JPH06105198B2 - Leak confirmation device for gas dissolution liquid enclosure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention is for confirming, in a filling step or the like, whether or not a gas-dissolved liquid-sealed container such as a bottled beer bottle is leaked. Regarding the device.

[Conventional technology]

Bottles and the like that have been capped after being filled with soft drinks or the like in which carbon dioxide is dissolved should desirably be inspected for leakage after capping. As a means for such inspection, it has been proposed to determine the presence or absence of leakage by irradiating a bottle with ultrasonic waves and observing the state of bubbles generated in the space above the bottle.

That is, when ultrasonic waves of a certain intensity or more are applied to the bottle after being capped through the medium, cavitation occurs with the gas dissolved in the content liquid as the nucleus. Then, after a few seconds after the gas has finished and floated, it appears as bubbles in the space inside the bottle. In the case of a normal product with airtightness, foaming due to the irradiation of ultrasonic waves occurs until the space inside the bottle and the pressure inside the liquid reach an equilibrium state, but since the equilibrium state is reached instantaneously, the bubbles form in the space portion. It occurs only in a fraction of the above. However, if the leakage occurs for some reason, the pressure in the space is lower than the pressure in the liquid, and therefore the bubbles will fill the space when ultrasonic waves are applied. Further, if the degree of leakage is large, liquid may be jetted from the defective portion.

In this way, the normal product and the defective product can be distinguished by observing the difference in the height of bubbles generated by the irradiation of ultrasonic waves.

Conventionally, as a device for determining whether or not the container is leaked by the irradiation of ultrasonic waves as described above, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-1646
Some are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2.

In this method, water to serve as a medium for transmitting ultrasonic waves is pasted in a water tank, and a bottle to be inspected is immersed in the water to irradiate ultrasonic waves.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, the conventional inspection device has a problem in incorporating it in the bottle filling process. That is, a bottle is usually placed on a conveyor to proceed, but if such bottle is immersed in water in the tank, the bottle will be affected by the resistance received from the water, the inclination of the conveyor provided for introducing the bottle into the tank, etc. There is a risk of falling.
Further, it is conceivable to reduce the traveling speed of the conveyor so that it is difficult to occur, but doing so is not desirable because it lowers the productivity. It is also possible to newly use a mechanism for gripping and transporting the bottle head and mouthpiece without using a conventional conveyor, but this causes a problem that the device as a whole becomes complicated and becomes expensive. .

It is an object of the present invention to provide a leak confirmation device that can convey a container at high speed even when incorporated in a conventional conveyor, and does not cause the container to fall or reduce the traveling speed of the conveyor.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a conveying means for conveying a gas-dissolved liquid-filled container, and a side portion of the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container which is arranged along the conveying direction of the conveying means and is conveyed by the conveying means. An ultrasonic wave irradiating means for irradiating a sound wave and a gas dissolving solution which is disposed on the same side as the ultrasonic wave irradiating means and is conveyed by the conveying means at an irradiation position for irradiating the gas dissolving solution sealed container with the ultrasonic wave from the ultrasonic wave irradiating means. Guide means that is in contact with the side portion of the sealed container and forms a required gap between the gas-dissolved liquid sealed container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means, and a side opposite to the ultrasonic wave irradiation means at the irradiation position. And a traveling means for traveling along the conveying direction of the conveying means at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the conveying means, and for pressing the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container conveyed by the conveying means against the guide means, In the irradiation position, it is characterized in that it comprises a liquid supply means for flowing liquid between a gas solution sealed container to be transported by the transport means and the vibration surface of the ultrasonic irradiation means.

[Action]

The conveying means conveys the gas solution sealed container at a high speed in a fixed direction. Then, when the container being conveyed comes to the position of the vibration surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means, the liquid supply means supplies the liquid between the container and the vibration surface. At this time, the gas solution liquid-filled container conveyed by the conveying means has its side portion abutted on the guide means arranged on the same side as the ultrasonic wave irradiating means, and is guided by the traveling means arranged on the opposite side to the guide means. Since it passes through the irradiation position while being pressed, a constant and required gap is always formed between the side portion of the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means. As a result, the liquid is always present with a constant thickness between the side of the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means. The ultrasonic waves generated are always constant.

Further, when the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container passes through the ultrasonic irradiation position while being sandwiched by the guide means and the traveling means, the traveling speed of the traveling means travels at a speed faster than the transportation speed of the transportation means. Will be conveyed while rotating along the guide means, whereby ultrasonic waves will be uniformly emitted over the entire circumference of the side portion of the container. Therefore, the ultrasonic wave irradiating means immediately irradiates the container with ultrasonic waves toward the direction.
As a result, the ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the inside of the container by using the liquid as a medium, and the height of foaming of the content liquid is observed, and it is determined whether or not the container is a good product with respect to gas leakage.

In this way, when observing a gas leak in the container, it suffices to pour the liquid on the container, so that the container proceeds without receiving a great resistance.

Further, the ultrasonic wave irradiating means and the liquid supplying means can be incorporated without changing the existing conveying means.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of a leak confirmation device for a gas-dissolved liquid-filled container according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a beer bottle filled with beer and capped, which is an example of a gas-dissolved liquid-filled container.

This beer bottle 1 is linearly conveyed in the direction of the arrow by a conveyor 2 which is a conveying device.

Further, an ultrasonic wave irradiation device 3 for irradiating the beer bottle 1 with ultrasonic waves is arranged on one side of the conveyor 2 in the conveying direction.

The ultrasonic wave irradiation device 3 includes a harmonic oscillator 4, a vibrator 5 vibrated by the ultrasonic oscillator 4, and a vibrator 5
And a box 6 having a waterproof effect for holding.

In the illustrated example, several vibrators are wired along the traveling direction of the conveyor 2. Further, the box 6 is made of a stainless plate having a thickness of 2 to 3 mm, and an inclined surface 7 which is inclined toward the conveyor 2 side is formed on the upper part thereof.

Above the ultrasonic wave irradiation device 3, when the ultrasonic wave irradiation device 3 irradiates the beer bottle 1 with ultrasonic waves, a liquid supply device for introducing water 9 which is a liquid between the vibrating surface 8 and the beer bottle 1 10 are installed.

The liquid supply device 10 includes a water tank 11, and the water tank 11
An opening 12 facing the slope 7 of the box 6 is provided at the lower end of the box. The opening 12 has a width of 1 to 2 mm and a length of the vibrator 5.
Is formed into a slit shape that is several tens of mm longer than the length of the row in the longitudinal direction. In the illustrated example, water is constantly supplied into the water tank 11, and the water reaches the slope 7 of the box 6 from the opening 12.
From there, it always runs diagonally downward.

Further, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 13 indicates a guide rod provided along the side of the conveyor where the ultrasonic wave irradiation device is installed. The guide rods 13, 13 are arranged vertically so as to avoid the vibrating surface 8 to which the vibrator 5 of the box 6 is fixed, and are fixed to a machine frame (not shown) so as to contact the shoulder portion and the lower portion of the beer bottle 1, respectively. ing.

Further, a traveling device 14 that travels in the same direction as the traveling direction of the conveyor 2 is provided on the side opposite to the side where the vibrating surface 8 is located, with the conveyor 2 serving as the conveyance path of the bottle 1 interposed therebetween.
The traveling device 14 comprises an endless belt 15 stretched by pulleys 16 and 16, and is driven at a speed slightly higher than the traveling speed of the conveyor 2 in the direction of the arrow.

As a result, the beer bottle 1 traveling on the conveyor 2 is pressed against the guide rod 13 by the endless belt 15, so that the distance between the beer bottle 1 and the vibrating surface 8 is kept constant.
Therefore, water is always present between the beer bottle 1 and the vibrating surface 8 with an appropriate thickness, and ultrasonic waves are stably transmitted to the beer bottle.

Next, the operation of the leak confirmation device for the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container as described above will be described.

First, the covenor 2 conveys the beer bottle 1 to be tested, which is filled with beer and stoppered. When the beer bottle 1 comes to the airtightness inspection point, the beer bottle 1 advances while being sandwiched between the guide rods 13 and 13 and the endless belt 15, and the distance between the beer bottle 1 and the vibrator 5 is regulated to a predetermined size.

On the other hand, the water 9 always flows down from the opening 12 under the water tank 11, and the water 9 flows along the slope 7 of the box 6 between the beer bottle 1 and the vibrating surface 8 which are conveyed while being positioned. Reach Then, the water flows down between the beer bottle 1 and the vibrating surface 8 while being filled with a layer having a thickness of about several mm, and is received by the container 17 below.

Thus, while the water 9 is interposed between the beer bottle 1 and the vibrating surface 8, the ultrasonic wave irradiation device 3 irradiates the beer bottle 1 with ultrasonic waves.

As a result, as described above, when there is no abnormality in the airtightness of the beer bottle 1, the upper surface of foaming in the space portion 18 in the beer bottle 1 is set to be a fraction of the space portion 18, but there is an abnormality. Sometimes the bubbling height becomes even higher. In this way, when it is confirmed by the CCD camera (not shown) that the height of the foaming upper surface is equal to or higher than a certain height, it is determined that the beer bottle 1 is leaking.

According to the experiments conducted by the present inventor, the determination of the airtightness of the beer bottle 1 was made possible by irradiating with ultrasonic waves having an intensity of several W / cm ² for 1 to 1.5 seconds to generate bubbles. In order to meet this condition, 8 to 12 vibrators 5 are installed for the beer bottle 1 moving at a speed of about 30 m / min, and the length of the vibrating surface 8 in the bottle moving direction is set to 500 mm to 750 mm. That's enough. Also, in that case, the power consumption per oscillator 5 is 100 W, and the total required power is
It becomes 800W-1.2KW.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and it is also possible to adopt the constitution as shown in FIG. In this case, two ultrasonic irradiation devices 3 are provided along the conveyor 2. Providing a plurality of units in this way is advantageous in reducing the required power.

Further, the traveling device 14 can be omitted due to the limitation of the installation space.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, when irradiating the gas-dissolved liquid-sealed container with ultrasonic waves, by pouring the liquid between the vibrating surface and the gas-dissolved liquid-sealed container, the medium for ultrasonic wave conduction. Can be formed. Therefore, since it is not necessary to guide the conveyor into the water tank as in the conventional case, the container does not fall over even if the conveyor is operated at a high speed. At this time, at the irradiation position where the ultrasonic wave is radiated from the ultrasonic wave irradiating means, the guide means and the traveling means always keep the space between the side portion of the gas-dissolved liquid filling container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiating means. Since a constant and required gap is formed, the liquid is always present at a constant thickness between the side of the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means. The ultrasonic waves transmitted from the means to the container are always constant. Therefore,
The distance between the side of the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means is too wide, and the amount of ultrasonic waves to be irradiated is insufficient, or the distance is narrow and the amount of ultrasonic waves to be irradiated is excessive. It is possible to confirm the leakage of the container without fail. Further, since the traveling speed of the traveling means is faster than the conveying speed of the conveying means when the container for enclosing the gas-dissolved liquid passes the ultrasonic irradiation position, the container is rotated along the guide means. As a result, the ultrasonic waves are uniformly radiated over the entire circumference of the side portion of the container, so that the leakage of the container can be more surely confirmed. Further, since the ultrasonic irradiation device and the liquid supply device can be installed without changing the existing transfer device, the cost is low and maintenance and inspection is easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view of a leak confirmation device for a gas-dissolved liquid-filled container according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view, FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view during inspection, and FIG. It is a schematic plan view of an example. 1 ... Beer bottle, 2 ... Conveyor, 3 ... Ultrasonic irradiation device, 4 ... Ultrasonic oscillator, 5 ... Transducer, 6 ... Box, 7
…… Slope, 8 …… Vibration surface, 9 …… Water, 10 …… Liquid supply device, 11 …… Water tank, 12 …… Opening, 13 …… Guide rod, 14
…… Traveling device, 15 …… Endless belt, 16 …… Pulley, 17…
…container. 18: Space section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transporting means for transporting a gas-dissolved liquid-filled container, and an ultrasonic device which is arranged along the transport direction of the transport means and irradiates ultrasonic waves to a side portion of the gas-dissolved-liquid-filled vessel transported by the transport means. The sonic wave irradiating means and the side portion of the gas solution storable liquid container which is disposed on the same side as the ultrasonic wave irradiating means and is conveyed by the conveying means at the irradiation position where the ultrasonic wave is radiated from the ultrasonic wave irradiating means to the gas dissolved liquid enclosure. A guide means that is in contact with the container for forming a required gap between the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container and the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means, and is disposed on the opposite side of the ultrasonic wave irradiation means at the irradiation position, and is conveyed. Traveling means for traveling at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the conveying means along the conveying direction of the means, and for pressing the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container conveyed by the conveying means against the guide means; A confirmation of leakage of the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container, characterized by comprising: a liquid supply means for introducing a liquid between the vibrating surface of the ultrasonic irradiation means and the gas-dissolved liquid-filled container transported by the transport means. apparatus.