JPS5817096B2 - Driving method for bottle inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for driving a bottle inspection device that has a freely rotatable star wheel between an upstream conveyor and a downstream conveyor, and a multi-guide spring provided opposite to the star wheel. .

In the bottle inspection device described above, the bottle held in the pocket of the star wheel is rotated without being strongly pressed in the direction of the center axis of the star wheel by a multi-guide spring. The static friction torque is much larger than the dynamic torque due to the compression force of the spring, etc., and therefore a large starting torque of the star wheel is required.

However, once rotation starts, the star wheel can rotate even if the bottle is slightly pressed, so there is a risk that the star wheel will rotate until the bottle on the entrance side runs out.

Once the bottle on the entrance side of the star wheel runs out, the spring approaches the star wheel side, narrowing the gap, and it is necessary to apply a large force to make the next bottle enter.

For this reason, a bottle is usually placed artificially.

In order to do this mechanically, the upstream conveyor at the bottle inspection device entrance must have a sufficient length of straight section in order to obtain the required bottle suppression load, and the downstream conveyor at the bottle inspection device exit must have a sufficient length. Similarly, in order to reduce the driving load, it is necessary to ensure that the straight section is sufficiently long.

This is unfavorable in terms of arrangement and space.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for driving a bottle inspection device that can solve the above-mentioned disadvantages.

In order to achieve the above object, the method for driving a bottle inspection device according to the present invention forcibly stops the free rotation of the star wheel when the bottle runs out near the end of the upstream conveyor, and inspects the star wheel. When driving the bottle,
An arbitrarily set rotational torque corresponding to the frictional resistance force when driving the test bottle is applied, so that driving operation can be performed with slight bottle suppression.

According to this method, the star wheel can be activated even by a slight pressure on the bottle, forcibly stopped when the bottle is no longer pressed, and the flow of the bottle can be carried out smoothly without the shock of on-off operation.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a bottle inspection device according to the present method.

Now, during bottle inspection operation, the bottle 2 fed by the upstream conveyor 1 at the entrance is placed on the outer periphery of a star wheel 6 that can rotate around a shaft 5 by introducing a bottle guide rail 3 and a multi-guide spring 4. The star wheel 6 is pushed in the direction of the arrow 8 while proceeding toward the outlet downstream conveyor 9.

During this time, bottle inspection is performed by a separate mechanism and a signal is issued, but this is not directly related to the present invention and will therefore be omitted.

Based on this detection signal, good bottles are allowed to flow directly to the downstream conveyor 9, but when a defective bottle is detected, it is pulled toward the removal table 10 and separated from the flow of good bottles.

Boo IJs 13 and 14 are fixed to the shaft 5 and the output shaft 12 of the torque motor 11, respectively, and both pulleys 13 and 1
A belt 15 is placed between the two to transmit the driving force of the torque motor 11 to the star wheel 6.

As shown in FIG. 2, the torque motor 11 used has a torque curve inversely proportional to the number of rotations, and has a characteristic of generating maximum torque at zero rotation, that is, when the shaft is locked.

Note that the output shaft 12 can be coupled to a pulley 14 via a reduction gear if necessary.

Furthermore, in order to set the drive torque to an optimal value according to the load condition, a voltage regulator 16 is installed in the power supply circuit of the torque motor 11.
It would be even more convenient to provide a variable setting.

In addition, the upstream conveyor 1 has an entrance side absence detection switch 17.
will be established.

The method uses an appropriate switch such as a photoelectric or mechanical limit switch.

Then, the upstream bottle is missing and the inlet side missing detection switch 1 is activated.
7 operates, the electromagnetic brake 1 coupled to the shaft 5
8 generates a braking force to forcibly stop the rotation of the star wheel 60, leaving a portion of the bottle 2 on the entrance side.

Next, when the number of bottles 2 reaches a predetermined number due to the inflow of bottles 2 into the conveyor 1 on the entrance side, the absence detection switch 17 on the entrance side is turned off, and the electromagnetic brake 18 releases the braking force. Star wheel 6 starts rotating.

The rotational force of this torque motor 11 rapidly decreases with the speed of the star wheel 6, so it no longer rotates faster than the inflow speed of the bottle 2, so that there is a star wheel pocket in the bottle 20 passage from the inlet to the outlet. The bottles 2 are connected to all seven parts, and a stable flow is obtained in any range of the bottle 20 predetermined speed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a drive circuit for the star wheel 6 using the electromagnetic brake 18.

Note that similar operations can be performed using air or hydraulic pressure, but the principle is the same, and the explanation will be omitted.

If there is a risk that the above-mentioned entrance side absence detection switch 17 may repeatedly stop and start at a small distance between the bottles 2, a starting circuit is configured by further providing a bottle detector at the upstream conveyor 1 position. However, the system for resetting the absence detection circuit or the absence detection operation can be stopped and started by a time-limited operation circuit.

According to the present invention described above, the mechanical resistance of the bottle handling mechanism is reduced by applying external power such as a torque motor to the star wheel, which is the main source of resistance, to the extent that it does not rotate on its own axis. Starwheel can be activated even with bottle suppression.

In addition, for example, a detection switch can detect that the incoming conveyor is no longer transporting bottles and forcibly stop the star wheel, thereby preventing the situation where the multi-guide spring approaches the star wheel and narrows the gap. can be prevented from occurring.

Because of these factors, it is possible to automatically inspect bottles at a speed that corresponds to the flow speed of the bottles, without being affected by bottle suppression fluctuations due to differences in the arrangement and structure of the upstream and downstream conveyors connected to the inspection equipment. It can be compactly packed, and the bottle can flow smoothly without the shock of on-off operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 1 being a plan view and FIG.
The figure is a graph of the action of the torque motor, and FIG. 3 is a drive circuit diagram. 1...Upstream conveyor, 2...Bottle, 4
・・・・・・Multi guide spring, 6・・・・・・
Star wheel, 9...Downstream conveyor, 10.
... Removal table, 11 ... Torque motor, 16 ... Voltage regulator, 1T ... Inlet side absence detection switch, 18 ... Electromagnetic brake.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a bottle inspection device that has a freely rotating star wheel between an upstream conveyor and a downstream conveyor and a multi-guide spring installed opposite the star wheel, it is possible to detect when a bottle runs out near the end of the upstream conveyor. When the star wheel is driven, the free rotation of the star wheel is forcibly stopped, and when the star wheel is driving the testing bottle, an arbitrarily set rotational torque corresponding to the frictional resistance force when driving the testing bottle is applied, and a slight pressure is applied to the bottle. A method for driving a bottle inspection device that can be driven by