JPH0249999B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a liquid filling device that can be applied to bottling machines and the like.

(Prior Art) FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional bottom filling bottling valve. Further, FIG. 2 shows the change in the filling flow rate when filling the container with liquid, and FIG. 3 shows the state in which the liquid is spouted from the filling pipe. In FIG. 1, a filling device 10
is fixed below the outlet 11 at the bottom of a ring-shaped liquid chamber 12 belonging to a rotary filling machine (not shown). A further return gas chamber 14 also communicates with the atmosphere via an opening 13, as well as a pressure gas chamber 1.
5 is combined with the liquid chamber 12 to form a structural unit forming the upper part of the machine.

The filling device 10 also includes a valve body 18 connected to the outside in a space 16 located concentrically with the outlet 11.
and a liquid valve consisting of a spring 19 for pushing it up and a valve seat 17 for sealing the liquid. However, when the liquid is not being filled, the valve body 18 is pressed against the valve seat 17 by a lever (not shown) or the like that is interlocked with the outside to stop the liquid from flowing out.
A filling pipe 21 protruding downward from the filling device 10 is inserted into a hole 20 connected to the space 16 below the valve seat 17 .

Further, the lower part of the filling device 10 has a ring 22 made of an elastic material such as rubber. It is designed to maintain airtightness between the two.

A return gas passage 24 is attached to the filling pipe 21 and extends along the pipe wall and has a hole 25 on the side. It has been extended to This self-closing ball valve 26 consists of a ball 27 and a protrusion 28 supporting it. The gas in the container 38 passes through the valve chamber of the self-closing ball valve 26 and the passage 29, and then enters the valve 3.
It reaches 0.36.

On the downstream side of the valves 30 and 36 (in the direction of the return gas chamber 14 communicating from the container 38 to the atmosphere), there is a throttle 31 with a hole diameter that allows gas to escape at a high flow rate.
and a throttle 33 with a small hole diameter capable of escaping gas at a low flow rate, each communicating with a return gas chamber 14 open to the atmosphere. Return gas chamber 14
has the role of separating the mist in the exhaust. Further, the valve 35 is a valve that opens and closes to make the pressure in the liquid chamber 12 and the container 38 the same, and gas flows from the pressure gas chamber 15 through the passage 34 and into the container 38.

The operation of the conventional method will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. First, the container 38 is pressed against the filling device by an elevating device (not shown), and the container opening is pressed against the filling device. closely followed. Next, the valve body 1 is
8 to the valve seat 17 is released.

At this time, the spring 19 acts to pull the valve body 18 upward, but the valve 18 does not open due to the pressure in the pressurized liquid chamber 12. When the valve 35 is opened, pressure gas flows from the pressure gas chamber 15 through the passage 34 and the hole 23 into the container 38. When the pressure in the container 38 approaches the pressure in the pressure gas chamber 15, the force of the spring 19 overcomes the pressure in the liquid chamber 12, the valve 18 opens, and liquid begins to flow into the container 38 through the filling tube 21.

Then, when the valve 35 is closed and the valve 36 is opened, the gas in the container 38 is released from the hole 25 → passage 24 → ball self-closing valve 26.
→ Passage 29 → Valve 36 → Passage 37 → Throttle 33 → Return gas chamber 14 to escape to the atmosphere. Along with this, the liquid flows from the liquid chamber 12 into the container 38 through the space 16 → the valve 18 → the filling pipe 21. The filling flow rate Q at this time is determined by the diameter of the throttle 33 and falls in a low speed range ( ). If the filling flow rate Q remains in the low speed range ( ), the inflow speed is slow, so no bubbles are generated in the liquid, and good filling is possible. However, since it takes time to complete filling, the production capacity of the filled containers is reduced.

Therefore, in order to shorten the filling time, the container 38
When the liquid inside soaks the lower end of the filling tube 21, the valve 30
open. When the valve 30 is opened, the orifice 31 with a large hole diameter opens.
Since a high flow rate of gas rapidly returns and escapes into the gas chamber 14, the flow rate Q of liquid filling the container 38 increases rapidly accordingly.

FIG. 2 shows the change in the filling flow rate Q over time t. In FIG. 2, when the valve 36 is opened, the filling flow rate Q is determined by the throttle 33, and the low speed region () becomes the filling flow rate at that time.
When the valve 30 is subsequently opened, the filling flow rate Q is determined by the throttle 31 and the throttle 33, and the high speed range () becomes the corresponding filling flow rate.

In the high speed range ( ), the amount of liquid in the container 38 increases rapidly and reaches the hole 25 . The liquid further flows through the hole 25 through the return gas passage 24 and reaches the self-closing ball valve 26. When the liquid reaches the self-closing ball valve 26, the ball 27, which is lighter than the liquid, is lifted up and the passage 27 is closed. This closes all the passages for gas and liquid to escape, stopping the inflow of liquid.

Thereafter, valves 18, 30, 36 are closed, and container 38
The liquid filling operation is completed. Next, container 38
The internal pressure is released to the atmosphere by a device not shown, and then lowered by a lifting device (not shown).
The process is then transferred to the step of capping the container 38. The well-known bottled valve disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 52-10063 has the following drawbacks.

That is, in FIG. 3, the flow of liquid ejected from the filling tube 21 shows a flow pattern as indicated by arrow a, in which the liquid collides with the bottom of the container 38 and then rises along the side wall of the container 38. With such a flow pattern, the filling flow rate Q, that is, the filling tube 21
A sudden change in the velocity of the flow jetting out affects the liquid level 40 and causes it to ripple. Furthermore, when the change in the filling flow rate Q is increased, the ripples on the liquid level 40 become larger and the liquid level 40 becomes more undulating.
Bubbles 41a and 41b are taken in from 0.

Next, in a bottling valve that stops filling the liquid when the liquid level reaches the fixed position of the hole 25, which is the entrance of the return gas passage 24, if there are large bubbles 41a in the liquid, the actual filling amount will be smaller than when there are no large bubbles 41a. becomes less.
That is, the filling amount is insufficient due to the presence of the bubbles 41a, which causes variations. In addition, if there are small bubbles 41b in the liquid, a large amount of bubbles will be generated when the inside of the container 38 of carbonated drinks is opened to the atmosphere, causing serious problems during liquid filling, such as the liquid in the container 38 boiling over and causing insufficient filling. This becomes a problem.

The above-mentioned problems become more pronounced as the maximum value of the filling flow rate Q in the high speed range () is increased. Therefore, there is a limit to the filling flow rate Q in the high speed range ( ), and it is not possible to shorten the filling time from the start to the end of liquid filling. That is, there were drawbacks such as the inability to increase the production capacity of filled containers.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional device, the filling flow rate Q is in the low speed range ()
If the switching from the high speed range () to the high speed range (2) is suddenly performed, the liquid level 40 in the container will ripple and bubbles will be drawn in, resulting in a limit to the filling flow rate Q in the high speed range (2).
Furthermore, if the timing of switching from the low speed range () to the high speed range () is delayed to raise the liquid level in the container, the limit of the filling flow rate Q that does not involve air bubbles in the high speed range () will also increase; There were problems such as the inability to realize the

The present invention takes means to fill the liquid at a low flow rate at the beginning of filling, and after a certain period of time, to continuously increase the filling flow rate by using an on-off valve whose flow path cross-sectional area changes according to the stroke displacement of the valve body. This is an attempt to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.

(Means for Solving the Problems) For this reason, the present invention provides for a liquid chamber below a liquid chamber containing carbonated drinking water or the like to which gas pressure such as carbon dioxide gas acts.
The liquid chamber communicates through a communication path at the bottom of the liquid chamber, is provided on the outlet side of the communication path, and is controlled to open and close by a valve opening force from a spring and a valve closing force from an external force, and is inserted into a container for filling liquid. a pressurizing passage that communicates a liquid filling pipe provided at the liquid chamber position with a pressure gas chamber provided at the liquid chamber position and a container inlet, and is provided with an on-off valve that is opened and closed by an external control means in the middle; a gas passage provided in parallel with the liquid filling pipe, one end opening into the container and the other end communicating with the atmosphere; and a material provided in the middle of the gas passage and having a specific gravity smaller than the specific gravity of the liquid to be filled. The on-off valve is connected in series with the buoyant on-off valve, and the amount of displacement of the valve body is controlled by an external control means, and the amount of displacement of the valve body is controlled according to the displacement of the valve body. It is equipped with a flow rate adjustment valve that can continuously change the passage from fully closed to fully open, and is configured to fill the liquid at a low flow rate at the beginning of filling, and to continuously increase the filling flow rate after a certain period of time. , this is a means to solve problems.

(Operation) The flow of liquid ejected from the liquid filling pipe collides with the bottom of the container and flows upward along the side wall surface. When the lower end of the liquid filling tube is not immersed in the liquid level in the container, the ejected liquid will collide with the liquid level, so in this region, if the filling flow rate Q is set to a high speed range, air bubbles will be entrained. . In addition, if the high speed region is set immediately after the lower end of the filling tube is immersed in the liquid surface, the liquid flow rate in the filling tube will increase.
Negative pressure is generated based on Bernoulli's theorem, and the flow rate of the liquid rising on the side wall of the container increases, causing the liquid surface to ripple and entrain air bubbles. Therefore, the timing of switching from the low speed range to the high speed range is delayed as the filling flow rate Q in the high speed range increases, and is performed when the amount of liquid in the container increases.

In the present invention, when the rod of the on-off valve, which is directly connected to the throttle, is pushed by an external control means to move one stroke, the gas in the container flows out through the pressurizing passage and through the valve body of the on-off valve and the throttle. This time is the low speed range ('). Also, when the lower end of the liquid filling pipe is immersed in the liquid level, push the on-off valve rod, and if you push the on-off valve rod further, the filling flow rate Q will change according to the opening area of the valve body and valve seat. . There is a proportional relationship between the submerged height of the liquid filling tube and the filling flow rate Q which is the limit for bubble entrainment (although it varies depending on the shape of the container), so if the filling flow rate Q is increased as the filling time elapses, The filling time is shortened by simply changing the filling flow rate Q in two steps.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a liquid filling device showing an example of the present invention. Further, a detailed view of the flow control valve 50 is shown in FIG. Now, in FIG. 4, except for the flow rate control valve 50 provided between the return gas escape direction passage 29 and the return gas chamber 14, it is exactly the same as the conventional bottling valve shown in FIG. The explanation of is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the flow control valve 50 has a valve seat 52 having a tapered portion, a conical valve body, and a compression spring 54 for pressing the valve body 51 against the valve seat 52 for sealing. There is. Further, a rod 53 is provided on the valve body 51 and protrudes to the outside. Since the rod 53 is moved in the axial direction by a cam or the like (not shown), the gap between the valve body 51 and the valve seat 52 is also changed.

Next, to explain the operation, the filling flow rate Q in the present invention
FIG. 6 shows the change in time t. Figure 4~
In FIG. 6, as in the conventional method, when the container 38 is pressed against the filling device 10 and the valves 35 and 18 are opened, liquid begins to flow from the liquid chamber 12 through the space 16 and the filling tube 21 into the container 38. Here valve 35
shall be closed.

Next, when the rod 53 is slightly moved in the direction of arrow A by a cam or the like (not shown), a gap is created between the valve body 51 and the valve seat 52, and low-speed filling begins. After the filling liquid level reaches the tip of the filling tube 21, the rod 53 is further continuously moved in the direction of arrow A. In this way, depending on the gap between the valve body 51 and the valve seat 52, the gas in the container 38 will flow from the hole 25 → passage 24 → self-closing ball valve 26 → passage 29 → flow rate control valve 50 → passage 5.
5→Return gas is passed through chamber 14 and released to the atmosphere.
Note that the filling flow rate of liquid from the liquid chamber 12 to the container 38 is proportional to the amount of gas escaping.

Liquid filling into container 38 is completed (same as conventional method)
After that, close the valve 18 and release the pressing force of the rod 53 in the direction of arrow A. By the action of the compression spring 54, the valve body 51 moves in the direction of arrow B and comes into contact with the valve seat 52, and the flow rate control valve 50 is closed again.

As mentioned above, the filling flow rate of the liquid is proportional to the gap between the valve body 51 and the valve seat 52, so by changing the gap, that is, the moving speed of the rod 53 in the direction of arrow A, the filling flow rate Q can be continuously (linearly) or a curve).

In addition to the embodiments described above, there are various mechanisms for continuously changing the filling flow rate Q, and these are shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 as second to fourth embodiments. The structure and operation of each embodiment will be described below based on the figures.

First, in FIG. 7, the flow control valve 50a has a valve body 51a integral with a rod 53a. Valve body 51
a has a flange 51a-1 on the top of the head, and
The space between the holes is cylindrical and loosely fits into the hole of the valve seat 52a without any gaps, and the tip thereof is conical. Further, 56a is a pore provided in the valve body 51a, and the opening 56a is a pore provided in the valve body 51a.
6a-1 is provided between the cylindrical portions l. Normally, the valve body 51a is pressed against the valve seat 52a by the action of the compression spring 54a, and the flow rate control valve 50a is closed. The return gas coming from the self-closing ball valve 26 passes through a passage 29 and enters an inlet gas chamber 57a, and the return gas chamber 14 is connected to an outlet gas chamber 58a through a passage 55.

Adjustment of the liquid filling flow rate Q, that is, the escape flow rate of gas in the container 38, is performed as follows. That is, when the rod 53a is first moved by a distance l in the direction of arrow A, the inlet gas chamber 57a and the valve body 51a
The openings 56a-1 of the holes 56a are connected, and gas enters the outlet gas chamber 58a through the holes 56a, and the passage 55→return gas chamber 14→opens to the atmosphere. This state is the low speed range (').

Next, when the rod 53a is further continuously moved in the direction of arrow A, the conical portion of the valve body 51a and the valve seat 52a
The gap between the two parts gradually becomes larger, and gas also passes through the outlet gas chamber 58a from this part and is released to the atmosphere via the passage 55. Therefore, the filling flow rate Q also gradually increases (high speed range (')). In the above manner, the filling flow rate change as shown in FIG. 6 can be created.

In FIG. 8, a cylindrical valve body 51b is provided instead of the conical valve body 51a in FIG. 7, and a tapered groove 60b (inlet gas chamber 57
The cross-sectional area of the groove is larger on the outlet gas chamber 58a side than on the a) side. In this case, the gas escape passage at high velocity (') is the tapered groove 60b and the hole 56a.

In FIG. 9, a spiral taper groove 60c is machined into the valve body 51c instead of the straight taper groove 60b.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the present invention is configured as explained in detail above, when switching the filling flow rate Q from the low speed range (') to the high speed range ('), the filling flow rate Q is gradually increased at first, and the liquid in the container is By reducing surface ripples and eliminating air bubbles from the air-liquid interface, quiet liquid filling is possible. (There are few ripples on the liquid surface.)

If no air bubbles are taken in, there will be no insufficient filling of the container, and even if the inside of the container is opened to the atmosphere at the end of filling, fewer bubbles will be generated. Furthermore, by continuously increasing the filling flow rate Q in the high speed range (') without setting a limit, it is possible to shorten the filling time, that is, to obtain a liquid filling valve with high production capacity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional bottom filling bottling valve, Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating the filling flow rate in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an explanation showing the state in which liquid is ejected from the filling pipe. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a liquid filling device showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 5 is a detailed view of the flow rate control valve in Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a line explaining the filling flow rate in Fig. 4. Figures 7, 8 and 9
Each figure is a cross-sectional view of a flow control valve of a different embodiment from FIG. 5. Explanation of main parts of the figure, 10...Filling device, 12
...Liquid chamber, 14...Gas chamber, 18...Valve body, 2
1... Filling pipe, 24... Return gas passage, 26...
Self-closing ball valve, 29...passage, 35...valve, 38...
Container, 50...Flow control valve, 51...Valve body, 52
... Valve seat, 53 ... Rod, 54 ... Compression spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The lower part of the liquid chamber containing carbonated beverages, etc., on which gas pressure such as carbon dioxide gas acts, communicates with the outlet at the bottom of the liquid chamber via a communication passage, and a spring installed on the outlet side of the communication passage. The opening and closing are controlled by the valve opening force caused by the valve opening force and the valve closing force caused by the external force, and the liquid filling pipe inserted into the container for filling the liquid communicates with the pressure gas chamber provided at the liquid chamber position and the container inlet. , a pressurizing passage provided with an on-off valve that is controlled to open and close by an external control means, and a pressurizing passage provided in parallel with the liquid filling pipe, one end of which opens into the container and the other end of which is exposed to the atmosphere. A gas passage that communicates with the gas passage, an on-off valve that opens and closes using its own weight and the buoyant force acting on a valve body made of a material with a specific gravity smaller than the specific gravity of the liquid to be filled, which is installed in the middle of the gas passage, and is connected in series with the buoyant on-off valve. A flow rate regulating valve is connected to the valve body and the displacement amount of the valve body is controlled by an external control means, and the passage can be continuously changed from fully closed to fully open according to the displacement of the valve body. At the beginning of filling, fill at a low flow rate,
A liquid filling device characterized by continuously increasing the filling flow rate after a certain period of time.