JPH0620942B2 - Solid material transfer device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention A. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for transferring a solid material such as orange and tomato that floats on water, and more particularly to an apparatus for transferring a solid material together with water by using a rotary solid material pump.

B. 2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus has been developed which uses a bladeless impeller solid matter pump to transfer solid matter using water as a carrier medium.
This type of solid pump is used to transfer solids such as fish, ham and sausage that settle into water or have a specific gravity almost equal to that of water. It's hard to do.

This is because when the suction side of the solid matter pump is connected to a supply hopper that mixes water and solid matter, and the solid matter pump is connected to the bottom of this supply hopper and fruits are supplied to this, the This is because it floats in the air and is not smoothly sucked into the solid material pump.

Therefore, light solids such as fruits must be forced to settle to the bottom of the feeding hopper in some way.

The present inventor collects water in a supply hopper, supplies a large amount of solid matter higher than the water surface level, and causes the lower solid matter to settle below the water surface by its own weight of the solid matter on the water surface. A prototype of a device for transferring with a solid material pump was also made. Since this apparatus causes the lower solid matter to settle below the surface of the water due to the weight of the solid matter, the structure for causing the solid matter to settle can be made extremely simple. However, this device has a drawback in that the solid matter in the lower part cannot be smoothly settled in water and the solid matter cannot be uniformly sent out without unevenness. That is, the fixed objects stacked do not settle down smoothly as the lower solids are sent out, sometimes the bridging phenomenon occurs and the descent is stopped, or a large amount of solids descends at a time and becomes smooth. Not supplied.

The bridging state can be eliminated by mechanically stirring the solid matter or by vibrating the supply hopper greatly. However, according to this method, there is a defect that the surface of the solid material is scratched and the fruit and the like are damaged even inside.

Also, the trouble is that the rotary type solid material pump that transfers the solid material together with the liquid can transfer the solid material with less damage when the solid material concentration is less than a certain value, but the solid material concentration is more than a certain value. At high concentrations, damage is significantly increased.

From this, it is particularly important that the supply hopper can smoothly settle the solid matter below the water surface, and thereby keep the solid matter concentration in the solid matter pump uniformly within a certain range. Also, in order to achieve this, the solids must not be damaged.

C. Object of the present invention An important object of the present invention is to provide a feeding hopper having an extremely simple structure so that the solid substance can be smoothly settled below the water surface without exerting an undue force on the solid substance, and the solid substance can be uniformly scratched. (EN) It is an object to provide a solid material transfer device that can transfer with less attachment.

Another important object of the present invention is that the supply hopper smoothly transfers the solids downward, but not upwards, so that the solids when the water level of the supply hopper suddenly rises. (EN) It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid substance transfer device which has a small amount of upward movement and can easily control the water surface level of a supply hopper to realize a uniform concentration of solid substance.

Furthermore, another important object of the present invention is to allow the solid matter to settle down gently and quietly under the water surface, so that the bubbles that settle in the water together with the solid matter can be reduced, and the solid matter pump idles due to the bubbles. The object of the present invention is to provide a solid material transfer device capable of reducing the amount of waste.

D. Means to Achieve the Purpose The solids are mixed with the liquid at the feed hopper. The solids in the feed hopper are pumped with the liquid by the solids pump.
In the supply hopper, the solid material supply port is opened, and the lower part of the supply port is formed in a tapered shape with a skirt expanding. Things settle below the surface of the water.

E. Action, effect The feed hopper that has a tapered bottom with the bottom extending from the feed port, that is, the feed hopper that has a larger cross-sectional area toward the bottom, has a wider passage cross section as the stacked solids descend. The solids fall in a state of being separated from each other. Therefore, the solids do not get entangled with each other or pressed against each other to cause a bridging phenomenon, and the solids smoothly descend without being blocked by their own weight.

Therefore, the sedimentation depth of the lower solid matter can be accurately controlled by adjusting the amount of solid matter supplied to the supply hopper, that is, the amount of solid matter accumulated on the water surface of the supply hopper. Therefore, by controlling the supply amount of the solid matter, the concentration of the solid matter sucked into the solid matter pump can be accurately adjusted, whereby the concentration of the solid matter sucked into the solid matter pump can be adjusted within a certain range. it can. That is, by adjusting the amount of solid matter supplied to the supply hopper to such an amount that the solid matter pump can transfer the solid matter with less damage and efficiently, the solid matter can be transferred with less damage and with high efficiency.

Also, in the supply hopper on the bottom of the hem, the solid matter moves smoothly downward, but not upwards.
Even if the water level of the supply hopper rises for some reason,
Solids do not rise much compared to the rise in water. For this reason, when the water surface rises, the solid matter also rises with it, and the phenomenon that the solid matter is not sucked into the solid matter pump does not occur, and the solid matter is smoothly sucked into the solid matter pump even when the water surface level rises.

Furthermore, compared to the method of dropping the solid matter from a high position on the water surface and settling in the water, the solid matter is gently and gently settled, so bubbles that settle in the water together with the solid matter are reduced. It is possible to reduce the idling of the solid material pump due to the bubbles. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to prevent significant damage of the solid matter due to idling of the solid matter pump.

F. Preferred Embodiment The solid material transfer device of the present invention transfers a solid material floating in water. Hereinafter, a specific example using orange as a solid material will be described.

The solid material transfer device shown in FIG. 1 includes a supply hopper 1, a solid material pump 2, a separator 3, and a water supply tank 4.

The supply hopper 1 has a solid material supply port 5 opened upward,
Below the supply port 5, the orange sent from the supply port 5 descends smoothly and sinks into the water.
The side wall 6 is formed in a tapered shape that extends downward and has a large horizontal cross-sectional area.

The flared portion is to prevent the bridging phenomenon from being caused by the solid matter being pulled apart from each other as the solid matter descends due to its own weight. When the horizontal cross section is a quadrangle, it is not necessary for the side walls of the four sides to incline in a skirt-like manner, and the two opposite sides are vertical and the other two opposite sides are vertical.
It is also possible to form the surface in a flared shape, or the three surfaces are vertical,
It is also possible to incline one surface and form a wide horizontal section downward.

When the horizontal cross section of the supply hopper 1 is circular or oval,
Ideally, the taper shape is such that the radius once becomes large downward.

The side wall of the lower portion of the supply hopper 1 communicates with the water supply tank 4 via the filter 7.

The water supply tank 4 is penetrated by a water supply pipe 8 from below and opens vertically upward near the water surface L1. In front of the opening of the water supply pipe 8, a turning plate A, which is a flat plate in the horizontal direction, is pivoted integrally with the water supply tank 4 at a predetermined distance.

On the other hand, a level sensor 9 is provided above the supply hopper 1, and is configured to detect the level of orange in the supply hopper 1 and start and stop the supply conveyor 10.

A separator 3 is provided at the discharge side end of the solid material pump 2, and a flat plate-shaped turning plate B extending in the water surface direction is provided in the return water tank 12 in front of the opening of the drainage port 11 of the separator 3. There is.

With the above configuration, the operation method is as follows. First, the return water tank 12 or the water supply tank 4 is supplied with water from an external water source such as tap water (not shown), and the water supply tank 4 and the return water tank 12 are supplied.
When it reaches a predetermined level, the solid material pump 2 is started up. Water flows through the water supply tank 4, the supply hopper 1, the solid material pump 2, the separator 3, and the return water tank 12, and the water is returned from the return water tank 12 to the water supply tank 4 via the water supply pipe 8 and circulates. When the solid matter pump 2 is in a normal operating state and the flow is in a fixed amount state, the preparation is completed.

Next, the supply conveyor 10 is operated, orange is supplied into the supply hopper 1, and when the level sensor 9 reaches the lower limit, the solid material pump 2 is started up. In this case, as shown in the figure, part of the orange is exposed to the atmosphere above the water surface L2 of the supply hopper 1 and floats up, and part of the orange is pushed below the water surface due to the weight of the orange on the top. , It is in a state of being immersed in water. What is sucked into the solid material pump 2 is the orange that is pushed down below the water surface, is sucked in the direction of the solid material pump 2 together with the water in the supply hopper 1, and is pumped to the separator 3 via the discharge pipe 13. .

Therefore, the oranges are successively supplied from the supply conveyor 10, and a certain amount of oranges are accumulated in the supply hopper 1, and the oranges that are supplied first in succession to the weight of the oranges that are supplied later. Therefore, it is pushed down into the supply hopper 1 and settled, and is sucked and pumped by the solid matter pump 2 together with running water.

In this case, since the inner dimension is formed such that the shape of the supply hopper 1 is vertically downward and the horizontal cross-sectional area of the supply hopper 1 is widened in an expanding taper shape, the orange causes the bridging phenomenon in the supply hopper 1. Does not get stuck.

In particular, since agricultural products such as oranges do not have a uniform shape and are elastic, they tend to deform so as to expand in the left-right direction when a force is applied from the up-down direction. It becomes a storage state, and when pressure such as weight is applied from the top, it deforms and causes a bridging phenomenon, it does not fall downward, and the weight of the upper transfer material causes the same lower transfer material to settle down. Can not be.

When the water and orange in the supply hopper 1 are sucked into the solid material pump 2, the water surface level L2 in the supply hopper 1 instantaneously drops, but the water is supplied from the adjacent water tank 4 through the filter 7. It flows into the supply hopper 1, and the inside of the supply hopper 1 always maintains a predetermined level of the water surface L2.

The action of the turning plate B provided in front of the drainage port 11 of the separator 3 is that the water separated from the orange by the separator 3 drops at a high speed and rushes into the return water tank 12 due to its inertial force. , At that time, it inhales the atmosphere and forms a myriad of air bubbles that submerge in the water and submerge. Since the air bubbles are sucked into the solid material pump 2 and cause cavitation,
It is provided to prevent air bubbles from entering the water.

The turning plate B turns the high-speed running water horizontally,
It forms a thin plate-shaped water film and scatters in all directions and falls to the surface of the water. The scattering direction of the water film is horizontal, and even if it falls to the water surface level L3 of the return water tank 12, it does not deeply submerge in the water, and even if some bubbles are generated, it is near the water surface and will soon disappear. The turning plate B may be slightly submerged in water as long as it is near the water surface, or may be near the water surface on the water surface as shown in FIG.

The action of the diverting plate B is that the high-speed drainage that falls from the drainage port 11 is horizontally deflected to spread widely in parallel with the water surface to soften the entry rush into the water and prevent the bubbles from deeply submerging in the water. It is to make return water that does not contain bubbles by utilizing the effect of doing so.

Next, the turning plate A of the water supply tank 4 will be described. Although the return water from the return water tank 12 is controlled by the turning plate B so as not to contain bubbles, if the return water tank 12 is small, it still contains some bubbles. Also, the water supply tank 4
Since bubbles may be mixed again when water is supplied at a high speed when returning to, the turning plate A having substantially the same operation as the turning plate B is provided.

In FIG. 1, the water supply pipe 8 extends from below the water supply tank 4 to above. In the turning plate A arranged horizontally at an angle perpendicular to the extension direction of the water supply pipe 8 in the vicinity of the water surface L1, the water blown out from the water supply pipe 8 is blocked by the turning plate A and scattered horizontally in a film shape. To prevent air bubbles from entering the water. Therefore, a large amount of water can be returned to the water supply tank 4 at high speed from the water supply pipe. In this case, the turning plate A may be on the water surface or in the water as long as it is near the water surface L1, but if the water contains almost no air bubbles from the water supply pipe 8, the water column is less likely to cause air bubbles. .

When the distance from the return water tank 12 to the water supply tank 4 is long, or when a sufficient head cannot be obtained, the return water pump 14 is connected to the water supply pipe as shown in the figure.

Return water tank 12 and water supply tank 4 configured as described above
Since the water supplied from does not contain air bubbles, it is mixed with orange in the supply hopper 1, sucked by the solid material pump 2 and pressure-fed to the separator 3 through the discharge pipe 13, and the orange is discharged. Water is separated and circulates smoothly.

Further, the check valve 15 provided on the discharge side of the solid matter pump 2
When the solid material pump 2 is temporarily stopped during transfer,
Since the separator 3 is normally arranged at a higher place than the water surface of the supply hopper 1, the water falls due to the head in the discharge pipe 13, the water surface L2 rises, and the orange overflows into the supply hopper 1. Therefore, it is provided to prevent it. A full bore swing check valve is used for this.

Next, supplementing the explanation of the function of the level sensor 9 above the supply hopper 1, orange is started to be sucked into the solid material pump 2 while being supplied to the lower limit level in the supply hopper 1.
When the upper limit is detected, the supply conveyor 10 is stopped and an appropriate amount is supplied to the supply hopper 1.

If the amount of orange in the supply hopper 1 decreases too much, the orange below does not settle below the surface of the water, so it is no longer sucked into the solid material pump 2 and only water is run, so the lower limit of the level sensor 9 detects again. The supply conveyor is operated to always store an appropriate amount of orange in the supply hopper 1.

At the end of the transfer operation, the orange remains in the supply hopper 1 as it is, so this is done by artificially pushing down the orange below the surface of the water using a suitable plate-shaped jig to suck it into the solid material pump 2. To do.

FIG. 2 is a water supply tank 4 of the transfer device described in FIG.
Another embodiment of the present invention is arranged three-dimensionally in a narrow space to promote the action of separating bubbles with high efficiency.

In FIG. 2, the water supply tank 4 is vertically separated by a partition plate 16.
It is divided into rooms. The lower chamber 17 is connected to the upper chamber 18 by a communication pipe 19, and the lower chamber 17 is connected to the water supply pipe 8 by the upper chamber 1.
A drainage pipe 20 communicates with each other as shown in FIG. 8 and is open to the outside.

The float valve 21 is configured to open when the float 22 descends.

The operation of the water supply tank 4 will be described below. Water containing bubbles from the return water tank 12 shown in FIG.
Since the water is further supplied, water is scattered in the vicinity of the water surface in the water surface direction by the turning plate C provided near the water surface, and the bubbles contained in the water are also scattered in a wide plane, so that the water does not deeply submerge. Immediately, the bubbles rise and are erased on the water surface L4.

In this case, the operation of the float valve 21 will be described. Since the float 22 starts descending until water reaches the predetermined water level L4 after the water is supplied to the lower chamber 17, the float valve 21
Is in a fully opened state, and the air in the lower chamber 17 is freely exhausted to the outside. As the water surface gradually rises, the float valve 21 acts in the closing direction, and is fully closed when the water surface reaches L4. In this state, a closed air chamber 23 is formed above the water surface L4 of the lower chamber 17. By the water supply after the float valve 22 is fully closed, the air bubbles contained in the water are floated and separated as described above, and the air pressure in the air chamber 23 rises. By the action of the air pressure, water is pushed out from the communication pipe 19 to the upper part and supplied to the upper chamber 18. Then, the amount of water in the upper chamber 18 gradually increases and finally reaches the water surface L5. Due to the bubbles contained in the water supply pipe 8, the separated air accumulates in the air chamber 23, and the air pressure thereof gradually rises, so that the water surface L4 descends. When the water surface L4 descends, the float valve 21 opens, the air in the air chamber 23 is discharged to the outside, and the water surface L4 always maintains a predetermined position.

Since the turning plate D is also provided at the upper end of the communication pipe 19 as shown in the figure, the bubbles are separated by the same action as described above. The water surface L5 of the upper chamber 18 is always operated at a predetermined position. However, when a large amount of solid matter (orange) or the like is supplied to the supply hopper 1, the water surface L5 rises temporarily.
Drain from the overflow port 24. Also, supply hopper 1
When the supply amount to the water supply system is temporarily reduced, the solid matter pump 2 sucks water in the preparatory amount by the reduced amount, and the water surface L5 is lowered. In that case, fresh water is supplied from the float valve 25 provided at the left end of the upper chamber. Float valve 25
Is configured so as to communicate with the water source 26 and supply water by opening when the water level L5 decreases below a predetermined level, and raises and closes the water level L5. Float valve 2
5 may be used to supply water when water is first supplied to the water supply tank 1 as preparation for operation.

In the water supply tank 4 shown in FIG. 2, bubbles are separated from the water discharged from the bottom of the upper chamber by the bubble separation action of the water supply pipe 8 of the lower chamber 17, the turning plate C, the communication pipe 19 and the turning plate D. Only water is supplied to the supply hopper 1.
Further, the water supply tank 4 has a function of efficiently separating air bubbles even though the water supply tank 4 is divided into two chambers, an upper chamber and a lower chamber, to reduce the installation area.

Further, although the partition plate which is divided into the upper and lower chambers has a large area, the water pressure of the upper chamber and the air chamber 2 of the lower chamber are in operation during operation.
In order to maintain the balance with the air pressure of No. 3, it is not necessary to have a pressure structure in which they are balanced with each other. That is,
The partition plate does not need to be highly reinforced to prevent bending.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a solid material transfer device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an example of a water supply tank. 1 ... Supply hopper, 2 ... Solid pump, 3 ... Separator, 4 ... Water tank, 5 ... Supply port, 6 ... Side wall,
7: filter, 8: water supply pipe, 9: level sensor,
10 ... Supply conveyor, 11 ... Drainage port, 12 ... Return water tank, 13 ... Discharge pipe, 14 ... Return water pump, 15 ...
... Check valve, 16 ... Partition plate, 17 ... Lower chamber, 18 ... Upper chamber, 19 ... Communication pipe, 20 ... Drain pipe, 21 ... Float valve, 22 ... Float, 23 ... Air pressure , 24 ...
… Overflow port, 25… Float valve, 26…
… Water source,

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A supply hopper in which a solid matter lighter than water is mixed with water, and a water supply unit connected below the water surface of the supply hopper to suck and transfer the water and the solid matter mixed in the supply hopper together. In a solid material transfer device provided with a solid material pump, a supply port is opened in a supply hopper, and a portion below the supply port has a tapered internal dimension in which a horizontal cross-sectional area becomes large downward. The solids that are formed and sent from the supply port are stacked on the taper part and the solids in the lower part are settled in the water by their own weight, and the solids in the water are transferred by the solids pump together with the liquid. A solid material transfer device characterized in that 2. A separator for separating solid matter and water is connected to the discharge side of the solid matter pump, the separator is communicated with a supply hopper via a water supply pipe, and the water separated by the separator is supplied to the supply hopper. Claims: The water is circulated and circulates through a supply hopper, a solids hoop and a separator.
The solid material transfer device as described in the item (1). 3. The solid matter transfer device according to claim 2, wherein a return water pump is connected between the separator and the supply hopper.