JPH06263192A - Filling valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a perfect effect of cleaning a filling valve by a method wherein, when a sliding part in the filling valve is cleaned, a slidable sleeve for the sealing member of a housing is moved with such a stroke as to raise it much higher than at the time of normal filling to form gaps between a small diameter part of the sleeve and the sealing member. CONSTITUTION:When a sleeve 8 is forced up by the upward movement of a container support with the mouth part of a container secured in its position by a guide cone 34, a liquid valve 26 is released to send liquid in a tank 2 therefrom through a filling liquid passage 28 into the container. To clean this filling valve, a sleeve 8 is moved higher than at the time of normal filling by forcing up a cleaning cup 38 with its upper surface held into contact with the guide cone 34. In this way the sliding surface of the sleeve 8 is moved out of close contact with a sealing member 10 to form gaps C and D. A cleaning liquid stored in a tank 2 is allowed to flow down through the filling liquid passage 28 and flow up through communication passages 20a and 18a into a space 22 provided with a spring 24 therein and the cleaning liquid is also sent through the gaps C and D into the space 22. The cleaning liquids thus flowing together into the space 22 are discharged from a pipe 36.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filling valve, and more particularly to a filling valve provided with a cleaning device for cleaning a sliding portion inside thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a filling valve for filling a liquid in a container, a cylindrical valve body fixed in a hole provided in the bottom surface of a filling liquid tank and sliding on an inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical valve body. A sleeve (liquid injection pipe) that is fitted as much as possible and has a filling liquid passage formed inside, and an inner portion that is arranged and fixed with a gap in the center of these valve body and sleeve, the inside of which constitutes the exhaust passage. Conventionally, a vent tube (exhaust pipe) and a liquid valve that is opened by raising the sleeve with respect to the vent tube are known. When filling the liquid in the container, this filling valve pushes up the sleeve by the rising mouth of the container to open the liquid valve, allowing the liquid to flow down from the filling liquid passage into the container, and at the same time Is discharged through the inner vent tube into the filling liquid tank.

In a filling machine equipped with the above-mentioned filling valve, the inside of the filling liquid tank, the filling valve, the inside of other passages, etc. are washed after the filling work is completed or when the kind of liquid to be filled is exchanged. There must be. In that case, usually, a washing cup is attached to the bottom of the filling valve, the washing liquid is supplied to the filling liquid tank in place of the filling liquid, the liquid valve is opened, and this washing liquid is allowed to pass through the inside of the filling valve. The cleaning is done by.

In the above-described construction in which the liquid valve is opened and the cleaning liquid is made to flow to wash the inside of the filling valve, as in the case of normal filling, the sliding portion between the valve body fixed to the filling liquid tank and the ascending / descending sleeve. A sealing member is provided on the inside to keep the liquid tightness inside and outside the filling valve, and even when the liquid valve is opened, the sealing member remains in close contact with the outer surface of the sleeve. However, there is a problem that the sliding portion between the seal member and the sleeve cannot be sufficiently washed.

Therefore, an escape portion having a diameter smaller than that of the sliding surface of the sleeve is formed below the sliding portion between the sleeve (liquid injection pipe) and the sealing member, and a normal stroke for filling the sleeve is provided for cleaning. The position of the seal member of the valve body and the position of the relief portion of the sleeve are made to coincide with each other by causing the gap to be created between the outer surface of the sleeve and the inner surface of the seal member, and the cleaning liquid can pass through this gap. Thus, there has been already proposed a cleaning device for a sliding seal member in a filling valve, which is capable of cleaning the sliding portion (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-38898).

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional cleaning device, the sliding part which comes into contact with the filling liquid at the time of filling can be cleaned, but sliding parts other than the liquid contact part, for example, , A tubular member 21 forming a part of the liquid injection pipe 4 and the pipe 14 fixed to the outside of the valve body 2.
The cleaning of the sliding parts between and is not considered.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object thereof is to provide a filling valve capable of cleaning all the sliding portions inside.

[0008]

A filling valve according to the present invention is a cylindrical valve body fixed to the bottom surface of a filling liquid tank, fitted in the valve body, and attached to the inner surface of the valve body. A sleeve that slides through a sealing member, an exhaust pipe that is inserted into the valve body and the sleeve and is fixed to the valve body, a sleeve and a lower end portion of the exhaust pipe that are opened and closed by raising and lowering the sleeve. A filling valve provided with a liquid valve and an outer cylinder that is fixed to the outside of the valve body and the sleeve, and the inner surface of which guides the sleeve to slide up and down.
A portion having a smaller diameter than the sliding portion is formed below the portion of the outer peripheral surface of the sleeve that slides with respect to the seal member, and the cleaning liquid is allowed to pass through the sliding surface between the sleeve and the outer cylinder. A permissible communication passage is formed, and at the time of cleaning, the sleeve is raised so that the small diameter portion thereof is located on the inner peripheral side of the seal member and a gap is formed between the two.

[0009]

In the above filling valve, when the sleeve is raised more than in the normal filling and the small diameter portion of the outer peripheral surface is positioned on the inner peripheral side of the seal member, the seal member and this seal member are A gap is formed between the sliding sleeve and the cleaning liquid, and the sliding passage between the outer surface of the sleeve and the inner surface of the outer cylinder forms a communication passage to allow the cleaning liquid to pass therethrough. Therefore, each sliding part in the filling valve can be completely cleaned.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 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 filling valve (generally indicated by reference numeral 1) equipped with a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The right half shows a cleaning time for cleaning the inside of the filling valve 1. Hole 2a formed on the bottom surface of the filling liquid tank 2
A tubular valve body 4 is inserted inside and fixed to the lower surface side. An inner vent tube 6 is inserted through the center of the tubular valve body 4 and is fixed to the upper end 4 a of the tubular valve body 4 extending into the filling liquid tank 2. This inner vent tube 6 is used for the filling liquid tank 2
It projects above the liquid surface (not shown) of the filling liquid contained therein.

An upper end portion 8a of a sleeve 8 on which a valve body of a liquid valve, which will be described later, is formed, is fitted to the inner periphery of a lower end portion 4b of the tubular valve body 4 so as to be able to move up and down. The annular seal member 10 fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the above slides while maintaining liquid tightness.
An outer cylinder 12 having a larger diameter than the cylindrical valve body 4 and the elevating sleeve 8 below the cylindrical valve body 4 is arranged and fixed to the bottom surface of the filling liquid tank 2. O-rings 14 and 16 are provided between the cylindrical valve body 4 and the bottom surface of the filling liquid tank 2 and between the cylindrical valve body 4 and the outer cylinder 12, respectively, to connect the filling valve 1 and the outside. Maintains liquid tightness between.

Two annular protrusions 8b and 8c are formed on the outer periphery of the elevating sleeve 8 below the sliding surface with the seal member 10, and are formed around the respective annular protrusions 8b and 8c. The bushes 18 and 20 are fitted together, and the lifting sleeve 8 has the bushes 18 and 20 fitted to the outer cylinder 1.
By sliding on the inner peripheral surface of 2, the up and down movement is guided. Annular protrusion 8 of the lifting sleeve 8
Two bushes 18, 20 fitted around the outer circumferences of b, 8c
As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of vertical grooves (communication passages) 18a, 20a are formed on the outer peripheral surface.

In the space 22 between the tubular valve body 4 and the upper portion of the outer cylinder 12 fixed to the outer peripheral side thereof, the upper surface of the upper annular protrusion 8b of the sleeve 8 and the upper end of the outer cylinder 12 are provided. A spring 24 is arranged between the lower surface of the inward flange 12a and the lower surface of the inward flange 12a to constantly urge the sleeve 8 downward. A tapered valve seat 6a is formed at the lower end of the inner vent tube 6 arranged at the center of the tubular valve body 4 and the elevating sleeve 8, while the elevating sleeve 8 has an inner surface at the lower end thereof. A valve body 8d having an inclination that substantially matches the taper surface of 6a is provided, and the valve seat 6a and the valve body 8d constitute a liquid valve 26. An annular concave portion 8e is formed on the lower surface side of the lower annular protruding portion 8c of the elevating sleeve 8, the bottle packing 32 is fitted in the concave portion 8e, and the outer peripheral side of the bottle packing 32 is A guide cone 34 extending downward is attached. The liquid valve 26 is opened by a container raised by a container stand (not shown) arranged below the filling valve 1 and pushing up the elevating sleeve 8 via the bottle packing 32.

In a normal filling operation, the elevating sleeve 8 makes a stroke between a position for closing the liquid valve 26 shown by a solid line on the left side of FIG. 1 and an open position for the liquid valve 26 shown by an imaginary line. (The stroke amount is indicated by S), and at the time of this filling operation, the upper end portion 8 of the lifting sleeve 8 is
The outer peripheral surface of a slides on the seal member 10 attached to the valve body. Upper end 8a of the lifting sleeve 8
An annular recess 8f having a diameter smaller than that of the sliding surface (that is, smaller than the inner diameter of the sealing member 10) is formed below the sliding surface of the sealing member 10. Therefore, when the elevating sleeve 8 is significantly lifted beyond the normal stroke range during the filling operation, and the height of the annular recess 8f matches the height of the seal member 10, the elevating sleeve 8 and the seal member 10 are separated from each other. The close contact state is released, and a gap C is formed between the both 8 and 10 as shown on the right side of FIG. The guide cone 34 has a length slightly larger than the stroke amount S at the time of filling operation from the lower end of the outer cylinder 12 when the lifting sleeve 8 is lowered and the valve body 8d is seated on the valve seat 6a. Also protrudes downward, and when the lower end of the guide cone 34 is substantially aligned with the lower end of the outer cylinder 12, the heights of the annular recess 8f and the seal member 10 are substantially aligned, and a gap C is formed therebetween. It has become so. The upper portion of the portion of the valve body 4 where the seal member 10 is fitted has an inner diameter larger than the inner diameter of the seal member 10, and the annular recess 8f and the seal member 10 face each other. Then, a gap D is also formed between the upper end portion 8a of the sleeve 8 and the valve body 4. Further, a through hole 34a is formed in the upper portion of the guide cone 34, and a notch 34b is formed in the lower end portion thereof so that the inner surface side and the outer surface side thereof communicate with each other.

A vertically long inflow port 4c is formed in a portion of the cylindrical valve body 4 which penetrates the hole 2a of the filling liquid tank 2, and the filling liquid in the filling liquid tank 2 flows in this direction. From the inlet 4c to the tubular valve body 4 and the lifting sleeve 8
Enters the filling liquid passage 28 between the inner surface of the inner vent tube 6 and the outer surface of the inner vent tube 6, and is filled in the container when the liquid valve 26 is opened by the elevation of the elevating sleeve 8. At the time of filling, the air in the container is discharged into the space above the filling liquid stored in the filling liquid tank 2 via the exhaust passage 30 in the inner vent tube 6.

Further, a cleaning liquid discharge pipe 36 is attached to the upper end portion of the outer cylinder 12, and the inside of the space 22 in which the spring 24 is accommodated is connected to a cleaning liquid manifold (not shown) provided outside. . Further, a substantially dish-shaped cleaning cup 38 can be attached to and detached from the lower end surface of the outer cylinder 12. The cleaning cup 38 has an annular flat surface 38a on the outer peripheral side. The outer peripheral side of the flat surface 38a abuts the lower end surface of the outer cylinder 12, and the inner peripheral side contacts the lower end surface of the guide cone 34. It is possible to abut and push it up.

The operation of the filling valve 1 having the above structure will be described. When performing a normal filling operation, a container is supplied onto a container table disposed below each filling valve 1, and the container table is lifted to raise the container. After the mouth of the container is centered by the guide cone 34, it comes into contact with the lower surface of the bottle packing 32. As a result, the inside of the container is sealed, and the valve body 8d at the lower end of the sleeve 8 and the valve seat 6 at the lower end of the inner vent tube 6 are sealed.
A liquid valve 26 consisting of a is inserted into the mouth of the container.

When the container is further raised and the sleeve 8 is pushed up, the valve body 8d at the lower end of the sleeve 8 is closed by the inner vent tube 6.
The liquid valve 26 opens by separating from the valve seat 6a at the lower end of the liquid valve 26. When the liquid valve 26 is opened, the filling liquid contained in the filling liquid passage 28 from the inside of the filling liquid tank 2 via the inflow port 4c flows into the container for filling. At the same time, the air in the container is discharged into the filling liquid tank 2 through the exhaust passage 30 in the inner vent tube 6. When the filling into the container progresses and the liquid level of the filling liquid rises and reaches the opening of the inner vent tube 6, the filling liquid rises inside the inner vent tube 6. When the liquid level in the vent tube 6 coincides with the height of the liquid level of the filling liquid stored in the filling liquid tank 2, the inflow of the filling liquid from the liquid valve 26 is stopped. After that, when the container is lowered by lowering the container base,
The sleeve 8 is lowered by the spring 24, the valve body 8d at its lower end is seated on the valve seat 6a, the liquid valve 26 is closed, and the filling of the liquid into the container is completed.

When the filling valve 1 is washed, as shown on the right side of FIG. 1, the upper surface of the washing cup 38 is brought into contact with the guide cone 34 and pushed up, and the sleeve 8 is moved from the raised position at the time of filling. Is also raised further. In this embodiment, when the flat surface 38a of the cleaning cup 38 is brought into contact with both the lower end surface of the guide cone 38 and the lower end surface of the outer cylinder 12, the annular recess 8f of the sleeve 8 is attached to the valve body 4. The height of the sealing member 10 is substantially the same as the height of the sealing member 10, and the sliding surface of the sleeve 8 and the sealing member are not in close contact with each other so that gaps C and D are generated. In this state, the cleaning cup 38 is fixed to the outer cylinder 12. To do. Next, the cleaning liquid is supplied into the filling liquid tank 2. The filling liquid enters the filling liquid passage 28 from the inflow port 4c of the tubular valve body 4 and flows down to the cleaning cup 38 from the liquid valve 26, which is largely open, to the through hole 34a of the guide cone 34 and the cutting hole. It flows out of the guide cone 34 through the notch 34b. Further, the two annular protrusions 8c of the sleeve 8 are
8b rises through vertical grooves (communication passages) 20a and 18a formed on the outer surfaces of the bushes 20 and 18, which are respectively fitted to the bushes 8 and 18, and flows into the space 22 accommodating the spring 24. On the other hand, a part of the cleaning liquid that has entered the filling liquid passage 28 is part of the inner peripheral surface of the valve body 4 and the upper end portion 8 of the sleeve 8.
The cleaning liquid which has passed through the gap D between the outer peripheral surface of a and the gap C between the annular recess 8f of the sleeve 8 and the seal member 10 into the space accommodating the spring 24 and has risen from below. And is discharged from the cleaning liquid discharge pipe 36 opening at the upper end of the outer cylinder 12.

As described above, in the filling valve according to this embodiment, the seal member 1 attached to the tubular valve body 4 is used.
0 and the sliding surface between the ascending / descending sleeve 8 as well as the sliding surface between the outer surface of the sleeve 8 and the inner surface of the outer cylinder 12 that guides the ascending / descending of the sleeve 8. Since the cleaning can be performed up to, the inside of the filling valve can be completely cleaned. In the above embodiment, the grooves 18a and 20a in the vertical direction are formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the sleeves 18 and 20 to allow passage of the cleaning liquid.
A groove in the axial direction may be formed on the inner surface of 2 to allow the cleaning liquid to flow therethrough. Further, a cleaning liquid discharge pipe is connected to the upper portion of the outer cylinder 12 so that the cleaning liquid once flows down from the filling liquid passage 28 into the cleaning cup 38, and then rises along the inner surface of the outer cylinder 12 to be discharged. However, the structure for discharging the cleaning liquid is not limited to this, and a drain pipe may be connected to the cleaning cup to discharge the liquid after cleaning from the lower side of the cleaning cup.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, a portion having a smaller diameter than the sliding portion is formed below the sliding portion of the sleeve that slides on the seal member of the tubular housing. At the same time, a communication passage is formed between the outer surface of the sleeve and the inner surface of the outer cylinder that guides the up and down movement of the sleeve, so that the sleeve is raised more than the normal filling stroke and If a cleaning liquid is made to flow with a gap between the small diameter part and the seal member, not only the sliding part between the seal member and the elevating sleeve but also the sliding part between this sleeve and the outer cylinder should be cleaned. It is possible to completely clean the inside of the filling valve.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a filling valve according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a bush fitted into a sleeve that constitutes the filling valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Filling liquid tank 4 Cylindrical valve body 6 Exhaust pipe (inner vent tube) 8 Sleeve 8a Sliding part of sleeve 8f Small diameter part of sleeve 10 Sealing member 12 Outer cylinder 18a Communication path (bush) between sleeve and outer cylinder Notch) 20a Communication path between sleeve and outer cylinder (notch of bush) 26 Liquid valve

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tubular valve body fixed to the bottom of a filling liquid tank, a sleeve fitted in the valve body and sliding through a seal member attached to the inner surface of the valve body, An exhaust pipe inserted into the valve body and the sleeve and fixed to the valve body, a liquid valve provided at the lower end of the sleeve and the exhaust pipe and opened and closed by raising and lowering the sleeve, and fixed to the outside of the valve body and sleeve And an outer cylinder in which a sleeve slides on its inner surface and is guided to move up and down,
A portion having a smaller diameter than the sliding portion is formed below the portion of the outer peripheral surface of the sleeve that slides with respect to the seal member, and the cleaning liquid is allowed to pass through the sliding surface between the sleeve and the outer cylinder. A filling valve characterized in that an allowable communication passage is formed, and during cleaning, the sleeve is raised to position the small diameter portion on the inner peripheral side of the seal member and form a gap therebetween. 2. A cleaning liquid discharge pipe is connected to an upper part of the outer cylinder, and a cleaning cup for sealing a lower part of the outer cylinder can be attached, and at the time of cleaning, a gap between a small diameter portion of the sleeve and a seal member and The filling valve according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid that has passed through a communication path between the sleeve and the outer cylinder is discharged through the cleaning liquid discharge pipe.