JPH11321821A - Holding device for item to be immersed - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent contamination of chemical liquid in advance, reduce an amount of liquid and also reduce its cost. SOLUTION: A holding device for holding an item to be immersed at an outer circumference of a hollow rotary drum 1 rotationally driven within a liquid tank is comprised of a pair of holding members 3 arranged at an outer circumference of the rotary drum 1 so as to hold the item removably under their approaching or separating motion; inserting sections 40 arranged at these holding members 3 and liquid-tightly inserted into the rotary drum 1; and a positioning mechanism 41 installed inside the rotary drum 1 to operate the inserting sections 40 so as to perform a positioning of a normal position of each of the holding members 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for holding an article to be immersed, which is used for holding the article when the article is immersed in a liquid, and more particularly to an article to be filled with a drug or food. The present invention relates to a device for holding an article to be immersed, which is used for an immersion apparatus for an article used for sterilizing or disinfecting a container by immersing the container in a chemical solution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a device for holding such an article to be immersed,
There is a work holding device described in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-166204.

This work holding device has a pair of claws for holding an article to be immersed (for example, an eye drop container), and urging means for urging these claws in a closing direction. They are attached at predetermined intervals. Therefore, the holding device is entirely immersed in the chemical solution while holding the immersion article, and immerses the immersion article in the chemical solution for a certain period of time by circulating movement of the chain conveyor, and disinfects and sterilizes the article.

[0004]

However, since the conventional work holding device is entirely immersed in the chemical solution, the abrasion powder generated in the sliding portion is easily released into the chemical solution, which has been a problem. . In addition, since the chemical solution enters portions not required for the treatment, an extra amount of liquid is required. Further, depending on the chemical solution, it is necessary to use a corrosion-resistant material for all parts or parts, which has increased the cost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a holding device for holding an article to be immersed on the outer peripheral side of a hollow rotary drum that is driven to rotate in a liquid tank. A pair of holding members for detachably holding the article to be immersed by proximity and separation movement, an insertion portion provided on these holding members and inserted into the rotating drum in a liquid-tight manner, A positioning mechanism that is provided inside and that operates the insertion portion to position the holding member in a normal position.

Here, the positioning mechanism biases the insertion portion in a direction in which the holding members approach each other, a receiving member for receiving a biasing reaction force of the spring member, and a contact member for the receiving member. It is preferable to include a stopper member that comes into contact with the stopper and stops the movement of the insertion portion in the urging direction.

[0007] It is preferable that the positioning mechanism further includes moving means for moving the receiving member to change a normal position of the holding member.

Further, the moving means is provided for each of the pair of receiving members corresponding to the pair of holding members, and female screw portions engraved in opposite directions to each other. A screw shaft having a male screw portion in the opposite direction, wherein the screw shaft is radially separated from the axial center position of the rotary drum by a predetermined distance, and the shaft of the rotary drum for rotating the screw shaft. It is preferable to include an operation shaft penetrating the shaft center portion and extending to the outside of the liquid tank, and a gear mechanism for connecting the operation shaft and the screw shaft in an interlockable manner.

A plurality of the pair of holding members are arranged in the circumferential direction of the rotary drum, the positioning mechanism is provided for each pair of the holding members, and the operation shaft is common to the positioning mechanisms. In addition, it is preferable that the gear mechanism is arranged radially so as to operatively connect the operation shaft and each screw shaft.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the holding device here is applied to an immersion device for immersing an eye drop container as an article to be immersed in ozone water for sterilization and disinfection.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show such an immersion apparatus. The immersion device includes a liquid tank 4 storing a chemical solution (here, ozone water) and a hollow rotary drum 1 immersed in the liquid tank 4.
And a driving device 2 for rotating the rotary drum 1 about its axis 10 and a large number of pairs of holding members 3 for holding the eye drops containers M on the outer peripheral side of the rotary drum 1. The rotary drum 1 is kept liquid-tight, and its inside is merely a space. The shaft 10 of the rotating drum 1 extends horizontally on both sides of the rotating drum 1 so as to make the rotating drum 1 rotate vertically. The rotating drum 1 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum 1 has an odd-numbered regular polygonal shape (specifically, a hexagonal shape), and a holding member 3 is provided on each surface. Here, the holding members 3 form a part of a holding device described later, and are formed in a one-to-one set, and each set is disposed on each surface of the rotary drum 1. Liquid tank 4
The rotating drum 1 extends in the width direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 4), and the liquid tank 4 has a cylindrical shape along the outermost periphery of the holding member 3. The eye drops containers M are held in a plurality of rows (here, four rows) along the apparatus width direction for each surface of the rotary drum 1 and are simultaneously processed for each surface. The liquid level of the chemical in the liquid tank 4 is indicated by a virtual line 11.

Here, the shaft 10 of the rotary drum 1 protrudes out of the liquid tank 4. A bearing member 21 is fixed to the outer surface of the liquid tank 4 to rotatably support the protruding portion. The bearing member 21 seals a gap with the shaft 10 to ensure the liquid tightness of the liquid tank 4. In particular, a motor 24 and a transmission 25 are attached to the bearing member 21 on the left side of FIG. 4 so that the rotation of the motor 24 is appropriately shifted by the transmission 25 and transmitted to the shaft 10 of the rotary drum 1 via the coupling 22. It has become. As described above, the bearing device 21, the motor 24, the transmission 25, and the coupling 22 provided outside the liquid tank 4 constitute the driving device 2. Especially motor 2
When the rotary drum 1 is rotated by one surface, a so-called intermittent operation 4 stops for a predetermined time.

Here, the upper portion of the liquid tank 4 is opened, and this open part is divided into two places so that the supply and removal of the eye drop container M can be performed in each of the two parts. First, at a supply position 5 corresponding to the uppermost surface of the rotary drum 1, a supply device 6 that transfers the eye drop container M to the holding member 3 on that surface is arranged. The supply device 6 performs horizontal and vertical movements in conjunction with the intermittent operation of the rotary drum 1 and simultaneously holds four undisinfected empty eye drops containers M from the left side in FIG.
The power is supplied to the holding member 3 at a rate of one intermittent operation.

However, the eye drop container M is located above the supply position 5.
A filling device 9 is provided for inserting ozone water by inserting a nozzle 8 into the nozzle. Therefore, the supply device 6 grips the empty eye dropper container M and horizontally moves to the supply position 5, then rises once, inserts the nozzle 8 into the eye dropper container M, fills it with ozone water, and then descends to hold the holding member. The eyedropper container M is delivered to the third eyedropper.

A take-out device 7 for taking out the eye drop container M from the holding member 3 is arranged at a take-out position 12 adjacent to the supply position 5 on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the rotary drum 1. The take-out device 7 also interlocks with the intermittent operation of the rotary drum 1 and takes out the treated eye drop container M from the holding member 3 at a rate of once every two intermittent operations. After that, the take-out device 7 conveys the eye drop container M to a drying device (not shown).

Here, a brief description will be given of a method of sterilizing and disinfecting the eye drop container M by the present immersion apparatus. First, the rotating drum 1
When the intermittent operation is stopped and the empty holding member 3 reaches the supply position 5, the four rows of eye drop containers M which have been filled with the ozone water as described above are supplied to the holding member 3. Since the position of the liquid surface 11 is above the holding member 3, the eye drop container M is immersed in the liquid simultaneously with the supply. Then, the eye drop container M is immersed in the liquid for a certain period of time until the removal is performed, thereby performing disinfection and sterilization. The container supply at the supply position 5 is performed once every two intermittent operations. The reason will become clear later.

When the rotary drum 1 has completed the intermittent operation six times, the eye dropper container M comes to the take-out position 12, but at this time, it is passed through without taking out. That is, the eye drops container M is made to make about two turns. At this time, since the rotating drum 1 is an odd-numbered surface, when the eye drop container M comes to the supply position 5 next time, it is a timing not to supply the container.

Therefore, instead of this, at the supply position 5, the ozone water in the container is replaced. That is, at the same time when the eye drop container M comes to the feed position 5, the feed device 6 descends to receive the container from the holding member 3, rises as it is, inserts the nozzle 8 into the eye drop container M, fills with ozone water, and thereafter, The eye drops container M is lowered and delivered to the holding member 3 again.
By performing such replacement, the disinfection and sterilization of the inner surface of the container is completed. At the time of delivery to the holding member 3, the delivery position is changed slightly so that the contact portion of the holding member 3 with the eye drop container M does not overlap with the previous contact portion. Thus, the entire outer surface of the eye drop container M is exposed to the ozone water. In this way, at the supply position 5, the refilling of the ozone water is performed during the container supply at a rate of once every two intermittent operations.

Thereafter, when the rotary drum 1 has completed the six intermittent operations, the eye drops container M comes to the take-out position 12, so that the eye drops container M is taken out by the take-out device 7 at this time. Therefore, at the take-out position 12, the take-out is performed once in two intermittent operations.

As described above, in the present immersion apparatus, since the outer peripheral surface uses the rotating drum 1 having an odd-numbered regular polygonal shape, the supply of the container by the supply device 6, the entire exposure by switching the container,
Ozone water refilling and container removal by the removal device 7 can be performed smoothly in synchronization with the intermittent operation of the rotating drum 1, and processing efficiency can be increased. In addition, the rotation drum 1
The stop position of the container becomes accurate, the accumulated error of the conveyance is eliminated, and the mistake in the delivery of the container can be prevented. Further, since the driving device 2 is disposed outside the liquid tank 4, a sliding portion is eliminated from the inside of the liquid tank 4, thereby preventing ozone water contamination due to abrasion powder or the like. Since the liquid-tight hollow rotary drum 1 is immersed in the liquid tank 4, the amount of ozone water used can be minimized.

Incidentally, the holding device applied to this immersion device is as follows.

FIG. 1 conceptually shows the structure of such a holding device. As shown in the figure, a pair of holding members 3 formed in a frame shape are provided,
Reciprocating independently along the left and right directions). That is, the holding member 3 integrally has an upper stay 32 and a lower shaft 33 that bridge the side plates 31 at both ends in the width direction. Slidably supported by
It can reciprocate. Here the rotating drum 1
Is formed in a hollow shape by welding a metal plate or the like, has a protruding portion 35 protruding radially outward at the center in the width direction, and allows the lower shaft 33 to be inserted into the protruding portion 35. I have. Holes 36 for inserting the lower shaft 33 are provided in both side plates 38 forming the protruding portion 35, and a slide bush 34 is fixed around the hole 36 to support the lower shaft 33. The protruding portion 35 is the rotating drum 1
The shape is a regular heptagon in accordance with the outer peripheral surface shape.

A bellows seal 37 is provided on the outer surface of both side plates 38 as a sealing member for sealing a gap between the hole 36 and the lower shaft 33. The bellows seal 37 is put on the lower shaft 33, and the base end is fixedly attached to the side plate 38 and the tip end is fixedly attached to the lower shaft 33. The movement of the holding member 3 is allowed by its own expansion and contraction.
As a result, the lower shaft 33 is inserted into the rotary drum 1 in a liquid-tight manner, and the infiltration of the ozone water into the rotary drum 1 is completely prevented. The portion of the lower shaft 33 thus inserted into the inside of the rotary drum 1 forms the insertion portion 40 of the present invention. Conversely, only the portion of the holding member 3 other than the insertion portion 40 is exposed to the ozone water.

The upper stay 32 is provided with a finger 39 forming a substantial holding portion of the eye drop container M. Finger 3
9 are arranged at equal pitches alternately along the longitudinal direction of the upper stays 32 (partially omitted in the figure), so that the holding members 3 move close to and away from each other or open and close as the holding members 3 move in opposite directions. It has become. When the finger 39 is closed, a plurality of eye drops containers M can be held or sandwiched simultaneously, and when the finger 39 is opened, the eye drops containers M can be released simultaneously. Thus, a plurality of pairs of fingers 39 are provided for one set of holding members 3.

On the other hand, a positioning mechanism 41 for positioning the holding member 3 at the normal position by operating the insertion section 40 is provided inside the rotary drum 1. The positioning mechanism 41
A coil spring 42 (spring member) for urging the insertion portion 40 in a direction in which the holding members 3 or the fingers 39 approach each other; a stopper plate 43 (receiving member) for receiving the urging reaction force of the coil spring 42; It mainly comprises a stopper ring 44 (stopper member) which stops the movement of the insertion portion 40 in the biasing direction by contacting the stopper plate 43. Each of these members is arranged symmetrically left and right and spaced apart on the left and right sides.

The coil spring 42 is connected to each lower shaft 3
3 is provided in a fitted state. And each lower shaft 33
Is provided with a fixing ring 45 for receiving the urging force of the coil spring 42. Each coil spring 42
Presses and biases each fixing ring 45 in the separating direction. This is the approaching direction for the holding members 3 and the closing direction for the fingers 39. The stopper plate 43 is basically a member on the fixed side (the rotary drum 1 side). The stopper ring 44 is fitted and fixed to each lower shaft 33. Thus, when the stopper ring 44 comes into contact with the back surface of the stopper plate 43, the movement of the lower shaft 33 in the biasing direction is stopped, and the normal position of the holding member 3 and the opening width of the closed finger 39 are defined.

Here, the positioning mechanism 41 is provided with moving means 46 for moving the stopper plate 43 to change the normal position of the holding member 3. That is, the boss portion 47 is provided at the radial inner end of the stopper plate 43.
The stopper plate 43 can be slightly moved in the width direction by operating the boss portion 47. The moving means 46 is a screw shaft having a female screw portion 48 provided on each boss portion 47 and engraved in the opposite direction to each other, and a male screw portion 49 in the opposite direction screwed to each of these female screw portions 48. 50. The screw shaft 50 is separated from the position of the axis C of the rotary drum 1 in the radial direction by a predetermined distance.
An operation shaft 51 for rotating the screw shaft 50 is provided, and the operation shaft 51 and the screw shaft 50 are operably connected by a gear mechanism 52. The gear mechanism 52 is composed of two gears 59 and 60 which are fixed to the operation shaft 51 and the screw shaft 50 and are meshed with each other, but when the distance between the operation shaft 51 and the screw shaft 50 is large, the idle A gear may be interposed. The operation shaft 51 and the screw shaft 50 are rotatably supported on the rotary drum 1 side.

When the operating shaft 51 is rotated, the gear mechanism 52
The screw shaft 50 is rotated via the
3 moves simultaneously to the approach side or the separation side by the same stroke. Then, the stopper plate 43 pushes the coil spring 42 on the near side, and pushes the stopper ring 44 on the distant side, and moves the holding member 3 accordingly, thereby changing the normal position of the holding member 3. This means that the opening width of the finger 39 in the normal state or the closed state is changed. Thus, the opening width of the finger 39 can be easily changed in accordance with the size (thickness) of the eye drop container M, and the setup can be easily changed.

On the other hand, actuators 53 are provided on both sides of the holding member 3 to separate or open the holding members 3 or the fingers 39. Actuator 53
Due to its extension, the different holding members 3 are simultaneously pushed against the urging force of the coil spring 42 from both sides. As a result, the holding members 3 are moved away from each other, and the fingers 39 are opened. As described above, the holding member 3 is of an externally driven type.

When the actuator 53 contracts and there is no external force, the holding member 3 moves closer by the urging force of the coil spring 42. Thus, the eye drop container M can be held, but the overstroke at this time is absorbed by the compression deformation of the coil spring 42. Thus, the eye drop container M is clamped by the finger 39 with an appropriate force.

The holding device constructed as described above,
1 and FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals in FIG. 3 and FIG. Here, FIG.
As shown in (1), in the holding device, an air cylinder 54 forming the above-described actuator 53 is provided. The air cylinder 54 is attached to a cylinder mount 55 fixed to the outer surface of the liquid tank 4. The cylinder mount 55 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the shoe 56 and the push rod 57 slide inside the cylinder mount 55. The push rod 57 penetrates the seal bearing portion 58 of the cylinder mount 55 in a liquid-tight manner, and has a tip protruding into the liquid tank 4. As a result, when the air cylinder 54 is extended, the push rod 57 further projects to push the holding member 3 at the supply position 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the pair of holding members 3, a plurality of upper stays 32 of each holding member 3 are alternately arranged in the depth direction of the apparatus (the left and right direction in FIGS. 2 and 3). ing. The one for the holding member 3 is the first stay 32a, and the one for the other holding member 3 is the second stay 32a.
Assuming that the stay 32b has three first stays 32a,
Two stays 32b are provided. By two first fingers 39a standing up from the first stay 32a and bridging them in a U-shape, and two second fingers 39b standing up from the second stay 32b and bifurcated, A pair of fingers 39 is formed. 4 provided opposite to the first finger 39a and the second finger 39b.
The four rows of eye drops containers M can be simultaneously attached and detached by the gripper portions 40a and 40b at the locations.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pair of holding members 3 are provided for each surface of the rotating drum 1. The normal positions of all the pair of holding members 3 or the closed fingers 39 are provided. Can be adjusted simultaneously and collectively. That is, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 1, the positioning mechanism 41 is provided for each pair of the holding members 3,
The operation shaft 51 is common to each positioning mechanism 41, and the gear mechanism 52 is arranged radially so as to operatively connect the operation shaft 51 and each screw shaft 50. FIG.
As shown in (1), the operating shaft 51 extends through the shaft center of the shaft 10 of the rotary drum 1 and extends outside the liquid tank 4, and a handle 58 is attached to the end thereof. Therefore, the handle 58
By merely rotating the, the opening width of all pairs of fingers 39 can be adjusted, and the setup change is extremely easy. The shaft 10 of the rotating drum 1 forms a bearing for the operation shaft 51.

As described above, in this holding device, only the holding member 3 which is a substantial holding portion of the eye drop container M is immersed in ozone water, and the other portions can be stored in the space inside the rotary drum 1. The sliding portion is eliminated from the liquid, thereby preventing contamination of the chemical solution. In addition, it is possible to prevent the chemical solution from entering unnecessary portions, and to significantly reduce the amount of the solution. Furthermore, only the holding member 3 needs to be made of a corrosion-resistant material, and the cost can be reduced.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above. For example, the chemical solution may be other than ozone water, and the article to be immersed may be other than the eyedropper. The rotary drum can also have a circular shape if its outer peripheral portion can be divided into a plurality. The holding of the article to be immersed is not limited to four rows.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Prevents contamination of chemicals and reduces the amount of liquid,
An excellent effect that the cost can be reduced is exhibited.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram conceptually showing a holding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a holding member.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view showing an immersion apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional front view showing an immersion apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 rotating drum 3 holding member 4 liquid tank 10 shaft 39 finger 40 insertion section 41 positioning mechanism 42 coil spring (spring member) 43 stopper plate (receiving member) 44 stopper ring (stopper member) 46 moving means 48 female screw part 49 male screw Part 50 Screw shaft 51 Operation shaft 52 Gear mechanism M Eye dropper (submerged article)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A holding device for holding an article to be immersed on an outer peripheral side of a hollow rotary drum rotatably driven in a liquid tank, the holding device being provided on an outer peripheral side of the rotary drum. A pair of holding members for detachably holding an article to be immersed, an insertion portion provided on these holding members, and inserted in a liquid-tight manner inside the rotary drum; and an insertion portion provided inside the rotary drum. And a positioning mechanism for positioning the holding member at a normal position by operating the holding member. 2. A spring member for urging the insertion portion in a direction in which the positioning members approach the holding members,
2. The apparatus for holding an immersed article according to claim 1, comprising a receiving member receiving the urging reaction force of the spring member, and a stopper member abutting on the receiving member to stop the movement of the insertion portion in the urging direction. 3. An apparatus for holding an immersed article according to claim 2, wherein said positioning mechanism further comprises a moving means for moving said receiving member to change a normal position of said holding member. 4. The female means provided in each of the pair of receiving members corresponding to the pair of holding members, and the moving means is screwed into the female screw parts, respectively. A screw shaft having a male screw portion in the opposite direction, wherein the screw shaft is radially separated from the axial center position of the rotary drum by a predetermined distance, and the shaft of the rotary drum for rotating the screw shaft. 4. The apparatus for holding an article to be immersed according to claim 3, comprising an operation shaft that penetrates an axis portion and extends to outside of the liquid tank, and a gear mechanism that operatively connects the operation shaft and the screw shaft. 5. A plurality of said pair of holding members are arranged in a circumferential direction of said rotary drum, said positioning mechanism is provided for each pair of said holding members, and said operation shaft is common to each positioning mechanism. 5. The holding apparatus for an article to be immersed according to claim 4, wherein the gear mechanism is arranged radially so as to operatively connect the operation shaft and each screw shaft.