JPH07208694A - Gas filling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automate feeding operations of containers for gas to gas filling machines to perform the operations in a short time. CONSTITUTION:A gas filling device is provided with a rotary table 6 provided with plural gas filling machines 7, a feed conveyor 2 installed so as to face to the stopping position of each gas filling machine, and a discharge conveyor 8 for taking out gas-filled containers after gas is charged. A centering device 3 for holding the body of the container to center the container is provided at the feed end part of the feed conveyor 2, and a feed manipulator 4 provided with a container receiver, on which the bottom face of the container brought to an on-center position is placed, and a holding arm for holding both side faces of a valve at the upper part of the container, thereby holding the upper part of the container in order for the direction of a filling port to be aligned. The container receiver and the container held by the holding arm are fed to the gas filling machine on the rotary table, and the process from the feed to the discharge of the container is automated to shorten the infeed time, and thereby increase the efficiency of the gas-filling operations.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gas filling apparatus for filling a filling container with LP gas, propane gas, etc., so that the operation of feeding the filling container from the supply conveyor to the gas filling machine can be automated and can be operated in a short time. The filling device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional gas filling device, a nozzle of a gas filling machine is manually connected to a filling port of an empty filling container sent by a supply conveyor. An apparatus for connecting a nozzle to and opening and closing a valve is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 49-67214 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-71598.

Further, in order to make the gas filling time effective,
A plurality of gas filling machines are radially mounted on the rotary table, and the filling container is supplied from the supply conveyor to the gas filling machine stopped at the supply position, the gas is filled during rotation, and the filling container is taken out from other stop positions. It has been proposed that such a filling device shortens the filling time.

[0004]

However, even if the connection between the filling port of the filling container and the nozzle of the gas filling machine is automated and the gas is filled by the rotary table, the filling work is not monitored. Therefore, workers are assigned to do so, and it is the current situation that the workers carry out operations such as sending the filling container to the gas filling machine. For this reason, it actually takes time and labor to supply the filling container to the filling machine and to discharge the container that has been filled with the gas, so that the efficiency of the filling operation cannot be increased.

In addition, when the filling container is manually fed, it is easy for an operator to suck the leaking gas when the nozzle is attached and detached, which not only has a sanitary problem, but also the feeding container can be fed to improve the working efficiency. Automation from discharge to discharge is required.

The present invention is provided with a rotary table having a plurality of gas filling machines arranged in a radial pattern, and is provided with a feeding conveyor for the filling containers installed toward the stop position of the gas filling machine and the filling containers from other stop positions. We improved the device that has a discharge conveyor to take out and feeds the filling container from the supply conveyor to the gas filling machine on the rotating table, reducing the number of operation steps and shortening the feeding transfer distance, and shortening the filling container feeding time. In this way, by efficiently supplying the material, the stop time of the turntable is shortened, and the feeding and discharging of the filling container is automated.

[0007]

For this reason, there is provided a conveyor for supplying a filling container, which is provided with a rotary table which has a plurality of gas filling machines arranged radially and intermittently moves, and which is provided close to the stop position of the gas filling machine. A centering device that has a centering arm that aligns the center position with the body part of the filling container sandwiched between the supply end part, and a container container that receives the centered filling container at the end of the supply conveyor and places the bottom surface of the filling container. And a feed manipulator that aligns the direction of the filling port with both sides of the valve on the top of the filling container and holds the upper part of the filling container.By linear movement of the feeding manipulator, the feed table moves from the end of the feed conveyor to the rotary table. It is sent to the gas filling machine position.

[0008]

Therefore, the center position of the filling container is aligned by the centering device at the end of the conveyor, the filling container is fed in, the bottom is supported by the container receiver of the manipulator, and the direction of the filling port is aligned by the sandwiching arm, and the filling container is tilted as it is. Can be sent to the gas filling machine, the operation of the feeding manipulator is simple, the transfer distance is short, and operations such as pinching the body of the filling container are not required, so filling the filling container in a short time The machine.

[0009]

EXAMPLE An example shown in the drawings will be described below. 1
Is a filling container, 2 is a supply conveyor, 3 is a centering device, 4 is a feed manipulator, 5 is a valve pinching device provided on the feed manipulator, 6 is a rotary base, 7
Is a gas filling machine, and 8 is a discharge conveyor.

FIG. 1 is a top view of the apparatus. The supply conveyor 2 uses, for example, an accumulating roller conveyor. In this embodiment, it is provided in the direction of the cutting line of the rotary table 6, and the supply end is a gas filling machine having the rotary table 6. It is installed at the stop position of 7. Reference numeral 21 is a shutter for controlling the feeding of the empty filling container 1, 22 is a roller, and a gap 23 between the rollers is provided at the end as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the centering device 3 provided on the side of the end of the supply conveyor 2 reciprocates by a drive device (not shown) on a base 30 provided along one side of the end of the supply conveyor. A pair of centering arms 34 and 34 slidably and rotatably inserted through a support shaft 33 that is provided with a movable base 31 that moves and that is inserted through brackets 32 on both sides provided on the movable base 31. A support plate 35 fixed to 33 is provided, and a left and right screw is provided to a screw bar 37 rotatably attached to the support plate 35 by a servomotor 36, and the centering arms 34 and 34 are screwed into the respective screws. The rotation of the screw bar 37 opens and closes the interval between the sandwiching arms. Reference numeral 38 is an actuator for rotating the support plate 35 by 90 ° via the support shaft 33, and moves the centering arms 34, 34 between an inverted state and a horizontal state. Reference numeral 39 is a contact roller attached to the opposite surface of the centering arm at each control position.

The feed manipulator 4 is shown in FIG. 4 in a perspective view, and in FIGS. 5 and 6 in a top view and a side view.
A pillar 41 is provided at the end of the supply conveyor, and an operation motor 42
A feed screw 43 that rotates with is screwed with a ball screw, and an elevating frame 44 that moves up and down along the support column 41 is provided. 45 is supported along the elevating frame 44, and the operating device 4
6 is a slider that reciprocates toward the rotary table 6, and a container support frame 46 is integrally attached to the slider 45.

A container receiver 47 is provided below the container support frame 46.
So that the container receiver 47 is inserted into the gap 23 provided between the rollers of the supply conveyor 2 when the container support frame 46 is lowered together with the elevating frame 43 on the supply conveyor 2. I have to. Since the container receiver 47 supports the filled container, it is preferable that the container receiver 47 is composed of a roller having a diameter larger than that of the roller of the supply conveyor, and is inserted in the gap 23 so as to be flush with the roller surface of the supply conveyor.

Reference numeral 5 is a valve pinching device which moves up and down along the container support frame 46. A slide block 52 screwed by a ball screw to a feed screw 51 rotated by an operation motor 50, and a lower surface of the slide block 52 are operated. An arm support frame 54 that moves in the moving direction of the slider 45 by a motor 53 is provided, and a guide bar 55 and a screw bar 56 that are attached to the arm supporting frame 54 in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction are provided. A pair of sandwiching arms 57 and 58 for sandwiching is inserted into the guide bar 55 and screwed into the left screw and the right screw of the screw bar 56, respectively. Therefore, by rotating the screw bar 56 with the operation motor 59, the sandwiching arms 57 and 58 are opened and closed. The nipping arms 57 and 58 are formed by bending so that when the nozzle is attached to the filling port of the valve, there is an insertion gap for inserting the nozzle, and the valve side surface is pinched by the tip of the bent portion.

A rotary table 6 has a plurality of gas filling machines 7 (six in the figure) arranged radially at equal intervals. Each gas filling machine 7 is equipped with a valve opening / closing device 73 and a nozzle 74 on a support base 72 suspended from a column 71, and a weighing roller 75 on which the filling container 1 is placed. Weigher roller 7
5 also acts as a discharge roller for the filling container, and is provided with a gap 76 divided on both sides, and when the container support frame 46 of the feeding manipulator 4 is lowered to lower the filling container 1 onto the weighing roller, The container receiver 47 is inserted.

The discharge conveyor 8 is provided toward the stop position of the filling container on the rotary table 6 where the gas filling is completed, and the discharge device 81 is provided at the end of the discharge conveyor. This discharging device 81 has a holding arm 84 that is opened and closed by an actuator 83 on one side of a moving base 82 that reciprocates along the discharging conveyor 8, and a contact plate 85 is provided on the other side of the moving base 82. 6 side, the holding arm 84 is closed by the actuator 83, and the tip of the pull-out pawl 8
6 and the contact plate 85 on the other side, the filling container 1 on the gas filling machine
The filling container is pulled out onto the discharge conveyor 8 by the movement of the moving table 82. The holding arm 8
4, the pull-out claw 86 and the actuator 83 may be provided on both sides. Further, instead of pulling out the filling container 1 by the discharging device 81, a pusher may be provided on the rotary table 6 to push out the filling container 1 of the gas filling machine 7.

Next, the filling operation will be described. The empty filling container 1 sent by the supply conveyor 2 is provided with a sensing pin, which can be moved up and down by hand, or around the handle 12 of the valve 11, as in JP-A-3-186666. The sensing pin is lowered around the handle 12 and the direction of the filling port is detected by the height of the sensing pin hitting the filling port 13 and the safety valve 14 of the valve 11, or as in Japanese Patent Application No. 5-261942. A second sensor which detects the front-back direction of the filling port with a first sensor having a beam passing laterally within the step between the filling port 13 and the safety valve 14 and emits a parallel beam corresponding to the diameter of the filling port 13 from the front of the valve. Using a known detector such as a detector configured to detect the rotational direction position of the filling port with a sensor, the filling port is automatically oriented toward the gas filling machine side (leftward in the figure), and the shutter 21 Et al is sent out.

When the filling container 1 is sent to the position of the centering device 3, the actuator 38 causes the centering arm 3 to move.
4, 4 and 34 together with the support plate 35 are laid down from the inverted state to the horizontal state, and the centering arms 34 and 34 are laid down horizontally on both sides of the filling container 1. The screw bar 37 is rotated by the servo motor 36, the centering arms 34, 34 screwed into the left screw and the right screw are closed, the contact rollers 39 sandwich both sides of the body of the filling container, and the center of the filling container 1 is inserted. Aligning the center positions of the contact rollers 39 with each other on the supply conveyor,
The movable table 31 is sent along the base 30 while being sandwiched by the centering arm, and the filled container is sent to the position of the manipulator 4. The moving table 31 is configured so that the centers of the centering arms are moved to the fixed position of the feed manipulator 4, and when the filling container is sent to the fixed position of the manipulator 4, the centering arms are moved. 34, 34 are opened, separated from the filling container, returned to the inverted state, and retreated and returned.

The feed manipulator 4 includes an elevating frame 44.
At the same time, the container support frame 46 is lowered to wait for the container receiver 47 to be inserted into the gap 23 between the rollers of the supply conveyor 2, and when the filling container 1 is fed from the centering device 3, the valve pinching device 5 is operated. The motor 50 causes the slide block 52 to descend according to the size (height of the volume) of the filling container, and the sandwiching arms 57, 58.
On both sides of the valve 11. At this position, the screw bar 56 is rotated by the operation motor 59 to close the sandwiching arms 57 and 58 along the guide bar 55, and the valve side surface is sandwiched between the tip ends of the sandwiching arms 57 and 58.

The valve 11 is held by the sandwiching arms 57 and 58.
And the safety valve 14 on both sides of the valve 11.
Is protruding, the direction of the filling port 13 is aligned,
Even when the body of the filling container and the axial position of the valve are eccentric, the valve center can be aligned with the center of the valve holding device 5. In addition, the flat surface portion 1 at the lower part of the side surface of the valve 11
If 5 is sandwiched, a stable sandwiched state can be obtained, and the direction of the filling port 13 can be aligned in a substantially constant direction.
It will also be held securely by the pinch.

A feed manipulator 4 in which the direction of the filling port 13 of the filling container 1 is aligned with the valve of the filling container 1 interposed therebetween.
Is pulled up the container support frame 46 together with the elevating frame 44 by the operation motor 42 to cause the container receiver 47 to escape from the supply conveyor 2, and the container receiver 47 supports the bottom surface of the filling container 1.
With the upper portions held by the sandwiching arms 57 and 58 to prevent the falling, the operating device 46 is used to move the slider 45 up and down.
A linear movement is made along 3 towards the gas filling machine 7.

When the filling container 1 supported by the container support frame 46 is sent to the gas filling machine 7 by the feed manipulator 4, the elevating frame 44 is further raised to move the space between the sandwiching arms 57 and 58 as shown in FIG. Nozzle 74 is inserted in and the slider 45 is slightly retracted to fit and connect the filling port 13 of the valve 11 to the nozzle 74.

When the connection is completed, the elevating frame 44 is lowered,
The support base 72 connected to the filling container 1 by the nozzle is pulled down, the container receiver 47 is inserted into the gap 76 of the weighing roller 75, the filling container 1 is placed on the weighing roller 75, and the valve switch 73 is lowered. The handle 12 is fitted into the handle 12, and the handle 12 is rotated to open the valve and fill the gas.

When the valve switch 73 covers the handle 12 and the upper portion of the filling container 1 is held by the valve switch 73,
The sandwiching arms 57 and 58 are opened to move the slider 45 back and return, and the feeding manipulator 4 is returned to the supply conveyor 2 and put in a standby state.

In the meantime, at another gas filling machine stop position, the moving base 82 of the discharging device 81 is moved toward the filling container which has been filled with gas, and the holding arm 84 is held by the actuator 83.
Is closed, the filling container is sandwiched between the pull-out claw 86 and the contact plate 85, and the moving table 82 is pulled back to discharge the filling container.
Discharge on top.

When the above operation is completed, the rotary table 6 rotates in the direction of the arrow at a predetermined angle (60 ° in the embodiment), and when the gas filling machine that has discharged the filling container stops at the position of the supply conveyor, the next filling container is opened. Send it in.

The filling container sent to the gas filling machine is filled with gas before it is rotated to the discharge position. When the filling is completed, the valve switch 73 turns the handle 12 to close the valve and close the nozzle 74. When the gas filling machine is stopped at the discharging position, the support base 72 is pulled up to remove the discharging device 8 from the filling port.
It is discharged at 1.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, the supply conveyor 2 is installed in the direction of the cutting line of the turntable 6, but it can also be arranged diametrically, in this case centering on one side of the end of the supply conveyor. The device is provided, and the feeding manipulator is installed on the other side, and the clamping arm 5 of the valve clamping device 5 is provided.
7, 58 and the container receiver 47 may be provided in the feeding direction of the supply conveyor 2, and the roller at the end of the supply conveyor is divided into both sides so that the container receiver 47 can be inserted, and the gap 23 is provided in the central portion.

[0029]

As described above, the present invention is provided with a rotary table having a plurality of gas filling machines arranged radially and intermittently moving.
A feeding conveyor for filling containers is installed toward the stop position of the gas filling machine, and a centering device with a centering arm that aligns the center position with the body of the filling container sandwiched at the end of this feeding conveyor and centering filling A container receiver on which the bottom surface of the container is placed and a feed manipulator having sandwiching arms sandwiching both side surfaces of the valve are provided.

For this reason, the supply end of the supply conveyor can be arranged in the immediate vicinity of the gas filling machine of the rotary table, and since the feed manipulator is fed by the linear movement, the movement amount is small and the filling container is filled with the gas by a slight movement. Can be installed in a filling machine.

Further, the filling container is fed onto the container receiver of the feed-in manipulator with the direction of the filling port aligned, and the upper part is held by the pinching arm to correct the direction of the filling port while the container port and the pinching arm are corrected. Since the filling container is supported by and is fed from the supply conveyor to the gas filling machine, the feeding manipulator does not need to grab the body of the filling container for transfer, so It is possible to simplify the mechanism and automate the process from the supply of the filled container to the discharge of the container that has been filled with gas, the work man-hours are reduced, the feeding time to the gas filling machine is shortened, and the efficiency of filling work can be improved. effective.

Since the sandwiching arm of the valve sandwiching device sandwiches both side surfaces of the valve, even when there is eccentricity between the body of the filling container and the valve, the eccentricity of the valve due to centering by the centering device is sandwiched by the sandwiching arm. It is possible to correct it, and it is possible to accurately hold the filling port of the valve at the center position of the feeding manipulator and easily connect it to the nozzle of the gas filling machine.

Further, the centering device is provided with a centering arm that is movable in an inverted state and a horizontal state, and the filling container is sandwiched in the horizontal state, so that the centering can be surely performed, and the centering device can be moved to the position of the feeding manipulator. The structure for feeding the filling container and returning the centering arm is simplified.

The container receiver of the feeding manipulator is composed of rollers having a diameter larger than that of the supply roller, and the upper surface of the container receiver is inserted between the rollers of the supply conveyor so that the upper surface of the container receiver is the same as the roller surface. In addition to smooth feeding, friction with the filling container on the container receiving is small, it becomes easy to correct when the center of the body part of the filling container and the valve center position due to the sandwiching arm are deviated,
Since the diameter is large, it is possible to reliably support the filling container when it is fed into the gas filling machine.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial view showing the centering device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the centering device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a feed manipulator.

5 is a top view of the feed manipulator shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

6 is a side view of the feed manipulator shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a valve of a filling container.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a state in which the filling container is fed into the gas filling machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Filling Container 2 Supply Conveyor 3 Centering Device 4 Feeding Manipulator 5 Valve Clamping Device 6 Rotating Platform 7 Gas Filling Machine 8 Discharging Conveyor 23 Gap 31 Moving Platform 34 Centering Arm 35 Support Plate 41 Strut 44 Elevating Frame 45 Slider 46 Container Support Frame 47 Container receiver 53 Slide block 54 Arm support frame 57, 58 Nip arm 72 Support base 73 Valve switch 74 Nozzle 75 Weigher roller 76 Gap 81 Ejection device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rotary table for intermittently moving a plurality of gas filling machines arranged radially, a feed conveyor for a filling container installed toward a stop position of the gas filling machine, and a filling filled with gas. In a gas filling device having a discharge conveyor for taking out a container from another stop position, a supply end of the supply conveyor is provided with a centering device having a centering arm for aligning the center position with the body of the filling container interposed therebetween, Feeding with a container receiver for placing the bottom surface of the filling container centered by this centering device and a sandwiching arm for holding the upper portion of the filling container while aligning the direction of the filling port by sandwiching both side surfaces of the valve on the upper portion of the filling container. It is equipped with a manipulator, and the filling container held by the container receiver and the sandwiching arm is moved to the gas filling machine position on the rotary table by the linear movement of the feeding manipulator. A gas filling device that is characterized by being installed. 2. A rotary table for intermittently moving a plurality of gas filling machines arranged in a radial pattern, a feed conveyor for a filling container installed toward a stop position of the gas filling machine, and a filling filled with gas. In a gas filling device equipped with a discharge conveyor for taking out a container from another stop position, a filling container centering device at the supply end of the supply conveyor and a valve for transferring the filled container from the supply conveyor end to the gas filling machine position And a feed manipulator that fits the filling port of No. 1 into the nozzle of the filling machine, and the centering device inserts one end into the support shaft on the moving table that reciprocates along the supply conveyor, and center this support shaft. It is rotatably supported in an inverted state and a horizontal state, and is opened and closed along the support axis in the horizontal state to align the center position of the filling container with the body part of the filling container sandwiched 1
With a pair of centering arms, the feed manipulator has a container support frame that moves linearly from the supply conveyor in the direction of the turntable, and is inserted between the rollers of the supply conveyor at the bottom of this container support frame so that the bottom surface of the filling container is A container receiver for contacting and supporting, and a sandwiching arm for holding the upper part of the filling container while aligning the direction of the filling port with both sides of the valve of the filling container sandwiched therebetween, and held by the container receiver and the sandwiching arm by the feeding manipulator. A gas filling device, characterized in that the filling container is sent to the position of the gas filling machine on the turntable. 3. The container receiver of the feeding manipulator,
The gas filling device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gas filling device comprises rollers having a diameter larger than that of the rollers of the supply conveyor, and the rollers are inserted so as to be flush with each other between the rollers of the supply conveyor.