JPH0551087A - Method and device for transferring container in liquid filling and packing line - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent breakage of bottles on an occasion of carrying them into an apparatus and to decrease noises emanating from rattling of the bottles by a method wherein the travel speed of a carrier containing the bottles is controlled with a linear motor and each of apparatuses and the carrier are operated in synchronicity. CONSTITUTION:A linear motor is constructed of a carrier and its guide rails in a line for filling and packing containers. The travel speed of the carrier 40 at each of entrances of an empty containers supply device 21, a liquid filling device 23, a capper 25 and a case packer 30 installed between the guide rails is controlled with the linear motor. The travel speed of the containers is synchronized with the position for treatment by each of the above-mentioned devices by the travel speed control applied to the carrier 40, and thereby the bottles can be prevented from being collided with one another.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container transportation method for a liquid filling and packaging line and an apparatus for synchronous control of bottle processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 shows an example of a conventional bottling line.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 3 is an orderer for taking out, for example, a washed empty bottle 2 from the box 1, 4 is an aligning device for carrying the taken out bottles 2 and arranging the bottles 2 in a line, and 5 is an aligned bottle. 2 is a bottling machine for filling the liquid, 6 is a capper for capping the filled bottle 2, 7 is a case packer for packing the bottle 2 in the box 1, 8 is a case packer for empty boxes discharged from the caser 3 It is a box conveyor for carrying, and the bottling line requires various kinds of equipment such as a conveyor for connecting the various equipment and a large number of operating personnel in addition to these various equipment.

That is, along the flow of the bottle 2, on the line, there is an uncaster 3 → conveyor → aligning device 4 → conveyor 9 →
Each device of the bottling machine 5-> capper 6-> conveyor 10-> case packer 7 is required, and the empty box 1 discharged by the answerer 3 along the flow of the box 1 is a long box conveyor until it is packed by the case packer 7. It is necessary to carry with 8.
In addition, each device, an answerer 3, a bottling machine 5, a capper 6,
Since the distance between each device such as the case packer 7 is long, it is impossible for one operator to monitor and operate, and an operator is always required for each device. More specifically, in the conventional method, each function is performed by each dedicated machine (for example, an answerer for taking out a bottle from a box), and its operation is not linked with other machines.
Each machine does it independently. For example, the caser 3 is in continuous motion, the bottling machine 5 is in continuous motion,
Since the case packer 7 covers the movement by intermittent motion, a conveyor is inevitably required between each machine.

[0006] The caser 3 and the case packer 7 process a prescribed number of containers at the same time, but the bottling machine 5 processes one container at a time, so that before the containers of the bottling machine 5 are supplied. As a process, the aligning device 4 for arranging the containers in one line is required, and in front of the case packer 7, an aligning device for arranging the containers of one example conveyed by the conveyor 10 in multiple lines is required.

In this way, the machines are connected by the conveyor, and there is a considerable distance between the machines, so that a person who monitors and operates the machines is required. Further, in the conventional method, when the size of the container to be handled is changed, it is necessary to install a device suitable for the container to be handled, the number of devices for that purpose is large, and the switching time is long.

Further, in a conventional bottling line for filling a container with liquid, for example, a plurality of filling machines are provided so as to respond to mixed filling of a plurality of liquids, and a capper is provided so as to be compatible with a capping method such as a crown or a screw stopper. A plurality of units are arranged, and a required filling machine or a capper is selected according to the type of liquid and the treatment method, and the containers are delivered from the conveyor to the respective devices. As a conventional example thereof, the structure shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-23753 is proposed.

Explaining this with reference to FIG. 8, the container P conveyed on the conveyor 1 is provided with a star wheel 3 and a container on the introduction side in which the intervals of the containers P are arranged at a constant pitch by the introduction part timing screw 2. Guided to the guide 4 and delivered to the filling machine A, and after being filled with liquid, sent to the next filling machine B by the intermediate star timing screw 6 guided to the discharge side star wheel 5 and the container guide 4 and driven synchronously with the introduction side timing screw 2. It is designed to be used.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which the line components described above are slightly modified. FIG. 10 shows a case where the timing screw 2, the connecting screw 14 and the intermediate timing screw 6 are integrated and the filling machine A is not used but only the filling machine B is used. In FIG. 10, the container guide 4 and the star holes 3 and 5 are removed, and the linear guide 15 is attached to eliminate the need for screw replacement.

[0009]

In the conventional bottling line described above, since the bottles on the conveyor are located at random, it is necessary to align the bottles at the entrance of each processing equipment. , At this time, the bottle is forcibly pushed laterally by the bottle guide, causing the bottle to fall, noise, and scratches due to the contact between the bottles. Furthermore, it requires manpower to deal with bottle malfunctions. There are various problems such as many replacement parts (for example, timing screw, star wheel, etc.) and adjustments at many points (for example, bottle guide, etc.) are required when the product is flowed on the line.

Therefore, in the present invention, 1. Run the carrier with the bottle on the guide rail,
A linear motor is constructed by mounting a stator on the rail side and using the carrier as a short core, and the speed of the carrier is controlled by the linear motor. 2. A sensor for detecting the position and speed of the carrier is provided in the linear motor unit, and this signal is processed to synchronously operate each device and the carrier. 3. The guide rail is endless, and the number of carriers traveling in this guide rail circle is kept constant. Therefore, a means is provided for always replenishing the same number of carriers taken out due to the liquid level defect and the capping defect. 4. The linear motor section of the traveling rail reliably guides the bottle carrier with the upper and lower rollers provided by the four upper and lower guide rails, and the free traveling section that does not use the linear motor guides the carrier only by the lower guide rail. It is intended to solve the above-mentioned various problems by taking technical means such as.

[0011]

Therefore, according to the container transport method of the present invention, the container stored in the carrier transported on the guide rail is filled with the liquid, and the container is covered with the cap. In the container transportation method of the liquid filling packaging line in which the box is packed after inspecting the quality of the seal,
With a linear motor composed of a part of the guide rail for transportation and a container carrier, an empty container supply device, a filling machine,
At the entrance of the capper and case packer, the carrier is accelerated or decelerated, the position and speed of the carrier just before entering the equipment are detected, and the processing position and speed of the equipment are synchronized. Further, the container transfer device of the present invention is a container transfer device in which a linear motor is configured by a stator provided on the guide rail side and a rotor provided on the carrier side. The pair of upper and lower pairs of rimmed rollers provided on the carrier are configured to be sandwiched by the guide rails from above and below. Outside the linear motor configuration section, the lower roller provided on the carrier is the lower roller. It is configured to run only on the guide rail,
These are the means for solving the problems.

[0012]

The carrier 40 carried on the guide rail accommodates one or a plurality of containers 20, and the container inside the carrier is filled with the liquid while the carrier 40 moves on the guide rail. The container filled with the liquid is covered with a cap, and after the liquid level of the container and the quality of the cap seal are inspected, the container is packed. In this container filling and packaging line, the guide rail and the carrier constitute a linear motor. The traveling speed of the carrier 40 is controlled by the linear motor at each inlet of the empty container supply device 21, the liquid filling device 23, the capper 25, and the case packer 30. By the traveling control of the carrier 40, the speed of the container and the processing position of each device are synchronized, and the efficiency and labor saving of the liquid filling work are achieved.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall view of a bottling and packaging line as an example when the container transport method according to the present invention is applied to a bottle filling and packaging line. 2 shows a layout of a guide rail in which a linear motor is arranged in the bottle filling and packaging line of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows the speed of the bottle carrier and the inclination of the guide rail at each position of the guide rail. The figure which made it into the graph in the order of doing is shown. 4 is a sectional view of a linear motor composed of a bottle carrier and a guide rail, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 is a portion of the guide rail and the bottle where the linear motor is not disposed. Figure 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a carrier.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the carrier 40 on which the bottle 20 is placed and which is run is constructed so as to be guided by the guide rails 48 and 51 shown in FIGS. The guide rails 48 and 51 are laid out endlessly as shown in the guide rail layout diagram (FIG. 2), and the devices of the bottle filling and packaging line are laid out in order along the guide rails 48 and 51 as shown in FIG. Has been done. That is, in FIG. 1, 21 is an empty bottle supply device,
22 is an intermediate rail I, 23 is a filling machine, 24 is an intermediate rail II, 25 is a capper, 26 is an intermediate rail III, 27
Is a liquid level and capping defect inspection machine, 28 is a carrier extractor, 29 is an intermediate rail IV, 30 is a case packer, 31 is an intermediate rail V, 32 is a carrier replenishing machine, 33
Indicates an intermediate rail VI. Further, 34 is a conveyor for carrying the carrier 40 extracted in the defect inspection process, and 35 is a bottle removing device for extracting the defective bottle 20 from the carrier 40. In FIG. 2, 46, which is shown beside each intermediate rail, is a linear motor for driving the carrier 40 that conveys the bottle, and 50 is a sensor (for example, a proximity sensor) that detects the position and speed of the carrier 40 having a configuration described later. Switch, photoelectric switch). The two sensors 50 are mounted on the side surface of the guide rail at the same level at the same level, and the speed of the bottle carrier 40 can be measured by the time when the two rollers 45 of the carrier 40 pass between the two sensors 50. ing. The linear motor controls the speed of the bottle carrier 40 measured by the sensor 50, and has a function of accelerating and decelerating the speed of the bottle carrier 40 based on the detection signal of the sensor 50. Further, the reference numerals shown in FIG. 2 indicate the inclination of the intermediate rail and the position of carrier acceleration / deceleration by the linear motor. The order of the intermediate rails is set as shown in the graph of FIG.

A bottle carrier 40 for carrying bottles is shown in FIG.
It is assembled as shown in FIG. 6 and has a bottle receiving box 41 in the figure.
Is the roller base 42 that also serves as the short core of the linear motor
It is fixedly attached to. The roller base 42 has a secondary conductor (rotor) 43 of a linear motor (linear induction motor).
Are attached, and two pairs of edge rollers 44 and a pair of rollers 45 are attached to the roller base. The roller 44 runs on the lower rail 48a of the guide rail 48, and the roller 45 on the upper side is guided by the upper rail 48b. A stator 46 'and a guide rail 48 are fixedly attached to the base plate 47 of the linear motor, and the guide rail and the linear motor are covered by a cover 49. The free running portion in which the stator 46 'of the linear motor is not arranged is configured as shown in FIG. 5, and the lower rail 48a is connected to the guide rail 51. The base plate 53 is also connected to the base plate 47 described above, and is configured to occupy the same relation position with respect to the bottle carrier 40. The rail 51 and the roller base 42 are also covered by a cover 52. Cover 5
In the position of the carrier extractor 28 for extracting the carrier 40 and the carrier replenishment position of the carrier replenisher 32, 2 is cut by the double chain line portion shown in B of FIG. It is configured. A linear motor stator 46 'for driving the bottle carrier 40 and a drive motor for each device receive signals from each sensor 50 in an electric control panel (not shown), and the controller smoothly calculates and compares the signals to smoothly operate the entire line. Controlled accordingly.

Next, a method of transporting a bottle carrier by the bottle filling and packaging line having the above structure will be described. First, in the empty bottle feeder 21, the carriers 40 continuously come into the empty bottle feeder 21 while being in contact with each other. At this time, the linear motor 46 arranged on the intermediate rail VI33 on the inlet side of the empty bottle feeder is driven to move the bottle carrier 40 at a low speed immediately before the empty bottle feeder 21. A sensor 50 for detecting the position and speed of the carrier 40 is attached to the side surface of the guide rail on which the linear motor 46 is arranged. The sensor 50 operates by sensing the roller 45 of the bottle carrier 40. Further, the two sensors 50 are attached to the guide rail at the same level at regular intervals, and the speed vmm / sec of the bottle carrier 40 is measured by the time taken for the roller 45 to pass between the two sensors 50. In the empty bottle feeder, the distance from the sensor 50 to the bottle receiving hole of the carrier 40 is 1 mm.
Then, the speed of the empty bottle feeder is set so that the bottle enters the bottle receiving hole 1 / v seconds after the position of the feeder is detected by the sensor 50 and then the bottle is continuously supplied to the bottle receiving hole. If the timing is decided, the bottle 20 can be surely put in the carrier 40. An encoder (not shown) is provided in the drive unit of the empty bottle feeder to constantly measure the bottle feeding speed on the supply side and control so as to synchronize with the speed of the carrier 40. That is, bottle 20 and carrier 4
The calculation is performed so that the bottle hole position of 0 always coincides, and the result is fed back to the frequency of the inverter to control the feeder drive motor.

Since the filling valve is placed on the circumference of the filling machine 23 and the pitch of the valve becomes larger than the length of the carrier 40, the carrier 40 is increased by the linear motor 46 downstream of the intermediate rail I22 according to the pitch of the valve. Speed up. Also in this case, the position and speed of the carrier 40 are detected by the two sensors 50 as in the case of the empty bottle feeder 21 in the preceding stage,
The carrier 40 is mechanically held in the filling machine by the linear motor 46 while passing it to a predetermined position of a carrier holding metal fitting (not shown) of the filling machine while filling the bottle 20 in the carrier 40 with the liquid. Will be tried. The filled bottle 20 and the carrier 40 are released from the mechanical restraint of the filling machine 23, freely slide on the downwardly inclined intermediate rail II 24, are decelerated by the downstream linear motor 46, and the speed at which the carrier 40 contacts and is sent ( It enters the capper 25 at the same speed as in the empty bottle feeder). Two sensors 50 are also attached to the side surface of the linear motor 46 of the intermediate rail II 24 to detect the position and speed of the carrier 40 and synchronously control the position and moving speed of the capping head of the capper 25. The system mechanism is the same as the drive unit control of the empty bottle feeder described above. The carrier 40 containing the filled bottle capped by the capping head that moves in synchronization with the carrier 40 in the capper 25 passes through the next process liquid level / cap inspection machine 27 by the intermediate rail III26. Intermediate rail III26
Is provided with a slight upward inclination, and this upward inclination has a role of a brake for preventing a gap from being formed in the carrier row passing through the inside of the capper 25.

Further, the bottle 20 judged as defective by the liquid level / cap inspection machine 27 is the carrier extraction machine 28.
Thus, the carrier 40 is taken out and transferred to the conveyor 34. On the conveyor 34, the bottles 20 are taken out by the bottle removing device 35, placed on a rotary table, and collectively processed. The empty carrier 40 is sent to the front of the carrier replenisher and stands by. The carrier 40 that has successfully passed the liquid level / cap inspection machine 27 is the intermediate rail IV2.
9, the linear motor 46 first climbs the inclined rail, accelerates at the top of the inclined rail, and travels freely on the downward inclined rail toward the case packer 30. Intermediate rail IV2
9 has a long structure, and serves as a reservoir for carriers during malfunctions and adjustments of each device. The carrier 40 is decelerated by the linear motor 46 placed in front of the case packer 30, and the carrier 40 contacts again (presses and pushes).
The speed of the bottle 2 passes through the case packer 30, and a large number of bottle grips move in synchronization with the carrier 40.
0 is gripped and lifted to remove the bottle 20 from the carrier 40. The bottle grip makes a U-turn while holding the bottle 20, and the bottle 2 is placed in a cardboard case that stands by on another conveyor.
Store 0. Two sensors 50 are attached to the side surface of the deceleration linear motor in front of the case packer 30 to detect the position and speed of the carrier 40 and synchronize with the same case packer 30 as in the empty bottle feeder 21 described above. Perform operation control. Carrier 4 by carrier extractor 28
When 0 is removed, the sensor 50 in front of the case packer 30 indicates a slow speed, and the case packer is a slow speed.
Sometimes it is instructed to pause, and it operates exactly.

On the other hand, the carrier that has emptied after passing through the case packer 30 is the speed increasing linear motor 4 of the intermediate rail V31.
Move by increasing the distance by 6. The inclined rail provided on the intermediate rail V31 serves as a brake. Further, the carrier replenishing machine 32 receives a signal for removing the carrier from the carrier extracting machine 28, is on standby to replenish the carrier 40, receives a signal for decelerating or temporarily stopping the case packer, and places the carrier 40 on the guide rail. Supply to. A linear motor 46 is provided over the entire length of the guide rail passing through the carrier replenishing device 32 and the intermediate rail VI 33, and the space between the carriers 40 is maintained by controlling the linear motor 46. A deceleration linear motor is provided downstream of the intermediate rail VI33, and the carrier 40 pushes and pushes into the empty bottle feeder 21 to enter the state described at the beginning and the above situation is repeated.

[0020]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, there is no chance that the bottles directly collide with each other, and the speed of the bottle carrier can be flexibly controlled, so that the bottle is not damaged or broken and the noise is reduced. .. Also, when changing the size of the bottle, it is only necessary to change the carrier or carrier accessories.
Therefore, it is not necessary to replace the timing screw or star wheel, nor to adjust the bottle guide. In addition, automatic driving is possible and almost no human labor is required. The guide rail on which the bottle carrier runs has a linear motor that is configured only by providing a stator of a linear motor in part, so that the carrier can perform excellent effects such as acceleration, deceleration, constant speed maintenance, and climbing. It plays.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a bottling and packaging line according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of a bottling and packaging line guide rail according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph of carrier velocity comparison through each device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a bottle carrier and a guide rail (linear motor) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a bottle carrier and a guide rail (natural traveling) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 4 of the bottle carrier and the guide rail according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a layout diagram showing a conventional bottling line.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a conventional bottle indexing device.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a conventional bottle indexing device.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a conventional bottle indexing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 bottle 21 empty bottle feeder 22, 24, 26, 29, 31, 33 intermediate rail 23 filling machine 25 capper 27 liquid level / capper defect inspection machine 28 carrier extractor 30 case packer 32 carrier replenisher 40 carrier 42 roller stand 44 Edge Roller 45 Roller 46 Linear Motor Stator 48,51 Guide Rail 50 Sensor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A liquid filling package for filling a container, which is stored in a carrier conveyed on a guide rail, with a liquid, covering the container with a cap, and inspecting the liquid level of the container and the quality of a cap seal, and then packing the container. In the container transportation method of the line, the carrier is accelerated or decelerated at the inlet of the empty container supply device, the filling machine, the capper and the case packer by the linear motor configured by a part of the guide rail for transportation and the container carrier. A container transport method characterized by detecting the position and speed of a carrier immediately before entering a device, and synchronizing the processing position and speed of each device. 2. A container carrying device comprising a linear motor composed of a stator provided on the guide rail side and a rotor provided on the carrier side, wherein the carrier side is an upper side provided on the carrier in a linear motor constituting section. The pair of edged rollers and the pair of lower edged rollers are configured to be sandwiched by the guide rails from above and below. Outside the linear motor configuration section, the lower rollers provided on the carrier are only on the lower guide rails. A container transporting device, characterized in that it is configured to travel.