JPH0999477A - Simultaneous fitting and hollow molding method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simultaneous filling and hollow molding method and apparatus capable of easily preventing the penetration of various bacteria or foreign matter into a container when pharmaceuticals or food is filled into the container molded by a hollow molding device. SOLUTION: In a simultaneous filling and hollow molding apparatus, a drive part reciprocally moving a mold claming device 34 holding a mold between a parison receiving position A and a filling position B, a drive part opening and closing the mold and a drive part raising and lowering the filling nozzle of a filling nozzle lift device 35 are electrically driven and a clean air box 11 housing a filling nozzle is provided above the mold 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a simultaneous filling hollow molding method and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to a simultaneous filling hollow molding method and an apparatus therefor for preventing contamination and sterilization of molded articles. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a drug or food is filled in a container molded by a hollow molding machine, it is necessary to prevent contamination and sterilize the inside of the container. Conventionally known blow molding methods and apparatuses of this type include, for example, those disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-35089, which will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8.

As shown in FIG. 5, a crosshead 70 attached to the tip of an extruder (not shown) is provided with a nozzle 71 for forming a parison that opens downward. The mold 74 held by the moving frame 72 via the pressing plate 73 can be opened and closed by a drive cylinder (not shown) incorporated in the moving frame 72. The moving frame 72 is supported by a column 76 via a pair of link arms 75. A connecting block 77 is provided on the back surface of the moving frame 72, and a drive cylinder 78 is arranged between the connecting block 77 and the column 76. This drive cylinder 78
By expanding and contracting the moving frame 72, the moving frame 72 has a mold 74 located directly below the crosshead 70 at a parison receiving position (solid line in the figure) and a mold 74 located directly below a blow cylinder 79 described below. It is possible to reciprocate between the position (two-dot chain line in the figure).

As shown in FIG. 6, each blow cylinder 79
Is composed of a fixed casing 80 and a movable rod 81, and an air mandrel 82 is connected to the tip of the rod 81. The blow cylinder 79 can drive the rod 81 and the air mandrel 82 up and down by air pressure or oil pressure. Further, the air mandrel 82 is connected to an air source to eject clean air from its tip. can do. A storage case 84 is provided on the lower surface of the horizontal base 83 to which the blow cylinder 79 is attached.
Is attached. The storage case 84 has a round hole 8 on the bottom surface for inserting the rod 81 and the air mandrel 82.
Other than having 4a, it has a completely sealed structure. An air pipe 87 for supplying clean air to the storage case 84.
The interior of the storage case 84 is always filled with clean air. The storage case 84 can store the entire air mandrel 82 when it is raised.

As shown in FIG. 7, a seal mold 85 is provided between the lower surface of the storage case 84 and the upper surface of the mold 74.
It is opened and closed by a cylinder (not shown) to seal the upper end of the parison.

Next, the operation will be described.

When the parison 86 is extruded to a certain length from the parison molding nozzle 71, the die 7
4 is closed, and the parison 86 is cut by a cutter device (not shown) attached to the crosshead 70. Then, the moving frame 72 moves to the blow position. Therefore, when the blow cylinder 79 is extended, the tip of the blow cylinder 79 is moved to the mold 74.
Since it is inserted into the parison 86 inside (the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6), the parison 86 can be blow-molded by blowing clean air into the parison 86. As shown in FIG. 7, the seal die 85 waits at a position sandwiching the air mandrel 82 just above the upper surface level of the die 74 before the air mandrel 82 rises. Closes as it rises,
The upper end of the parison 86 is molded and sealed. After that, when the mold 74 is opened and the seal mold 85 is opened, the plastic container having the cap body as shown in FIG. 8 is discharged downward. Hereinafter, by repeating the same operation, the plastic container can be continuously produced. In the above operation process, the air mandrel 82 is stored in the storage case 84.
Since it is cleaned by the clean air supplied from the air pipe 87 while it is stored in the inside, there is no fear of being contaminated by various bacteria and the like, and the plastic container can be manufactured with extremely high cleanliness.

[0008]

Since the hollow molding method and apparatus described in the prior art are constructed as described above, there have been the following problems. (a) After molding a plastic container in which the opening of the container body is temporarily closed by a cap, it is transported to a separately provided filling device, and only the outside of the plastic container is sterilized by this filling device, and the upper end is It is opened, filled and sealed.
In this way, when the hollow molding device and the filling device are separated, the steps of temporary sealing, opening, filling, and cap are required to manufacture the filled plastic container, which complicates the process and sterilizes each process. There is a need to do. (b) In the process of reciprocating the mold between the parison receiving position directly below the crosshead and the blow position immediately below the blow cylinder in the direction of inclination, foreign matter may enter the parison. . (c) The tip of the air mandrel is inserted into the parison in the mold and the air from the air source is ejected to blow-mold the parison, so foreign matter enters the parison from the air source and piping. there is a possibility. (d) If the hydraulic oil leaks from the drive cylinder, hydraulic unit, pipes, etc. used for moving the moving frame, opening and closing the mold, and raising and lowering the air mandrel, the plastic container may become contaminated or the hydraulic oil may leak. There was always the danger that the mist of the inside would enter the parison and contaminate the inner surface of the plastic container. In particular, if the hydraulic oil leaks from the drive cylinder of the air mandrel, there is a danger that the hydraulic oil will enter the plastic container via the air mandrel because the plastic container is located below.

That is, in the conventional hydraulically driven hollow molding apparatus, it was difficult to sufficiently sterilize and manage foreign matter removal.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when filling a container molded with a hollow molding device with a drug or food, invasion of germs or foreign matter into the container. Can be easily prevented,
An object of the present invention is to provide a simultaneous filling blow molding method and an apparatus therefor.

[0011]

In the simultaneous filling hollow forming method of the present invention, in the simultaneous filling hollow forming, the transfer of the mold, the opening / closing of the mold, and the raising / lowering of the filling nozzle are electrically operated to clean the upper part of the mold. It is characterized by having an air atmosphere.

The simultaneous filling blow molding apparatus according to the present invention comprises a driving unit for reciprocating a mold clamping device for holding a mold between a parison receiving position and a filling position, a driving unit for opening and closing the mold, and a filling nozzle lifting device. The drive unit for moving the filling nozzle up and down is electrically driven, and a clean air box for accommodating the filling nozzle is provided above the mold.

The simultaneous filling blow molding apparatus according to the present invention comprises a driving unit for reciprocating a mold clamping device for holding a mold between a parison receiving position and a filling position, a driving unit for opening and closing the mold, and a filling nozzle lifting device. The driving unit for moving the filling nozzle up and down is electrically driven, the mold body of the mold is composed of a ventilation member, and the parison is expanded by vacuum suction. Further, a clean air box for accommodating the filling nozzle is preferably provided above the mold.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A mold for sandwiching and expanding a parison and molding a container is transferred from a parison receiving position to a filling position by a mold transfer device, and a filling nozzle of a filling nozzle elevating device is inserted into the container. In a simultaneous filling hollow molding apparatus that fills a liquid with a liquid to form a molded product, the mold clamping device that opens and closes the mold, the mold transfer device, and the filling nozzle elevating device are driven electrically. Further, a clean air box is provided above the mold to accommodate the filling nozzle, and clean air is jetted from a jet port provided on the lower surface of the clean air box to create a clean air atmosphere above the mold. To do. Further, the mold body of the mold is composed of a ventilation member, and the parison in the mold body is expanded by vacuum suction to mold the container.

By configuring the simultaneous filling hollow molding apparatus as described above, it becomes possible to prevent contamination and sterilization of molded articles.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a simultaneous filling blow molding device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof.

In FIG. 1, a reference numeral 21 indicates a frame of the hollow molding device, and the frame 21
A filling nozzle elevating device 35 having a filling nozzle 36 for filling the liquid is mounted on the upper part of the. An extruder 22 and a crosshead 23 connected to the tip of the extruder 22 are disposed on the left side of the filling nozzle lifting device 35 in FIG. Immediately below the cross head 23, the cross head 2
A parison cutting device 25 for cutting the parison 24 extruded from 3 is provided. A molded product supporting device 53 having a supporting pin 52 is provided below the filling nozzle elevating device 35.

An AC servomotor 27, which is an electric motor having a rotary encoder 26, is provided below the frame 21. A ball screw 29 is rotatably connected to the AC servomotor 27 via a coupling 28, and a ball nut 30 is screwed to the ball screw 29. The ball nut 30 includes
The connection member 31 is fixed, and a mold transfer device 33 that is movably fitted to the guide bar 32 is disposed above the connection member 31. This mold transfer device 3
A mold clamping device 34 that opens and closes the mold 1 is attached to the mold 3. That is, the mold clamping device 34 and the mold 1 attached to the mold transfer device 33 are capable of reciprocating between the filling position B shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 and the parison receiving position A shown by the phantom line. There is.

The filling nozzle 36 of the filling nozzle lifting device 35 can be raised and lowered by an electric motor, and
It is housed in a clean air box 11 together with 3. The filling nozzle 36 projects from the clean air box 11 when lowered and is housed in the clean air box 11 when raised. A clean air pipe 12 is connected to the clean air box 11, and clean air is supplied through a flow rate control valve 13. As described above, the filling nozzle 3
Since 6 is stored in the clean air box 11 except during filling, germs or foreign matter do not adhere. Also, on the lower surface of the clean air box 11,
Holes for the parison 24 to hang down, holes for the filling nozzle 36 to move up and down, and other clean air ejection holes 1
4 is provided, and the upper part of the mold 1 between the parison receiving position A and the filling position B where the mold 1 moves is entirely covered with clean air.

Next, the mold clamping device 34 will be described with reference to FIG. The mold mounting plate 39 holding the mold body (rear) 2 of the mold 1 is a toggle mechanism 4 driven by an electric motor 40.
1 to the rear plate 42. A pair of tie bars 44 and 45 are connected to the rear plate 42, and each tie bar 44 and 45 is connected to a mold mounting plate 38 that holds the mold body (front) 2 and a front plate 43.
Is fixedly connected to The upper tie bar 44 operably penetrates through the mold mounting plate 39.

Next, the mold 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The mold 1 includes a mold body 2, a cooling member 3 surrounding the outer periphery thereof, a pressure-bonding seal metal mold 4 slidably provided on the mold body 2 and the cooling member 3, and the pressure-bonding seal. It is composed of a parison suction plate 5 arranged on the upper part of the mold 4. That is, the mold body 2
Is attached to the die mounting plates 38 and 39 via the cooling member 3. The mold body 2 is made of a porous material as a ventilation member, for example, a sintered metal or ceramic of stainless steel, and cavities 2a are formed on opposite surfaces of both mold bodies 2. A suction jacket or a suction hole which is an air suction passage 2b for sucking air from the cavity 2a is formed so as to surround the cavity 2a and is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) as a suction device. The cooling member 3 is provided with a cooling water jacket or a cooling water hole which is a cooling water passage 3a for cooling the mold body 2, and is connected to a cooling water pump (not shown). Although a porous material is used as the ventilation member in the mold body 2 in the above-described embodiment, a large number of small-diameter holes or narrow and long slits may be formed on the cavity surface.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4A to 4F, the simultaneous filling step by the above-described simultaneous filling hollow molding apparatus will be described.

The mold 1 stands by at the filling position B in a state where the mold is opened by the mold clamping device 34. The position of the mold 1 is detected by the rotary encoder 26. The molten resin supplied from the extruder 22 to the crosshead 23 is extruded downward from the crosshead 23 as a cylindrical parison 24. (a) With the parison 24 having a predetermined length pushed out from the crosshead 23, the AC servomotor 27 of the die transfer device 33 is rotationally driven in the forward direction. As a result, the ball screw 29 is rotated via the coupling 28, and the ball nut 30 meshing with the ball screw 29 converts the rotational movement into a linear movement. That is, the ball nut 30 advances to the left in FIG. 1, and the connecting member 31, the mold transfer device 33, the mold clamping device 34, and the mold 1 which are integrated with the ball nut 30 advance from the filling position B to the parison receiving position A. To do. (b) The parison 24 extruded from the cross head 23 is sandwiched between the mold bodies 2, the lower end of the parison 24 is pressure-bonded and sealed, and then the upper part of the parison 24 is cut by the parison cutting device 25. Since the parison 24 is not brought into close contact with the surface of the cavity 2a of the mold body 2 which is being cooled, the resin temperature is at least 120 ° C. or higher, which is a sufficient sterilizing effect. (c) The AC servomotor 27 of the die transfer device 33 is rotationally driven in the backward direction, and the die 1 holding the parison 24 having the upper opening is transferred from the parison receiving position A to the filling position B. At the filling position B (or the parison receiving position A), the parison 24 in the mold body 2 is sucked through the air suction passage 2b to mold a container having a predetermined shape. The upper part of the parison 24 is closely attached to the parison suction plate 5. During the transfer of the mold 1 and the vacuum suction, a clean air atmosphere is provided above the mold 1, so that germs or foreign substances do not enter the inside of the container. (d) The filling nozzle 36 housed in the clean air box 11 descends, is inserted into the container, and is filled with the liquid. The liquid-filled molded article is cooled from the outer surface by the mold 1 and from the inner surface by the filled liquid. (e) The filling nozzle 36 rises and is housed in the clean air box 11, and the pressure-bonding sealing mold 46 is closed to seal the mouth of the molded product filled with the liquid. Then, the upper part of the parison 24 is released from the parison suction plate 5.

Also in the above steps (d) and (e), the atmosphere above the mold 1 is provided because the clean air constantly supplied into the clean box 11 moves up and down the filling nozzle 36. There is no risk of backflow of germs or foreign matter because it flows out from the ejection holes 14 and the like that are covered and covers the opening of the parison 24. (f) Molded article support device 53 provided below the mold 1.
After the support pin 52 of (1) is raised to be inserted into the lower part of the molded product and supported, the mold 1 is opened.

In the above steps a to d, the air present inside the parison 24 is heated to the parison temperature (at least 12
It has been sterilized by heating at 0 ° C or higher). For example, when supplying air to the inside of the parison 24, aseptic class 100 or less air that has passed through the filter is used. Further, since the air inside the parison 24 has a temperature higher than that of the outside air and is thermally expanded and flows out, no foreign matter or contaminated air is sucked into the parison 24.
The upper part of the mold 1 is always covered with aseptic air of class 100 or lower. The class 100 refers to a state where 100 particles or less of 0.5 μ or less are contained in 1 cubic foot of air.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, when the opened mold 1 moves to the parison receiving position A with the parison 24 hanging from the cross head 23 interposed therebetween, the clamping device 34.
The molded product holding device 51 attached to the right side of the figure moves to the filling position B and holds the molded product. Next, when the mold 1 sandwiching the parison 24 moves to the filling position B, the molded product holding device 51 moves to the molded product discharging position C.
Below the molded product holding device 51 at the molded product discharging position C, an inclined molded product shooter 55 that is reciprocally moved by the electric motor 54 is provided. Therefore, when the molded product is dropped, the molded product shooter 55 is used. The molded product is moved to a position below the holding device 51 to receive the molded product, and the molded product is carried out of the machine by a belt conveyor 56 provided below the front part of the molded product shooter 55. Further, when the burr is dropped, the molded product shooter 55 is moved from below the molded product holding device 51, and the burr is dropped on the belt conveyer 57 provided below the molded product holding device 51, so that the outside of the machine. To carry out.

In the above-described embodiment, the parison 24 is vacuum suctioned to the cavity surface 2a of the mold body 2 to mold the container. However, clean air may be blown into the parison 24 to mold the container.

Although the clean air box 11 stores the crosshead 23 and the filling nozzle 36, only the filling nozzle 36 may be stored. Note that the crosshead 23 may be housed only in its lower part.

[0029]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

By adding cleanness, which is a feature of the electric blow molding apparatus, to the simultaneous filling hollow molding apparatus, it becomes possible to prevent contamination and sterilize molded articles. That is, the drive part of the filling nozzle lifting device and the drive parts of the mold clamping device and the mold transfer device, which are located above the mold, are electrically driven instead of hydraulically driven. Contamination was prevented.

Further, when a clean air box for accommodating the filling nozzle is provided above the mold, the filling nozzle is accommodated in the clean air box except during filling, so that germs or foreign substances are attached. Never. Moreover, since the upper part of the mold that moves between the parison receiving position and the filling position is covered with clean air, various bacteria or foreign substances do not enter through the opening (cutting part) of the parison. In addition, when the expansion of the parison is performed by vacuum suction, sterilization is easier than when it is performed by blowing air.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a simultaneous filling and molding apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a mold.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a simultaneous filling and molding step.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a conventional hollow molding device.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to a central vertical section of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an overall perspective view of a conventional plastic container.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Mold 11 Clean Air Box 24 Parison 27 AC Servo Motor (Electric Motor) 33 Mold Transfer Device 34 Mold Clamping Device 35 Filling Nozzle Elevating Device 36 Filling Nozzle 40 Electric Motor A Parison Receiving Position B Filling Position C Mold Discharge Position

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A mold (1) for simultaneous filling and hollow molding.
The method for simultaneous filling and hollow molding is characterized in that the transfer of the mold, the opening and closing of the mold (1), and the raising and lowering of the filling nozzle (36) are electrically operated to create a clean air atmosphere above the mold (1). 2. A simultaneous filling hollow molding apparatus, a drive unit for reciprocating a mold clamping device (34) holding a mold (1) between a parison receiving position (A) and a filling position (B),
A drive unit for opening and closing the mold (1) and a drive unit for moving up and down the filling nozzle (36) of the filling nozzle elevating device (35) are electrically driven, and the filling nozzle (36) is installed above the mold (1). Clean air box to be stored (11)
A simultaneous filling blow molding device characterized by being provided with. 3. A simultaneous filling hollow molding apparatus, a drive unit for reciprocating a mold clamping device (34) holding a mold (1) between a parison receiving position (A) and a filling position (B),
The drive unit for opening and closing the mold (1) and the drive unit for moving up and down the filling nozzle (36) of the filling nozzle lifting device (35) are electrically driven, and the mold body (2) of the mold (1) is a ventilation member. And the parison (24) is expanded by vacuum suction. 4. The simultaneous filling hollow forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a clean air box (11) for accommodating a filling nozzle (36) is provided above the mold (1).