JP5852605B2 - Airtight leak inspection device for sealed packaging bags - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an airtight leak inspection apparatus for a package in which products such as foods, medicines, and precision industrial parts are individually sealed and packaged.

Conventionally, products such as food, chemicals, and precision industrial parts are generally sealed, packaged, stored, and distributed with flexible film materials that are not breathable and have excellent water resistance in order to maintain hygiene and quality. ing. In order to maintain quality, the sealed packaging bag is generally filled with an inert gas as an antioxidant and a helium gas as a gas for detecting an airtight leak.

  Sealed packaging bags that enclose such products must be free from airtight leaks due to cracks, pinholes, etc. before shipping at the time of production, and are subjected to all airtight leak inspection devices. Conventionally, various airtight leak inspection apparatuses are known. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a gap in a sealed packaging bag while a sealed packaging bag wrapped with a product to be inspected is conveyed by a belt conveyor. There has been proposed a method in which the gas is pressed from the outside of the hermetic packaging bag and extruded to detect leakage of the internal gas.

JP 2004-257947 A JP 2005-2557577 A

  The conventional airtight leak inspection apparatus has problems such as the certainty of leak detection, the processing speed of the detection process, and deformation or breakage of the in-subject product at the time of inspection.

  Specifically, the mechanism and operation of the compression process must be complicated, and the product in the sealed packaging bag may be deformed or damaged.

Further, if the conveyor transport speed is increased too much in order to increase the processing speed of the detection process, the amount of leakage detection gas sucked will be insufficient, resulting in a decrease in inspection accuracy and the subject's jumping or misalignment. In some cases, the properties were impaired.

  The object of the present invention is to prevent the deformation and misalignment of products in the compression process at the time of airtight leak inspection, and to make it possible to reliably detect airtight leak even if the inspection processing speed is increased, thereby An object of the present invention is to provide a hermetic leak inspection apparatus for a sealed packaging bag having a simple structure that does not damage products in a subject.

  The airtight leakage inspection apparatus of the present invention that achieves the above object has a basic structure in which the belt surfaces of the belt conveyor are arranged opposite to each other, and the opposed belt conveyors are arranged in the gap (slits) in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag. Part) and two belt conveyors connected in series, and a gas collecting head connected to the gas detector is arranged in the gap between the two belts. In this structure, the gas collection head arranged in the gap of one belt conveyor is in a position facing the belt of the other belt conveyor.

  On the premise of the above structure, the airtight leak inspection apparatus of the present invention is not subject to air permeability and is an inspection object instead of a belt having no elasticity such as a general belt conveyor as a belt of a belt conveyor. A part surrounding a sealed packaging bag (also referred to as a subject) or a part thereof uses a belt having elasticity and flexibility, and is configured to convey the subject while being compressed (first aspect).

  The hermetic leak inspection apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that a guide member that presses the belt is provided on the back side of the surface of the belt conveyor that contacts the subject (second aspect). This guide member has a shape that presses the void portion of the sealed packaging bag excluding the product.

  Furthermore, in the hermetic leak inspection apparatus of the present invention, the gas collection head disposed between the two belt conveyors arranged in series includes a plurality of gas suction ports, and each of the gas suction ports carries a sealed packaging bag. It is characterized by having an opening that is long in the direction and narrow in the width direction of the belt (third aspect).

  In the hermetic leak inspection apparatus according to the present invention, the gas collection head disposed between two belt conveyors arranged in series is composed of a plurality of blocks that can be connected and assembled, and each block has a gas inlet. (Fourth embodiment).

  The basic structure of the present invention common to the first to fourth aspects preferably has the following structure (fifth aspect). The belt conveyors arranged opposite to each other are composed of an upper belt conveyor and a lower belt conveyor, and the upper belt conveyor and the lower belt conveyor are connected in series with a gap (slit portion) in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag. Two belt conveyors are provided, a gas collecting head connected to the gas detector is arranged in the gap, and the belt of the lower belt conveyor is opposed to the gas collecting head arranged in the gap of the upper belt conveyor. The belt of the upper belt conveyor faces the gas collecting head disposed in the gap of the lower belt conveyor.

  According to the hermetic leak inspection apparatus (first aspect) of the present invention, the non-breathable belt presses the subject sealing bag widely and uniformly from both sides due to its elasticity and flexibility, thereby controlling the pressure of the sealed gas. This can enhance the leakage of the sealed gas containing the leak detection helium gas. As a result, air pressure leak detection can be performed more reliably by applying appropriate pressure to the sealed gas containing the test gas while avoiding damage such as deformation and breakage by avoiding excessive pressure on the contents in the subject. Can do. In addition, the belt interval can be varied to accommodate various subject sizes.

  Further, according to the hermetic leak inspection apparatus (fifth aspect) of the present invention, the gas collection head arranged in the gap of one belt conveyor is at a position facing the belt of the other belt conveyor, so the slit portion is Even when the subject passes, contact with the belt surface is always maintained, and contact between the subject and the belt between the slits is lost at the same time in both the one belt and the other belt, resulting in insufficient conveyance friction force. Therefore, the subject can pass through the slit portion reliably, and the pressure on the subject by the contact side belt is maintained even in the slit portion, so the pressure on the sealed gas in the subject is not lost and leaks. Since the emitted gas does not permeate the belt surface, the gas leak detection by the gas detector can be performed easily and reliably on both the upper and lower surfaces.

Furthermore, according to the hermetic leak inspection apparatus (second aspect) of the present invention, the subject is provided on the back side of the belt by pressing the belt with a gap other than the product in the subject interposed therebetween. By avoiding the product portion in the hermetic packaging bag with the belt surrounding the belt, it is possible to effectively press the void portion occupied by the enclosed gas inside, and the product can be prevented from being deformed or damaged.

The belt guide member can have a cross-sectional shape that matches the size and shape of the subject, the interval between the upper and lower guide members can be variable, and the belt pressing force can be applied to the mounting portion via a spring or the like. It can also be variable.

The hermetically sealed bag inspection apparatus according to the present invention (third aspect) has a distance through which the subject passes through the suction port by making the gas suction port of the test gas collection head into a plurality of suction ports elongated in the transport direction. Thus, the leakage detection gas suction time, that is, the detection time can be extended without changing the total opening area of the suction port. Thereby, the certainty of the leak detection reaction with respect to a conveyor conveyance speed can be improved. Moreover, the conveyance speed of the conveyor which can detect gas leakage can be increased accordingly.

According to the sealed packaging bag hermetic leak inspection apparatus (fourth aspect) according to the present invention, since the gas collection head is divided into connectable and assembleable blocks for each gas suction port, the number, size and arrangement of the suction ports can be adjusted. By changing, it is possible to easily cope with the shape and size of the subject.

The side view of 1st Embodiment of the airtight leak test | inspection apparatus of the inline type sealed packaging bag of this invention is shown. The figure which shows the arrangement | sequence of the belt conveyor of the airtight leak test | inspection apparatus of FIG. It is AA sectional drawing of the airtight leak test | inspection apparatus of FIG. 1, and the case where the guide member 30 is not shown is shown. It is AA sectional drawing of the airtight leak test | inspection apparatus of FIG. 1, and the case where the guide member 30 exists is shown. Diagram showing an example of a subject It is a perspective view which shows the gas collection head of 3rd Embodiment by this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the gas collection head of 4th Embodiment by this invention. (A) is the top view and side view of a gas inlet of 1st Embodiment, (b) is the top view and side view of the gas inlet of 4th Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an airtight leak inspection apparatus (hereinafter also simply referred to as an inspection apparatus) of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a side view of a second embodiment of an airtight leakage inspection device for an inline-type hermetic packaging bag according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken along the line AA of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows a case where the guide member 30 is not provided, and FIG. 4 shows a case where the guide member 30 is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the airtight leak inspection apparatus of the present embodiment includes two sets of upper and lower belt conveyors 1 to 4 and a gas collection head 21 that are arranged to face each other as a basic configuration. The width of the belt (the size in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2) is wide enough to cover the subject 100, and the subject 100 is sandwiched between the upper and lower belts in the figure from the left side to the right side. It is conveyed toward. The direction from the left side to the right side is referred to as the conveyance direction.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the subject 100 is a package in which predetermined products are individually sealed and packaged, and helium gas as an inert gas or gas for detecting airtight leakage is sealed inside.

  The lower belt conveyors 1 and 4 have the same level of belt surface for transporting the subject 100, and a gap (slit) 20b for disposing a gas collection head (lower gas collection head 21b) 21 is provided between them. It has been. The upper belt conveyors 2 and 3 convey the object 100 together with the lower belt conveyors 1 and 4, the belt surface in contact with the object 100 is at the same level, and a gas collecting head ( A gap (slit) 20a for disposing the upper gas collection head 21a) 21 is provided.

  The upper belt conveyor 2 is disposed across the lower belt conveyors 1 and 4 and faces the lower gas collection head 21 (FIG. 1). A part of the upper belt conveyor 2 and the belt conveyor 3 are disposed relative to the lower belt conveyor 4, and the upper gas collection head 21 faces the belt conveyor 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the belt 10 of each of the belt conveyors 1 to 4 includes a guide pulley 13, a drive pulley 14, and a tension pulley 15 arranged at a plurality of locations. The driving pulleys 14 of the respective belt conveyors 1 to 4 are connected to a driving source (not shown), and all of them interlock and convey the subject 100 in the vertical direction. The material constituting the belt 10 is not breathable, and the portion of the belt that sandwiches the subject or a part thereof has flexibility and elasticity, surrounds the upper and lower surfaces of the subject 100, and holds the subject 100 with a constant pressure. Press.

  Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the entire portion of the belt 10 positioned between the left and right guide pulleys 13 or a part thereof (filled portion in the figure) is made of a material rich in flexibility and elasticity. It is preferable. As a result, the upper and lower surfaces of the subject 100 are pressed widely and uniformly to bring the sealed packaging bag (subject) 100 into a full state, thereby promoting gas leakage.

  In the present embodiment, a guide member 30 for pressing with a gap other than the product in the subject 100 interposed therebetween is provided on the opposite side of the upper and lower conveyor belts 10 from the surface in contact with the subject 100. Yes. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the guide members 30 are arranged on both sides in the width direction of the belts 10 of the upper and lower belt conveyors, and the width direction and the upper and lower intervals are variable. It can be adjusted together. By providing such a guide member 30, it is possible to more effectively press the void portion occupied by the sealed gas around the product. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which puts elastic bodies, such as a spring, in the attaching part of the upper and lower guide members 30, and presses the belt 10 softly.

  Although FIG. 4 shows the case where the upper and lower guide members 30 have the same shape, the shapes of the upper and lower or left and right guide members 30 may be different depending on the product shape in the subject. Further, the guide member 30 can be omitted as shown in FIG.

  The upper gas collection head 21a and the lower gas collection head 21b (sometimes collectively referred to as the gas collection head 21) include a gas inlet port connected to an inspection gas detector 22 (not shown) via a pipe 25. For example, as shown in FIG. 8A, the gas suction port is formed of a tube having an elongated opening in the width direction of the belt 10, and when the subject 100 has a pinhole, the subject 100 in the full state is expanded. Is sucked in by the belt 10 and leaks from the pinhole and is sent to the gas detector. The gas detector detects the inspection helium gas contained in the gas collected from the upper and lower gas collection heads 21.

  Next, the operation of the airtight leak test of the subject 100 using the test apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

  This hermetic leak inspection apparatus can be used as an in-line type apparatus. In that case, as a next process of a process (filling process) in which helium gas for inspection is put inside the subject 100 and sealed, a conveyance line for the filling process is used. It is connected downstream (not shown).

  The subject 100 sealed by the filling process is placed upstream of the belt 10 of the belt conveyor 1 as shown in FIG. 1, enters the entrance 11 between the upper and lower belt conveyors 1 and 2, and is sandwiched by the belt 10 from above and below to be elastic. It is conveyed to the outlet 12 between the belt conveyors 3 and 4 while being pressed by the belt tension. All the belts 10 are interlocked at the same speed in the same conveyance direction.

  A gas leak test is automatically performed when the subject 100 passes through the front and rear gap slits 20a and 20b of each conveyor belt 10.

  When the subject 100 passes through the slit 20a, the sealed gas in the subject 100 increases in pressure due to the compression of the upper and lower belts 10, and is in a full state. If there is a pinhole or tear on the upper surface of the subject 100, the sealed gas containing helium leaks into the upper slit 20a, and helium is sucked into the upper gas collection head 21a and connected to the helium by a gas detector (not shown). The gas is detected, and an airtight leak on the upper surface of the subject 100 is detected. The leaked sealed gas is blocked by the non-breathable belt 10 in contact with the lower surface of the subject 100 and does not flow downward, but is reliably sucked into the upper gas collection head 21a.

  At this time, when the guide member 30 is provided, the guide member 30 avoids direct pressing on the product in the subject 100 and presses a void portion around the product in the sealed packaging bag 100, thereby It exerts the effect of properly pressurizing the sealed gas so as not to damage it.

  Similarly, when the subject 100 passes through the lower slit 20b, an airtight leak on the lower surface of the subject 100 is detected. The subject in which the airtight leak has been detected passes through the outlet 12 downstream of the upper and lower conveyor belts 10, and is removed from the transport line by a sorter (not shown) in a direction different from the previous transport direction.

  According to the present embodiment, since the belt itself also serves as a pressing unit that applies an appropriate pressure to the subject, a special device for pressing the subject and a driving mechanism therefor are not required, and the entire device is simple. And an efficient and economical device.

Further, according to the present embodiment, by providing a guide member 30 having an appropriate shape on the back side of the belt according to the product shape of the subject, a gap other than the product can be pressed without damaging the product. Can improve the efficiency of inspection. Further, by making the interval between the upper and lower guide members 30 variable, the pressing force of the belt can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the interval according to the shape or size of the subject 100.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the belt conveyor is arranged up and down. However, the belt conveyor is arranged not only up and down, but also on the left and right, so as to face each other. For example, the upper and lower sides are not limited.

Second Embodiment
The basic structure of the airtight leak inspection apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that of the inspection apparatus shown in FIGS. The present embodiment is characterized by the gas suction port of the gas collection head 21. Details of the gas inlet of the gas collection head 21 of the present embodiment are shown in FIGS. 6 and 8B. In FIG. 6, an arrow A indicates the conveyance direction. Since the upper and lower gas collection heads 21 have the same configuration, FIG. 6 shows the lower gas collection head as a representative.

  As shown in the drawing, the gas collection head 21 is provided with a plurality of gas inlets 23 ′ along the longitudinal direction (direction orthogonal to the transport direction). The gas suction port 23 ′ is formed of a thin plate-like member having a long opening along the direction in which the subject is transported and having a gap inside, and the opening (gas suction port) of the plate-like member is formed in the gas collection head 21. It arrange | positions so that it may be located in an end surface. The end opposite to the opening is connected to the pipe 25, and the gas collected at the gas inlet 23 ′ is sent to the gas detector 22 through the pipe 25.

The time required for the subject 100 to pass through the gas suction ports 23 ′ of the gas collection heads 21 a and 21 b is proportional to the length a ′ in the transport direction of the gas suction ports 23 and inversely proportional to the transport speed. When compared with the gas inlet 23 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 8A, the gas inlet 23 ′ of the present embodiment shown in FIG. It is longer than the length a in the conveying direction of the gas inlet 23 of the configuration. Therefore, if the conveyance speed of the first embodiment is the same as that of the present embodiment, the present embodiment takes a longer time to pass through the gas inlet 23 ', and the amount of gas that can be detected increases accordingly. On the other hand, the length b ′ in the width direction of the belt is shorter than the length b of the gas inlet 23 shown in FIG. 8A. In the present embodiment, a plurality (large number) of gas inlets 23 ′ are provided. Thus, the total opening area of the suction port is the same as that of the gas suction port 23 of FIG.

  When the subject 100 has a pinhole and there is a gas leak, the gas including the gas leaked while the pinhole passes through the gas suction ports 23 ′ of the gas collection heads 21 a and 21 b passes through the gas pipe 25. And sucked into the detection device 22. Even if the position of the pinhole is not directly below or directly above the gas suction port 23, there is a vertical gap between the suction port 23 ′ and the subject 100, and the suction ports 23 ′ are closely arranged in the width direction of the conveyor belt. Since the gas around the suction port 23 'is sucked in a wide range, the leaked inspection helium gas can be sucked.

  The suction flow rate per unit time of the test gas of the gas detection device is constant at the rated flow rate, and if the time for the pinhole to pass through the gas inlets 23 ′ of the gas collection heads 21a and 21b is long, the helium in the test gas is increased. Increasing the amount of gas that leaked. In the present embodiment, as a result of providing a plurality of gas suction ports 23 ′ in the transport direction and extending in the width direction of the conveyor, the gas suction flow rate per unit time of the gas detection device is maintained without changing the total opening area of the suction ports. The inspection gas inlet passage time when the subject 100 leaks out can be extended without changing, that is, the amount of leakage detection gas inhaled for each subject 100 can be increased, and the reliability of gas leak detection can be improved. .

  As a result, the line speed of the inspection device can be increased within the range of the amount of leakage detection gas required by the gas detection device.

  In addition, by changing the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the test gas suction port 23 ′ and the number of suction ports, it is possible to achieve both an appropriate test speed and test reliability corresponding to various dimensions and shapes of the subject 100. .

  That is, according to the present embodiment, only the gas inlet 23 of the test gas collection head is changed for different subjects, and the other parts are not changed, and the optimum speed and sensitivity are suitable for various subjects. It is possible to provide an airtight leak inspection apparatus that can be inspected.

<Modified example of the third embodiment>
The basic structure of this embodiment is the same as that of the inspection apparatus shown in FIGS. In the present embodiment, a plurality of gas suction ports are arranged in one gas collection head 21, and a configuration in which the gas collection head 21 is divided into a plurality of gas suction ports 23 is adopted.

  Although the mechanism for connecting the plurality of divided gas collection heads 24 is not particularly limited, the gas suction port 23 of the gas collection head 24 is a funnel-shaped groove as described in the example of FIG. A hole for communicating each gas suction port in the width direction is formed, the communication holes are made to coincide and an arbitrary number of gas collecting heads are overlapped, one of the communication holes is connected to the gas pipe 25, and the other is a sealing member The gas suction ports 23 are connected to the gas pipes 25 through communication holes. Each gas collection head 24 is connected and fixed by a fixing member 25b passing through a through hole different from the communication hole. Or you may fix the circumference | surroundings of a gas collection head with another connection tool.

  According to the present embodiment, the necessary number of gas collecting heads 24 can be connected and assembled, and the number and size of the gas inlets 23 can be easily changed in order to obtain an appropriate inspection gas flow rate per unit time. Can do.

  There is provided an inspection apparatus capable of efficiently performing an airtight leak inspection with a simple configuration without damaging a product in a sealed packaging bag as a subject.

1 to 4 ... belt conveyor, 10 ... conveyor belt, 11 ... inlet, 12 ... outlet, 13 ... guide pulley, 14 ... drive pulley, 15 ... tension pulley, 20a ... Slit (upper), 20b ... Slit (lower), 21 ... Gas collection head, 21a ... Upper gas collection head, 21b ... Lower gas collection head, 22 ... Gas Detector, 23, 23 '... Gas inlet, 24 ... Divided gas collection head, 30 ... Guide member, 100 ... Subject.

Claims (6)

A hermetic packaging bag hermetic leak device for inspecting hermetic leaking of the hermetic packaging bag while transporting the hermetic packaging bag in which gas is sealed together with goods between belt conveyors arranged opposite to each other,
The oppositely arranged belt conveyor includes two belt conveyors arranged with a gap in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag, and the gap between the oppositely arranged belt conveyors is connected to the gas detection device, respectively. The connected gas collection heads are located and are offset from each other in the transport direction;
In the belt conveyor, all the belts do not have air permeability, and all or a part of the belt surrounding the subject has elasticity and flexibility, and conveys the sealed packaging bag while pressing it. An airtight leak inspection device for a sealed packaging bag, characterized by: A hermetic packaging bag hermetic leak device for inspecting hermetic leaking of the hermetic packaging bag while transporting the hermetic packaging bag in which gas is sealed together with goods between belt conveyors arranged opposite to each other,
The opposed belt conveyor is provided with two belt conveyors arranged with a gap in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag, and a gas collecting head connected to a gas detector is arranged in the gap. And
An airtight leakage inspection device for sealed packaging bags, comprising a guide member for pressing the belt on the back side of the surface of the belt conveyor, which is in contact with the sealed packaging bag. A hermetic packaging bag hermetic leak device for inspecting hermetic leaking of the hermetic packaging bag while transporting the hermetic packaging bag in which gas is sealed together with goods between belt conveyors arranged opposite to each other,
The opposed belt conveyor is provided with two belt conveyors arranged with a gap in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag, and a gas collecting head connected to a gas detector is arranged in the gap. And
The gas collection head includes a plurality of gas suction ports, and each of the gas suction ports has an opening that is long in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag and narrow in the width direction of the belt. Airtight leak inspection device. A hermetic packaging bag hermetic leak device for inspecting hermetic leaking of the hermetic packaging bag while transporting the hermetic packaging bag in which gas is sealed together with goods between belt conveyors arranged opposite to each other,
The opposed belt conveyor is provided with two belt conveyors arranged with a gap in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag, and a gas collecting head connected to a gas detector is arranged in the gap. And
The gas collecting head comprises a plurality of blocks that can be connected and assembled, and each block is provided with a gas suction port. A sealed packaging bag hermetic leak inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The opposed belt conveyor is composed of an upper belt conveyor and a lower belt conveyor,
Each of the upper belt conveyor and the lower belt conveyor is provided with two belt conveyors connected in series with a gap in the conveying direction of the sealed packaging bag, and a gas connected to a gas detection device is provided in the gap. A collection head is placed,
The belt of the lower belt conveyor is opposed to the gas collection head arranged in the gap of the upper belt conveyor, and the belt of the upper belt conveyor is arranged in the gas collection head arranged in the gap of the lower belt conveyor. Is a hermetic leakage inspection device for hermetically sealed packaging bags. It is a sealed packaging bag hermetic leak inspection device according to claim 2,
The said sealing member has a shape which presses the space | gap except the goods of the said sealed packaging bag, The sealed packaging bag airtight leak test | inspection apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

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