JPH05338696A - Valve-cleaning adapter in filling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable attaching and detaching by a single touch an adapter provided with a neck support and prevent contamination of the adapter by attaching to the neck support a cleansing adapter which is a movable, cup- shaped member and which opens a filling valve as the adapter pushes it up with rise of a vessel stand. CONSTITUTION:A cleansing adapter 1 for a filling valve is not used during filling. For cleansing, the cleansing adapter 1 is attached to a neck support 6. To attach the cleansing adapter 1, a calyxlike member 24 is pressed down and in the space it makes from an annular part 18 of a cup-shaped member 20 the neck support 6 inserted and held there by a force from a spring 28. Then a cleansing liquid is put in a filler bowl and the filling device is actuated; a vessel stand 4 is raised so that the adapter 1 also rises and the upper end surface of the annular part 18 of the cup-shaped member 20 is pressed tightly against the bottle-mouth packing 8 of the filling valve 2 and the filling valve 2 is opened. Then the cleansing liquid flows into a bottomed cylindrical part 16 of a cup-shaped member 20 through a nozzle 10 and the filling valve 2 is cleaned.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a valve cleaning adapter for a filling device, and more particularly to a filling valve cleaning adapter applicable to a filling device having a neck support for supporting a neck portion of a soft container such as a PET bottle. ..

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a filling device, a plurality of filling valves are provided on the lower surface of a filler bowl at equal intervals, and a container stand for placing and moving a container under each filling valve is arranged on the container stand. It is generally known that a container pushes a filling valve to open it to fill the container.

As a method of cleaning such a filling device, (1) a cup-shaped cleaning adapter is provided corresponding to each filling valve, and during normal filling, this cleaning adapter is used for the filling valve and the container. When cleaning from the stand and cleaning, there are methods such as inserting the adapter between the filling valve and the container stand (Jitsuko Sho 52-35222), and (2) opening the valve using a dummy bottle. It has been done from the past.

[0004]

In the above first configuration,
There is a problem that the structure of the filling device becomes complicated and the cleaning adapter itself is contaminated during filling.
Further, in the second configuration, it is impossible to perform the cleaning while continuously rotating the filling device.
There was a problem that the cleaning had to be performed in divided steps.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and in particular, a neck support (that is, a neck support provided in a filling device for filling a soft container such as a PET bottle).
(EN) A cleaning adapter that can be attached to and detached from this neck support with one touch so that cleaning can be performed by using a support member for supporting the neck portion of the container on the container base and opening the filling valve.

[0006]

A valve cleaning adapter for a filling device according to the present invention is provided on a container base, a filling valve that is pushed up by a container on the container base to open, and provided on the container base. To be used by being attached to a filling device having a neck support for supporting the neck of the container,
A cup-shaped member whose opening can contact the bottle packing of the filling valve, and a movement movably fitted to the cup-shaped member, which is biased by a spring and elastically contacts the stepped portion on the outer periphery of the cup-shaped member. A member and a positioning portion provided on at least one of the two members and engageable with the engaging portion of the neck support, and the neck support is sandwiched between the cup-shaped member and the moving member to be integrated. Combined with each other,
The filling valve can be opened by pressing the opening of the cup-shaped member against the bottle packing.

[0007]

In the above cleaning adapter, the moving member is moved against the spring, and the neck support is inserted and held between the moving member and the stepped portion of the cup-shaped member. The filling valve is cleaned by the cup-shaped member pushing up and opening the filling valve by raising the container base, that is, raising the neck support.

[0008]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a valve cleaning adapter (generally indicated by reference numeral 1) of a filling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a container base 4 provided below each filling valve 2.
It can be attached to the neck support 6 with one touch.

The filling valves 2 are provided on the lower surface of a filler bowl (not shown) at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and the mouth of the container rising on the container base 4 is brought into close contact with the bottle packing 8 and then By pushing up, the nozzle 10 is opened and the container is filled.

The container table 4 is provided below each filling valve 2 and is moved up and down by an elevating means (not shown) such as an air cylinder. This container base 4 has a support 12
A neck support 6 that supports the neck of the container and a body support 14 that supports the body of the container are provided via the. In the case of a hard container such as a glass bottle, the container itself can directly push up the bottle packing 8 to open the filling valve 2, but in the case of a soft material container such as a PET bottle, the container is directly Since the valve cannot be opened, the neck support 6 supports the neck of the container and pushes the valve open.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the neck support 6 is attached to the upper end of the column 12 in the direction of the portion 4a (see FIGS. 1 and 2) on which the container on the container base 4 rests, A semi-circular cutout 6a is formed at the tip thereof so that the neck portion of the container fits therein. The center O of the arc of the notch 6a is located on the vertical center line C1 passing through the center of the filling valve 2. Further, parallel grooves 6b are provided on both sides of the upper surface of the neck support 6, and a circular recess 6c is provided on the lower surface thereof so as to engage with the filling valve cleaning adapter 1 described later. There is. The recess 6c has a size that exceeds one half of the circumference, and the center of this arc is located on the vertical center line C1 of the filling valve 2 as with the cutout 6a. is doing.

The valve cleaning adapter 1 has a cylindrical portion 16 with a bottom.
And a cup-shaped member 20 formed of an annular portion 18 fixed to the opening side thereof, and a cylindrical member 22 fitted and fixed to the bottom side of the bottomed tubular portion 16 and slidable on the outer circumference of the bottomed tubular portion 16. And an annular flange member 24 fitted to the. In the annular portion 18 of the cup-shaped member 20, the cup-shaped member 20
A cleaning liquid discharge pipe 26 for discharging the liquid inside is attached. A spring 28 is interposed between the cylindrical member 22 fitted to the cup-shaped member 20 and the flange member 24 to move the cylindrical member 22 to the bottom surface 18 of the annular portion 18 of the cup-shaped member 20.
It is biased toward a (a stepped portion between the bottomed tubular portion 16 and the annular portion 18).

As shown in FIG. 4, two parallel protrusions 18b are attached to the bottom surface of the annular portion 18 of the cup-shaped member 20. The distance W1 on the inner side of these two ribs 18b
Are the grooves 6 formed on both sides of the upper surface of the neck support 6.
The distance W2 is substantially equal to (slightly larger than) the distance W2, so that both the protrusions 18b and the both grooves 6b are engaged and positioned. Further, on the upper surface of the collar member 24, two protrusions 24a forming a part of an arc are formed (see FIG. 5). The arcs of the projections 24a are substantially equal (actually slightly smaller) than the arcs of the recesses 6c on the lower surface of the neck support 6, and the projections 24a are recessed.
It can be fitted in c. Since the recess 6c has a size that exceeds one half of the arc, centering is automatically performed by fitting the protrusion 24a into the recess 6c.

The operation of the valve cleaning adapter 1 having the above structure will be described. At the time of normal filling, the cleaning adapter 1 is not used and the containers are sequentially supplied onto the respective container stands 4. The container on the container table 4 rises while its neck is supported by the neck support 6, and its mouth hits the bottle mouth packing 8 of the filling valve 2 and pushes it up to open the filling valve 2 for filling. To do.

When cleaning is performed before and after the filling operation or for exchanging the filling liquid, the filling valve washing adapter 1 is attached to the neck support 6. Cup-shaped member 20
The flange member 24 fitted to the above is pushed down against the spring 28 to widen the gap between the collar member 24 and the bottom surface 18a of the annular portion 18 of the cup-shaped member 20, and the neck support 6 is inserted between the two. First, the grooves 6b on both sides of the upper surface of the neck support 6 and the two protrusions 18b formed on the annular portion 18 of the cup-shaped member 20 are engaged with each other, and the center (rotation center) of the filler bowl and the container base 4 are engaged. Positioning is performed with respect to a center line C2 (see FIG. 2) connecting the center. Next, the collar member 24 is returned, and the arc-shaped projection 24a is fitted into the circular recess 6c on the lower surface of the neck support 6. As a result, the valve cleaning adapter 1 attached to the neck support 6 and the filling valve 2 are centered.

The valve cleaning adapter 1 is attached to the neck support 6 of each container base 4, the cleaning liquid is stored in the filler bowl, and the filling device is operated. Filling valve 2
The container base 4 rotates as a unit, and when reaching a predetermined position, the container base 4 rises. The filling valve cleaning adapter 1 attached to the neck support 6 on the container base 4 also rises,
The upper end surface of the annular portion 18 of the cup-shaped member 20 has a filling valve 2
The filling valve 2 is opened by closely adhering to the bottle packing 8 and pushing up. The cleaning liquid that has passed through the inside of the filling valve 2 is injected from the injection port of the nozzle 10 into the bottomed cylindrical portion 1 of the cup-shaped member 20.
6 and is discharged from the cleaning liquid discharge pipe 26 attached to the upper annular portion 18. A gutter 30 for receiving the discharged cleaning liquid is disposed on the outer peripheral side of the section where the container base 4 is raised to perform cleaning, and collects the discharged liquid after cleaning. The section in which the container base 4 is raised to perform the cleaning may be the same section as the normal filling section, or another lifting section may be provided to set a different cleaning section. Above gutter 30
Are arranged corresponding to this cleaning section.

The shape of the portion where the valve cleaning adapter 1 and the neck support 6 are engaged is such that the protrusion 18b of the annular portion 18, the protrusion 24a of the collar member 24, the groove 6b on the upper surface of the neck support 6 and the lower surface. It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the combination of the recessed portions 6c, and that both can be engaged and accurately positioned.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the valve cleaning adapter can be easily attached to and detached from the neck support provided on the container base, the structure of the filling device itself is complicated. Without this, the filling valve can be cleaned without the risk of contaminating the cleaning adapter during filling.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a filling device equipped with a valve cleaning adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a neck support attached to a container base.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an annular portion of the cleaning adapter.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a collar member of the cleaning adapter.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Valve cleaning adapter 2 Filling valve 4 Container stand 6 Neck support 6b Neck support engaging part (upper surface groove) 6c Neck support engaging part (upper surface groove) 8 Bottle packing 18a Cup-shaped member step (annular shape) Bottom surface of the portion) 18b Positioning portion of the cup-shaped member (projection of the annular portion) 20 Cup-shaped member 24 Moving member (collar member) 24a Positioning portion of the moving member (projection of the collar member)

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Katsunori Tanikawa 58 Sou, Tahonmachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture Shibuya Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A filling device comprising a container base, a filling valve that is pushed up and opened by a container on the container base, and a neck support that is provided on the container base and supports a neck portion of the container on the container base. , A cup-shaped member whose opening can abut the bottle packing of the filling valve, and is movably fitted to the cup-shaped member and biased by a spring to elastically contact a stepped portion on the outer periphery of the cup-shaped member. A moving member and a positioning portion provided on at least one of both members and engageable with an engaging portion of the neck support, the neck support being sandwiched between the members to be integrally coupled to each other to form a cup shape. A valve cleaning adapter for a filling device, wherein an opening of a member is brought into pressure contact with a bottle packing so that a filling valve can be opened.