JPH02191194A - Container liquid recovery apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit a rapid removal of liquid from a container and thereby prevent the quality deterioration of the contents due to the contamination by the inward entry of bacteria by inserting a liquid drawing pipe into a container, exerting a pressure upon liquid surface therein to draw off liquid therefrom and detecting a point in time of liquid-to-gas change taking place upon the liquid passage through communicating holes by a gas-liquid sensor. CONSTITUTION:A liquid drawing pipe 30 is inserted into a bottle from a liquid drawing part, the top edge of the bottle neck is then press sealed with the bottom of an elastic body 33 and an end part of the pipe 30 is inserted for contact with the bottom surface of the bottle to draw off the liquid remaining after the liquid drawing operation. A pressure gas is supplied from a pipe 31b in connection with a gas supply source and, under the force of the gas pressure exerted upon the surface of liquid in the bottle, the liquid is carried up through the pipe 30 and then through a recovery pipe 39 for return into a recovery tank. Conductivity between electrode sensors 37 and 38 provided in the rear end of the pipe 30 is measured and, when a change from the liquid to gas takes place upon the passage through the sensors after complete removal of the liquid from the bottle, the supply of the pressure gas is terminated. Since this liquid drawing operation is performed for each bottle, there is no difference in the drawing time between the bottles.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a container liquid recovery device, and particularly to a recovery device for liquid filled in a container such as beer.

[Conventional technology]

The contents of beer, soft drinks, etc. are filled into containers such as bottles by automatic light JRfi, etc., but depending on the case, the filling may vary. Not only is it undesirable when the amount is less than the specified amount, but it is also undesirable when the amount is too much. Therefore, for unsuitable products with a defective filling amount, the liquid in the container such as a bottle must be collected.

As an in-container recovery device for
An apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-96994 has been proposed. According to this device, compressed air is supplied to the upper space of each container to pressurize it while the liquid return is inserted downward from a plurality of openings, and the liquid in each container is returned to the liquid. This is a device for recovering the liquid in containers such as beer bottles, which collects the liquid in a container such as a beer bottle through the bottle.This allows the liquid inside a container such as a plurality of bottles to be collected at the same time, and the amount of remaining liquid in each bottle is small, so that the liquid can be collected uniformly.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional device, although the time for supplying compressed gas to the upper space of the container and pressurizing it is the same for all target containers, the initial liquid volume of each container is The time required to collect the internal liquid is not necessarily uniform because the time required to collect the internal liquid varies, or there are cases where chips occur at the mouth of the container and leak from there.

Therefore, if the liquid in the container is recovered early, compressed gas will continue to be supplied even though there is no liquid in the container, so the compressed gas will pass through the liquid return pipe.
The beer is supplied to a recovery tank, where, for example, bubbling or foaming occurs in the stored beer, resulting in a problem that the quality of the beer deteriorates due to air inclusion.

This problem is not easily resolved even when using a compressed gas, for example carbon dioxide (CO2), due to the air remaining in the headspace of the container.

In addition, when recovering the internal liquid, a bottle with a crown stopper is usually targeted, so in this case, the internal liquid of the uncorked container must be immediately collected. If this recovery time is not long enough, there will be problems with the quality of the bottle, such as falling bacteria being mixed into the liquid in the uncorked container.

In addition, conventional devices are limited to containers having a constant height, and there is also the problem that the same device cannot be used to handle a wide variety of bottles, especially changes in container height.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is to collect the internal liquid in a plurality of containers at the same time by removing the liquid from each drain pipe inserted into each container. Detects leakage and stops the supply of unnecessary compressed gas to prevent quality deterioration of the recovered liquid.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a container liquid recovery device which quickly recovers the liquid after uncorking, prevents quality deterioration due to contamination with fallen F, and which can also be used with a wide variety of bottles.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the container liquid recovery device according to the present invention includes a transport/stop mechanism that transports a plurality of containers at regular intervals and stops them at a predetermined position, and a transport/stop mechanism that is located above the transport path and transports the containers at regular intervals. A plurality of liquid drain pipes are provided hanging down corresponding to the containers to be transported, a gas-liquid detection sensor is provided inside the communication hole of each liquid drain pipe, and
An insertion mechanism for inserting the liquid drain pipe into the container whose feeding has been stopped by the stop mechanism, and an insertion mechanism provided for each liquid drain pipe to supply pressurized gas to the upper space of the container after the liquid drain pipe is inserted into the container. Equipped with a pressurized gas supply mechanism that switches between supply and stop as desired, the liquid drain pipe is inserted into the inside of the container that has been conveyed and stopped under the drop of the liquid drain pipe, and pressurized gas is supplied to the upper space of the container to lower the liquid level. By applying pressure, the internal liquid is drained through the inside of the drain pipe communication hole, and the gas-liquid detection sensor detects the point in time when the fluid passing through the communication hole changes from liquid to gas for each drain pipe. The container is configured to recover the liquid inside the container, and has a cap removal unit that removes the cap that is placed on the container, and a liquid return unit that is connected to the cap removal unit and collects the liquid stored inside the container. The corking unit includes a conveying mechanism for conveying a plurality of containers at regular intervals and holding the containers when uncorking the containers, and a rotatable disk-shaped rotary uncorking body located above the conveying path. On the outer periphery of the rotary capping body, a plurality of capping units having claws that can be engaged with a crown placed on a container are provided at a predetermined pitch, and the liquid return unit is configured to remove a plurality of containers. A transport/stop mechanism that transports the containers at regular intervals and stops them at predetermined positions, a plurality of liquid drain pipes that are located above the transport path and are provided to hang down in correspondence with the regular intervals of the containers to be transported, and the liquid drain pipes. an insertion mechanism for inserting the liquid drain pipe into the container whose conveyance has been stopped by the conveyance/stopping mechanism; and an insertion mechanism provided for each liquid drain pipe to detect the inside of the container. It is equipped with a pressurized gas supply mechanism that can arbitrarily switch the supply and stop of pressurized gas to the upper space of the container after inserting a liquid drain pipe into the container, and a pressurized gas supply mechanism that can arbitrarily switch the supply and stop of pressurized gas to the upper space of the container. After engaging the claw body with the crown in the area of contact with the circular motion and peeling off the crown, the drain pipe is immediately conveyed to a position below the drain pipe of the liquid return unit and inserted into the container that is stopped. By supplying pressurized gas to the upper space of the pipe and pressurizing the liquid level, the internal liquid is drained through the inside of the drain pipe communication hole, and the point at which the fluid passing through the communication hole changes from liquid to gas is determined by individual liquid drains. The liquid inside the container is recovered by detecting each pipe, and is connected to and rotates below the cap removal unit provided with the rotary cap removal body and below the liquid drain part of the liquid drain unit. By rotating the eccentric cam, the height of the entire cap removal unit and the contact height of the container mouth upper end surface of the liquid removal part of the liquid removal unit are adjusted and fixed, and the height of the container is adjusted and fixed. The feature is that it is possible to easily change the product type.

[Effect]

According to the present invention configured as described above, a liquid drain pipe is inserted into each of the plurality of containers, pressurized gas is supplied to the upper space of each container to pressurize the liquid surface, and the liquid in the container is drained from each container. When the liquid is collected into the collection tank through the internal communication hole of the liquid return pipe, a gas-liquid detection sensor is provided inside the communication hole of the liquid drain pipe, so that when the liquid drain is completed, that is, the fluid passing through the inside of the pipe is liquid. The liquid drain is controlled so that the supply of the pressurized gas is stopped based on this signal. Moreover, this control is performed for each δ liquid drain pipe.

Therefore, unlike in the past, pressurized gas is not continuously supplied even though there is no internal liquid, so for example, the quality of the beer may deteriorate due to bubbling or foaming in the stored beer. No problems arise.

Further, according to the present invention, a capping step is provided before the liquid draining step, so that after the bottle with the crown attached is uncorked, the liquid in the bottle is immediately drained. Since it is collected without any problems, quality problems such as contamination with fallen bacteria do not occur.

Further, in the present invention, the cap removal unit is integrated, and a mechanism is provided for integrally adjusting the height of the entire unit and the contact height of the tip of the container opening of the liquid removal unit. Therefore, it is very easy to cope with changes in bottle height when changing the types of containers, especially when changing the types of containers.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the container liquid recovery device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 19.

In this embodiment, a beer bottle container will be described as an example of the container.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the container liquid recovery device, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are a plan view and a side view of FIG. 1, respectively.

In FIG. 1, the apparatus of the present invention includes a top chain conveyor 2 on which a bottle 7 is placed and conveyed from the left side of the drawing to the right side (arrow (A)), and two upper and lower chains provided in the center of the drawing. Spacing worm 10°11, this spacing worm 10. A disc-shaped rotary plug body 6 provided above the IT
and a drive motor (not shown) that drives these, and a corking error detection/reject unit R (fifth
(Fig.) is provided at the lower part of the additional feed path, and is provided so that the entire capping unit E and the frame F3 of the liquid draining section G2, which will be described later, can be moved up and down in order to cope with changing bottle types. It has a product type compatible unit U and a liquid return unit G for recovering the internal liquid in the container.

The top chain conveyor 2 for conveying the bottles is suspended endlessly by a pair of top chain sprockets 8 (the J''i side is not shown), and is conveyed by a drive motor 9.

The top chain conveyor 2 is a single-row bottle conveyor with a width comparable to the diameter of the bottles 7 to be conveyed, and on both sides of the conveyor, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, Bottle guides 4a, 4a, 4b for guiding the bottles 7 along the conveyance path.

4b, 22 are provided, and the plate-shaped bottle guide 4b provided on one side of these is connected to the cap removal unit E.
It extends to the population of 4 and ends here, and this bottle guide 4
The role of b is taken over in the corking unit E by a spacing worm 10.11, which will be described later. On the other hand, a rod-shaped bottle guide 4 is provided across the conveyance path from the bottle guide 4b.
The bottle guide 4a also extends inside the bottle removal unit E, and the bottle guide 4a is taken over by a bottle guide 22 with a shutter, as shown in FIG. 1, halfway inside the bottle removal unit.

This bottle guide 22 with a shutter is used for detecting uncorking errors, which will be described later.
It has a close relationship with the reject unit R, and will be explained in detail later.

By the way, a star foil unit 5 is installed adjacent to the bottle guide 4a side of the chain conveyor 2 (see Figs. 1 and 2).
), this unit 5 is equipped with a star wheel 5a, an air cylinder (not shown) for locking the rotational drive shaft of the star wheel 5a, and a mechanism for detecting the number of bottles 7 passing through. When a predetermined number of bottles have passed, the locking mechanism is activated to prevent the bottles 7 from being supplied to the next process (corking unit E1 liquid return unit G).

In this embodiment, one supply unit is six, corresponding to the number of liquids to be processed by the liquid return unit G, which will be described later.

When the process in the liquid return unit G, which will be described later, is completed, feeding of six bottles using the star foil is started again.

Next, the cap removal unit E will be explained. The cap removal unit E includes the spacing worms 10 and 11 as described above.
, a rotating capper 6, and a drive motor (not shown), each of the spacing worms 10 and 11 is a rod shaft having a spiral groove on its outer circumferential surface. It has a shape such that it can be guided and conveyed in a state where a part of the outer periphery of the bottle 7 is engaged, that is, it has a spiral groove with a radius of curvature comparable to the radius of curvature of the bottle 7 that comes into contact with it.

Such spacing worms 10 and 11 are attached to two stages, upper and lower, along the conveying direction on one side of the supplementary feed path, and the spacing worms 10 in the upper part of the two stages are smaller than those 11 in the lower part. The short shaft 10b at one end, which is connected and fixed to the spacing worm 10 as shown in FIG. 4, is attached to a bracket 20 that hangs down from the frame Fo.
A shaft 10a provided at the other end is supported by a bearing 10c attached to a bracket 20a, and a pulley 12 is fitted to the tip of the shaft 10a. It is worn.

On the other hand, the spacing worm 1 provided below
The worm 1 is longer than the worm 10 and extends inside the liquid return unit G described later, and the worm 1 is on both sides thereof.
As in the case of 0, it is pivotally supported by a bearing 11a (the other end side is not shown), and a pulley 13 is fitted to the end thereof.

Such spacing worms 10.11 transport the bottles 7 at regular intervals, and the spacing worm 11 and holding the bottles during uncorking, which will be described later, transports the set of bottles to the draining unit G, where - There are no particular restrictions on the number (in the illustrated example, there are two bottles installed above and below), etc., and the size and shape of the bottles to be transported. It may be determined as appropriate by considering the following.

Further, the shape of the spiral groove provided on the outer peripheral surface of the spacing worm 10.11 also differs depending on the shape of the bottle container. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, as the outer circumferential shape of the bottle 7 goes upward to a certain extent, its diameter becomes smaller (if the shape becomes smaller, the spiral of the spacing worm that contacts the upper and lower parts of the bottle 7, respectively) becomes smaller. The radius of curvature of the groove ``,
1 takes different values depending on the bottle outer diameter - J method (however, the pitch P! of these worms is the same value). Furthermore, each of these worms always hits the outer periphery of the bottle. In order to make contact with each other, as shown in FIG. 3, in the burial mound shape of this embodiment, the central axis positions of the upper F spacing worms are not necessarily on the same vertical line, and the upper spacing worms 10 are in contact with the lower spacing worms. Compared to that 11, it is provided so as to protrude toward the conveyance path by a distance 1llfI3.

Above such a spacing worm, there is a disc-shaped rotating capper 6 capable of rotating 11 J for removing the crown placed on the bottle head, and the axial direction of the capper 6 is always perpendicular to the conveying direction. It is set up to face. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a shaft 18 is inserted into the center of the rotary plug removal body 6, and the shaft 18 is supported by bearings 19 and 19 provided on both sides thereof. One end of the shaft 18 is connected to the output shaft of the worm reducer 17 (FIG. 2), and one manual shaft of the reducer 17 changes its direction by 90°, and the connecting shaft 16
A bushing 15 is fitted to the tip end thereof.

As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of cap removal heads 60 are provided at a predetermined pitch on the outer periphery of the rotating extractor 6 for removing the crown placed on the head of the bottle 7.

As shown in detail in FIG. 14(a), the plug removal head 60 has four portions 66 formed radially inward,
A guide surface 68.
69 is formed. A claw body 67 with a protruding bent tip 67a is fitted into the four parts 66, a magnet 61 is attached to the inner surface of the recess 66, and a release member 62 is mounted so as to straddle the inner surface of the recess 66. is installed. The release member 62 consists of a bifurcated portion 62a that straddles the four portions 66, and an arm portion 62b that is continuous with the bifurcated portion 62a.
It is rotatably supported by a bin 63 at an intermediate portion between the two. Further, a spring 65 is installed between the screw 64 screwed onto the rotary plug remover 6 and the forked part 62a, and this biases the release part (462) so that the forked part 62a comes into contact with the inner surface of the four parts 66. There is.

A bracket 70 is erected on the side of the outer periphery of the four-turn plug removal body 6 having such a plug removal head 60 (FIG. 5), and a roller support 11i271 is connected to this bracket 70. An engagement roller 7 is provided at the tip of the support plate 71.
2 is the arm fi of the release member 62 of the cap removal head 60;
62b.

As shown in the side view of FIG. 3, the spacing worm 10° 11 and the rotary plug body 6 as described above are connected to a drive pulley 77 connected to a drive motor (not shown) provided in the extraction unit E. The pulleys 12 and 13 fitted to one end of the spacing worm 10.11 and the pulley 15 fitted to one end of the connecting shaft connected to the rotary plug removal body 6 are connected to idlers 78 and 79 by the timing belt 14, respectively. connected via.

At the lower part of the frame F3 (Fig. 12) of the liquid draining part G2 of the extract unit E shown in Figure 2 and the liquid return unit G connected to this unit, there is a multi-layer structure so that these units can be moved up and down as a whole. A product type compatible unit U is provided. This multi-product compatible unit U has bearings 43, 43 fixed to the frame F1 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.
a rotating shaft 41 supported by a rotating shaft 41; an eccentric cam 44 fixed to the rotating shaft 41;
1 and a row actuator 40 connected to one end of the actuator 1 via a coupling 42. By rotating this rotary actuator 40 by a predetermined angle, the eccentric cam 44 connected thereto can similarly rotate.

The upper part of the eccentric cam 44 is in contact with a contact plate 45 fixed to the bottom of the plug removal unit E'': 9, thereby supporting the unit E and allowing the height adjustment of the unit 1-E. This kind of 1m core cam 4
A plurality of numerals 4 are provided in order to evenly support the lower part of the frame F3 of the cap removal unit E and the liquid drain portion G2 (in the embodiment, two are provided).

Next, a plug removal error detection/rejection unit R (hereinafter referred to as "reject unit R") which is provided continuously in the advancing direction of the plug removal unit E will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the plug removal unit E and the reject unit R provided in succession thereto, FIG. 6 is a side view of the ejector unit R, and FIG. 7 is a side view thereof.

The reject unit R detects whether the crown placed on the head of the bottle is completely uncorked by the uncorking unit E, and if the crown is not uncorked, the reject unit R attempts to eject the bottle. , the unit R includes a crown detection switch 21 fixed above the head of the bottle to be transported, a bottle ejection device 52 adjacent to the side of the transport path (the side where the spacing worm is attached), and this ejection device 52. It is configured to include a discharge bottle storage section 53 and a shutter-equipped guide 22, which are provided substantially opposite to each other across a conveyance path.

The crown detection switch 21 is for frame F. A proximity switch 21b is fixed to the tip of a hanging bracket 21a, and the presence or absence of the crown of the bottle head being transported can be detected by this switch 21b. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 in detail, the ejection device 52 includes a rodless cylinder 51 fixed to the frame F2 via a bracket 50, and a U-shaped cylinder 51 connected and fixed to the rodless cylinder 51. The extrusion plate 52b is configured to include an extrusion plate 52b having a shape of
A cushioning material 52a is fitted to the tip of the bottle, that is, the part that comes into contact with the bottle during extrusion.

On the other hand, the discharge bottle storage section 53 provided in the discharge device 52 across the conveyance path is formed by a guide plate 53a that is curved to form an inlet 53b of the bottle.

In front of the second storage section 53 in the direction of additional feeding, a shutter 0 bottle guide 22 is adjacent along the conveyance path.
2, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, two upper and lower fixing plates 23a, 23b, and these fixing plates 23a, 23b.
The HLIR is comprised of a shirt flap plate 24 which is fitted so as to be slidable in the transport direction. the fixed plate 23a,
23b are connecting members 26g and 26b, respectively (Figure 6)
The shutter plate 24 is fixed to a rodless cylinder 25 fixed to the bracket 27, and the rodless cylinder 2
With the stroke of 5, the shirt flap plate 24 can open and close the inlet 53b of the discharge bottle storage section 53.

Next, the liquid return unit G provided in connection with the reject unit R will be explained based on FIGS. 8 to 13.

The liquid return unit G has a ring lifter unit that stops a set of bottles 7 (six bottles in this embodiment) being conveyed at a predetermined position, and then lifts them together to a predetermined height. G1, and a liquid draining part G2 for draining the lifted whitening il&. The ring lifter part G1 is
A top view is shown in FIG. 8, and a side view is shown in FIG.

In these figures, a first support lN94.94 is fixed to the frame l located below the conveyor, and cylinder bracket fixing plates 9 are attached to both ends of the second support plate 94, respectively.
3.95 are fixed, and a cylinder 96 is fixed on these plates via a cylinder bracket.

As shown in FIG. 10, the cylinder head 96a of this cylinder 96 is connected via a frame 96b to the bottom plate 91 of the case 90 for fixing the seed opening and the temporary bottle support 92 as a conveyance path. , the seed opening fixing casing 90 and the bottle 7 can be raised or lowered by the stroke of the cylinder 96.

As a guide method when ascending or descending, see Figure 8.
As shown in FIG. 11(b), in this first example, slide packs 100 and 100 are provided on both sides of the cylinder 96.

That is, pack joining plates 102, 102 are fixed to the fixed first support plates 94, 94, respectively, while pack joining frames 97, 97, whose one end is fixed to the frame 96b, are each fixed. Pack joint plate 1
01 and 101 are fixed, and the slide pack 100
, 100 allows the pack joining frame 97°97 to slide.

2. The casing 90 for fixing the stitches to be raised and lowered according to the configuration shown in FIG.
The structure of the cylinder 80 is explained based on FIG. 10. A cylinder 8 [ ] for fixing the stitches is fixed on its upper plane, and a connecting plate 81 is fixed to the cylinder head of the cylinder 80 for fixing the stitches. One end of the connection Vi, 81 is fixed to a first shaft 82a, and a clamping plate 84 is provided at the front end of the first shaft 82a via a connecting plate 83 which is fixed in a hanging manner.

A rack 82c is cut in the center of the lower part of the first shaft 82a as shown in FIG. 10, and this rack 82c meshes with a pinion 88, and the pinion 88 is located at the lower part of the rack 82c. It meshes with a rack 87c cut into the center of the upper part of the second shaft 87a. A clamping plate 85 is fixed to the front end of the second shaft 87a via a connecting plate 86, as in the case of the first shaft 82a.

As shown in FIG. 8, the rack-pinion mechanism as shown in FIG.
(pinion 88b1 third shaft 82b1 fourth shaft 87b).

Then, when the rod of the cylinder 80 for fixing the enlarged stitch moves forward, the clamping plates 84 and 85 approach each other so as to sandwich the enlarged stitch by a rack-pinion mechanism, and grip the enlarged stitch, while the rod retreats. Then, the seed opening grip is released. In addition, as shown in the back view of FIG.
Increased size! Triangular notch 84a to make i into a container
.

85a are arranged corresponding to the number of bottles.

Next, a description will be given of the liquid draining part G2 that drains the internal liquid of the increased width lifted by the ring lifter part G1.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 12, the liquid draining section is connected to a plurality of bottle holders 31 arranged and fixed to brackets 29 that connect and protrude from the vertically movable frame F3 by the multi-product handling unit U. , a drain pipe 30 vertically inserted through the holder 31, and a pair of upper and lower electrodes 37 and 38, which are gas-liquid detection sensors provided above the pipe 30.

Tighten the bottle holder 31 to the bracket 29 and tighten the nut 34.
The bottle holder 31 has a substantially cylindrical cavity inside thereof, and a pressurized gas connecting pipe 31b is attached to the upper side of the bottle holder 31 so as to communicate with the cavity. The rear end of the connecting pipe 31b is connected to a pressure gas supply source via a connecting pipe (not shown) and a valve that can be opened and closed in response to a signal from the gas-liquid detection sensor. This operation is performed for each convex liquid drain pipe 30, so that in the present invention, liquid is drained for each liquid drain pipe 30.

And, on the lower side of the holder 31, there is a pin 31 a +
31a is provided in a protruding and fixed manner. An elastic packing 31d for sealing the gap with the pipe 30 inserted into the cavity is fitted therein, and a ring-shaped elastic body 33 having a hole of a predetermined shape in the center is fitted into the lower end. As shown in FIG. 13(b), a notch 33b is provided at the center of the elastic body 33 so as to leave a rib 33a that comes into contact with the outer circumference of the drain pipe 30.
Through this, compressed gas is supplied to the head space above the bottle 7, and this compressed gas presses the liquid level of the bottle container.
The liquid can be drained through the communication hole of the liquid drain pipe 3o. Then, the peripheral edge of the elastic body 33 is pressed from below, and the pin 31a is pressed to ensure a secure seal.
, 31a of the bottle holder 31. The elastic pressing member 32 has a notch (FIG. 13) that engages with the pin 31a of the bottle holder 31.

31a.

A liquid drain pipe 30 inserted into such a bottle holder 31
The upper part of the is fixed to the collection pipe 39.

A nut 35a is connected to the sleeve 36 which is connected and fixed.

35b.

A pair of upper and lower sensors 37 are provided on the upper side of the sleeve 36.
, 38 are inserted, and the tips of the sensors 37 and 38 are respectively provided in the hollow part of the sleeve 36 so as to face each other at a predetermined distance, and by measuring the conductivity between the upper and lower electrodes, Whether the fluid passing upward through the hollow part is liquid or gas can be determined by tl.

To explain how to quantify this sensor 36.37,
An insert support 37b having a threaded portion H on the outer peripheral surface is fixed to the side surface of the sleeve 36, a seal rubber stopper 37 is fitted into this, and a sensor 37 is inserted into the inside of this rubber stopper 37d. The tip of the sensor insert 37c is fitted, and the sensor insert 37c is pressed by a push-in nut 37a screwed onto the insert support 37b.

By the way, a resin ball 30 is installed inside the tip of the drain pipe 30 for draining liquid to prevent backflow of the liquid inside the pipe 30.
A is inserted, and a pin 30b is fixed to prevent the ball 30a from flying upward during draining.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 9, such liquid draining pipes 30 are provided in accordance with the pitch P1 of the spacing worms 11, and corresponding to the number of seeds in a set to which liquid is to be returned (six).

Next, the operation of the container liquid recovery device according to the present invention as described above will be explained below.

Bottles 7 placed on the chain conveyor 2 and conveyed while being guided by bottle guides 4a and 4b provided along the conveyance path are divided into a predetermined number of bottles by a star wheel unit 5 installed adjacent to the conveyor 2. is stored, and from this stored bottle, a set of 6 pieces is supplied corresponding to the number of liquids to be processed by the liquid return unit G. That is, by locking the drive shaft of the star wheel 5a provided in the star wheel unit 5 and stopping its rotation, a plurality of bottles are temporarily stored in a single row in a conveyance path, and then the bottles are stored in a single row as described below. Upon receiving the signal that the liquid return 1 operation of the liquid return unit G is completed, the rotation drive shaft of the star wheel 5a is locked.
Six bottles were released from the stored bottles due to line pressure on the bottles.

It is supplied to the next process. After that, star foil 5a again
The drive shaft of is locked, and the bottle is stored by the star foil 5a until a signal is received to complete the next liquid return operation.

When the six bottles are supplied, the number of bottles to be supplied is counted by a bottle detection mechanism provided in or near the star wheel unit 5.

In this way, the six bottles form a set of intermediate supplies and are conveyed to the next uncorking unit E.

Here, two upper and lower spacing worms 10 and 11 provided in the unit E are rotating, and one side of the bottle 7 is inserted into a groove spirally provided on the outer peripheral surface of the worms 10 and 11. While engaging, the six-wooden bottles 7 are conveyed in alignment while keeping the bottle spacing of the deflection pitch while sliding the side surface of the other bottle 7 in sliding contact with the bottle guides 4a, 4a, and the shaft 18 is conveyed on the conveyance path. The crown 8 placed on the head of the transport bottle 7 is uncorked by the uncorking head 60 provided on the outer periphery of the rotary extraction body 6 rotating at the center. This uncorking state will be explained in more detail based on FIGS. 14(a) to (c). The uncorking head 60 provided on the outer periphery of the rotary uncorking body 6 is spaced so that the head of the bottle 7 enters. The rotation of the worm and the rotation of the corking head 60 are synchronized, and as shown in FIG. The tip 67a of the claw body 67 of the cap removal head 60 engages with the lip 8a of the crown 8 fixed to the head of the bottle 7. Next, when the bottle 7 is further conveyed, the crown 8 completely enters into the recess 66 of the cap removal head 60, as shown in FIG. Then, when the bottle 7 is further conveyed and reaches the rear end of the contact area as shown in FIG.
It is attracted by the magnet 61 provided on the inner surface of the recess 66 of the cap removal head 60, and rotates while being held within the four parts 66.

As shown in 2, the bottle 7 conveyed at an eccentric pitch by the spacing worms 10°11 is uncorked by the rotating extractor 6, and at the time of uncorking, the bottle 7 is conveyed by the two spacing worms 10°11. The bottle guide 34a or the bottle guide 22 with a shutter provided opposite to the bottle guide 34a or the bottle guide 22 with shutters hold the bottle in a sandwiched state.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, when the cork removal head 60 rotates to the position of the crown release mechanism having the engagement roller 72, the arm portion 6 of the release member 62 of the cork removal head 6o
2b comes into contact with the engagement roller 72.

Then, the arm portion 62b rotates against the elastic force of the spring 65, and the crown 8, which had been held by the magnet 61, is released from the release member 62 from within the four portions 66 of the cap removal head 6o.
The crown is blown off by the forked portion 62a and falls into a receiver (not shown) disposed below the crown release mechanism.

The crown 8, which is likened to the head of the bottle 7 which is thus transported in the funeral procession by the spacing worm 10°11, is
All of the caps are removed by the cap removal head 60 provided on the rotary extractor 6, but this may not be done due to reasons such as (i'T).

For this purpose, a reject unit R is provided next, and a crown detection switch 21 provided at the top of the unit R detects the presence or absence of a crown on the bottle. Regarding the bottle F, which is referred to as an uncorked bottle 7a, the uncorked bottle 7a is discharged from the conveyance path according to the procedure shown in FIGS. 15 to 18.

That is, as shown in FIG. 15, when the uncorked bottle 7a is conveyed to the position of the initial release device 52 by the spacing worm 11, the shutter plate 24 that slides and projects from the shutter-equipped bottle guide 22 is moved by a rod (not shown). It is slid in the direction of the arrow (b) by the pressure cylinder, and the inlet 53b of the discharge bottle storage section 53 is in an open state as shown in FIG.

And the extrusion plate 5 provided in the ejection device 52
2b is moved forward by a rodless cylinder (not shown), and the uncorked bottle 7a is pushed into the discharge bottle storage section 53 (FIG. 17).

Thereafter, the push-out plate 52b retreats, the shirt flap plate 24 slides back to its original state, and the inlet 53b of the discharge bottle storage section 53 is closed (FIG. 18).

As shown in step 2, the incorrectly uncorked bottles 7a are removed from the conveyance path, but on the other hand, the bottles whose corks were successfully uncorked are
Normal reloading is performed while the push-out plate 52b and shirt flap plate 24 are not operated and the state shown in FIG. 18 is maintained.

The bottle 7 is conveyed to the next liquid return unit G via the extract unit R as shown in FIG.

Here, among the six bottles, the first bottle is in the liquid lifter section G1.
When the spacing worm 11 reaches a predetermined position, the rotation of the spacing worm 11 is stopped, and the bottle support tJ of the bottle lift part G1 is thereby stopped.
Six bottles are held stationary and lined up at intervals of the pitch P1 of the spacing worm 11 on the i-shaped rack 92 (FIGS. 8 and 10) (FIGS. 8 and 9).

Thereafter, the entire bottle is lifted upward by the stroke of the cylinder 96, and the liquid drain pipe 30 of the liquid drain part G2 is inserted into each bottle (FIGS. 9 and 12). Then, as shown in FIG. 12, the upper end of the widening part is press-sealed to the bottom surface of the elastic body 33, while the bottom surface of the whitening part is sealed.
The tip of the liquid draining pipe 30 is inserted slightly above this point, so that there is no remaining liquid after draining the liquid.

After the bottle has risen in this way, pressurized gas such as carbon dioxide gas is supplied from the pressurized gas connection pipe 31b, and this presses the liquid level inside the bottle, causing the liquid inside the bottle to drain to the tip of the drain pipe 30. The liquid then ascends inside the pipe, passes through the recovery pipe 39, and is returned to an internal liquid recovery tank (not shown).

During this liquid return, the conductivity between the electrodes of electrode sensors 37 and 38 provided in a pair above and below on the side surface of the sleeve 36 connected to the rear end of the liquid drain pipe 30 is measured, and the conductivity between the electrodes of the electrode sensors 37 and 38 is measured. It detects whether it is a liquid or a gas, and when the whitening internal liquid is completely discharged and what passes through the sensor part changes from liquid to gas, the supply of pressurized gas from the pressurized gas connection pipe 31b is stopped at 11- I can't stand it. Since this liquid draining operation is performed by detecting every three bottles, that is, every pipe 30, there is no problem caused by the difference in liquid draining time of each pipe as in the conventional case.

After all the bottles (six bottles) have been drained as described in step 2, these bottles are lowered to the original conveyance path by the retraction of the rod of the air cylinder 96.

Then, the spacing ohm 11 starts rotating, and the bottles (6 bottles) from which liquid has been drained are transported to the next process, and at the same time, the 6 bottles stored in the upper row are transferred by the star foil unit 5. is the plug removal unit E1. :supplied,
These six newly supplied bottles will be uncorked and uncorked as described above.
The liquid is drained.

In this example, the liquid draining pipe is fixed and the bottle from which liquid is drained is moved up and down.
Compared to the case where the pipe is movable up and down, sanitary problems such as liquid remaining in the flexible tube do not occur in the middle of the drain piping, especially in the flexible tube.

Next, it is provided at the lower part of the frame F3 (FIGS. 4 and 12) of the plug removal unit E and liquid return unit G, and the whole unit E and frame F3 can be moved up and down.
The operation of the multi-product compatible unit U whose height can be set will be explained.

This unit U has a spacing worm of 10.11 in response to changes in the type of bottles to be transported, especially changes in bottle height.
A plug removal unit E integrally equipped with a four-turn plug removal body 6, etc.
The frame F3, which adjusts the overall height and the contact height of the bottle n part of the liquid draining unit, is adjusted and fixed as desired as an integrated unit, and this operation is performed based on Fig. 19 (a) and (b). explain. In these figures, the eccentric cam 44 supporting the plug removal unit E etc. from the bottom is connected to the shaft 41.
For example, as shown in FIG. 19(a), a large-sized bottle 7I with a length L is rotated by a row actuator (not shown) connected to the bottle 7I. Let us consider the case where the cap is placed on the conveyance path and transported through the uncorking unit E. In this case, when the height from the axis 41 of the eccentric cam to the top surface of the eccentric cam is 11, the height of the crown of the bottle 7g exactly coincides with the lowest point of the circular motion locus of the four-turn capper 6, and normal capping operation is possible. It is being done.

After that, consider the case where the ring size is changed to a small bottle 7S having a length L2 as shown in FIG. 19(b).

In this case, since the height of the conveyance path H1 does not change, in order to operate the capping unit E continuously, the entire capping unit E must be lowered by the height LIL corresponding to the change in bottle size. Therefore, by rotating the low reactuator by a predetermined angle, the eccentric cam 44 is rotated by the same angle, and when the relationship LIL -N12 is satisfied, the rotation of the zero reactor is stopped, and the eccentric cam 44 is rotated by the same angle as shown in the figure. The height from the cam shaft 41 to the top surface of the eccentric cam is fixed at 92.

In conjunction with this, as shown in Fig. 12, the frame F3 also moves upward, which moves the abutment position of the upper end surface of the bottle n part up and down, and the height adjustment for changing the bottle size is performed integrally. Become (
L3-L4).

By rotating the eccentric cam in this manner, the height of the uncorking unit E etc. can be arbitrarily set, making it possible to uncork a wide variety of bottles.

The height adjustable range of the multi-product compatible unit U is as follows:
These values vary depending on the size of the eccentric cam and its eccentricity, and these values may be set appropriately depending on the type of bottle, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the above-described structure, the present invention inserts a liquid drain pipe into each of the containers, supplies pressurized gas to the upper space of each container to increase the liquid level, and drains the liquid inside each container. When recovering liquid to a recovery tank via the internal communication hole of the liquid return pipe, a gas-liquid detection sensor is provided inside the communication hole of the liquid drain pipe to detect when the liquid is drained completely, that is, when the fluid passing through the inside of the pipe is liquid. The liquid drain is controlled so that the supply of the pressurized gas is stopped based on this signal. Moreover, this control is performed every 3 ill extraction pipes.

Therefore, unlike in the past, pressurized gas is not continuously supplied even though there is no internal liquid, so for example, the quality of the beer may deteriorate due to bubbling or foaming in the stored beer. No problems arise.

Further, according to the present invention, an uncorking step is provided before the liquid draining step, which allows the device to be made compact, and the bottle container with the crown attached can be removed immediately after being uncorked. The liquid inside the bottle is drained and collected,
There will be no quality problems due to contamination with droplets.

Further, in the present invention, the cap removal unit is integrated, and a mechanism is provided for integrally adjusting the height of the entire unit and the contact height of the tip of the container opening of the liquid removal unit. Therefore, it is very easy to cope with changes in bottle height when changing the types of containers, especially when changing the types of containers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the container liquid recovery device according to the present invention, and FIG.
4 are a plan view, a left side view, and a right side view of FIG. 1, respectively, FIG. 5 is a front view of the plug removal unit and reject unit of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a side view of the beam rejection unit, and FIG. The figure is a plan view of FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a front view of the bottle lifter part G1 of the liquid return unit G, FIG. 9 is a front view of the liquid drain part G2 of the liquid return unit G, and FIG. 10 is the figure 8. The side view of FIG. 11(a) is x I (a)-X I of FIG.
(a) Arrow view, FIG. 11 (b) is the X I (
+1) - (b) is shown in Figure 13 (a)
), FIGS. 14(a), (b), and (c) are explanatory diagrams of the uncorking operation, respectively. FIGS. 15 to 18 are explanatory diagrams of the bottle discharging operation, respectively, and FIGS. ) are explanatory diagrams of the operations of the multi-product compatible unit. E... Uncork unit, R... Reject unit,
U: Multi-product compatible unit, G: Liquid return unit,
2... Chain conveyor, 4a, 4b... Bottle guide, 6... Rotating capper removal body, 60... Capper removal head, 61.
...Magnet, 62...Release member, 7...Bottle container, 8.
... Crown, 10°11 ... Spacing worm, 1
2,13.15...Pulley, 14...Timing belt, 17...Reducer, 21...Crown detection switch, 22...Bottle guide with shutter, 24...Shutter plate, 25... ...Rodless cylinder, 30...Drainage pipe, 31...Bottle opening holder, 31a...Protruding pin,
31b... Pressure gas connection pipe, 31C... Pressure lid,
31d...Packing, 32...Elastic body pressing member, 3
3... Elastic body, 34... Tightening nut, 35a.
... Pipe support nut, 35b... Nut, 37a.
... Push-in nut, 37b ... Insert body support, 37
c...Sensor insert, 37d...Packing, 36.
...Sleeve, 37.38...Electrode, 3...Recovery pipe, 40...Low reactor, 44...
・Eccentric cam, 51...Rodless cylinder, 52...
・Ejection device, 52b... Extrusion plate, 53...
・Discharge bottle storage section, 80... Cylinder for fixing the increase number, 81
...Connecting plate, 82c, 87c...Rack, 83.8
6... Connection plate, 84. R5... holding plate, 88...
Pinion, 89... Pinion shaft, 90... Enlargement fixing casing, 91... Bottom plate, 92... Bottle support plate,
93.95... Cylinder bracket fixing plate, 94...
- First support plate, 96... cylinder, 97... pack joining frame. Applicant's representative Yasushi Ishikawa Male prisoner Z7 Sheep episode (a) Quick map (Q) (No.) No.! 3 Article semi-circle ill r21 (a) 13th

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A transport/stop mechanism that transports a plurality of containers at regular intervals and stops them at a predetermined position, and a plurality of containers located above the transport path and hanging down corresponding to the containers that are transported at regular intervals. A liquid drain pipe provided as a liquid drain pipe, a gas-liquid detection sensor provided inside the communication hole of the liquid drain pipe, and an insertion device for inserting the liquid drain pipe into the inside of the container whose conveyance has been stopped by the conveyance/stopping mechanism. and a pressurized gas supply mechanism that is provided for each of the liquid drain pipes and that arbitrarily switches to supply/stop pressurized gas to the upper space of the container after inserting the liquid drain pipe into the container, A drain pipe is inserted into the inside of the container that has been conveyed and stopped hanging down, and pressurized gas is supplied to the upper space of the container to pressurize the liquid surface, thereby draining the internal liquid through the drain pipe communication hole and establishing communication. A container liquid recovery device characterized in that the liquid in the container is recovered by detecting the point at which the fluid passing through the hole changes from liquid to gas using the gas-liquid detection sensor for each liquid drain pipe. 2. A cap removal unit that removes the crown placed on the container;
a liquid return unit connected to the cap removal unit and recovering the internal liquid stored inside the container, the cap removal unit comprising:
It has a conveyance mechanism for conveying a plurality of containers at regular intervals and holding the containers when uncorking the containers, and a rotary disc-shaped rotary uncorking body located above the conveyance path, A plurality of cork removal units having claws that can be engaged with a crown placed on the container are provided at a predetermined pitch on the outer periphery, and the liquid return unit transports the plurality of containers at a predetermined interval. A conveyance/stop mechanism that stops at a certain position, a plurality of liquid drain pipes that are located above the conveyance path and are provided to hang down corresponding to regular intervals of the containers to be conveyed, and each of which is provided inside the communication hole of the liquid drain pipe. The gas-liquid detection sensor and the conveyance/liquid detection sensor
an insertion mechanism for inserting the drain pipe into the container whose conveyance has been stopped by the stop mechanism; and an insertion mechanism provided for each drain pipe to arbitrarily switch pressurized gas to the upper space of the container after inserting the drain pipe into the container. and a pressurized gas supply mechanism capable of supplying and stopping the gas supply at the same time, and after the claw body is engaged with the crown in the contact area between the container conveying linear movement of the cap removal unit and the circular movement of the claw body of the rotary cap removal body and the crown is peeled off. Immediately, the liquid drain pipe is inserted into the container that is transported and stopped at a position below the liquid drain pipe of the liquid return unit, and the liquid drain pipe is connected by supplying pressurized gas to the upper space of the container and pressurizing the liquid surface. Liquid recovery in a container characterized by draining the liquid through the hole, detecting the point at which the fluid passing through the communication hole changes from liquid to gas for each drain pipe, and recovering the liquid in the container. Device. 3. A rotatable eccentric cam is provided below the cap removal unit equipped with the rotary cap removal body according to the second claim and below the liquid draining part of the liquid draining unit, and by rotating the eccentric cam. , a liquid in a container, characterized in that the height of the whole uncorking unit and the contact height of the liquid draining part of the liquid draining unit with the upper end surface of the container mouth are adjusted and fixed, so that it can correspond to changing the type of transport container. Collection device.