JPH09328192A - Charging method and device of liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To rapidly return an excessively charged liquid to be sucked to a liquid-supply tank, by opening the opening/closing valve of a suction pipe to let the excessive liquid flow down from the suction pipe to the liquid-supply tank, after the charging of the excessively charged liquid led from the container side into the suction pipe through a suction branch pipe has been suspended. SOLUTION: A vacuum suction mechanism 20 is constituted of a suction pipe 22 and a vacuum device 21 connected to a liquid-supply tank 7 at the lower end, and branch pipes 23 attached in accordance with the number of nozzles from the connection part 24 of the erected parts of the suction pipes 22. The excessively charged liquid sucked to the nozzle 6 side flows in the connection part 24 of the suction pipes 22 through the branch pipe 23 and transfers to the right and left erected pipe side and stays therein until the valve 25 of the liquid-supply tank 7 side is opened. After the charging of the liquid has been suspended, the valve 25 is opened and the excessively charged liquid with a small fluidity can be easily returned to the liquid-supply tank 7 by means of an air supply device 27 attached to the suction pipe 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for sealing a predetermined number of containers arranged at regular intervals in a sealed state and filling a liquid from a filling nozzle while sucking air. Not only liquids with high fluidity such as, but also liquids with low fluidity such as dressing, kimchi, sauce of roasted meat, sauce, etc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a filling device of this type, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-19393 is known. In this device, the opening of the vacuum tube (suction nozzle) is faced to the center of the tip of the liquid introduction pipe (liquid supply nozzle), and the stopper packing that secures the opening edge of the bottle to the outside of the pipe is adhered to the inside of the bottle. Is sealed. When the inside of the bottle is brought into a vacuum state by communicating the vacuum cylinder with the vacuum source in that state, the liquid in the filling liquid tank is sucked and flows into the bottle. When the liquid level rises and contacts the porous piston valve at the tip of the vacuum cylinder and closes the hole, the valve is moved upward by negative pressure and closes the vacuum circuit, and at the same time atmospheric air flows in and the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the bottle is reduced. It's gone. However, this device can quickly fill the liquid, but in the case of a liquid with high fluidity, the liquid will pass through the hole of the piston valve and flow into the vacuum cylinder, and in that state the valve will No upward movement can be expected, and recovery of the inflowing liquid remains unsolved. Further, in the case of a liquid having a low fluidity, it adheres to the hole of the valve and blocks it, so that there is a disadvantage that this nozzle cannot be used because it hinders the vertical movement of the valve.

[0003]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for sealing a predetermined number of containers arranged at regular intervals in a sealed state and filling a liquid from a filling nozzle while sucking air. The task is to be able to return to the liquid supply tank.

[0004]

[Technical Means] A first technical means for solving this technical problem relates to a method, and (a) a suction branch pipe branched from a suction pipe flows down an excess filling liquid sucked from the container side into the suction pipe. Then, (b) after stopping the filling, the on-off valve of the suction pipe is opened, and (c) the excess filling liquid is caused to flow down from the suction pipe to the liquid supply tank. The second technical means is related to the device. (D) A contact portion with the opening edge of the container provided at the tip of the filling nozzle, (e) Attaching a vacuum suction device to connect the tip to the liquid supply tank. A suction pipe, (f) a suction branch pipe branched from the suction pipe so that its opening is located at the tip of the filling nozzle, and (g) an on-off valve attached to the suction pipe on the liquid supply tank side. ,.

Since the suction branch pipe is branched from the suction pipe, when the vacuum suction device attached to the suction pipe is operated with the tip end of the suction branch pipe facing the inside of the container, the inside of the container in the sealed state becomes negative. It becomes a pressure, and the liquid can be quickly filled from the filling nozzle into the container. Communication between the container and the nozzle is performed by relative movement between the two, that is, ascending of the container group, lowering of the nozzle group, or a combination of these operations. Since vacuum suction is performed at the time of filling, even a liquid having a low fluidity can be easily filled. When the liquid is filled up to a position higher than the tip portion of the branch pipe in the container, the portion is sucked as an excess filling liquid and is flown into the suction pipe from the branch pipe.

Since the suction pipe communicates with the liquid supply tank,
By opening the opening / closing valve of the suction pipe, the excess filling liquid flowing into the suction pipe is made to flow down to the liquid supply tank as it is, but its timing needs to be adjusted by the structure of the suction branch pipe. At the stage where the filling and the vacuum suction are stopped, the liquid remains at the tip of the suction branch pipe. When the tip of the suction branch pipe is blocked due to the stop of suction, even if the opening / closing valve of the suction pipe is opened immediately after stopping the filling and suction, the liquid staying in the opening is outside the branch pipe. It will not be leaked. On the other hand, when the structure in which the tip of the suction branch pipe is blocked is not adopted, when the valve is opened immediately after stopping the filling and suction, the residual substance remains in the opening but flows out to the outside of the branch pipe. It may end up. In this case, it is desirable to re-suck and let the liquid once flow into the suction pipe, or to open the on-off valve at the stage when the container of the next step is set in the filling nozzle. By doing so, the liquid flowing into the suction pipe can be returned to the liquid supply tank without worrying about the outflow of the liquid remaining at the tip of the branch pipe. Depending on the type of liquid to be filled and the size of the diameter of the tip of the suction branch pipe, if there is no risk of the stagnant liquid flowing out even if the on-off valve is opened, immediately after stopping filling and suction. You may open the valve.

In the case of a liquid having a low fluidity, it is difficult to flow down to the liquid supply tank even if it flows into the suction pipe,
If an air supply device is attached to the suction pipe, the air supply device is activated when the on-off valve of the suction pipe is opened to supply air into the suction pipe, and the excess filling liquid is forced to flow down to the liquid supply tank. be able to. In this case, the operation of the air supply device and the operation timing of the suction pipe opening / closing valve may be considered in the same manner as described above.

[0008]

As a result of being able to quickly return the excess filling liquid to the liquid supply tank, there is no fear of degrading the quality of the filling liquid, and there is an advantage that contact with the outside air can be suppressed as much as possible and contamination of bacteria can be prevented. Conventionally, liquids having low fluidity are filled with a piston-type filling device, and there is a disadvantage that the filling device is replaced for each container having a different volume, or bubbles remain in the filled liquid. The device has an advantage that it can accommodate a container of any size and can suppress the inclusion of bubbles.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an example of an apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view in which a part of an example of a liquid filling device according to the present invention is omitted. This apparatus 1 includes a container transport mechanism 2, 3, a mechanism 5 for filling a container with a liquid, a mechanism 10 for advancing / stopping / moving a container group in series below a liquid filling section at regular intervals, and a vacuum for filling a liquid. It is composed of a suction mechanism 20.

On the base 11 of the elevating mechanism 10, two endless belts 12, 12 constituting a conveying path are circulated by a motor (not shown). The transport mechanisms 2 and 3 on the upstream and downstream sides of the belt 12 are roller conveyors. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the conveyor section of the belt 12 is configured to be long without using the roller conveyors 2 and 3, a container is supplied on the same belt, a liquid is filled, and the container is directly conveyed to the downstream side. . The container 4 is supplied onto the belt 12 from the roller conveyor 2 side, and after being filled with the liquid, is discharged to the roller conveyor 3 side. A feed mechanism (not shown) such as a rotary feed blade or a push-out plunger is arranged between the roller conveyor 2 and the belt 12 so that the containers are arranged in series on the belt 12 at regular intervals. .

In the liquid filling section 10, two belts 12, 1 are provided.
An elevator 13 is arranged between the two, and an air cylinder 14
By pushing out the piston rod of
Moves up between the belts 12, 12 leaving the belt (see FIG. 3). In order to prevent the container 4 from moving during the ascent, it is desirable to dispose a guide wall on the outside of the belt 12 or to provide a container spacing maintaining tool. When the container group 4 rises, its opening comes into contact with the tip of the liquid supply nozzle 6. The liquid supply nozzle 6 has a built-in mechanism in which the raised container 4 itself presses the valve element to open the nozzle, so that the opening of the container 4 is closed and the valve of the nozzle is opened. . Each nozzle 6 is connected to the liquid supply tank 7,
When filling a liquid having high fluidity, the liquid naturally flows down into the container 4 by opening the valve of the nozzle 6. In the present invention, the tip portion of the suction branch pipe 23 branched from the suction pipe 22 of the vacuum suction mechanism 20 described later has the nozzle 6
Container 4 connected to the nozzle 6 facing the tip of the container
Since it is designed to suck the air inside and make it a negative pressure,
The liquid in the liquid supply tank 7 is quickly filled in the container 4.

The vacuum suction mechanism 20 has a suction pipe 22 whose lower end is connected to the liquid supply tank 7 and is bent in an inverted U shape, a vacuum device 21 attached to the upper portion of the suction pipe 22, and an upright portion of the suction pipe 22. It is configured by a branch pipe 23 that is branched from the connecting portion 24 of each other according to the number of nozzles. Although the on-off valve 25 is built in the suction pipe 22 on the liquid supply tank side, in this embodiment, the on-off valve 25 is operated by the solenoid 26. The excess filling liquid sucked from the nozzle 6 side flows into the connecting portion 24 of the suction pipe through the branch pipe 23, moves to the right and left upright pipe sides, and is retained there until the on-off valve is opened. An air supply device 27 is attached to the suction pipe 22 so that the excess filling liquid having a small fluidity can be easily returned to the liquid supply tank 7.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the branch pipe is branched from the horizontal connecting pipe of the suction pipe, but the connecting pipe forms a downward slope from the central portion toward both sides. Alternatively, the suction pipe itself may be obliquely arranged and the suction branch pipe may be branched therefrom. In this case, since the sucked excess filling liquid flows into the inclined pipe, there is an advantage that it easily flows down to the liquid supply tank.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a liquid filling device.

FIG. 2 is a left side view of the liquid filling device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a container lifting mechanism of the filling device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 liquid filling device, 2, 3 transfer mechanism, 4 container, 5 liquid filling mechanism for container, 6 filling nozzle, 7 liquid supply tank,
10 container lifting mechanism, 12 endless belt, 13 lifting platform, 20 vacuum suction mechanism, 21 vacuum device, 2
2 suction pipes, 23 branch pipes, 24 connecting parts, 25 on-off valves,
27 air supply device,

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of filling a liquid from a filling nozzle while suctioning air while keeping a predetermined number of containers arranged at regular intervals in a sealed state, and a suction branch pipe branched from the suction pipe sucks from the container side. A liquid filling method in which an excess filling liquid is caused to flow down into a suction pipe, and after stopping filling, an opening / closing valve of the suction pipe is opened to cause the excess filling liquid to flow down from the suction pipe to a liquid supply tank. 2. An air supply device attached to the suction pipe is operated to supply air when the on-off valve of the suction pipe is opened.
The liquid filling method according to claim 1, wherein the excess filling liquid staying in the suction pipe is forced to flow down into the liquid supply tank. 3. An apparatus for filling a liquid from a filling nozzle while suctioning air while keeping a predetermined number of containers arranged at regular intervals in a sealed state, and contacting the opening edge of the container provided at the tip of the filling nozzle. A suction pipe with a contact part and a vacuum suction device attached to connect the tip to the liquid supply tank, a suction branch pipe branched from the suction pipe and whose opening is located at the tip of the filling nozzle, and a suction pipe on the liquid supply tank side Liquid filling device consisting of an on-off valve attached to the.