JPH0620019U - Material mixing hopper - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] The recovered material and the new molding material can be automatically mixed within a range centered on a certain mixing ratio, and the operation is easy. Provide an economical material mixing hopper. In a hopper 1 having at least a bottom surface formed in a funnel shape and having a discharge duct 2 mounted therein for accommodating a powdery or granular material, the inner space of the hopper is divided into two parts outside the mounting axial position of the discharge duct 2. The material mixing hopper has a structure in which a vertical partition wall 3 is provided, and a gap is formed between the lower end of the vertical partition wall 3 and the bottom surface to allow the material to flow.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a material feeding hopper used by being attached to a plastic molding machine or the like, and particularly to a material mixing hopper for mixing and feeding two kinds of materials.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Plastics molding machines include, for example, injection molding machines, extrusion molding machines, blow molding machines, and other machines suitable for continuous molding work, and the molding materials used for these machines are powdery or granular. Is usually supplied to the material hopper attached to the molding machine. In addition, when manufacturing molded products of thermoplastics, not only defective products will be produced until the molding conditions stabilize when the machine is started, but runners, burrs, or Scrap called ears is generated. Unless such a property is deteriorated, such a scrap is usually discarded and then reused as a molding material by collecting and crushing it.

However, the molding material recovered from such a molding process and reused repeatedly deteriorates due to a large heat history when it is repeatedly fed into the molding process, which affects the quality of the molded product. May give. Therefore, the recovered material is rarely used alone, and is usually used by mixing it with a new molding material at a constant ratio.

However, from the economical point of view, the recovered material is generally coarsely crushed and often reused. Since the shape is uncertain and the particle size distribution is often wide, the particle size is uniform. It is difficult to mix them evenly in the hopper containing the new molding material, and even if they are separately mixed and put into the hopper, separation occurs while the materials sequentially flow down in the hopper. However, there was a problem that the composition was non-uniform. Therefore, conventionally, a hopper for storing new molding material and a hopper for storing recovered material were separately prepared, and a quantitative compounding device that was able to extract the material at a predetermined ratio from each hopper was used to further mix the compounded material. Then, the material was mixed and supplied to the molding machine through the material mixing device for homogenizing the composition.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 Although the conventional device for mixing the collected material and the new molding material is effective for maintaining the accurate mixing ratio of the materials, it is not only large in equipment but also expensive in installation cost. There is.

Therefore, in the present invention, when mixing the recovered material and the new molding material, the accuracy of the compounding ratio is not required to be as high as that of the conventional apparatus, but it is desired that the operation is easy and more economical. In view of the rare circumstances, the recovered material, which is proportionally produced according to the production speed of the molded product, is automatically mixed with the new molding material within a range centered on a certain compounding ratio. The purpose is to provide a hopper for mixing materials that can be immediately supplied to a molding machine.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, the material mixing hopper of the present invention is a hopper which has a funnel shape at least on the bottom surface and is provided with a discharge duct to accommodate powdery or granular materials. A vertical partition wall that divides the inner space of the hopper into two is provided outside the axial position, and a gap is formed between the lower end of the vertical partition wall and the bottom surface to allow the material to flow.

Further, in the material mixing hopper of the present invention, the vertical partition may have a flat shape or a curved shape, and need not be provided vertically. It is preferable that such a vertical partition has either a plate-like body or a cylindrical body that divides the inner space of the hopper into two parts, that is, the left and right parts or the inner and outer parts. Good.

Further, the hopper divided portion on the side including the mounting axial position of the discharge duct may be closed at the top and may be fitted with a material introducing pipe, and at least a part of the vertical partition wall. In addition, it is also possible to provide a filter that allows the flow of air but does not allow the flow of materials.

[0010]

[Action]

 In the material mixing hopper of the present invention, the material supplied to the chamber A located outside the axial position of the exhaust duct in the inner space divided by the vertical partition is formed below the vertical partition. It flows into the chamber B, which includes the mounting axis position of the exhaust duct, through the defined gap, flows down along the bottom of the chamber B, and flows out of the exhaust duct. Therefore, when the material is not supplied to the chamber B, the amount of material in the chamber A corresponding to the outflow amount from the discharge duct is sequentially supplied to the discharge duct through the chamber B. On the other hand, when the material is supplied only to the B room, the material inside the B room is naturally supplied to the discharge duct.

By the way, when the material is supplied to both the chamber A and the chamber B, the material supplied to the chamber B is piled up on the material introduced from the chamber A, mixed little by little, and discharged from the discharge duct. . At this time, if the feed rate of the material to the B chamber is small, all of it will immediately mix with the A chamber material and flow into the discharge duct, and as the feed rate of the material to the B chamber increases, However, the mixing ratio gradually approaches a certain ratio as the amount of material deposited in the B chamber increases. In this way, if the respective materials are deposited in both the A chamber and the B chamber, even if there is a small change in the material supply rate to the B chamber, the mixing ratio hardly changes. In addition, when there is a large change in the material supply rate to chamber B, the amount of material deposited in chamber B also changes significantly, but the mixing ratio gradually changes and settles to a value commensurate with the material supply rate. It is a thing. In this case, the changing rate of the mixing ratio can be adjusted by adjusting the height and width of the gap below the vertical partition, and the changing ratio of the mixing ratio can be adjusted according to the average supply speed of the material to the chamber B. It can be made smoother.

[0012]

【Example】

 An external view of an example of the material mixing hopper of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1, and a longitudinal section thereof is shown in FIG. Here, 1 is an oblong hopper main body, and the bottom surface 1a thereof is formed in a funnel shape and connected to the discharge duct 2. Reference numeral 3 is a flat vertical partition, which is provided at a position closer to the outside than the mounting axial position of the exhaust duct 2 so that the inner space of the hopper is separated from the axial position of the mounting duct of the exhaust duct 2. And chamber B, which includes the mounting shaft position of the exhaust duct 2. A gap S is formed between the lower edge of the vertical partition 3 and the bottom surface 1a so that the material in the form of particles or powder can flow down.

The material mixing hopper of the present invention as described above is used by being assembled for supplying materials in a plastics molding apparatus as shown in FIG. 3, for example. In the figure, T is a tank for storing the molding material pellets, and the stored pellets are sucked up from the tank T by the air suction type material loader L and supplied to the hopper H, and the upper surface of the pellets in the hopper H is predetermined. The operation of the material loader L is stopped when the stop position is reached. Then, when the upper surface of the pellets in the hopper H is lowered to the predetermined operating position, the operation of the material loader L is restarted and the supply of the pellets is started.

F is, for example, a plastics molding device such as an injection molding machine or a blow molding machine, which automatically molds a molded product from the molding material supplied from the hopper H. It is automatically taken out of the mold by the take-out machine E, and the runners and ears are removed and placed on the product transfer line. At this time, the runners and the like separated from the molded product are put into a crusher C, crushed, and collected as plastics powder. As long as the plastics powder thus recovered can be reused as a molding material, it is sent to the cyclone separator D, for example, by blower pressure feeding, separated from the air, and returned to the hopper H again.

In the material mixing hopper of the present invention, for example, when new pellets are supplied to the chamber A located farther from the mounting axial position of the discharge duct 2, the pellets form a space S below the vertical partition wall 3. It flows out into the passage B chamber and flows into the discharge duct 2, and further outflow stops in a state where a free-flow inclined surface having the lower edge of the vertical partition wall 3 as its apex is formed. Then, as the pellets are taken into the molding apparatus F, they gradually move so as to flow into the discharge duct 2 from the chamber A through the chamber B, and function exactly like the hopper of the type conventionally used.

Next, when plastic scrap is generated in the molding apparatus F and the powder material starts to be collected from the crusher C, it is thrown into the chamber B, which includes the position of the mounting axis of the discharge duct 2. Then, the collected material is piled up on the new pellets accumulated on the bottom surface of the chamber B, and as the new pellets are sequentially moved toward the discharge duct 2, the collected material is also moved toward the discharge duct 2. The molding material having a substantially constant composition, in which new pellets and the collected material are mixed, is supplied from the discharge duct 2 to the molding apparatus F at a rate commensurate with the generation rate of the collected material.

In this way, the composition of the mixed molding material supplied to the molding apparatus F is gradually increased from when the collected material is not generated to a constant value corresponding to the average value of the generation rate of the collected material. However, even if the generation rate of the collected material further increases, the collected material is temporarily accumulated in the chamber B, the composition of the mixed molding material gradually changes, and gradually converges to a constant value commensurate with the increased generation rate. It does not change rapidly. In this state, the composition of the mixed molding material hardly changes even if the generation rate of the recovered material fluctuates a little, and the mixed molding material with a substantially constant mixing ratio is constantly obtained. Therefore, if such a material mixing hopper of the present invention is used, the new molding material in the chamber A is preferentially supplied to the molding apparatus F, but even if the generation rate of the recovered material fluctuates, the molding material Since the composition is within a substantially constant range, the automatic operation of the molding apparatus F can be performed while maintaining the molding conditions constant.

An example of the material mixing hopper of the present invention has been described above, but other examples are shown in FIGS. 4 to 7. The example of FIG. 4 is an example of a material mixing hopper having a circular hopper body 11, and an exhaust duct 12 is attached to the center of the bottom. A chamber B surrounded by a cylindrical vertical partition 13 is provided above the mounting axis position of the discharge duct 12, and a cyclone separator D for separating the collected material from the carrier air is mounted on the chamber B. There are

The example of FIG. 5 is also an example of a material mixing hopper having a cylindrical hopper body 21, and is surrounded by a cylindrical vertical partition wall 23 above the mounting axis position of the discharge duct 22 as in the above example. A room B is provided, and the room B has a ceiling that is closed and a transfer duct that sends the collected material together with the transfer air is directly attached. The vertical partition wall 23 is provided with a large number of slits or pores so that air can pass therethrough. Further, a material loader L is mounted on the upper part of the chamber A surrounding the chamber B.

The example in FIG. 6 shows a hopper body 31 in which the volume of the chamber A is made large and the volume of the chamber B is made small in proportion to the generation rate of the recovered material, and the cyclone separation device D is mounted on the upper part of the chamber B. It shows what is placed.

In the example of FIG. 7, a conveyance duct for closing the upper part of the chamber B to feed the collected material is attached, and a large number of slits or pores are provided in the lower part of the vertical partition wall 43, and the bottom of the chamber A is connected to the chamber B. An example of a hopper main body 41 is shown which is provided with a large number of slits or pores through which new molding material does not pass, and which sucks air through these slits or pores.

Although examples of various material mixing hoppers have been described above, all of them have the same functions as described above. The material mixing hopper of the present invention is not limited to the example shown here, and may have various additional configurations as long as it has the configuration of the present invention.

[0023]

[Effects of the Invention] The material mixing hopper of the present invention is configured with a specific structure, so that it has no moving parts, and it automatically mixes materials with a fixed mixing ratio without any modification. The cost of manufacturing the device is low, operating energy is not required, labor for use is not required, breakdown does not occur, maintenance and management are easy, and it is extremely economical. There is an effect that.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an example of a material mixing hopper of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the material mixing hopper of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of use of a material mixing hopper.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway sectional view of a second example of the material mixing hopper of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway sectional view of a third example of the material mixing hopper of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway sectional view of a fourth example of the material mixing hopper of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway sectional view of a fifth example of the material mixing hopper of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 11, 21, 31, 41 Hopper body 1a Bottom surface 2, 12, 22 Discharge duct 3, 13, 23, 33, 43 Vertical partition wall S Gap T Material tank L Material loader H Hopper F Plastics molding machine E Ejector C Crusher D Cyclone separator

Claims (4)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A hopper which has a funnel shape at least on its bottom surface and which is provided with an exhaust duct for accommodating powdery or granular material, wherein an inner space of the hopper is provided outside an axial position of the exhaust duct. A hopper for material mixing, characterized in that a vertical partition wall is provided, and a gap is formed between the lower end of the vertical partition wall and the bottom surface to allow the material to flow. 2. The material-mixing hopper according to claim 1, wherein the vertical partition wall is a plate-like body or a tubular body that divides the inner space of the hopper into two parts, left and right or inside and outside. 3. The material mixing hopper according to claim 1, wherein the hopper divided portion on the side including the attachment shaft position of the discharge duct is sealed at the upper portion and is provided with a material introduction duct. 4. The material mixing hopper according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the vertical partition wall is provided with a filter body that allows air to flow but does not allow material to flow.