JPH11180548A - Star wheel device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a star wheel device capable of transferring a container with a neck ring and rejecting such a container being transferred in the midway of transfer with no provision of a suction cup. SOLUTION: The device transfers container 20 with the use of star wheel pockets 3 for supporting the lower face of a neck ring 20a on the containers 20 on one side and a guide rail 4 arranged round the star wheel for contact with the side face of the neck ring 20a on the other side. The star wheel has such pockets 3 situated individually, which are designed to swing down to the star wheel center so that the container 20 is freed down therefrom for rejection.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a star wheel device, and more particularly to a device suitable for transferring and removing a container having a neck ring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art PET bottles are preformed into a test tube called a preform and having a collar (called a neck ring) at a neck. The preform is transported with the neck ring supported by the opposing guide rails. As a preform inspection device, the applicant of the present application has previously filed Japanese Patent Application No.
No. -281303 proposes an inspection apparatus in which a preform is transferred from a guide rail for carrying in by an entrance starwheel to an inspection section of a circular track, inspected, and then transferred to an exit starwheel via the guide rail.

[0003] In this inspection apparatus, at the exit starwheel, the body of the preform is vacuum-sucked by a suction cup and transferred to a carry-out guide rail. It is supposed to.
The reason why a star wheel is installed at the exit of the inspection unit is to synchronize with a defective product signal.

[0004]

However, the preform has a small diameter of the body, so that the suction cup is not easily adapted to the body, and in recent years, since the line has become faster, a suction error at the exit starwheel has occurred. Occurs, and the preform may drop during the transfer. For this reason, a system without adsorption is demanded. In addition, in some cases, the suction cup cannot be used due to irregularities in the body of the PET bottle, but it is necessary to take measures in this case. The present invention
In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a star wheel device capable of transferring a container having a neck ring and removing the container during the transfer without a suction cup.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a star wheel pocket which supports a lower surface of one side of a neck ring of a container, and another side of the neck ring which is arranged on the outer periphery of the star wheel. A device for transferring containers with a guide rail that contacts the side surface of the star wheel, wherein each star pocket is individually arranged one by one, so that each pocket can move toward the center of the star wheel, When the pocket is moved, the container is dropped and removed.

According to the invention, the pockets of the starwheel support the neck ring of the container, and the guide rails prevent the neck ring from coming off the pocket. Therefore, when the pocket moves toward the center of the star wheel, there is no support for the neck ring, and the container falls and is removed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the star wheel device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a star wheel device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the star wheel device. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the star wheel device includes a main shaft 1 having a gear G fixed to a lower end and connected to a driving source (not shown);
A disk-shaped support plate 2 fixed to the upper end of the support plate 2, a plurality of pockets 3 singly supported one by one on the outer periphery of the support plate 2,
A guide rail 4 disposed on the outer peripheral side of the pocket 3. The support plate 2 and the plurality of pockets 3 form a star wheel. In addition, another guide rail 7A, 7B is disposed adjacent to the guide rail 4 at the entrance and the exit of the guide rail 4.

Each pocket 3 and the support plate 2 are connected by a hinge 5, and each pocket 3 can swing (swing) about the hinge 5. A rod 6a of an air cylinder 6 is fixed to an end of each pocket 3. By operating the air cylinder 6, each pocket 3 swings around the hinge 5 and moves vertically. I have. The air cylinder 6 is held by a holding plate 7 fixed to the main shaft 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. As shown in FIG.
Has an arcuate concave portion 3a that engages with a neck ring 20a of a container 20 such as a preform (shown by a solid line in FIG. 2) 20A or a PET bottle 20B (shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2). And a rectangular recess 3b for accommodating the tip of the rod 6a of the air cylinder 6.

A rotating disk 8 that rotates integrally with the main shaft 1 is fixed to the main shaft 1. The rotating disk 8 has the same number of communication paths 8a and 8b as the number of the pockets 3 therein. It opens to the peripheral surface and opens to the outer peripheral surface. The same number of valves 10 as the number of pockets 3 are fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating disk 8.
a and 8b are openably connected.

The upper surface opening of the communication path 8a is
Is connected to the air cylinder 6, and the inner opening of the communication path 8 b is connected to the compressed air source 12 via the communication path 1 a in the main shaft 1. The valve 10 is located at a predetermined position on the fixed side.
An actuator 13 for pushing up the rod-shaped operating portion 10a to open the valve 10 is provided, and a cam 14 for pushing down the operating portion 10a of the valve 10 to close the valve 10 is provided.

Next, the operation of the star wheel device configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the lower surface of one side of the neck ring 20a is supported by the guide rail 7A, and the other side of the neck ring 20a contacts the guide rail 4, as shown in FIG. It is transported to the position. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
The lower surface of one side of the neck ring 20a is supported by the pocket 3 of the star wheel, and the other side surface of the neck ring 20a is transferred along the arc-shaped conveyance path while being in contact with the guide rail 4. During this transfer, the guide rail 4 prevents the neck ring 20 a of the container 20 from coming off the pocket 3. When the container 20 is to be removed during this transfer, the actuator 13 is operated to push up the operating portion 10a of the valve 10 to open the valve 10 and connect the compressed air source 12 and the air cylinder 6 to the communication paths 1a, 8b, 8a. And the air cylinder 11 is in communication with the air cylinder 11 to operate the air cylinder 6.

When the air cylinder 6 operates, the pocket 3
As shown in FIG. 2, the pocket 3 swings in the vertical plane around the hinge 5 and moves toward the center of the star wheel. Therefore, there is no support for the neck ring 20a, and the container 20 falls and is removed. When removing the container 20, if the container 20 is a plastic bottle 20B,
Since the tip of the pocket 3 pushes down the shoulder of the bottle, the elimination is reliable. The containers 20 that have fallen are guided by guides 21 and gather at predetermined locations. As shown in FIG. 1, the container 20 which is not removed from the star wheel is transferred to the next step while the neck ring 20a contacts the guide rail 4 and is supported by the guide rail 7B.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a modification of the pocket of the star wheel. In the present example, a contact piece 3c is provided on the upper part of the pocket 3. When the pocket 3 swings, the contact piece 3c comes into contact with the mouth of the container 20 and pushes down the container 20, so that it is effective to quickly remove the container 20.

Next, a second embodiment of the star wheel device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, an air cylinder 6 provided corresponding to each pocket 3 is disposed on the support plate 2. Each pocket 3 is directly fixed to the rod 6 a of the air cylinder 6. Other configurations are the same as those of the embodiment shown in FIG. Therefore, each pocket 3 moves in the horizontal plane toward the center of the star wheel by the operation of the air cylinder 6. As a result, there is no support for the neck ring 20a, and the container 20 falls and is removed.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the container can be transferred and removed without the suction cup, that is, with the container's neck ring supported, stable operation is possible. In addition, it is possible to cope with a case where the suction cup cannot be used because the body of the container has irregularities.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of a star wheel device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of the star wheel device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 2 and is a plan view showing a pocket.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a modified example of a pocket of a star wheel.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a second embodiment of the star wheel device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main shaft 2 Support plate 3 Pocket 4 Guide rail 5 Hinge 6 Air cylinder 8 Rotating disk 10 Valve 11 Air piping 12 Compressed air source 13 Actuator 14 Cam 20 Container 20A Preform 20B PET bottle 20a Neck ring

Claims (3)

[Claims] An apparatus for transferring a container by a pocket of a star wheel that supports a lower surface on one side of a neck ring of the container, and a guide rail that is arranged on an outer periphery of the star wheel and contacts a side surface of the neck ring on the other side. The star wheel has one pocket each arranged independently, and each pocket can be moved toward the center of the star wheel, and when the pocket moves, the container is dropped and removed. Star wheel device. 2. The star wheel device according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the pocket is a method of swinging in a vertical plane. 3. The star wheel device according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the pocket is performed by sliding in a horizontal plane.