JPH0255045B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cleaning device for pots used, for example, in the bread manufacturing industry.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,999,238 and 4,044,420 disclose rotating and linear brushes for cleaning bread pans to remove seeds, crumbs, and other debris left in the pan prior to preparing new bread. A bread pan cleaning brush assembly is shown including a bread pan cleaning brush assembly. The straight brush oscillates back and forth to reach the corners of the pan, while the rotating brush performs its normal action. However, sometimes the depth is 7.62 cm, the width is 10.16 cm, and the length is 40.64 cm.
If you have a deep bread pan like the CM, the corners are very deep, so the brush may not be able to remove all the crumbs (especially in the corners) before they move on to the next pan.

The device shown in the above-mentioned patent is mounted above the pan transport conveyor in the same manner as the device of the present invention. Accordingly, when reference is made to the aforementioned patents, detailed mounting and adjustment methods are disclosed.

In the present invention, the brush is arranged diagonally with respect to the direction of movement, and the brush is vibrated up and down as the brush rotates, so that when the pot has a deep corner, it can reach the corner and remove seeds, bread crusts, etc. This is in response to the request for removal.

According to the present invention, a pot cleaning device for cleaning a pot movable by a conveyor includes a frame provided substantially along a plane along which the pot to be cleaned moves; at least one brush means suspended and having long bristles extending towards the pan for contact with the pan; and said pan with the bristles of said brush means moving on said plane. rotational drive means for rotating said brush means about its axis so as to displace material from said pot intermittently, said ends of said bristles contacting said pot as said brush means rotates; vibratory drive means for moving the bristles in their longitudinal direction so as to be pressed against them, a part of which is engaged with the brush means to cause the brush means to move in the vicinity of the pot while moving on the plane; A pot cleaning device is provided, comprising: a vibration driving means that is movable so as to repeatedly apply a separation motion.

Further according to the invention, there is provided a pot cleaning device for cleaning a pot which forms a receptacle and is surrounded by a substantially straight line, comprising: a frame; a frame supporting said pot to be cleaned; a pot moving means provided along the frame for moving the pot on a plane substantially along the frame, a housing mounted on the frame, and a brush means mounted on the housing, Brush means comprising two rotating brushes each having an axis of rotation and having bristles extending towards the pan for contacting the pan as it moves along the plane. and a rotational drive means for rotating the two brushes around their respective rotational axes, the respective rotational axes of the two brushes moving on the plane by the pan moving means. The arrangement is inclined with respect to the plane forming the sides of the pot, which is surrounded by substantially straight lines that are moved by the bristles, and facilitates ejecting the material from the pot when the bristles come into contact with the pot. each of the rotational axes extends substantially parallel to the plane and is arranged at an angle oblique to the direction of movement of the pot moved by the pot moving means on the plane; Further, each of the rotational axes has an angle that is inclined in opposite directions with respect to the direction of movement of the pot, and further, when the brush rotates, the ends of the bristles are intermittently pressed against the pot. vibratory drive means for moving the bristles in the longitudinal direction so as to apply the bristles, a part of which is engaged with the two brushes, the said pot being moved on the plane on the said two brushes; A pot cleaning device is provided, comprising: a vibrating drive means movable so as to repeatedly apply approaching and separating motions to the pot.

In a preferred embodiment, the brushing paths of the two brushes overlap, but the overall width of the brush housing is kept to a minimum. The two brushes in tandem (tandem type) have a conventional vacuum head downstream from the pot movement, which serves to remove debris swept away by the brushes from the pot. There is. The vacuum head can also eject into the vacuum system a complete loaf of bread that was not removed during the normal evacuation process and is left in the pan.

The method described in the aforementioned patent allows the entire brush assembly to be raised and lowered relative to the conveyor. For this purpose, a support rod can be installed which can be rotated using a crank or a height adjustment.

The overall relationship between the housing and the brush used in the pot cleaning device according to the present invention is described in US Pat.
No. 3999238 and No. 4044420. And the mechanisms and brush drive means for supporting and driving the conveyor and supporting the main housing are schematically illustrated herein. However, the orientation of the brushes and the ability to drive them up and down constitute a feature of the invention.

FIG. 1 will be explained. The bread pan cleaner, designated generally by the numeral 10, includes a conveyor assembly 11. As shown in FIG. Conveyor assembly 11 includes a conveyor belt 12 driven by a motor 13 which drives belt support rollers in a conventional manner to move the belt in the direction indicated by arrow 15. The frame 16 of the conveyor has side members and has side members 1
It is supported on suitable feet or supports shown at 7.

Belt 12 is designed to support a plurality of bread pans 20. Usually, these bread pans 20
It has a depth of about 7.62 cm, and is made up of groups or units of two, three, four or more bread pans. These bread pans are typically arranged along the length of the conveyor belt and each pan is placed perpendicular to the conveyor belt.
and bread pan purifier 1 as shown by arrow 15.
Move through 0. These bread pans, when taken individually, form fairly deep compartments, so it is necessary to remove various debris, such as bread crumbs and bread crusts, from the bread pan before reuse. be.

These bread pans are usually made of metal and correspond to the pan clean pans shown in US Pat. No. 4,044,420, except that they are deeper, longer and wider in the individual compartments.

The outer housing 22 includes side walls 22A and 22B,
It has an input end wall 22C and an output end wall, thereby forming an open bottom enclosure (see FIG. 3). Housing 22 is mounted over four arms 23 and relative to conveyor frame 16. Each arm 23 is pivotally mounted to a respective side wall of housing 22 at point 24 . Pivots 24 are located on both sides of the housing, and arms 23 are also located on both sides of the housing.

A pair of arms 23 is secured to the end of a shaft 25 which extends orthogonally to the conveyor and is rotatably mounted within a bracket 26. Bracket 26 is attached to side member 16 of the conveyor frame. Arms or links 23 (two on each side) are attached to the housing 22
It forms a parallel link device for raising and lowering. Shafts 25 extend below and perpendicular to the conveyor, each shaft 25 having an arm 30 drivably mounted below the conveyor. A drive link 31 is pivotally supported at both ends of the arm 30 at points 32 . The arms 30 on both sides are parallel and therefore move simultaneously. Link 31 is screwed bracket 3
3, and a long crank 34 is screwed onto this bracket 33. As schematically shown in the figure, the load applied to the crank 34 is transmitted to the machine frame through a bracket 35. Rotation of the crank causes the drive link 31 to move longitudinally, thereby pivoting the shaft 25 and support arm or link 23 to raise and lower the entire housing 22.

Also, as schematically shown in the figure, U.S. Patent No. 4,044,420
A vacuum head 40 is mounted in position perpendicular to the conveyor, as disclosed in the US patent application Ser. Vacuum head 40 has a vacuum chamber 41 that communicates with a vacuum source 42 . The chamber 41 is sized to be able to aspirate debris from the individual pans 20. The decompression head also has air pipes designated by reference numeral 43 at its front and rear ends, and these air pipes are connected to a pneumatic source 4.
Air is supplied from 4. The vacuum hood 40 sucks in the debris, and the air pressure released from the orifice of the pipe 43 blows the debris away. This is explained in US Pat. Nos. 4,044,420 and 3,999,238.

The cleaning assembly of the device according to the invention is designated by the reference numeral 49.
includes a pair of rotatable brush assemblies shown generally at . Each of the brush assemblies 49 includes a core member 51 and a plurality of bristles generally indicated generally by the numeral 52 . The construction of brushes is known and the bristles are made of nylon or a similar material of considerable stiffness. The diameter of the bristles is 0.32cm~0.48cm
The length is approximately 20.3 cm.

The brush construction is entirely known, with each brush core member having a shaft 50 extending outwardly from its opposite ends.
has. The shaft 50 is rotatably mounted on suitable bearings 53 disposed at each end of the brush, and the bearings 53 are mounted on a brush support pivot bracket 54. Each pivot bracket 54 is substantially identically constructed, but is mounted on opposite sides of the housing 22 so that its pivots are located on opposite sides of the conveyor.

Each U-bracket 54 includes a side member 55 and an offset bracket portion 56 which are bent to wrap around the outer edge of the brush. Bracket part 56
A is located outside the rotational path of the brush and extends from each end toward and inwardly toward the center of the brush. The U-bracket 54 has a mounting foot 57 integral with portion 56 and portion 56A and a respective side wall 22A of the housing 22 at the rear.
or 22B.

A bearing 60 is attached to each mounting foot 57, and a shaft 61 is attached to each mounting foot 57.
It is arranged through a bearing 60 of. The shafts 61 are shafts used as intermediate shafts or "width shafts" for driving the brush shafts 50, and at the same time, the brackets 54 serve as pivot shafts for pivoting the brushes 49 up and down about the axes of the respective shafts 61. is forming. As shown in the figure, a driving sprocket 65 is attached to each shaft 61.
5 drives a chain 65 to drive a sprocket 67 of each shaft 50. Additionally, a drive sprocket 70 is mounted externally to sprocket 65 of shaft 61, and a drive chain, generally indicated at 71, is driven by a motor and gear reducer set 72 for each brush. A motor/gear unit 72 is disposed above the top wall 22D of the housing 22 in any suitable manner. The individual motors are driven by a power source for driving each brush 49.

Brush assembly 49A is the leading brush.
That is, it is the first brush in a row of brushes. And the intermediate shaft/pivot shaft 61 is attached to the first bracket 7 near the input side wall 22C.
6 and is attached to the end wall 22C by a brace 79A.
is supported by

A second mounting bracket 77 is supported on wall 22A, and bearings 75 rotatably and pivotally mount shaft 61 therein.

Therefore, when looking at FIG. 3, it can be seen that, for example, the shaft 61 is inclined with respect to the side wall 22A. It can also be seen that it is oblique to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt, which is also indicated by arrow 15.

The trailing brush of these two brush assemblies is designated 49B and has an intermediate/pivot shaft 61 attached to the first bracket 80.
have. The first bracket 80 is the brace 8
0A and is located on the opposite side of the brush assembly 49A and downstream of the assembly 49A with respect to the direction of belt conveyor travel. Bracket 80 is shaft 61
A bearing 81 rotatably and pivotally mounted is attached to one outer end thereof. A second bracket 82 is mounted to wall 22B and includes a bearing 81 for rotatably and pivotally mounting intermediate/pivot shaft 61 of brush assembly 49B.

The vacuum head in Figure 3 is a brush assembly 49B.
It can be seen that it is immediately downstream of

What should be noted here is that the brush assembly 4
The shaft 61 of 9B is also placed obliquely to the moving direction of the conveyor and to the side wall 22B. However, since it is placed opposite to the brush assembly 49A, the first brush assembly 49A
While the second brush assembly 49B is beveled in one direction, the second brush assembly 49B is beveled in the opposite direction, and the two brushes overlap each other in the direction across the conveyor. However, even when they overlap, a portion of one brush extends into the area covered by the other brush. The purpose of configuring the brush in this manner is to provide a sufficient scrubbing action in the widthwise central portion of the housing along which the bread pan moves. Therefore, even if the bread pan is slightly displaced in the width direction of the housing, this rubbing action will not be affected.

In this way, each brush is individually rotated in the desired direction. Generally, the direction of travel of the bristles at the bottom is toward the center of the machine, as shown by arrows 85A and 85B in FIG. The angle between the axis of rotation of the brush and the direction of conveyor movement indicated by arrow 15 is approximately
The angle is about 20 degrees, and therefore the angle is also 20 degrees to the side wall.

These brushes 49 are separately driven by respective conventionally designed motor gear reducer units 72. The rotation speed when driven is 25 rpm ~
It is 30rpm.

To promote the action of floating and sweeping out debris such as seeds, bread crusts, and crumbs from the corners of the bread pan,
The brush is cycled up and down about a pivot defined by shaft 61. That is, the up-and-down cyclical motion of the brush causes the bristles to press against the bread pan lengthwise, i.e., toward the ends, as the brush rotates, thereby impaling the crumbs and causing the bread pan to pierce simultaneously with the cyclic movement of the brush. The bread crumbs are taken out from the corner of the room.

The frame assembly 54 and the brush 49 are the fourth
The ceiling frame of the housing 22 is balanced using a tension spring, shown generally in the figures. As shown, a longitudinally extending tension spring 90 is employed in each frame, with each spring attached to the top wall 22 of the housing 22.
a first end connected to a bracket 91 attached to the 2D cross member, and a respective frame 54;
has a second end connected to a bracket 93 attached to a midpoint between the transition section 56 of one arm member 55 and the bearing mounting section of the bearing 53.

Since the tension of spring 90 can be adjusted by appropriately adjusting one or both of brackets 91 and 93, the balancing force for balancing the weight of brush and frame 54 can be controlled. Adjustments are made so that a slight downward force is applied to the brush,
The downward force is slight and the brush is almost balanced.

Brush 49 and pivoting frame 54
is reciprocated by an eccentric crank member 96 driven by an output shaft 97 of a motor gear reducer 98. A motor that can drive at the desired speed is selected. A crank pin, designated 100, acts on a rod end bearing of link 101. Link 101 is adjustable relative to bracket 102 which is pivoted to rod end 103. Rod end 10
3 is a fixed link 104 of each side member 55;
It is connected to the. Ink 104 is a strap completely secured to one side member 55 of each brush assembly proximate spring mount 93.

Since the crank stroke of pin 100 is approximately 2.54 cm, the total width of the vertical vibration of the brush, indicated by arrow 110, is approximately 5.08 cm. This crank stroke can be adjusted as required. To adjust it, just install an adjustable crank. The speed of vibration corresponds to 100 to 175 rpm when applied to the rotation of the crank disk 96, and therefore approximately
It will vibrate 100 to 175 times/minute.

The stroke of the brush's vertical vibration causes the bristles to move up and down inside the bread pan. As the brush moves up and down, it scrapes the sides of the bread pan, and at the same time, the rotation of the brush flicks debris from the bread pan. Furthermore,
The longitudinal force applied to the bristles causes them to stick up. The bristles bend slightly to sweep out any debris as they move towards the very edge of the corner of the pan. In this way, a good rubbing action is achieved by the vibrations. At the same time, the debris is picked, pushed and finally swept away by the longitudinal forces involved in the rotation of the bristles.

Of course, the number of springs 90 attached to each brush assembly is not limited to one and may be two or more. Further, any desired device may be used as the device for attaching the spring. Similarly, if you want to increase or decrease the frequency, you can do that too. The travel stroke of the brush, indicated by arrow 110, can also be varied.

The various drive components are mostly shown schematically. This is because the basic components, the brush, housing, and brush rotational drive, are illustrated in the inventor's previous patents. However, it remains much more satisfactory than the device of the previous patent due to the improvement of vibrating the brush relative to the conveyor in order to obtain a force component along the axis of the brush bristles as they rotate. This results in a peeling effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially schematic side elevational view of a bread pan cleaning brush assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 2. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Pot cleaning device, 11... Conveyor, 16... Frame, 22... Housing, 49... Brush means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pot cleaning device for cleaning a pot movable by a conveyor, comprising: a frame provided substantially along a plane along which the pot to be cleaned moves; at least one brush means mounted thereon and having long bristles extending towards the pan for contact with the pan, the bristles of the brush means moving on the plane; rotational drive means for rotating said brush means about its axis so as to contact a pan and displace material from said pan; and as said brush means rotates, said ends of said bristles intermittently touch said pan; vibratory drive means for moving said bristles in their longitudinal direction so as to be pressed against said bristles, a portion of which is engaged with said brush means, said brush means being brought into close proximity to said pot while moving on said plane; and a vibration driving means movable so as to repeatedly apply separation motion. 2. A pot cleaning device for cleaning a pot shaped like a receptacle and surrounded by a substantially straight line, comprising a frame, supporting the pot to be cleaned, and extending the pot substantially along the frame. a pot moving means provided along the frame, a housing mounted on the frame, and a brush means mounted on the housing, each of which has a rotating shaft. brush means comprising two rotating brushes having bristles extending towards the pan for contacting the pan as it moves along the plane; rotational drive means for rotating the brushes around their respective rotational axes, the respective rotational axes of the two brushes being substantially linearly moved on the plane by the pan moving means; Each said axis of rotation is arranged at an angle with respect to a plane forming the sides of said enclosed pot, thereby facilitating the ejection of material from said pot when said bristles come into contact with said pot. extend substantially parallel to the plane and are arranged at an angle inclined with respect to the moving direction of the pot moved by the pot moving means on the plane, and each of the rotation axes have angles that are inclined in opposite directions with respect to the direction of movement of the pan, and the bristles are arranged such that when the brush rotates, the ends of the bristles are intermittently pressed against the pan. A vibration driving means for moving the pot in the longitudinal direction, a part of which engages with the two brushes and causes the two brushes to repeatedly move toward and away from the pot while it is moving on the plane. A pot cleaning device characterized by comprising: a vibration driving means movable so as to give a vibration.