KR820001525B1 - The method of inspecting of bottle cap - Google Patents

Abstract

Caps for bottles are checked automatically by machine for the effectiveness of their sealing. The machine operates at production line speed and rejects any faulty caps that do not meet requirements. Caps(20) used to seal bottles are distributed to test stations(13) on a test machine. A number of profiled test nozzles(28) enter cavities over which the caps are placed and a fluid under press. is directed by the nozzles onto the caps. A press. sensor measures press. between nozzle and cap and signals acceptance or rejection of the caps. An ejector routes accepted or rejected caps to the appropriate destination.

Description

Lid inspection method

1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic cover inspection system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 by lining FIG. 2B.

Fig. 3 and Fig. 3b are in line, resulting in a good take-off and conveying mechanism used in the system of Fig. 1.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3b showing a cross section of the trigger gate of the take off mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3b showing the air trajectory of the conveying mechanism.

6a to 6e show a good cooling station used in the system of FIG.

7 is a partial simplified view of a good inspection station used in the first system,

8 is a cross-sectional view of the inspection head used in the inspection station of FIG.

Figures 9a through 9d show the inspection stages of the crown passing and the various types of failing crowns,

FIG. 10 shows the pneumatic circuit used in the inspection station of FIG.

FIG. 11 shows the arrangement of the counters used in the system of FIG.

In the drawing, 9 is a lining machine, 10 is a take-off mechanism, 11 is a return mechanism 12 is a cooling station, 13 is an inspection station, 14 is an exhaust container 15 is a packing station, 20 is a crown, 21 is a belt conveyor 40 is a cooling conveyor, 50 denotes a sector difference, 51 denotes an inspection nest 70 and an insertion portion.

The present invention relates to a method for automatically inspecting a bottle cap which has a certain phenomenon and which is lined, and automatically rejects a bottle which has not passed certain criteria regarding shape and sealing state. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for automatically performing intermediary inspection and rejection with an elastic sealing liner.

Properly inspecting the bottle cap is of great importance to the bottle capper as well as to the end consumer. As a consumer, a leaky stopper leaks out, so impurities are mixed into the contents or the contents flow out, so inspection is important.

The same is important for bottle caps, and inspection is also important because defective caps can cause problems with modern fast bottle filling equipment.

Although bottle caps are made on the highway using mass production technology, the inspection speed is usually limited because such inspection is performed by the human eye and manual removal. Commercially available lining machines, such as those described in US Pat. Nos. 3,185,019 and 3,860,827 to Erneat O. Aichele, can apply a sealing plastic liner to the shell of a previously formed bottle cap at a rate of 1400 per minute. Therefore, every stopper manufacturer inspects only a few of the stoppers where the liner has been installed, and statistically draws out the result of the tester to fill the entire product at once. This method is time-consuming and subjective and inherently lacking in reliability.

As such, only a few of the stoppers bought by almost every stopper are inspected. In some cases, it is common to inspect only one box of stock and discard all the stock if the number of defects in the box exceeds the maximum.

According to the present invention there is provided a method and apparatus for automatically rejecting a stopper that has a certain shape and that is lined with a stopper that does not pass certain criteria in terms of shape and fire. Specifically, a stopper of a certain shape having a recessed inner portion and an elastic sealing lining is supplied to the inspection station.

The inspection station has at least one bite-type test nest for receiving plugs one by one and at least one corresponding push-type test head which can be inserted into the recess portion of each plug.

The external shape of the inspection head is close to the interior of the ideal stopper. When inserted into a stopper, it is possible to know whether the stopper is close to the ideal. The test head is preferably connected to a source of pressure fluid so that both the depth of penetration and the appropriateness of the sealing ring are tested. Caps that can remain sealed at a constant pressure level are automatically passed to the factory and caps that do not pass the test are automatically buried.

Hereinafter, a suitable specific example of receiving a crown cap from several lining machines will be described in detail.

Advantages, characteristics and various features of the present invention will become more apparent by considering specific examples described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

For simplicity, the same reference numbers are used for the same elements throughout all the bins.

A. System-wide Operation (Figure 1)

1 is a schematic diagram showing a preferred automatic closure inspection system in accordance with the present invention. The specific example shown is obtained from several lining machines 9. It is particularly suitable for inspecting crown caps on the back of plastics. In essence, this system comprises a common cooling station 12 from at least one take-off mechanism 10 and a take-off mechanism 10 for receiving a crown with a hot liner from each lining machine 9. The conveyance mechanism 11 provided in combination with each take-off mechanism 10 for sending a crown until now is provided. The crown is cooled to a certain temperature range in the cooling station 12 and side by side with at least one row for sending to the next inspection station 13.

In the inspection station 13, the crown is inspected by a push-type inspection head which is sent into the inspection nest of the filling type and inserted into the recess of the crown. The sealing ring has the ability to form a seal against fluid pressure with the head. As a result, the degree of sealing and the degree to which the head having a certain shape enters the crown are tested, and the degree of agreement with the ideal shape of the crown is measured. The crown that does not fit is discarded into the exhaust vessel 14. Passed crowns are sent to packing station 15 where the quantities are counted and stacked in suitable containers. Next, preferred instruments and stations will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 11.

B. Take-Off and Transfer Mechanisms (Figures 2-5)

The main purpose of the take-off and conveying mechanism is to take the crown away from the lining machine by taking the crown at the same speed as the production rate. In a more specific example, the means for detecting and rejecting defective crowns that would interfere with the instruments in the following inspection systems, and the means for detecting the disturbance of take-off mechanisms and automatically stopping the lining machine in the event of interference. It is advantageous to be installed. It is also preferable that the take-off mechanism is arranged side by side to ensure that the crown is properly brought to the next conveying mechanism.

2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B show a takeoff mechanism 10 for receiving a crown 20 in which a high temperature liner is constructed from the lining machine 9. In this take-off mechanism 21, a belt conveyor 22 made of nonmagnetic material such as neoprene runs over at least one strip 92 made of magnetized material. The crown is ejected by centrifugal force from the lining machine with its inner side facing up.

Under the influence of the magnetic field of the magnetized strip, the crown is pulled out of the lining machine 9 onto the conveyor and held toward the inner side of the recess, and in contact with the traveling belt conveyor to run the center over the strip.

As a preliminary inspection mechanism, a photoelectric shell 28 is installed to pick out a defective crown or a crown taller than a certain value. The shell 23 is coupled to the pneumatic blow-out tube 24 via a suitable delay circuit to automatically blow the crown, which is determined to be too high, from the conveyor into the waste container. In addition, a manual switching switch for switching the blow-out pipe 24 may be provided in a stamping mode in which all crowns are stamped and rejected. Such a mode plays a role, for example, in the start up of a lining machine with a high rate of defective crowns.

A defect detector in the form of a trigger gate 27 is provided at the inlet of the terminal transfer mechanism 11 of the conveyor 21. When the crown is contained in the lower part of the gate, the upward pressure is applied, the trigger is applied to the gate, the gate is opened, the exit of the crown is made, and the micro switch is operated to stop the lining machine 9.

The same means is provided for the air nozzle 28 to push the crown out of the conveyor 21 to the conveying mechanism 11. The take-off mechanism removes the crown from the vicinity of the lining machine so that the accumulated crown does not interfere with the operation of the lining machine, but the conveying mechanism 11 receives the crown from the take-off mechanism so that it may be located at a distant place, such as cooling, inspection and packing. Move the crown to a place where operation does not interfere with the operation of the lining machine. The first advantage of using a suitable broadcasting device is that the product of several lining machines can be moved to a single cooling station in a remote location and reprocessed into a single inspection station and a single packing station.

1 and 5 show a conveying mechanism 11 in the form of an air orbit 30 and a tubular pneumatic manifold 31. The air orbit 30 has one crown on its three sides. It's good to have a track for you. The tubular manifold 31 is located just above the track on the fourth side of the track 30 and has several air passages 32 inclined with respect to the axial direction to direct several air flows in the track direction. These streams of air move the crown along a loosely curved track to the end of the track and to the cooling station 12 at its end. All air tracks 30 should be about the same length so that the caps coming from each lining machine reach the cooling conveyor at about the same temperature.

C. Cooling Stations (Figures 6a-6e)

The main function of the cooling station is to gradually cool the hot cap to a temperature within a certain range in preparation for the inspection step. Such cooling is preferred in order to ensure that the sealing liner made of plastic, especially the liner of the thermoplastic material, does not undergo permanent deformation even if inspected and hardens to the state as shown in the figure without sticking to the inspection apparatus. As a good example, the cooling station also has the function of distributing the received crown in the form of several rows to send it to the inspection station 13.

6A-E or to illustrate the cooling station 12, moving slowly compared to the conveyor of the cooling conveyor 40 made of neoprene-coated wire mesh belt, but with the crown exposed to the surrounding air towards the inspection station. Move slowly but cool the crown to the surrounding air. For example, a cover plastic 41 made of transparent plastic may be hung on a cooling conveyor to avoid sudden cooling. In this specific example, the cooling conveyor moves at a rate of 50 feet (15m) per minute to convey the crown by a distance of 8 feet (2.4m) to cool to a temperature of about 120 [deg.] F. (49 [deg.] C.).

Caps obtained from each lining machine are convenient to be placed separately for each lining machine between inspection strokes. This is because the lining machine that does not function normally can be immediately known. In order to achieve such isolation, a transverse isolation wall (41A in FIG. 1) spaced apart in the transverse direction is installed in the cooling station, and the silver cap is separated from the other air tracks 30, and at the same time, the conveyor is placed on each lining machine (9). May be divided into several transversely spaced subchannels (No. 40A in FIG. 1).

For dispensing the crown on the conveyor and then in several rows, an elastic bomber 42 made of, for example, neoprene, is cooled from the exit of the aisle air passage of the crown coming from the air orbit 30. It is installed in the position where it fits into the top. Bamber (42) is good to hang down from the plastic cover (41). The crown, lined above the conveyor from the air orbit, impinges on the bomber and returns to the irregularly distributed transverse direction of the conveyor 40 position inside each subchannet.

Several parallelizing walls 43 are preferably installed in the form of extending downward from the carver 41 and constrained in the form of longitudinal rows extending in the longitudinal direction apart from each other in order to send irregularly distributed crowns to the inspection station. do. In order to avoid the occurrence of defects at the tip of the wall 48, a shape whip of rotating flails 44 is provided in the middle of the neighboring wall 48 slightly in front of the tip.

It is better if these flails are attached to a common rotating shaft 45 located on the upper side of the carver, and the flails are pulled out and struck through the rods installed in the carver. The direction of rotation is, of course, the direction in which the crown is driven between the parallel walls.

The end of the cooling conveyor consists of a fixed plate 46 and a fusible gate (number 71 in FIG. 7). Kawa Castle gates match the crown laterally. At least one transverse tubular manifold 48 blows airflow and exits from the cooling conveyor along the vertical column formed by the neighboring parallel walls, with the crowns side by side in the direction of transversing the stationary plate towards the flexible gate 47. The crown is pushed to the sector car 50 of the inspection station 13 in a row matched in the transverse direction. A good example is the use of a common cooling conveyor for several lining machines, but it is of course also possible to use several separate cooling conveyors in other forms.

D. Inspection Station (Figure 7)

The main function of the inspection station is to ensure that only the crown of acceptance passes.

FIG. 7 shows the inspection station 13 with at least one for receiving a crown from the exit gate 47 of each station and transferring it into at least one acceptable inspection nest 51 for holding during the inspection. A transmission device, such as a sector difference 50, and at least one inspection head 52 inserted into the recessed inner portion of the crown.

As a specific example is shown, several sector differences 50 are arranged side by side in the column with the horizontal gap corresponding to the horizontal gap of the continuous column of the crown. In this way, the plurality of inspection nests 51 are arranged in the form of movable rows having different intervals formed by the nested strips 58 connected in chains. Each nested bar 53 has a plurality of nested strips closed at intervals corresponding to the transverse direction. As can be readily seen, the crowns from each transverse subchan 40A of the conveyor 40 are supplied to respective corresponding portions of the nested rows.

The test heads 52 are preferably arranged in the form of rows spaced apart in at least one transverse direction. The head may be placed on the beam 54 so as to reciprocate the head to enter and exit the cap in the nest. 7 and 8 show the structure of a good inspection nest 51 for a wavy corrugated crown.

The main features of these nests are pneumatic or air releasing means such as an over-release finger 63 orienting means such as a receiving space 60 large enough to receive a wave crown and a bottle 61 for constraining the crown's peripheral position. A release opening 62 into which the mechanical release means can enter.

The structure of inspection head 52 for a corrugated corrugated crown is shown in FIG. Substantially, the test head has an insertion portion having a predetermined shape, indicated by the numeral 70 as a whole. The shape of the insertion part is almost close to the internal shape of the ideal crown, and by inserting such a part into the crown, it is possible to know how much the crown coincides with the ideal shape. The test head is connected to a pressure fluid source (not shown) through the passage 64 and a D ring 65 is used where necessary to maintain the sealing engagement.

In the illustrated embodiment, the main test section of the inspection head is a ring with a toothed projection 70a whose size and circumferential distribution correspond to the desired crown wave. The depth of penetration and the adequacy of the sealing ring are tested by the bilbong test section 72 with the opening 73 for the pressure fluid. The opening 73 is preferably in the form of an annular ring having a diameter approximately equal to the nominal diameter of the plastic sealing ring 20a. If there is no sealing ring, it is preferable that a channel net 74 is provided at the bottom of the insertion portion 70 so that the fluid can escape.

An elastic load means such as a spring 75 is provided such that the insertion portion and the sealing test portion elastically contact the crown so that the opening 73 contacts the sealing ring 20a. The contact pressure is about 20 psi (1.4 kg / cm 2).

A suitable specific example is that a strip such as the nest strip 53 is stapled under the test head so that it is stationary during the test operation, during which the test head is inserted into the crown below and drawn out. After the test head is drawn, Nesva is advanced by the appropriate number of nesting columns, and a new crown is placed below the test head. As Nesba advances, the sector car 50 rotates, picks up the next crown and falls into the nest 51 for the next inspection. If the crown previously examined is advanced from the bottom of the test head to the next rest position, the passed crown is discharged into the tube 56. One skilled in the art uses the mechanical coupling and cam technique as is well known in the art to ensure that the nest's Nesva is driven during this time, and that the movement of the nest's Nesva and the rotation of the sector car and the reciprocation of the inspection head are maintained by the nest. As the test heads enter and exit, they are coordinated with each other. The discharge finger 63 may be reciprocated in synchronism with the inspection head.

As a good example for inspecting the product of four lining machines, the continuous nests are lined up side by side by 1.5 inches (3.7 cm) even in the transverse direction of 1.5 inches (3.7 cm) in the longitudinal direction. Two corupes, each with 24 test heads, can simultaneously test 48 crowns between 1 test cycle of about 0.5 seconds.

The operation of the test head is understood by referring to Figures 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d. These figures show the state of intrusion of the test head with a passed crown and various representative failed crowns, respectively.

Figure 9a shows the inspection of the crown passed. The test head is penetrated to a certain acceptable depth and the sealing ring is sealed against the pressure of firing (typical pressure 15 psi (1.05 kg / cm 2)).

Figure 9a shows the inspection of the crown which fails because there is no sealing ring. In this case, the depth of penetration is sufficient, but the sealing state is not maintained, and air leaks through the channel of the insertion part 70.

Figure 9b shows the inspection of the crown failed because a double amount of plastic is applied to the liner forming process, so that the mozzur 80 is formed in the crown portion. At this time, neither the depth of penetration nor sealing state is sufficient.

9C shows the inspection of the crown which fails because the crown portion 81 is bent. Also in this case, both the intrusion depth and the sealed state are insufficient. Thus, it can be seen that the information about the shape and the appropriateness of the sealing liner for determining whether the pass or fail is given by the cut state of the sealed state.

Returning to FIG. 7, if the effect of sealing passes the previously accepted acceptance criteria, the ejection air nozzle 55 operates through a suitable memory circuit or delay means to pass the passed crown to the packaging station 15. Eject into the chute 56 for delivery. However, if the crown fails, it will not be released here, but will run off the belt and fall into disuse. In some cases, a stripper bar with a rigid release finger 63 attached to the body of the nest of Nessbar can be installed to push the rejected copper tube through the opening 63 to ensure disposal.

Rejected crowns obtained from different subchannels 40A are recommended to have several waste containers installed to accommodate different waste containers. In this way, the failing crown from each lining vessel is sent to different disposal containers.

Practically, the discharge circuit combined with the inspection process includes detection means for detecting whether a certain amount of pressure can be applied between the inspection head and the crown being tested, and the inspection head receives such information in response to the detection means. And a memory device for keeping the crown from moving from below, and a release means for selecting and releasing the crown of pass in response to the memory device.

FIG. 10 shows a pneumatic release circuit of a good example, in which a detection valve 100 and a memory valve 101 and a memory valve corresponding to a state of the detection valve respond to whether a valid sealing state exists between the test head and the crown. And a release booster valve 102 for discharging it after moving from the underside of the inspection head of the crown of acceptance in response to the state of.

In operation, the test head is inserted into the crown to form a sealed state with the sealing ring. A pressure fluid is also introduced between the head and the sealing ring to raise the pressure to a predetermined test pressure valve. As a good example, the test head is conducting a pressure source of 20 psi (1.4 kg / cm 2) through conduit 108 and control orifice 104. The control orifice 104 reduces the initial pressure to 11.5 psi (0.805 kg / cm 2), whereby the pressure can gradually rise to 20 psi (1.4 kg / cm 2).

The input portion of the detection valve 100 is provided as a portion that conducts through the conduit 105 to the crown sealing portion as a test head. The valve 100 is knitted with a predetermined test pressure, in this case a pressure source of 15 psi (1.05 kg / cm < 2 >), connected through a conduit 105 to a blocked state, in a closed state. If the head-crown seal is effective, the input pressure rises from 11.5 psi (0.805 kg / cm 2) to a pressure greater than 15 psi (1.05 kg / cm 2), which causes the spool of valve 100 to move left and right 100 is in an open state. If no effective seal is formed, the side 100 continues closed.

When the detection valve 100 is opened, the memory valve 101 is opened. This is done via a detection valve output conduit 107 connected to the input of the memory valve 101. When the detection valve 100 is in an open state, the input of the memory valve 101 is in a state of being conducted to an air pressure source of, for example, 50 psi (3.5 kg / cm 2) through the conduits 107 and 108. By the fluid, the spool of the memory valve is driven to the right, and the valve 101 is opened.

The memory valve 101 is temporarily held open by the detent 109.

When the memory valve 101 is opened, the passed crown is released. When the memory valve is opened, the discharge valve 102 is in a state of conducting, for example, 60 psi (4.2 kg / cm 2) of a pneumatic pressure source, and the crown being inspected is located from the lower side of the discharge chute from a position below the test head. Receive pneumatic pulses in line with movement to position. Then, for example, a reset pulse is supplied from the air pressure source in a pulsed state of 50 psi (3.5 kg / cm 2) to the memory valve through the conduit 111 so that the memory valve returns to its closed state. The pulse pressure source preferably closes the timing through the cam switch 110 cam-coupled to the drive shaft because of the inspection nest.

The detection valve is automatically reset with a knitting pressure of 15 psi (1.05 kg / cm 2) from the conduit 106 when the test head is drawn from the crown.

The advantage of the discharge method implemented in this circuit is that the defective crown is erroneously prevented from passing. The release mechanism may also release the crown. In such cases, it is better to reject the crown without defect than to pass the crown.

E. Packaging Station (Figures 1 and 11)

The function of the packing station is to stack a predetermined number of passed crowns in a suitable container, for example a carton. In the specific example shown in FIG. 1, the passed crown is sent to the carton filling means, such as gate 116, which is controllable via counter array 115 by release sheet 56. The crown enters into at least one carton 112 on the controllable shake table 113 through the controllable gate 116. If a predetermined number, for example, 10 crowns is counted, the vibration counter will automatically activate to vibrate the crown to reduce its volume. When the predetermined total number of one carton is counted, the controllable gate is automatically moved to start crowning again in the other carton.

As a good example, the products of each lining machine using several lining machines and the corresponding number of carton filling means are filled in different identifiable places. More specifically, the discharge chute is divided into multiple bundles 114 (FIG. 1 shows two of four bundles), each bundle arriving at the inspection station from one corresponding subchannel 40A. It has a side-by-side suit to receive the crown. From each bundle a crown is sent, with different carton fillings. Each gate fills the crown from a separate liner.

10 shows a counter array 115 placed to control the gate and the shaking table as in the related art. As can be seen in the figure, this coefficient sequence uses a compound eye system for each pipe 200. That is, two tube detectors 201 are provided to detect passages of light that are substantially perpendicular to each other, so that the tube source 202 generates light rays for several adjacent tubes. The two photodetectors are connected in series so that when one crown passes, only one output pulse is generated. The output of each series is sent to the input terminal of the parallel input-serial output device, and the output of this device is connected to a counter (not shown) as conventional.

F. Modifications

Although the present invention has been shown and described as a machine for inspecting the crown at the time of manufacture prior to shipment, the present invention can be used at any point before the bottle assembler or middleman attaches the crown to the container by modifying the terms. More specifically, at least one conventional hoop dispenser may be provided in place of the lining machine 9 of FIG. 1 for inspection at a later point in time. In this case, it is advisable to send the crown from the hoop directly to the pneumatic conveying device. Therefore, the takeoff mechanism 10 of FIG. 1 becomes unnecessary.

The crown with the plastic liner installed is advantageous because the elasticity of the plastic is increased when the temperature is slightly increased and the reliability of the inspection process is improved. When a bottle assembler or a middleman inspects the crown, there are many cases where the crown is checked at room temperature. For example, it can be heated to 120 ° F (49 ° C). Therefore, in the case of implementing the present invention, the cooling station 12 has a wider feature as a temperature control station, and has a function of heating or cooling the crown as necessary so that the temperature of the crown is surely within a predetermined inspection temperature range. . This is advantageously realized by passing the crown on the conveyor through a heating or cooling environment.

Also, a bottle assembler may wish to send the bottle directly to an automatic bottle assembler rather than repacking the crown. In such a case, instead of a carton, a conventional hoopfer dispenser can be placed in order to accept the passed crown.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (1)

Continuously supply bottle caps with urine inside from the source to the inspection station, take-off mechanism and conveying device, and inspect the inside of each bottle cap at the inspection station to determine the presence or absence of physical characteristics inside the bottle cap. In the method of testing for a bottle cap having an internal urine including a series of steps of discharging the unsealed bottle cap, the bottle cap is moved at the inspection station so that the bottle cap is in communication with the fluid pressure source, Allows a seal to be formed from the fluid pressure source to the fluid passage and is lower than the level required to hold the seal when the seal is formed at the periphery of the acceptable bottle cap, but higher than the level required to hold the seal in an unacceptable bottle cap. Bottle pressure Supplied therein, detects the pressure in the bottle cap of the cap is thus acceptable cap can not be emitted and received in the take-off station, a lid inspection method characterized in that the discharge from the transfer station.

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