JP5838140B2 - Drum can plug mounting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a drum can plug mounting apparatus, and more particularly to a drum can plug mounting apparatus that automatically and temporarily plugs a plug into a drum can base.

  The steel drum can has a flange-like shape provided at the liquid inlet and the air outlet provided on the top plate after the top plate and the ground plate are attached to the upper and lower ends of the cylindrical body formed in the manufacturing process. Each plug is temporarily attached to the base. An internal thread is engraved on the inner peripheral surface of the base, and an external thread is engraved on the outer peripheral surface of the plug. The plug is screwed to the base in a liquid-tight manner through a packing (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

JP 2008-183600 A

  The drum can plug is screwed into the base so that the top plate is slightly inclined with respect to the horizontal plane and the base is slightly inclined with respect to the plug, or the center of the base is slightly with respect to the center of the plug. If the position is misaligned (center misalignment), the plug cannot be tightened accurately on the base, resulting in poor sealing. For this reason, in automating the process of temporarily mounting the plug on the top plate cap in the drum can manufacturing process, there still remains a problem of improving the plug mounting defect rate. The same applies to the work process in which the plug is tightened after the liquid or the like is poured into the drum can by an automatic machine. In particular, when the drum can is reused, the top plate is often inclined, and it is difficult to reliably install the plug.

  The present invention has been made based on the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a drum can plug mounting device that automatically and securely temporarily mounts a plug on a drum can base with a simple configuration. There is to do.

In order to achieve the above object, the drum can plug mounting apparatus of the present invention is a drum can plug mounting apparatus in which a plug is temporarily fastened to a base disposed on a top plate of the drum can, and is disposed above the base. Cylindrical housing, drive shaft in which the lower shaft portion is vertically accommodated in the housing, drive means for driving the drive shaft to rotate on the upper shaft portion side, plug for holding the plug on the lower shaft portion side of the drive shaft A holding unit, a drive unit having a centering means for matching the center of the plug with the center of the base, and a first pressing force based on the weight of the drive unit, which supports the drive unit so as to be displaceable in the swinging direction and move up and down. The first elevating unit for bringing the lower opening end surface of the housing into contact with the top plate in accordance with the inclination of the top plate, and the drive shaft is supported so as to be rotatable and elevate freely on the upper shaft side. Second push acting The force, and a second lift unit for abutment by following the plug which is held by the plug holding means to fit the mouth-gold to the base, the second lifting unit includes a second pressing force, the drive shaft The plug is adjusted to a size that is smaller than the weight of the plug and can be displaced by contact with the base .

Specifically, the lower opening end surface is brought into contact with the top plate by the first lifting unit, and then the plug is brought into contact with the base by the second lifting unit, and the center of the plug is set to the center of the base by the aligning means. Further, the control unit further includes control means for fitting the plugs, and then rotating the driving shaft by the driving means to temporarily tighten the plug on the base.
The second elevating unit includes an air circuit and an air cylinder that lowers the drive shaft by air supplied from the air circuit and adjusts the second pressing force.

The aligning means is rotatably mounted on the lower end of the drive shaft via the flexible member together with the flexible member and the drive shaft, and by using the second pressing force, The plug abutted on the base is displaced in the front-rear and left-right directions around the drive shaft while being pressed following the fitting of the base, so that the center of the plug matches the center of the base.
The plug holding means communicates in an airtight manner along the axis of the drive shaft in the drive shaft, the flexible member, and the alignment mechanism, and an adsorption air passage that adsorbs and holds the plug at the lower end of the alignment mechanism, and the drive shaft Negative pressure generating means that is airtightly communicated with the suction air passage through a rotary joint.

  Preferably, provisional fastening detection means is further provided for detecting the elevation distance of the drive shaft and detecting completion of provisional fastening of the plug with respect to the base based on the detected elevation distance.

  According to the drum can plug mounting apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to provide a drum can plug mounting apparatus that automatically mounts the plug on the drum can base by temporarily fastening it with a simple configuration.

It is a front view which shows an example of the drum can production line provided with the plug mounting apparatus of the drum can which concerns on this invention. It is a top view of the plug mounting apparatus of FIG. It is a partial cross section figure of the plug mounting apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the alignment mechanism of FIG. 3. It is sectional drawing which follows the arrow AA of the plug mounting apparatus of FIG. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the state which made the housing contact | abut to the top plate by the main body raising / lowering unit of FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state where a plug is brought into contact with a base by the drive shaft lifting unit of FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main part showing a state where the center of the plug is aligned with the center of the base by the alignment mechanism of FIG. 1 and the drive shaft is rotationally driven by the motor of FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a front view of a drum can plug mounting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The plug mounting device 2 is disposed on a frame 10 provided by bridging a transport mechanism 8 that transports the drum can 1 to a plug mounting position in the production line 6 of the drum can 1. The drum 1 is transported from the front to the back perpendicularly to the paper surface by the transport mechanism 8, and the plug mounting device 2 is disposed directly above the transport mechanism 8.

  As will be described later, the plug mounting device 2 is manually tightened by one or two threads of the male screw portion 4a of the plug 4 to the female screw portion 12a of the flange-shaped base 12 provided on the top plate 1a of the drum 1. The drum can 1 is automatically screwed with a close low torque (see FIG. 3), and the plug 4 is temporarily tightened to the base 12 in this way, and then the drum can 1 is transported to a plug main fastening device (not shown) at a predetermined high torque. This is tightened.

  Further, the plug mounting device 2 is provided on the top plate 1a in the same manner as the device 2A for temporarily fastening the large plug 4 which is one of the plugs 4 to the large cap base 12A provided on the top plate 1a of the drum 1. It comprises a device 2B for temporarily fastening a small plug 4 which is one of the plugs 4 to a small cap base 12B. A positioning device 14 for the drum can 1 is disposed on the frame 10 between the devices 2A and 2B.

The positioning device 14 aligns the drum can 1 transported by the transport mechanism 8 with a clamp mechanism so that the caps 12A and 12B are positioned directly below the devices 2A and 2B, respectively.
FIG. 2 shows a top view of the plug mounting device 2. Plug supply devices 16A and 16B are disposed on the frame 10 side of the devices 2A and 2B, respectively. The large plug 4 and the small plug 4 are respectively conveyed to the plug supply devices 16A and 16B from a parts feeder (not shown) via a plug conveyance conveyor, and the large plug 4 is conveyed to the device 2A from the plug supply device 16A. The small plug 4 is conveyed from the supply device 16B to the device 2B.

Here, each of the devices 2A and 2B is schematically configured by a drive unit 18, a main body lifting unit (first lifting unit) 20, and a drive shaft lifting unit (second lifting unit) 22 that are similar to each other.
Specifically, as shown in a partial cross-sectional view of the plug mounting device 2 in FIG. 3, the drive unit 18 includes a cylindrical housing 24 disposed above the base 12, and a lower shaft portion 26 a in the housing 24. A drive shaft 26 stored vertically, a motor (drive means) 28 for rotating the drive shaft 26 on the upper shaft portion 26b side, and a plug holding mechanism (plug) for holding the plug 4 on the lower shaft portion 26a side of the drive shaft 26 (Holding means) 30 and a centering mechanism (alignment means) 32 for aligning the center of the plug 4 with the center of the base 12.

  The main body lifting unit 20 is, for example, an electric elevator, and supports the drive unit 18 so as to be movable up and down in the swing direction, and below the housing 24 by a first pressing force F1 based on the weight W1 of the drive unit 18. The opening end surface 24a is brought into contact with the top plate 1a around the base 12 following the inclination of the top plate 1a. A cushioning material 33 made of urethane or rubber is attached to the lower opening end surface 24a, and the shock due to the first pressing force F1 applied to the top plate 1a is absorbed by the cushioning material 33, and the top plate 1a is also affected. Scratching is prevented.

  The drive shaft lifting / lowering unit 22 supports the drive shaft 26 so as to be rotatable and liftable on the upper shaft portion 26b side, and the plug held by the plug holding mechanism 30 by the second pressing force F2 acting by the drive shaft 26. 4 is brought into contact with the base 12 following the fitting of the base 12. Specifically, the drive shaft elevating unit 22 includes an air cylinder 34, an air pipe 40 connected to the first port 36 and the second port 38 of the air cylinder 34, a pressure reducing valve 42 with a relief function inserted in the air pipe 40, A pressure reducing valve 44 with a backflow function, and an air circuit 48 schematically constituted by a three-way electromagnetic valve 46. The drive shaft elevating unit 22 includes an elevating arm 50 that is raised and lowered by the operation of the air cylinder 34, and the elevating arm 50 is connected to the drive shaft 26 without obstructing the rotation of the drive shaft 26.

The air cylinder 34 raises the drive shaft 26 by holding the weight W2 of the drive shaft 26 with the pressure of air supplied from the air circuit 48 to the first port 36 via the pressure reducing valve 42 with a relief function. Hold its raised state.
On the other hand, when the three-way solenoid valve 46 is operated, air is also supplied from the air circuit 48 to the second port 38 via the pressure reducing valve 44 with a backflow function. As a result, air pressure is simultaneously applied to the first port 36 and the second port 38 via the pressure reducing valves 42 and 44, respectively. At this time, the drive shaft 26 is lowered at a predetermined speed in accordance with the air pressure preset in each of the pressure reducing valves 42 and 44, and the second pressing force F2 is adjusted. 4 is brought into contact with the base 12. The maximum lifting distance of the drive shaft 26 is about 15 mm.

  Here, the pressure set in advance by each of the pressure reducing valves 42 and 44 is set to a value such that the drive shaft 26 performs a smooth and quick lowering operation and the second pressing force F2 is minimized. Since it is necessary to temporarily tighten the plug 4 of each drum can 1 to the base 12 in a limited cycle time of the drum can 1 that is sequentially transported by the transport mechanism 8, the drive shaft 26 is lowered in as short a time as possible. It is desirable that

Further, the second pressing force F2 is extremely small as compared with the weight W2 of the drive shaft 26 in order to prevent the plug 4 from biting into the base 12 as much as possible. A value close to 0 is desirable.
Further, a distance sensor (temporary tightening detection means) 53 that detects the lifting distance of the drive shaft 26 is disposed below the air cylinder 34.

  The plug holding mechanism 30 includes a suction air passage 54, a negative pressure generation source (negative pressure generation means) 56, and a suction pad 57. The suction air passage 54 is in airtight communication with the drive shaft 26, a hose (flexible member) 58 described later, and the alignment mechanism 32 in the axial direction of the drive shaft 26 via an O-ring or the like.

  The negative pressure generation source 56 is in airtight communication with the suction air passage 54 opened at the upper end of the drive shaft 26 through an air pipe 62 through the hollow rotary joint 60 without hindering the rotation of the drive shaft 26. . Then, the negative pressure is generated in the negative pressure generation source 56, whereby the plug 4 is sucked and held by the suction pad 57 arranged at the lower end of the alignment mechanism 32.

  As shown in the enlarged view of the alignment mechanism 32 in FIG. 4, the alignment mechanism 32 has three rotating bodies 32A, 32B, and 32C stacked in order from the top. Roller guides 64A and 64B are respectively arranged between the rotators 32A and 32B and between the rotators 32B and 32C. The roller guides 64A and 64B are XY directions of the XY coordinate axes when the axis of the drive shaft 26 is the Z direction, That is, the rotary bodies 32A to 32C can be displaced in the front-rear and left-right directions around the drive shaft 26, and the rotary bodies 32A to 32C are secured to be displaced (about 3 mm) between the inner surface of the housing 24.

  The alignment mechanism 32 configured as described above is rotatably attached to the lower end of the drive shaft 26 together with the hose 58 and the drive shaft 26 via a hollow hose 58 made of a flexible member such as rubber. When the plug 4 is pressed against the base 12 by the second pressing force F2 acting by the drive shaft 26, each of the rotating bodies 32A to 32C is displaced in the XY direction within the range of the displacement. As a result, the plug 4 is brought into contact with the base 12 following the fitting of the base 12 so that the plug 4 is automatically aligned with the base 12, and the center of the plug 4 is aligned with the center of the base 12.

  As shown in the cross-sectional view of the drive unit 18 in FIG. 5, the drive unit 18 includes a cylindrical component 68 that can rotate the drive shaft 26 and support the entire drive unit 18. The flange portion 70 protrudes at intervals of 90 ° in the radial direction. On the other hand, the main body lifting unit 20 includes a lifting arm 72 that is lifted and lowered by its operation. An annular end 74 is formed at the tip of the lifting arm 72, and an upper portion of the annular end 74 is provided at intervals of 90 ° in the radial direction. A notch groove 76 is formed.

  The flange 70 is only placed in the notch groove 76 of the annular end 74, and the outer peripheral surface 68 a other than the flange 70 of the component 68 and the inner peripheral surface 74 a of the annular end 74 are 5 in the radial direction. Since a clearance of about -10 mm is secured, the lifting arm 72 is connected to the drive unit 18 without hindering its inclination, and the drive unit 18 is lifted and lowered by the body lifting unit 20 from this. Displacement in the swing direction is possible.

The plug mounting device 2 configured as described above includes the electric drive units (not shown) such as the main body lifting unit 20, the pressure reducing valves 42 and 44, the three-way electromagnetic valve 46, the motor 28, the distance sensor 53, the negative pressure generating source 56, and the like. Is electrically connected to a control unit (control means) 78 shown in FIG.
Hereinafter, a series of operations of the plug mounting device 2 instructed by the control unit 78 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  First, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the top plate 1a is inclined at a slight inclination angle α with respect to the horizontal plane. Such an inclination of the top plate 1a with respect to the horizontal plane may be caused by individual differences of the drum cans 1 or may be caused by the mounting state of the drum cans 1 in the transport mechanism 8. In this case, the main body elevating unit 20 lowers the drive unit 18, so that the lower opening end surface 24 a comes into contact with the top plate 1 a around the base 12, and the weight W1 of the drive unit 18 is Loaded on the plate 1a.

  At this time, the lower opening end surface 24 a is brought into contact with the top plate 1 a around the base 12 following the inclination of the top plate 1 a, and at least one flange portion 70 is inclined so as to float from the notch groove 76 at an inclination angle α. As a result, the entire drive unit 18 is swung (inclined) from the vertical plane at an inclination angle α, and the drive shaft 26 is also inclined from the vertical plane at an inclination angle α. The drive shaft 26 is not in the vertical direction, but the top plate 1a. The posture extends in the vertical direction when viewed from above.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the drive shaft elevating unit 22 lowers the drive shaft 26, so that the plug 4 sucked by the plug holding mechanism 30 is brought into contact with the base 12 from the vertical direction of the base 12 and driven. A second pressing force F <b> 2 acting by the shaft 26 is loaded on the base 12. Here, it is assumed that the axis line of the drive shaft 26, that is, the center line L1 passing perpendicularly through the radial center of the plug 4 and the center line L2 passing perpendicularly through the radial center of the base 12 are shifted with a gap G. .

  The weight W2 is very small compared to the weight W1 of the drive unit 18, and a small second pressing force F2 acts on the contact surface 12b of the base 12 with which the plug 4 contacts, whereby the plug 4 with respect to the contact surface 12b. The centering mechanism 32 allows the plug 4 to be smoothly displaced in the XY directions indicated by arrows in FIG. As a result of the plug 4 being displaced by the small second pressing force F <b> 2 and the alignment mechanism 32, the male screw portion 4 a of the plug 4 is matched without being engaged with the female screw portion 12 a of the base 12. The contact is made following the fitting, and the misalignment (center misalignment) of the center of the base 12 with respect to the center of the plug 4 is eliminated.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the motor 28 is started in the state of FIG. 7 and the drive shaft 26 is driven to rotate, thereby causing the female thread portion 12 a of the base 12 to be threaded 1-2 of the male thread portion 4 a of the plug 4. As a result, the plug 4 is screwed with a low torque close to that of hand tightening, and the plug 4 is temporarily attached to the base 12.
Completion of the temporary tightening of the plug 4 is detected based on the elevation distance of the drive shaft 26 detected by the distance sensor 53. For example, the lowering distance of the drive shaft 26 from the air cylinder 34 when FIG. 6 is compared with FIG. Is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance Ds, the internal thread portion 12a of the base 12 is screwed with about 1 to 2 threads of the external thread portion 4a of the plug 4, and it is detected that the temporary mounting of the plug 4 has been completed. . In addition, when the descending distance of the drive shaft 26 is less than the predetermined distance Ds, it is determined that the temporary fastening mounting of the plug 4 is not completed.

In this way, the control unit 78 makes the lower opening end surface 24a abut on the top plate 1a by the main body elevating unit 20 and then makes the plug 4 abut on the base 12 by the drive shaft elevating unit 22 and plugs by the alignment mechanism 32. 4 is made to coincide with the center of the base 12, and then the drive shaft 26 is rotationally driven by the motor 28, and the plug 4 is temporarily fastened to the base 12 to be sequentially attached.
As described above, according to the plug mounting device 2 of the present invention, the plug 4 is temporarily mounted even when the top plate 1a of the drum can 1 is tilted and the base 12 is tilted or is displaced. In the manufacturing process of the drum can 1 and the work process in which the plug 4 is temporarily tightened and attached after injecting liquid or the like into the drum can 1, the plug temporary tightening can be surely automated. Improvement is achieved.

  In particular, the drive unit 18 having a relatively large weight W1 and the drive shaft 26 having a relatively small weight W2 are lifted and lowered separately by the main body lifting unit 20 and the drive shaft lifting unit 22, so that the plug can be plugged during alignment. 4 is smoothly displaced by the small second pressing force F2 and the alignment mechanism 32, and the male screw portion 4a of the plug 4 is securely brought into contact with the base 12 following the fitting without being engaged with the female screw portion 12a of the base 12. Can be made. Therefore, the position shift (center misalignment) of the center of the base 12 with respect to the center of the plug 4 can be prevented with a simple configuration.

  Further, as the first stage, the axis of the drive shaft 26 is made to coincide with the vertical direction of the base 12 by the main body lifting unit 20, and as the second stage, the plug 4 is centered with respect to the base 12 by the driving shaft lifting unit 22 and the alignment mechanism 32. It can be done smoothly. Thus, by performing the alignment of the plug 4 in a stepwise manner, the plug temporary fastening accuracy of the plug mounting device 2 can be greatly increased.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible.
For example, the plug mounting device 2 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various structures and configurations can be applied as long as the plug mounting device 2 has a function that characterizes the present invention.
Specifically, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the plug mounting device 2 is installed in the manufacturing process of the drum can 1 and the plug 4 is temporarily tightened is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In the work process of injecting, the plug 4 may be tightened and attached after the injection.

  Furthermore, although the case where the plug 4 is attached to the base 12 has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to an operation process for removing the plug 4 from the base 12. Further, the present invention is not limited to the case where the plug 4 is attached to or removed from the base 12 of the drum 1, and it is needless to say that the invention can be applied to an apparatus for attaching or removing a stopper to another container.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drum can 1a Top plate 2 Plug mounting apparatus 4 Plug 12 Base 18 Drive unit 20 Main body raising / lowering unit (1st raising / lowering unit)
22 Drive shaft lifting unit (second lifting unit)
24 Housing 24a Lower opening end face 26 Drive shaft 26a Lower shaft portion 26b Upper shaft portion 28 Motor (drive means)
30 Plug holding mechanism (plug holding means)
32 Alignment mechanism (alignment means)
34 Air cylinder 48 Air circuit 53 Distance sensor (temporary tightening detection means)
54 Adsorption air passage 56 Negative pressure generation source (negative pressure generation means)
58 Hose (flexible member)
60 Rotary joint 78 Control unit (control means)

Claims (6)

A drum can plug mounting device for temporarily tightening and mounting a plug on a base disposed on a top plate of a drum can,
Upwardly arranged cylindrical housing of the ferrule, the drive shaft The lower shaft portion is housed vertically within the housing, drive means for rotating said drive shaft at the upper shaft portion side, the drives the plug A plug holding means for holding on the lower shaft portion side of the shaft, a drive unit having an alignment means for matching the center of the plug with the center of the base;
The drive unit is supported so as to be displaceable in the swinging direction and can be moved up and down, and the lower opening end surface of the housing follows the top plate according to the inclination of the top plate by a first pressing force based on the weight of the drive unit. A first lifting unit to be brought into contact with,
The drive shaft is rotatably supported on the upper shaft portion side and can be moved up and down, and the plug held by the plug holding means is attached to the base by the second pressing force acting on the drive shaft. A second elevating unit that makes contact according to the fit ,
The second elevating unit adjusts the second pressing force to a size smaller than a weight of the drive shaft and displaceable by the contact with the base. Plug mounting device.   The lower opening end face is brought into contact with the top plate by the first lifting unit, and then the plug is brought into contact with the base by the second lifting unit, and the center of the plug is centered by the alignment means. 2. The drum can according to claim 1, further comprising control means for fitting the plug to the base by fitting the plug to the base by rotating the drive shaft by the driving means and then rotating the drive shaft by the driving means. Plug mounting device.   The second lift unit includes an air circuit, and an air cylinder that lowers the drive shaft by air supplied from the air circuit and adjusts the second pressing force. The drum can plug mounting apparatus described.   The centering means is rotatably attached to the lower end of the drive shaft via the flexible member together with the flexible member and the drive shaft, and uses the second pressing force to make the second The plug abutted on the base by the lifting / lowering unit is displaced in the front / rear and left / right directions around the drive shaft while pressing following the fitting of the base, so that the center of the plug matches the center of the base. 4. The drum can plug mounting apparatus according to claim 3. The plug holding means is
An suction air passage that is airtightly communicated along the axis of the drive shaft in the drive shaft, the flexible member, and the alignment mechanism, and that sucks and holds the plug at the lower end of the alignment mechanism;
Plug mounting apparatus drum of claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a negative pressure generating means communicating with the gas-tight with the suction air passage through the B over Tari joints to the upper end of the drive shaft.   6. The drum can according to claim 5, further comprising: a temporary tightening detection unit configured to detect a lift distance of the drive shaft and detect completion of the temporary tightening of the plug with respect to the base based on the detected lift distance. Plug mounting device.

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