JP7274349B2 - airtightness tester - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting airtightness of a work.

As disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the work is sealed in an openable and closable work capsule, a test pressure is supplied into the work capsule, and the pressure fluctuation is monitored to seal the work. Devices for testing sex are known.

JP-A-2003-149076 Japanese Patent No. 5271096

In the devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is room for improvement because the operation of unloading the inspected workpiece from the workpiece capsule is complicated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in an airtightness inspection device,
A workpiece holder having a chamber for accommodating a workpiece to be inspected is provided, and the chamber extends linearly and horizontally to pass through the workpiece holder, and both ends of the chamber are open on both side surfaces of the workpiece holder. ,
Further, by sealing the openings at both ends of the chamber respectively, the first and second sealing bodies for sealing the chamber and the first and second sealing bodies are brought closer to the work holder, first and second driving means for moving apart; test pressure supply means for supplying a test pressure to the sealed chamber; and pressure detection means for monitoring changes in pressure.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to apply a force from one opening to the work accommodated in the chamber after the airtightness inspection, and to eject the work from the other opening, so that the unloading operation can be performed efficiently.

Preferably, it further comprises ejecting means for ejecting the workpiece after inspection, and the ejecting means includes a pressing rod, and by inserting the pressing rod into the chamber from one opening of the chamber, the chamber is and a drive unit for pushing out the work inside from the other opening of the chamber.
According to the above configuration, the work can be reliably discharged from the chamber by using the pressing rod.

Preferably, the work holder has a plurality of chambers, and the test pressure supply means and the pressure detection means are provided for each of the plurality of chambers.
According to the above configuration, it is possible to inspect the airtightness of a plurality of workpieces at once with one workpiece holder, so that the inspection efficiency can be improved.

Preferably, each of the pair of sealing bodies is composed of one sealing body common to the corresponding openings of the plurality of chambers, and seals the corresponding openings at once.
According to the above configuration, the sealing structure can be simplified.

Preferably, a plurality of work holders are provided, and a movement mechanism is provided, and the movement mechanism moves the plurality of work holders from an initial position to a loading stage for loading the work into the chamber, and an inspection for inspecting the airtightness. The stage and the workpiece are sequentially moved to a carry-out stage for carrying out the workpiece from the chamber and circulated so as to return to the initial position, and the initial position, the carry-in stage, the inspection stage, and the carry-out stage are arranged on a vertical plane. It is
According to the above configuration, the installation area of the device can be greatly reduced.

Preferably, a plurality of the chambers are formed in the work holder at equal pitches in a vertical direction, and the moving mechanism includes first and second vertical moving parts for moving the work holder in opposite directions. The loading stage is arranged in the moving part, and the unloading stage is arranged in the second vertical moving part. In the loading stage, the work holder is moved by the first vertical moving part by an amount equal to the pitch of the chamber. intermittently move the work holder into the chamber at a predetermined position, and intermittently move the work holder on the carry-out stage by the second vertical movement portion by a movement amount equal to the pitch of the chamber, and at the predetermined position The workpiece is unloaded from the chamber.
According to the above configuration, loading and unloading operations can be performed more smoothly.

According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently perform the work of discharging the work after the airtightness inspection.

It is a front view showing the whole airtightness inspection device concerning one embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a cross-sectional view of a work holder used in the airtightness inspection device, and (B) is a side view of the same work holder. It is a front view which shows the structure of the test|inspection stage in the said airtightness test|inspection apparatus. FIG. 4 is a plan view of an inspection unit forming part of the configuration of the inspection stage; It is a circuit block diagram of the said test|inspection unit.

Hereinafter, an airtightness inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. A workpiece to be inspected in this embodiment is a drug obtained by pillow packaging (secondary packaging) a PTP-packaged (primary packaging) tablet in a bag, and has an elongated shape. If the pillow packaging has defects such as poor adhesion, tearing, pinholes, etc., moisture and oxygen in the atmosphere enter the bag, accelerating deterioration over time of PTP-packaged tablets. Therefore, the presence or absence of defects in the pillow packaging is inspected by this device. The inspection apparatus of the present embodiment is not limited to pillow-packaged medicines, and various products can be inspected, but it is particularly suitable for inspecting elongated workpieces.

As shown in FIG. 1, the airtightness inspection apparatus includes five (a plurality of) work holders 10, and moves these work holders 10 from an initial position (for example, the position of the lower left corner in FIG. 1) to a loading stage S1 and an inspection stage S2. , and a moving mechanism M that circulates so as to return to the initial position through the discharge stage S3 in order.

As shown in FIG. 2, the work holder 10 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape and has a pair of flat and vertical sealing surfaces 11 and 12 (both side surfaces) parallel to each other, and a horizontal plane perpendicular to the sealing surfaces 11 and 12. It has eight (plurality) chambers 15 parallel to each other extending linearly and penetrating the work holder 10 . Both ends of the chamber 15 are open to the sealing surfaces 11 and 12 . The openings at both ends are denoted by reference numerals 15a and 15b in the figure. The eight chambers 15 are arranged at regular intervals in two horizontal rows and four vertical rows. Each chamber 15 accommodates a work W (indicated by an imaginary line) as described later.

The seal surfaces 11 and 12 are formed with grooves surrounding the openings 15a and 15b of the chamber 15, and rubber seal rings 16 are fitted in these grooves. A portion of the chamber 15 near one opening 15a forms a tapered portion 15c that widens toward the opening 15a.

As shown in FIG. 1, an upper chuck receiving portion 18 is provided at the upper end of each work holder 10, a lower chuck receiving portion 19 is provided at the lower end, and a back side chuck receiving portion (not shown) is provided on the rear surface. is provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, the moving mechanism M includes a left vertical moving part 20 (first vertical moving part), an upper horizontal moving part 30 and a right vertical moving part 40 (second vertical moving part) arranged along one vertical plane. moving part) and a lower horizontal moving part 50, which are installed in an upright state. Therefore, it can be installed without requiring a large area.

The left vertical movement unit 20 is for moving the work holder 10 upward. to the inspection stage S2 in order.

The left vertical moving section 20 has two guide rails 21 and a self-propelled slider 22 that moves along each guide rail 21 . In FIG. 1, one slider 22 is on the inspection stage S2 and is hidden by a sealing body 62 which will be described later.
The two sliders 22 have chucks (not shown) that alternately carry the work holder 10 upward while gripping the back side chuck receiving portion of the work holder 10 .

The upper horizontal moving unit 30 includes a horizontal guide 31, a self-propelled first slider 32 horizontally moving along the horizontal guide 31, a vertical guide 33 provided on the first slider 32, and the vertical guide 33 and a self-propelled second slider 34 that moves vertically along the . A chuck 35 is provided at the lower end of the second slider 34 .

The second slider 34 grips the upper chuck receiving portion 18 of the work holder 10 on the inspection stage S2 at the uppermost position of the left vertical moving portion 20 with the chuck 35 and carries the work holder 10 upward. After that, the first slider 32 moves the work holder 10 horizontally to the right, and the second slider 34 moves the work holder 10 downward to the uppermost position of the right vertical moving section 40 .

The right vertical moving part 40 is for moving the work holder 10 downward, and in the middle of this movement, carries the work holder 10 to the unloading stage S3.
Like the left vertical moving part 20 , the right vertical moving part 40 has two guide rails 41 and a self-propelled slider 42 that moves along each guide rail 41 .
The two sliders 42 have chucks (not shown) that alternately carry the work holder 10 downward while gripping the back side chuck receiving portion of the work holder 10 .

The lower horizontal movement section 50 has a horizontal guide 51 and a self-propelled slider 52 that horizontally moves along the horizontal guide 51 . A chuck 55 is provided at the upper end of the slider 52 .
The slider 52 grips the lower chuck receiving portion 19 of the work holder 10 at the lowest position of the right vertical moving portion 40 with the chuck 55 and horizontally moves leftward, thereby moving the work holder 10 to the left vertical moving portion 20 . to the lowest position (initial position).

As described above, the five work holders 10 circulate on one vertical plane, and are conveyed clockwise in FIG. It returns to the initial position via the inspection stage S2 and the carry-out stage S3.

A carry-in conveyor 101 (only the upper surface of which is shown by imaginary lines in FIG. 1) is arranged on the carry-in stage S1. The work W sent from the carry-in conveyor 101 is inserted into the chamber 15 of the work holder 10 from one open end 15a thereof using an insertion jig (not shown). At this time, the slider 22 intermittently moves the work holder 10 upward by the pitch of the column of the chambers 15 . As a result, the four rows of chambers 15 are sequentially sent to the insertion position at the same height, so that the loading operation can be performed smoothly. In addition, since one opening 15a is widened by the tapered portion 15c, the work W can be carried in more smoothly.

The workpiece holder 10 is carried from the loading stage S1 to the inspection stage S2 with the openings 15a and 15b at both ends of the chamber 15 opened. .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the inspection stage S2 includes a plate-shaped sealing member 61 (first sealing member) facing one sealing surface 11 of the work holder 10, and the other sealing surface 12. A rectangular parallelepiped sealing body 62 (second sealing body) facing the , an air cylinder 63 (first driving means) for horizontally moving the sealing body 61 in a direction toward or away from the sealing surface 11, and an air cylinder 64 (second driving means) for horizontally moving the sealing body 62 in a direction toward or away from the sealing surface 12 .
One sealing body 61 is arranged as a common sealing body for the openings 15 a of the eight chambers 15 . One sealing body 62 is arranged as a common sealing body for the openings 15 b of the eight chambers 15 .

The air cylinder 63 presses the flat surface of the sealing body 61 against one sealing surface 11 of the work holder 10 to seal the openings 15a of the eight chambers 15 at once. is pressed against the other sealing surface 12 of the work holder 10, the openings 15b of the eight chambers 15 are sealed at once.
One sealing body 61 is formed with eight projections 61a. These protrusions 61a enter the chamber 15 and reduce the actual volume of the chamber 15, thereby playing a role of increasing the inspection accuracy described later. The size of the protrusion 61a can be changed according to the size of the work W. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, an inspection unit 70 is attached to the front of the sealing body 62 .
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the inspection unit 70 has a base plate 70a fixed to the sealing body 62 and eight component groups 70b attached to the base plate 70a.
Each component group 70b includes three on-off valves 71, 72, 73, a tank 74, and a pressure sensor 75 (pressure detection means).

As shown in FIG. 5, the sealing body 62 and the base plate 70a are formed with a main passage 77 for connecting an external common pressure source 76 to the chamber 15 for each chamber 15 . The on-off valves 71 , 72 , 73 , the tank 74 and the pressure sensor 75 are connected to the main passage 77 . In this embodiment, the pressure source 76 has a pressure regulator (not shown), and can switch between negative pressure (vacuum pressure) supply and positive pressure supply.

The on-off valve 71 is interposed between a pressure source 76 and a tank 74 and is normally in an open position. It's like When the pressure sensor 75 detects that the tank 74 has reached the predetermined negative pressure (hereinafter referred to as tank pressure), the on-off valve 71 is closed to prepare for a sealing test, which will be described later. The on-off valve 72 is interposed between the tank 74 and the chamber 15 and is normally in the closed position to isolate the tank 74 and the chamber 15 . The on-off valve 73 is normally in the open position to open the chamber 15 to the atmosphere.

When the chamber 15 is sealed by the sealing bodies 61 and 62, the chamber 15 is open to the atmosphere via the on-off valve 73, so the pressure in the chamber 15 does not rise and is maintained at atmospheric pressure.
After sealing the chamber 15, the on-off valve 73 is closed, and then the on-off valve 72 is opened. A predetermined tank pressure of the tank 74 is thereby supplied to the chamber 15 .

The pressure detected by the pressure sensor 75 is the tank pressure when the on-off valve 72 is closed. If there is no defect in the work W (if there is no abnormality in the sealability of the pillow packaging of the work W), the pressure reaches the test pressure.
As is clear from the above description, the main passage 77, the on-off valves 71, 72, 73 and the tank 74 constitute a test pressure supply circuit 70x (test pressure supply means).

If there is no abnormality in the sealability of the pillow packaging of the work W, the detected pressure of the pressure sensor 75 is maintained at the test pressure. However, if there is a defect in the pillow packaging, the air in the pillow packaging leaks into the chamber 15, causing the pressure detected by the pressure sensor 75 to be higher than the test pressure. If the defect is large, the detected pressure will suddenly exceed the test pressure, and if the defect is minute, the detected pressure will gradually increase from the test pressure over time.
A controller (not shown) determines that the workpiece W is non-defective if the amount of increase in the detected pressure after a predetermined time has passed since the on-off valve 72 is opened is less than the threshold value, and determines that the workpiece W is defective if the threshold value is exceeded.

After the above determination, while maintaining the open state of the on-off valve 72 and the closed state of the on-off valve 73, only the on-off valve 71 is opened, and the supply pressure of the pressure source 76 is switched to the positive pressure. As a result, the vacuum in the test pressure supply circuit 70x is broken. Cylinders 63 and 64 are then driven to separate seals 61 and 62 from work holder 10 . By breaking the vacuum as described above, the operation of separating the sealing bodies 61 and 62 from the work holder 10 can be performed in a short standby time.
Next, the on-off valve 72 is closed, the on-off valve 73 is opened, the supply pressure from the pressure source 76 is switched to negative pressure, and the tank 74 is returned to a predetermined negative pressure, thereby completing the inspection process.
As described above, eight workpieces W can be inspected for airtightness at one time with one workpiece holder 10, so the efficiency of the inspection work can be improved.

The slider 22 that conveys the work holder 10 to the inspection stage S2 moves to the chuck receiving portion on the back side of the work holder 10 after the sealing bodies 61 and 62 seal the chamber 15 of the work holder 10 and sandwich the work holder 10. release the chucking state and move downward to return to the initial position, chuck the work holder 10 carried by the lower horizontal moving part 50, and prepare to carry it upward. The work holder 10 is held only by the sealing bodies 61 and 62 during a certain period of the inspection process.

As described above, before the sealing bodies 61 and 62 are separated from the work holder 10, the chuck 35 of the second slider 34 of the upper horizontal movement section 30 grips the upper chuck receiving section 18 of the work holder 10, thereby hold. After separating the seals 61, 62 from the work holder 10, the work holder 10 is transported to the right vertical mover 40 as described above.

As described above, while one work holder 10 is being inspected for airtightness in a stationary state on the inspection stage S2, the next work holder 10 directly below it is intermittently moved upward on the loading stage S1. A workpiece W is loaded into the chamber 15 . Therefore, at the inspection stage S2, when the airtightness inspection of the work holder 10 is completed, the next work 10 is almost ready for the airtightness inspection.

The work holder 10 is carried from the inspection stage S2 to the carry-out stage S3 with the openings 15a and 15b at both ends of the chamber 15 opened, but the chamber 15 is in a horizontal state, so that the work W is stably accommodated. can.

Two air cylinders 80 (ejection means) and a carry-out conveyor 102 (only the upper surface of which is shown in phantom lines) are arranged side by side on the carrying-out stage S3 of the right vertical moving section 40, with the right vertical moving section 40 interposed therebetween. It is The two air cylinders 80 are arranged horizontally and have a cylinder portion 81 (driving portion) and a pressing rod 82 extending from the cylinder portion 81 . The pressing rods 82 of the two air cylinders 80 are arranged substantially in line with the two chambers 15 arranged side by side in the work holder 10 .

When the air cylinder 80 is actuated, the push rod 82 is inserted from one open end 15a of the chamber 15 along the longitudinal direction of the chamber 15 to push the work W out from the other open end 15b. The extruded work W is conveyed to the next process by the discharge conveyor 102 .
Since both ends of the chamber 15 are opened in this manner, the work W can be efficiently carried out by the air cylinder 80 .

On the carry-out stage S3, the work holder 10 is intermittently moved downward by the pitch of the column of the chambers 15 by the slider 42, and the discharge operation is performed each time the work holder 10 stops. In this manner, the four rows of chambers 15 are successively sent to the discharge position at the same height, so that the discharge work can be performed smoothly.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, air pressure may be supplied from one opening of the chamber as the discharge means, and the work in the chamber may be discharged from the other opening.
The test pressure may be positive pressure.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to an airtightness inspection of works such as pillow-packaged medicines.

10 work holders 11, 12 sealing surface (both sides)
15 Chambers 15a, 15b Chamber opening 20 Left vertical movement part (first vertical movement part)
40 right vertical moving part (second vertical moving part)
61 First sealing body 62 Second sealing body 63 Air cylinder (first driving means)
64 air cylinder (second driving means)
70x test pressure supply circuit (test pressure supply means)
75 pressure sensor (pressure detection means)
80 air cylinder (ejection means)
81 cylinder part (drive part)
82 pressing rod M moving mechanism S1 carry-in stage S2 inspection stage S3 carry-out stage

Claims (6)

A workpiece holder having a chamber for accommodating a workpiece to be inspected is provided, and the chamber extends linearly and horizontally to pass through the workpiece holder, and both ends of the chamber are open on both side surfaces of the workpiece holder. ,
moreover,
first and second sealing bodies that seal the chamber by contacting both side surfaces of the work holder and sealing the openings at both ends of the chamber;
first and second driving means for horizontally moving the first and second sealing bodies toward and away from the work holder, respectively;
test pressure supply means for supplying a test pressure to the sealed chamber;
pressure detection means for monitoring changes in pressure within the chamber for inspecting the airtightness of the workpiece within the chamber;
a discharge means for discharging the workpiece after inspection;
and the ejection means comprises:
a pressing rod;
a drive unit for pushing out the work in the chamber from the other opening of the chamber by horizontally inserting the pressing rod into the chamber from one opening of the chamber;
An airtightness inspection device comprising : Further, a moving mechanism is provided, and the moving mechanism moves the work holder from the initial position to the loading stage for loading the work into the chamber, the inspection stage for inspecting the airtightness, and the unloading stage for unloading the work from the chamber. and circulate to return to the above initial position,
2. The airtightness according to claim 1, wherein said first and second sealing bodies and said first and second driving means are arranged on said inspection stage, and said discharging means is arranged on said unloading stage. sex test equipment. 3. The airtightness inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said test pressure supply means and said pressure detection means are provided in said second sealing body. The work holder has a plurality of chambers, and each of the plurality of chambers is equipped with the test pressure supply means and the pressure detection means,
Each of the first and second sealing bodies is composed of one sealing body common to the corresponding openings of the plurality of chambers, and seals the corresponding openings at once. Item 3. The airtightness inspection device according to Item 2. Equipped with multiple work holders,
Further, a moving mechanism is provided, and the moving mechanism moves the plurality of work holders from the initial position to the loading stage for loading the work into the chamber, the inspection stage for inspecting the airtightness, and the unloading for unloading the work from the chamber. Circulate so as to move to the stage in order and return to the above initial position,
2. The airtightness inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said initial position, said loading stage, said inspection stage and said unloading stage are arranged on a vertical plane. A plurality of the chambers are formed at equal pitches in the vertical direction on the work holder,
The moving mechanism includes first and second vertical moving parts in which the work holder moves in opposite directions, the loading stage is arranged in the first vertical moving part, and the unloading stage is arranged in the second vertical moving part. has been
In the loading stage, the work holder is intermittently moved by the first vertical movement part by a movement amount equal to the pitch of the chamber, and the work is loaded into the chamber at a predetermined position;
6. The work according to claim 5, wherein in the carry-out stage, the work holder is intermittently moved by the second vertical movement portion by a movement amount equal to the pitch of the chamber, and the work is carried out from the chamber at a predetermined position. airtightness inspection device.

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