JPH0250353B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a rotary joint that allows fluid to flow between fluid passages formed in the housing and the rotating member while allowing the rotating member to rotate with respect to the housing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a rotary joint in which the sealing surface between the housing and the rotating member can be washed.

"Prior Art" A rotary joint for circulating fluid has been used in rotary quantitative filling devices, etc., and usually includes a fluid passage formed in the housing and a joint formed in the housing around the open end of the fluid passage. a fluid passage formed in a rotary member that is rotatably provided; and a seal face formed on the rotary member around the open end of the fluid passage, and the seal face is brought into sliding contact with the housing. Fluid is allowed to flow between the two fluid passages while allowing rotation of the rotating member.

``Problems to be Solved by the Invention'' However, in the past, when cleaning the rotary joint, it was usually done by simply flowing a cleaning liquid through the fluid passage. Since cleaning of the sealing surface is insufficient, it is necessary to disassemble the rotary joint for more complete cleaning, which is a complicated process.

"Means for Solving the Problems" In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a moving means for relatively moving the housing and the rotating member to bring the respective sealing surfaces into contact with or away from each other, and A surrounding member is provided on one of the housing and the rotating member, and the other is slidably and rotatably fitted in the surrounding member in the axial direction, so that when the housing and the rotating member come into contact, the housing and the rotating member are provided with a surrounding member. The sealing surfaces are brought into sliding contact, and the space formed between the two sealing surfaces when the housing and the rotating member are separated is surrounded by the surrounding member in a liquid-tight manner.

"Function" According to such a configuration, when cleaning the rotary joint, if the housing and the rotating member are separated from each other and the cleaning liquid is allowed to flow through the fluid passage,
Since the space formed between both seal surfaces is surrounded by the above-mentioned surrounding member, it is possible to wash each seal surface while preventing the cleaning liquid from leaking outside from the space. Washing work can be done quickly and easily.

"Embodiment" Below, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a rotary quantitative filling device will be described. In FIG. 1, a rotary table 3 is rotatably supported on a vertical shaft 2 fixed to a machine frame 1. Air cylinders 4 are provided at equally spaced positions on the outer circumference of the rotary table 3. Each air cylinder 4 is equipped with a fixing member 5 fixed to the rotary table 3, and an elevating member 7 to which is attached an elevating table 6 on which containers are supplied and placed. In the natural state, the lifting table 6 is held at the raised end position.

On the outer periphery of each air cylinder 4 centered on the rotation center of the rotary table 3, a fixed cam 8 is arranged and fixed at a predetermined position along its movement locus, and a cam follower provided on the elevating member 7 9 is engaged with its fixed cam 8 from below,
The lifting member 7 is lowered according to the cam curve of the fixed cam 8 against the upward biasing force of the air cylinder 4, so that the height position of the container supplied onto the lifting table 6 can be controlled. .

A rotary body 10 is provided above the rotary table 3 and rotates integrally with the rotary table 3.
Filling nozzles 12 constituting quantitative filling mechanisms 11 are attached to the outer periphery of the lower surface of the container 0 at positions directly above each of the lifting tables 6. Each quantitative filling mechanism 11 has the above-mentioned filling nozzle 12 that injects the filling liquid into the container carried onto each lifting table 6.
and a measuring cylinder device 1 that sucks a filling liquid supplied from a filling liquid tank (not shown) and fills the sucked filling liquid into a container from the filling nozzle 12.
3, and a valve mechanism 14 that switches and controls the filling liquid flow path between the filling liquid tank and the measuring cylinder device 13.

The rotary body 10 is movable up and down relative to the rotary table 3 so that it can be positioned at the upper end position during normal filling operations and at the lower end position during cleaning operations. That is, cylindrical members 20 and 21 that are slidably fitted to each other are attached to the upper center of the rotary table 3 and the lower center of the rotating body 10, and a key provided on one of the cylindrical members 21 is attached. 22 to the other cylindrical member 2
By engaging with a key groove 23 formed in the axial direction of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body 10, the rotating body 10 and the rotating table 3 are connected to be movable up and down and rotatable.

The screw shaft 24 rotatably supported on the shaft of the cylindrical member 21 is screwed into a nut member 25 fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical member 20, and the screw shaft 24 is attached to a gear. 26, this gear 26
The rotary body 10 is moved up and down with respect to the rotary table 3 by interlocking with a motor (not shown) provided on the rotary body 10 through a gear 27 meshed with the gear 27 and a drive shaft 28 to which the gear 27 is attached. We are making it possible to do so.

The valve mechanism 14 constituting the quantitative filling mechanism 11 has a cylindrical shape fixed to the rotating body 10 at a position directly above each of the lifting tables 6, that is, a position directly above the measuring cylinder device 13, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 2a. It is equipped with a valve block 30,
A lower cylindrical portion of a valve sleeve 31 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the upper end of the valve block 30 so as to be movable up and down and rotatable. The upper end of this valve sleeve 31 is connected to an air cylinder 32 that raises and lowers it, and at the same time, is connected to a drive source (not shown) that rotationally drives it, and the air cylinder 32
is attached to a bracket 33 provided on the rotating body 10.

On the outer peripheral surface of the valve block 30, large diameter parts 30a and 30b are formed on the upper and lower sides, and a small diameter part 30c is formed between both the large diameter parts 30a and 30b. forms three passages 34, 35, and 36 in the axial direction. The lower end of the first passage 34 is communicated with a filling liquid tank (not shown) via the conduit 37 and the rotary joint 38 shown in FIG. 1, and the lower end of the second passage 35 is communicated with the measuring cylinder device 13. and further connect the lower end of the third passage 36 to the conduit 3
It communicates with the filling nozzle 12 via 9.

The upper end of each passage 34 to 36 is connected to the second a
As shown in FIG. 3, the upper large diameter portion 30a of the valve block 30 is opened on the outer circumferential surface, and the passage 35 communicating with the metering cylinder device 13 is connected to the other passages 34, 36. The passages 34 and 36 are located at the center, and both passages 34 and 36 are opened at positions shifted by 90 degrees from the central passage 35 in the circumferential direction.

On the other hand, the inner peripheral surface of the valve sleeve 31 has a large diameter hole 31a above it and a small diameter hole 31 below it.
b, and when filling the passages with the valve sleeve 31 positioned at the rising end by the air cylinder 32, the lower small diameter hole 31b is inserted into each passage 34.
- 36 are brought into sliding contact with the upper large diameter portion 30a of the valve block 30, which is opened. Then, an annular groove 40 is formed in the inner peripheral surface of the lower small diameter hole 31b, which is the sliding surface, over a range of approximately 90 degrees along the circumferential direction, and as shown in FIG. At the first rotation position, the adjacent passages 34 and 35 are communicated via the annular groove 40, and at a second rotation position rotated 90 degrees in a predetermined direction from there, the passages 35 and 36 are communicated with each other. There is.

Therefore, if the valve sleeve 31 is positioned at the first rotational position and the passages 34 and 35 are communicated with each other, the filling liquid tank and the metering cylinder device 13 can be communicated with each other. Filling liquid from the filling liquid tank can be sucked into the metering cylinder device 13 by lowering the piston 45 forming the filling liquid tank. On the other hand, the valve sleeve 31 is positioned at the second rotational position to communicate between the passages 35 and 36, and the metering cylinder device 13
If the piston 45 is raised while communicating with the filling nozzle 12, the measuring cylinder device 13
The filling liquid sucked into the container can now be filled from the filling nozzle 12 into the container.

On the other hand, during cleaning when the valve sleeve 31 is lowered by the air cylinder 32, the second b
As shown in the figure, the upper large diameter portion 30a of the valve block 30 is connected to the upper large diameter hole 31 of the valve sleeve 31.
a, so that the passages 34 to 36 communicate with each other through a gap formed between the outer circumferential surface of the upper large diameter portion 30a and the inner circumferential surface of the upper large diameter hole 31a. Become. Then, the outer peripheral surface of the upper large diameter portion 30a and the lower large diameter hole 3 that were sliding against each other during filling.
The inner peripheral surfaces of 1b are spaced apart from each other so as to form gaps or cleaning passages.

Furthermore, at the same time, the lower small diameter hole 31b of the valve sleeve 31 comes into sliding contact with the lower large diameter part 30b of the valve block 30, so that the cleaning liquid is prevented from leaking to the outside from that part.
In addition, if necessary, a slight gap is formed between the lower small diameter hole 31b and the lower large diameter part 30b so that the required cleaning liquid can leak to the outside through the gap and the part can be sufficiently cleaned. You may also do so.

Next, the metering cylinder device 13 constituting the quantitative filling mechanism 11 includes a cylinder 46 integrally formed at the lower part of the valve block 30, and the piston slidably fitted into the cylinder 46 from below. 45, this piston 4
5 is the rotary table 3 as shown in FIG.
A sliding cam mechanism 47 provided at the bottom of the cam mechanism allows the cam to move up and down.

The sliding cam mechanism 47 includes a ring-shaped swinging frame 48 centered on the axis of the vertical shaft 2, and a rotating frame rotatably provided on the outer periphery of the swinging frame 48 via a ball bearing 49. 50. The above swing frame 4
Reference numeral 8 is provided so as to be able to swing left and right about a rotation axis O that is perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in FIG. I have to.

The rotary frame 50 is provided with rollers 52 at required positions on its outer peripheral surface, and the rollers 52 are respectively engaged in cam grooves 53 integrally provided on the lower surface of the rotary table 3. Each cam groove 53 has a swing frame 48
The roller 52 when the rotating frame 50 is oscillated via the
When the rotary table 3 is rotated, the rotary frame 50 is integrated with the rotary table 3 via the cam groove 53 and the roller 52 regardless of its inclination angle. It is now able to rotate.

The outer periphery of the rotary frame 50 is provided with the same number of connecting parts 54 as the quantitative filling mechanism 11, and each connecting part 54 and the piston 45 of the measuring cylinder device 13 are connected to each other.
are connected to each other via a connecting rod 55.
Therefore, when the rotary frame 50 is rotated together with the rotation of the rotary table 3, the piston 45 is moved by an amount corresponding to the inclination angle of the rotary frame 50 via the connecting portion 54 and the connecting rod 55. The rotary frame 5 is now raised and lowered, and when washing, the rotating frame 5
By locating the piston 0 in the horizontal position, it is possible to make the heights of the pistons 45 the same.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2a, the piston 45 has a large diameter part 45a at its upper end and a small diameter part 45b below this, while the lower end of the cylinder 46 is connected to the large diameter part 45a. A large diameter hole 46b is formed above the small diameter hole 46a which is in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface. During normal filling, the large diameter portion 4 is always
5a and the small diameter hole 46a are brought into sliding contact and that portion is used as a sealing part, and the inside of the cylinder 46 is kept liquid-tight by a sealing member 60 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the small diameter hole 46a.

On the other hand, when cleaning is performed by lowering the cylinder 46 via the rotating body 10, the large diameter portion 45a of the piston 45 is completely inserted into the small diameter hole 46b of the cylinder 46, as shown in FIG. 2b. ,
And the small diameter portion 45b of the piston 45 is connected to the cylinder 4.
6, a cleaning passage 61 through which the filling liquid can flow is formed in the sealing member 60.

Further, the piston 45 is provided with a cup-shaped member 62 which can be raised and lowered at a position below the cylinder 46 to receive the cleaning liquid flowing through the seal member 60, and this cup-shaped member 62 is supported by a spring 6.
3, it is biased upward. This spring 63 is elastically loaded between a retainer 64 (FIG. 1) attached to the piston 45 and the cup-shaped member 62, and holds the cup-shaped member 62 at its free length during normal filling operation. In this state, the piston 45
Even when the cylinder 46 is raised, the cup-shaped member 62 is prevented from coming into contact with the cylinder 46.

On the other hand, when cleaning is performed by lowering the cylinder 46 via the rotating body 10, the cup-shaped member 62 is pressed against the lower end surface of the cylinder 46 by the elastic force of the spring 63, and the cup-shaped member 62 is attached to the upper end surface of the cylinder 46. The cleaning passage 61 can be closed by a sealing member 65. As shown in FIG. 1, the conduit 66 connected to this cup-shaped member 62 is connected via a conduit 67, a rotary joint 68, and a conduit 69 provided in the cylindrical member 21 at the center of the rotary table 3. It communicates with the collection tank for cleaning liquid that is not used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, an inverted cup-shaped member 75 surrounding the lower end portion of the filling nozzle 12 constituting the quantitative filling mechanism 11 is integrally provided. This inverted cup-shaped member 75 does not come into contact with the container that is raised and lowered by the lifting table 6 during normal filling, but the rotating body 10
At the same time, during cleaning when the filling nozzle 12 is lowered, it comes into contact with the upper surface of the cup-shaped cleaning device 76 placed on the lifting table 6, and a sealing member 77 is formed between the two.
The cup-shaped cleaning appliances 76 are sealed by the air cylinder 4, and the cup-shaped cleaning appliances 76 are pressed down against the upward biasing force of the air cylinder 4, so that the cup-shaped cleaning appliances 76 can be aligned at the same height.

Each of the above-mentioned inverted cup-shaped members 75 has a conduit 78.
are connected to each other, and each conduit 78 is connected to the cylindrical member 21.
By connecting to a conduit 67 provided therein, the insides of the inverted cup-shaped member 75 and the cup-shaped cleaning device 76 are communicated with a cleaning liquid collection tank (not shown).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5a, the rotary joint 38 provided above the rotating body 10 includes a housing 80 that is fixed to a machine frame (not shown) and has an integrally cylindrical surrounding member 79 at the bottom thereof, and The rotating member 81 is provided at the upper center end of the rotating body 10, and the rotating member 81 is fitted into the surrounding member 79 so as to be rotatable and movable up and down. Fluid passages 82 and 83 are formed on the same axis in the shaft portions of the housing 80 and the rotating member 81, respectively.
A fluid passage 82 on the housing 80 side communicates with a filling liquid tank (not shown), and a fluid passage 83 on the rotating member 81 side communicates with the passage 37 connected to the valve mechanism 14.

Seal members 84 and 85 are respectively provided around the opening ends of the fluid passages 82 and 83, and the seal members 84 and 85 are brought into sliding contact with each other, and the rotating member 8 relative to the housing 80 is brought into sliding contact with both seal surfaces.
The fluid is allowed to flow between the two fluid passages 82 and 83 while simultaneously allowing rotation of the fluid passages 82 and 83 and preventing fluid from leaking therebetween.

A small diameter part 79a is formed at the lower part of the inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical surrounding member 79, and a small diameter part 79a is formed in sliding contact with the upper end outer circumferential surface of the rotating member 81, and a sealing member 86 is provided here. In the normal filling state in which the seal members 84 and 85 are in sliding contact with each other, a small diameter portion 81a is formed at a portion that faces the small diameter portion 79a. As a result, during filling, a passage 87 is formed between the inner circumferential surface of the surrounding member 79 and the outer circumferential surface of the rotating member 81, through which the fluid leaked from between the seal members 84 and 85 flows, and on the other hand, the passage 87 is formed between the inner circumferential surface of the surrounding member 79 and the outer circumferential surface of the rotating member 81. When cleaning is performed by lowering the rotating member 81 as a unit, the small diameter portion 79a of the surrounding member 79 is brought into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the upper end of the rotating member 81 and sealed by the sealing member 86, as shown in FIG. 5b. When the sealing members 84 and 85 are separated from each other, the surrounding member 79 surrounds the space 88 formed between the two sealing surfaces to prevent the cleaning liquid from leaking to the outside.

Further, a cylindrical member 91 is rotatably provided on the outer periphery of the rotating member 81 via a bearing 90, and this cylindrical member 91 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the housing 80 so that it can only move up and down. Note that labyrinth members 92 and 93 are attached to the rotating member 81 and the cylindrical member 91, respectively, above the bearing 90, and the labyrinth members 92 and 93 prevent the filling liquid leaking from the passage 87 during normal filling. Lower bearing 9
A labyrinth 94 is formed to prevent the fluid from flowing to zero.

In the rotary quantitative filling device having the above configuration, during normal filling, the rotating body 10 and the valve sleeve 31 are each located at the rising end, and the rotating frame 50 of the swinging cam mechanism 47 is tilted at a required angle. has been done.

Containers (not shown) are transported by conveyor 96 shown in FIG.
After being synchronized with the supply side star wheel 98 by the timing screw 97, the star wheel 98 sequentially carries them onto each lifting table 6 one by one. The container carried onto the elevating table 6 is raised as the elevating table 6 is raised by the air cylinder 4 and the fixed cam 8.
2 is inserted into the container, the valve mechanism 14
As a result, the filling liquid flow path is switched, and the piston 45 of the measuring cylinder device 13 rises to start filling the container with the filling liquid.

When the piston 45 reaches the rising end, filling the container with the filling liquid is completed, and at the same time, the filling liquid flow path by the valve mechanism 14 is switched, and the piston 45 of the metering cylinder device 13 descends to fill the cylinder 46. Aspirate the filling liquid. After the filled container is lowered to its original height, it is discharged onto the conveyor 96 by a star wheel on the discharge side (not shown).

Next, when cleaning the rotary quantitative filling device, the swinging frame 48 and rotating frame 50 of the swinging cam mechanism 47 are made substantially horizontal using the jack 51, and the heights of the pistons 45 are made constant. Further, a cup-shaped cleaning device 76 is placed on each lifting table 3, respectively. Then, the rotating body 10 is lowered, and the inverted cup-shaped member 75 of the filling nozzle 12 is brought into pressure contact with the cleaning device 76, as shown in FIG. 4, and the cleaning device 76 is sealed by the sealing member 77. Each cleaning device 76 is pushed down against the biasing force of the air cylinder 4 so that they are aligned at the same height.

Further, by lowering the rotating body 10, the cylinder 46 of the metering cylinder device 13 is lowered, and as shown in FIG. Form. In this state, the cup-shaped member 62 is pressed against the lower end surface of the cylinder 46 by the elastic force of the spring 63, thereby closing the washing passage 61.

Further, due to the lowering of the rotating body 10, the fifth b
As shown in the figure, the rotary member 81 of the rotary joint 38 is lowered to separate both the seal members 84 and 85, and the valve sleeve 31 is lowered by the air cylinder 32, and the passages 34 to 36 of the valve mechanism 14 are lowered. communicate with each other at their upper ends.

When a cleaning liquid (cleaning steam may be used) is supplied from the passage 82 on the side of the filling liquid tank in this state, this cleaning liquid first cleans both seal members 84 and 85 of the rotary joint 38 and flows through those parts. The interior of the valve sleeve 31 is supplied from the passage 34 of the valve mechanism 14 via the passage 83 and the conduit 37. The cleaning liquid supplied inside the valve sleeve 31 is divided into two streams, one of which is connected to the passage 3.
5 into the cylinder 46 to wash that part, and furthermore, the cleaning passage 61 between the piston 45 and the cylinder 46, the inside of the cup-shaped member 62,
It flows via conduit 66 into conduit 67 and from there returns via rotary joint 68 and conduit 69 to a collection tank.

On the other hand, the other cleaning liquid divided into the two streams is supplied to the filling nozzle 12 via the passage 36 and the conduit 39, cleans that part, flows into the cup-shaped cleaning device 76, and then conduit 78,
67, the water is returned to the recovery tank via the rotary joint 68 and the conduit 69.

In the above embodiment, the air cylinder 4 is used to urge the lifting table 6 upward, but it goes without saying that a spring may also be used. Further, in the rotary joint 38 of the above embodiment, the housing 80
Although the surrounding member 79 is formed on the rotating member 81 side, it goes without saying that the surrounding member 79 may be formed on the rotating member 81 side.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the moving means for relatively moving the housing 80 of the rotary joint 38 and the rotating member 81 to bring the seal surfaces 84 and 85 into contact with or away from each other is provided on the screw shaft 2.
4, nut member 25, gears 26, 27, drive shaft 2
8 and a motor (not shown).
It goes without saying that the configuration is not limited to this, and that any suitable configuration can be used.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, according to the present invention, both seal surfaces can be reliably cleaned simply by separating the housing and the rotating member, so that the cleaning work can be performed quickly and easily. This has the effect of being able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Figure a is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of Figure 1, Figure 2b is a cross-sectional view showing a state different from Figure 2a, and Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of Figure 2.
4 and 5a are enlarged sectional views of main parts in different parts of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5b is a sectional view showing a state different from that in FIG. 5a. 24...Screw shaft, 25...Nut member, 26,
27... Gear, 28... Drive shaft, 38... Rotary joint, 79... Surrounding member, 80... Housing, 81... Rotating member, 82, 83... Fluid passage, 84, 85... Seal member .

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A fluid passage formed in a housing, a sealing surface formed in the housing around the open end of the fluid passage, a fluid passage formed in a rotating member rotatably provided, and a fluid passage of the fluid passage. and a sealing surface formed on the rotating member around the opening end, and the rotary joint is configured to allow fluid to flow between the two fluid passages while allowing rotation of the rotating member relative to the housing by bringing the sealing surfaces into sliding contact with each other. At the point, a moving means is provided for relatively moving the housing and the rotating member to bring the respective sealing surfaces into contact with each other or separating them from each other, and a surrounding member is provided on either one of the housing and the rotating member, and The other is slidably and rotatably fitted in the surrounding member in the axial direction, and when the housing and the rotating member are brought into contact, both the sealing surfaces are in sliding contact, and when the housing and the rotating member are separated, the A rotary joint characterized in that the space formed between both sealing surfaces is surrounded by the surrounding member in a liquid-tight manner.