any one of the first to second aspects, a distance between the cap gripped by the cap gripping portion and a top surface of the container on which the cap is mounted. A non-contact type displacement sensor for measuring the cap, and the output from the non-contact type displacement sensor controls the cap lifting mechanism. Therefore, even in a soft container, the container position can be accurately measured, and the container top surface and the cap collar part Since the raising and lowering of the cap can be stopped just before the contact, the fitting strength can be accurately measured.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the cap mounting apparatus according to any one of the first to second aspects, the container ascends and descends by contacting the container elevating mechanism for elevating the container and the periphery of the mouth of the container A stopper member for stopping the cap, the cap lifting mechanism is mounted with the cap on the basis of the height of the top surface of the container at the position where the container is stopped by the stopper member, and the compression force measuring device is fitted to the cap. Since the strength is measured, the height of the container mouth can be positioned at a constant level without using a container height detecting means such as a sensor.
According to the invention of claim 6, in the cap mounting device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, after the cap and the container are in contact, the collar portion of the cap and the top surface of the container are Since the maximum value of the compressive force measured until contact is measured as the fitting strength of the cap, more accurate measurement is possible.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the cap mounting device according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, an alarm unit is provided, and the alarm unit has a fitting strength and a pull-out strength measured by the compressive force measuring device. Since any one of them is out of the preset default range, an alarm is issued, so that the operator can be informed that an out-of-standard product has been detected. It becomes possible to prevent the outflow to.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the cap mounting device according to the seventh aspect, by having a reset switch as an operation switch and receiving an input from the reset switch when an alarm is issued from the alarm unit. The operation of the apparatus is temporarily stopped, the cap lifting mechanism is then raised, and the cap is pulled out from the container. Therefore, the container and the cap can be exchanged smoothly, and the processing capability can be improved. After the outer container is removed from the apparatus, it can be prevented from flowing into a subsequent process due to human error, and quality assurance can be more reliably performed.
According to invention of Claim 9, it is a method of mounting | wearing with a cap at a container opening part, Comprising: While measuring the fitting intensity | strength of the said cap using the cap mounting apparatus in any one of Claim 1-8. After the cap is attached to the container, the cap is withdrawn from the container while measuring the pull-out strength of the cap, and then the cap is attached to the container. On the other hand, it is possible to measure the fitting strength and the pulling strength, and it is possible to guarantee the cap fitting strength and the pulling strength for a container whose lot is not fixed, such as a recycled and collected container.

Hereinafter, a cap mounting apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, and a cap mounting method according to the present invention will also be described.
FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of an embodiment of a cap mounting apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing a configuration of the cap mounting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a cap mounting apparatus according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cap mounting device of the present invention is a compressive force measuring device (hereinafter also referred to as “force gauge”) 3 installed on a support base 2 erected on a base 1 so as to be movable up and down. The cap 17 supplied from a cap supply mechanism (hereinafter also referred to as “cap supply unit”) 10 is mounted on the container 16 set on the base 1. The fitting strength at the time of mounting is measured by the peak detection signal of the force gauge 3, and the cap 17 is inserted into the container 16 and mounted. Further, a cap gripping portion 4 for gripping the supplied cap and a cap lifting mechanism 5 for lifting the cap gripping portion (hereinafter also referred to as “chuck”) 4 and mounting the cap 17 on the container 16 are provided. ing.

The support base 2 includes a cap lifting mechanism 5 and a cap lifting base 6 installed on the cap lifting mechanism 5 in order to lift and lower the force gauge 3.
The cap lifting mechanism 5 is composed of a stepping motor and a ball screw. A force gauge 3 and a contact displacement sensor 11 are installed on the elevating base 6. The force gauge 3 is provided with a cap grip 4 for gripping the cap 17 and mounting the cap 17 on the container 16.

  Further, the cap lifting mechanism 5 includes a driver unit 12 that controls the driving of the stepping motor and a control unit 15 that outputs a driving signal to the driver unit 12 to drive the stepping motor. The control part 15 can control the cap raising / lowering mechanism 5 according to the arbitrarily set stop position and raising / lowering speed.

The force gauge 3 can measure fitting strength (compression force) and pull-out strength (tensile force). In the cap mounting method using the cap mounting apparatus of the present invention, after measuring the fitting strength when the cap 17 is inserted into the container 16, the force gauge 3 is raised by the cap lifting mechanism 5, and the cap 17 is pulled from the container 16. The pulling strength at the time of pulling is measured by the peak detection signal of the force gauge 3, and after the pulling strength is measured, the force gauge 3 is lowered again by the cap lifting mechanism 5, and the cap 17 is inserted and attached to the container 16.
The cap mounting apparatus of the present invention can measure both the fitting strength when the cap 17 is inserted into the container 16 and the pulling strength when the cap 17 is pulled out from the container 16.
The fitting strength of the cap is preferably measured as the maximum value of the compressive force measured until the top surface of the container 16 comes into contact with the collar portion of the cap 17.

  In the measurement of the fitting strength when the cap 17 is inserted into the container 16, if the collar portion of the cap 17 comes into contact with the top surface of the container 16, the accurate fitting strength cannot be measured. It is necessary to stop the lifting operation just before the flange portion of the cap 17 comes into contact.

  For example, the contact-type displacement sensor 11 provided on the cap lift base 6 turns off the drive signal based on the signal when the container 16 is in contact with the periphery of the mouth of the container 16 and stops the lift mechanism 5, thereby Can be stopped at an arbitrary position (usually in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm) before the cap and the flange portion of the cap 17 come into contact with each other. With this control, it is possible to accurately measure the fitting strength even with respect to the container 16 collected by recycling, in which the variation in the height direction is caused by the thermal influence. When a non-contact type displacement sensor (not shown) is used instead of the contact type displacement sensor 11, a similar effect can be obtained, and the cap is fitted to a container that is recycled and collected and whose lot is not constant. All the mating strength can be guaranteed. It should be noted that the displacement sensor in the cap mounting apparatus of the present invention is not limited as long as it is intended to measure the relative distance between the container and the cap. For example, a laser type distance measuring sensor or the like can be used.

  Further, the container lifting mechanism 8 provided at the lower part of the container holding jig 9 raises the container 16, and the periphery of the mouth of the container 16 is pressed against the stopper member 7 provided on the support base 2. By positioning the part height at a constant height, it is possible to accurately measure the fitting strength and the pull-out strength even in a container 16 collected by recycling, in which variations in the height direction have occurred due to thermal effects. . The container elevating mechanism 8 is composed of an air cylinder or the like.

  In the cap mounting device of the present invention, when measuring the fitting strength when the cap 17 is inserted into the container 16 and the pulling strength when the cap 17 is pulled out from the container 16, the peak value signal from the force gauge 3 is: It is configured to issue an alarm from the alarm unit 14 based on an alarm signal from the control unit 15 when it falls outside the standard range of at least one of the fitting strength and the pull-out strength preset in the control unit 15. ing.

  In addition, the cap mounting device of the present invention issues an alarm from the alarm unit 14 based on an alarm signal from the control unit 15, and after the suspension mechanism 5 is temporarily stopped, an alarm is input by an input from the reset switch of the operation switch 13. Is reset, and the cap lifting mechanism 5 is raised again to pull out the cap 17 from the container 16 to complete the operation.

  Although the present invention has been described with the embodiments shown in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, and other embodiments, additions, modifications, deletions, etc. Can be changed within the range that can be conceived, and any embodiment is included in the scope of the present invention as long as the effects and advantages of the present invention are exhibited.

It is a side view which shows the structure in one Embodiment of the cap mounting apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a front view which shows the structure in one Embodiment of the cap mounting apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is an example of the block diagram of the cap mounting apparatus which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 base 2 support base 3 force gauge (compressive force measuring device)
4 Chuck (cap gripping part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 Cap raising / lowering mechanism 6 Cap raising / lowering base 7 Stopper member 8 Container raising / lowering mechanism 9 Container holding jig 10 Cap supply mechanism (cap supply part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Contact-type displacement sensor 12 Driver part 13 Operation switch 14 Alarm part 15 Control part 16 Container 17 Cap

Claims (9)

A cap supply unit that supplies a cap that closes the mouth of the container by fitting, a cap gripping unit that grips the supplied cap, and a cap lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers the cap gripping unit to mount the cap on the container A cap mounting device comprising:
A compressive force measuring device is provided between the cap lifting mechanism and the cap gripping part, the compressive force measuring device can measure the fitting strength and the pulling strength, and when the cap is attached to the container, A cap mounting apparatus for measuring a fitting strength of the cap and measuring a pulling strength of the cap when the cap mounted on the container is pulled out.   The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cap lifting mechanism is driven by a stepping motor and can arbitrarily set a stop position and an operation speed of the cap gripping portion.   A contact displacement sensor that measures the distance between the cap gripped by the cap gripper and the top surface of the container on which the cap is mounted is provided, and an output from the contact displacement sensor controls the cap lifting mechanism. The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cap mounting apparatus is configured as described above.   A non-contact displacement sensor for measuring a distance between the cap gripped by the cap gripping portion and a top surface of the container on which the cap is mounted, and an output from the non-contact displacement sensor The cap mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the cap mounting device is controlled. A container lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers the container, and a stopper member that stops the rising of the container by contacting the periphery of the mouth of the container,
The cap lifting mechanism is mounted with the cap on the basis of the height of the top of the container at a position where the container is stopped by a stopper member, and the compression force measuring device measures the fitting strength of the cap. The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 1.   After the cap and the container come into contact, the maximum value of the compressive force measured until the cap flange and the top surface of the container come into contact is measured as the fitting strength of the cap. The cap mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cap mounting apparatus is characterized in that:   Comprising an alarm unit, wherein the alarm unit issues an alarm when any of the fitting strength and the pull-out strength measured by the compressive force measuring device is outside a preset default range. The cap mounting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   A reset switch is provided as an operation switch. When an alarm is issued from the alarm unit, the operation of the apparatus is temporarily stopped by receiving an input from the reset switch, and then the cap lifting mechanism is lifted, and the cap The cap mounting device according to claim 7, wherein the cap is withdrawn from the container.   A method of attaching a cap to a container mouth, wherein the cap is attached to the container while measuring the fitting strength of the cap using the cap attaching device according to any one of claims 1 to 8. A cap mounting method comprising: pulling out the cap from the container while measuring a pulling strength of the cap, and then mounting the cap to the container.

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