JPH11189205A - Filling and packaging unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a production line of many kinds of goods with high productivity which is capable of avoiding the liquid splash while carrying bottles at high speed in a filling and packing unit. SOLUTION: In a filling and packaging unit 10 in which a filling machine 30 and capping machines 40A, 40B are fixed along a bottle carrying conveyor 11, the filling machine 30 to fill the content in a container and the capping machines 40A, 40B are installed along the bottle carrying conveyor 11 so that the filling means and the cap setting means are fixed in the container carrying direction, and the containers are successively and intermittently positioned at the filling machine 30 and the capping machines 40A, 40B with the container carrying conveyor 11 as an intermittent feed conveyor. The bottle carrying conveyor 11 is driven by a servo motor M1, and the servo motor M1 is controlled by a carrying conveyor controller.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filling and packaging facility for filling a container with contents such as shampoo and capping the container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional filling and packaging equipment is disclosed in
There is a filling and packaging facility for paper containers described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 102-102. In this conventional technique, a filling machine that fills a container with contents and a sealing device that seals an opening of the container are fixedly arranged along a container conveying conveyor, and the container is filled with the container conveying conveyor as an intermittent feeding conveyor. And the seal device can be sequentially positioned intermittently.

Therefore, if this prior art is adopted for filling and packaging equipment for containers with caps, a filling machine for filling the containers with contents and a capping machine for capping the containers along a container conveyor. Are fixedly arranged, and the container can be positioned on the filling machine and the capping machine sequentially and intermittently by using the container transport conveyor as an intermittent feed conveyor.

[0004]

However, the prior art has the following problems. Since the container is repeatedly intermittently stopped and transferred to the filling machine and the capping machine, when speeding up the transfer of this container,
The liquid splash occurs due to the impact when the container is accelerated from stop to transport or when the speed is reduced from transport to stop. In order to prevent the liquid from splashing, the speed of transporting the container cannot be increased, and there is a difficulty in increasing the productivity of the filling and packaging. In order to increase the productivity of the filling and packaging, when the filling and packaging line is multi-rowed,
The number of working heads of filling machines and capping machines increases, the number of container carriers used for transporting containers also increases, and when changing the type of containers to be filled and packaged, changing the working heads and container carriers The number of parts / man-hours is also large.

[0005] In order to increase the productivity of filling and packaging,
As described above, a large number of parts / man-hours are required for changing the type of container, so that it is not suitable for a multi-type production line. When the mouth of the container is an eccentric container with respect to the container body (hereinafter, referred to as an eccentric container), it is necessary to adjust the stop position of the container with respect to the filling machine and the capping machine according to the eccentric amount. However, the number of man-hours required for changing the container conveyor is large, which is not suitable for a multi-product line including eccentric containers.

An object of the present invention is to provide a filling and packaging equipment,
An object of the present invention is to make it possible to avoid liquid splashing while transporting containers at a high speed, and to configure a multi-product production line with high productivity.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a filling and packaging equipment for filling a container with contents and capping the container, the container being filled with the contents along a container conveying conveyor. Machine and a capping machine for capping the container, the filling means and the cap setting means are installed so that they can be fixedly arranged in the transport direction of the container, and the container transport conveyor is used as an intermittent feed conveyor and the container is used as a filling machine. The container can be positioned intermittently on the capping machine sequentially, the container conveyor can be driven by a servomotor, and the servomotor can be controlled by a controller.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the filling machine and the capping machine can be driven by a servomotor, and the servomotors can be controlled by a controller. It is made to become.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the container is held by a container transporter and can be transported on a container transport conveyor. The tool is provided with a container holding member capable of freely holding containers of various shapes.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the following effects are obtained. The transport speed of the container can be arbitrarily set by controlling a servo motor that intermittently drives the container transport conveyor. For this reason, even if the transfer speed of the container is increased, the shock at the time of acceleration from stop of the container to the transfer or at the time of deceleration from the transfer to the stop can be mitigated to avoid the liquid splash.

By the above, the liquid splash can be avoided while the container is conveyed at a high speed, and the productivity of the filling and packaging can be increased without multi-rowing the filling and packaging line. And the number of container transport tools used for transporting containers can be reduced, and the number of parts and man-hours required for changing the type of work heads and container transport tools associated with container type switching can be reduced.

As described above, since the number of parts and man-hours required for changing the type of container can be reduced, high productivity can be maintained even in a multi-type production line. In addition, since the stop position of the container can be arbitrarily set by controlling the servomotor that intermittently drives the container transport conveyor, the stop position of the container with respect to the filling machine and the capping machine in the eccentric container can be reliably and easily determined according to the eccentric amount. It can be adjusted and high productivity can be maintained even in a multi-product line including eccentric containers.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the following:
Has the effect of By using various servo motors for the filling machine, for example, filling liquid level control according to the container type by controlling the servo motor for raising and lowering the container, or filling amount control according to the container type by controlling the servo motor for the filling piston. It can be performed reliably and easily.

By using various motors of the capping machine as servo motors, for example, a servo motor for moving a cap tightening head, a servo motor for a cap tightening roller,
The capping operation corresponding to the cap type corresponding to the container type can be reliably and easily performed by the servomotor for moving the dip tube and chucking chuck.

According to the above, the filling machine and the capping machine can be set up reliably and easily according to the type of container, and high productivity can be maintained in a multi-product production line.

The filling means of the filling machine and the cap setting means of the capping machine are fixedly arranged in the transport direction of the container, and the filling means and the cap setting means move following the transport of the container. Therefore, the transfer of the numerical control data from the controller to each servomotor can be surely performed without going through a rotary joint (slip ring). When the filling machine and the capping machine are of a rotary type, data transfer from the controller to each servomotor is performed via a rotary joint, and it is difficult to secure control reliability.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the following operations are provided. Since the container carrier used in the container conveyor can be freely adapted to the type of container,
High productivity can be maintained in a multi-product line.

The servo motor used in the present invention is
Electrical Engineering Pocket Book published by Ohmsha Ltd. (JR
Version) As described in the eighth edition of the third edition, "a control element having a mechanical output in a servomechanism which is a follow-up feedback control in which a control amount is a position or an angle" is referred to.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a filling and packaging facility, FIG. 2 is a front view showing a filling and packaging facility, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a filling and packaging facility, and FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a bottle conveying conveyor. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a bottle feeder, FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a filling machine, FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a capping machine, FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG. 7, and FIG. FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 9, FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle front / back discriminating / correcting machine, FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a front / back discriminating state of the bottle front / back discriminating / correcting machine, and FIG. FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing a bottle inversion state, FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing a front / back determination correction state of the bottle front / back determination correction machine, and FIG.
Is a schematic diagram showing a bottle discharging machine, FIG. 16 is a control system diagram of a filling and packaging facility, FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle and a bottle carrier, FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a bottle carrier, and FIG. FIG. 20 is a schematic view showing a bottle holding member.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the filling and packaging equipment 10 fills a bottle 1 with contents such as shampoo and applies a spray cap 2 and a cover cap 3 (FIG. 17). Bottle 1 is supplied by bottle supply machine 20,
The contents are filled by a filling machine 30, the spray cap 2 is supplied by a capping machine 40A, and the cover cap 3 is supplied by a capping machine 40B.

The filling and packaging equipment 10 has a two-layer structure of a bottle conveying conveyor 11 consisting of an upper and lower upper conveying path 11A and a lower conveying path 11B. The upper conveying path 11A and the lower conveying path 11B at the most upstream end of the bottle conveying conveyor 11. And an upper transport path 11A and a lower transport path 11B at the lowermost end of the bottle transport conveyor 11 by an elevator 13. As a result, the upper transport path 11A and the lower transport path 11B endlessly rotate. They are connected to form a shape.

The filling and packaging equipment 10 includes a filling machine 30, a capping machine 40A, and a capping machine 40A, which are arranged in order from the most upstream side to the most downstream side along the upper conveying path 11A of the bottle conveying conveyor 11.
0B, a bottle feeder 20 is arranged. The filling and packaging equipment 10 is provided with a bottle discharging device 50 for discharging the filled and capped bottle 1 in a bottle discharging portion 50A between the capping device 40B and the bottle supplying device 20. Reference numeral 51 denotes a bottle discharge line composed of a belt conveyor.

In the filling and packaging equipment 10, a bottle processing device 60 is disposed along the lower transport path 11B of the bottle transport conveyor 11. The bottle processing device 60 includes a bottle front / back discriminating / correcting device 61 and an in-bottle cleaning device 71.

The bottle conveyor 11 is a belt conveyor composed of two conveyor belts 14 on both sides, and the bottle conveyor 4 holding the bottle 1 can be conveyed by the conveyor belts 14. Bottle carrier 4
Is, for example, as shown in FIG. 17, the first and second base members 8
1, 82, a height adjusting member 83, and a bottle holding member 8
4 so that the bottle 1 can be held by the bottle holding member 84.

In the filling and packaging equipment 10, as shown in FIG. 16, the line controller 100 controls the bottle conveying conveyor 11 via the conveyor controller 101, and controls the filling machine 30 via the filling controller 102. The capping machines 40A and 40B are controlled via the capping controller 103, the bottle feeder 20 is controlled via the bottle supply controller 104, and the bottle discharger 50 is controlled via the bottle discharge controller 105.

Hereinafter, the bottle conveyor 11, the bottle feeder 20, the filling machine 30, and the capping machines 40A, 40
B, each of the bottle discharger 50 and the bottle processing device 60 will be described.

(Bottle Transport Conveyor 11) (FIGS. 2 to 4) The bottle transport conveyor 11 is used for the bottle 1 in the bottle transport tool 4, the bottle feeder 20, the filling machine 30, the capping machines 40A and 40B, the bottle processing apparatus. The bottle conveying device 4 is intermittently fed at a certain timing so that each of the 60s can perform a predetermined operation.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 and FIG. 16, the bottle conveying conveyor 11 transfers the bottle conveying device 4 to the bottle feeder 20, the filling machine 30, and the capping machines 40A and 40A.
B, a drive unit for sequentially and intermittently positioning each of the bottle discharger 50 and the bottle processing device 60 is a bottle-conveying servomotor M1, and the servomotor M1 is controlled by the speed control unit and the position control unit of the conveyor controller 101. In addition, the transfer speed and the stop position of the bottle transfer device 4 can be controlled. Thereby, the bottle transport conveyor 11
Is, for example, in a moving section from the filling machine 30 to the capping machine 40A, the initial section is in the acceleration range, the intermediate section is in the constant velocity range,
The final section is set in a deceleration range, the transport speed of the bottle transport tool 4 is controlled so that the filling machine 30 starts gently, is positioned gently at the capping machine 40A, and stops. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the bottle conveying conveyor 11 includes: (a) when the bottle 1 is a symmetric bottle,
For example, in the capping machine 40A, the stop position of the bottle carrier 4 is controlled so that the center of the bottle carrier 4 matches the center of the cap setting device 47 and stops (FIG. 4A), and (b) bottle 1 Is an eccentric bottle (eccentric amount e), for example, the position of the center of the bottle 4 at which the center of the bottle 4 stops is shifted by the eccentric amount e with respect to the center of the cap setting device 47 of the capping machine 40A. Control the stop position (Fig. 4
(B)).

The bottle conveyor 11 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 4, the drive units for the elevators 12 and 13 are servo motors M2 and M3, and the lower transport path 11
The servomotor M4 is used as a drive unit for moving the bottle in front of the filling machine 30 in FIG. B before the bottle elevating device 34 described below, and the bottle elevating device 34 described below is used in front of the filling machine 30 in the upper transport path 11A. And a servo motor M5, and the servo motors M2 to M5 can also be controlled by the speed controller and the position controller of the conveyor controller 101.

(Bottle Feeder 20) (FIGS. 1 and 5) As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the bottle feeder 20 includes an empty bottle supply hopper 21, an empty bottle supply conveyor 22, and an empty bottle supply robot 23. And Bottle feeder 2
0 indicates that the empty bottle 1 sent by the empty bottle supply conveyor 22 is
A, and the empty bottle 1 is transferred to the upper transfer path 11A.
The bottle is supplied to the bottle carrier 4 stopped at the upper bottle supply position.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 16, the bottle supply device 20 includes an X-axis drive unit, a Y-axis drive unit, a Z-axis drive unit, and a rotary shaft drive unit of the empty bottle supply robot 23. Each is a servo motor M6, M7, M8, M9, and these servo motors M6 to M9 can be controlled by a speed control unit and a position control unit of the bottle supply controller 104.

(Filling Machine 30) (FIG. 6) As shown in FIG. 6, the filling machine 30 has a liquid supply pipe 31, a piston portion 32, a filling nozzle 33 (filling machine), and a bottle elevating device 34. doing. The filling machine 30 is provided on the upper conveying path 1
By raising the bottle carrier 4 stopped at the filling position on 1A by the bottle lifting / lowering device 34, the filling nozzle 33 is inserted into the bottle 1 held by the bottle carrier 4.
Insert Then, the filling of the contents from the filling nozzle 33 into the bottle 1 is started, and the bottle elevating device 34
, The bottle carrier 4 is lowered, and when the filling of the contents into the bottle 1 is completed, the bottle carrier 4 is deposited again on the upper transport path 11A.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 16, the filling unit 30 uses a bottle lifting / lowering servomotor M10 as a driving unit of the bottle lifting / lowering device 34, a filling piston servomotor M11 as a driving unit of the piston unit 32, The servo motors M10 and M11 are controlled by the speed control unit and the position control unit of the filling controller 102, so that the filling liquid level and filling amount (for example, the liquid level and filling amount according to the bottle shape) for the bottle 1 can be controlled. I have.

(Capping Machines 40A, 40B) (FIGS. 1, 7 to 10) The capping machines 40A (40B) are shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the apparatus includes a cap supply hopper 41, a cap supply conveyor 42, a cap supply robot 43, a cap feeder 44, and a cap supply head 45.

The capping machine 40A is provided with a cap tightening machine 46A, and the capping machine 40B is provided with a cap driving machine 4A.
6B is additionally provided. The cap tightening machine 46A
And the cap driving machine 46B have substantially the same configuration. Cap tightening machine 46A (Cap driving machine 46B)
Has a cap setting device 47 (cap setting means, three in this figure).

The capping machine 40A converts the spray cap 2 sent from the cap supply conveyor 42 into
The spray cap 2 is chucked by the chuck 43A of the cap supply robot 43, and the spray cap 2 is
4 and transfer. Then, the cap feeder 44
Is supplied by the chuck 45A of the cap supply head 45, and the spray cap 2 is supplied to the cap setting device 47 of the cap tightening machine 46A. The cap setting device 47 of the cap tightening machine 46A receives the spray cap 2 supplied from the cap supply head 45 of the capping machine 40A on the chuck 47A, and stops the spray cap 2 at the cap tightening position on the upper transport path 11A. Screwed into the bottle 1 in the bottle conveying tool 4.

The capping machine 40A is an ironing chuck for making the dip tube of the spray cap 2 with the dip tube straight from the upper end side to the lower end side so as to be straight, and this dip tube can be smoothly inserted into the bottle 1. 48 is also provided.

The capping machine 40B chucks the cover cap 3 sent from the cap supply conveyor 42 by the chuck 43A of the cap supply robot 43, and aligns and transfers the cover cap 3 to the cap feeder 44. Then, (A) the cap feeder 44
Of the bottle 1 in the bottle conveying tool 4 stopped by the chuck 45A of the cap supply head 45 and stopped at the cap driving position on the upper conveying path 11A. 2 and then the cap driver 46
B is driven around the spray cap 2 of the bottle 1 by the driving head 47B of the cap setting device 47 of B. Alternatively, (B) the driving cap 3 sent from the cap feeder 44 is
A, and the driving cap 3 is held around the spray cap 2 of the bottle 1 in the bottle conveying tool 4 stopped at the cap driving position on the upper conveying path 11A while the driving cap 3 is chucked by the cap supply head 45. The cap setting device 47 of the cap driving machine 46B
Is driven around the spray cap 2 of the bottle 1 by the driving head 47B.

(Cap Setting Apparatus) (FIGS. 9 and 10) As shown in FIGS.
Four fastening rollers 1 constituting the cap chuck 47A
The cap 2 is pinched by 11 and the spray cap 2 is screwed onto the bottle 1 by the rotation of the tightening roller 101.
The cap setting device 47 has a roller opening / closing device 112 for the tightening roller 111 and a roller rotating device 113 that constitute the cap chuck 47A.

The roller opening / closing device 112 is connected to the first elevator 11
The two roller heads 115 and 116 opposed to the second elevating table 114 which moves up and down with respect to 3 are movably supported via traversing guides (linear guides and linear rails) 117, respectively. A pinion 119 fixed and driven when an opening / closing drive motor 118 provided on the back surface of the table 114 is output, and racks 115A and 116A provided on both roller heads 115 and 116, respectively.
19 is meshed with the upper surface and the lower surface. Then, two tightening rollers 111 are provided on one roller head 115,
The other roller head 116 has two tightening rollers 111
Are supported relative to each other. Three tightening rollers 1
Reference numeral 11 denotes a roller head 11 by the rotation shaft 111A.
5 and 116 so as to be forcibly driven, and one tightening roller 111 is supported by a roller head 115 by a support shaft 111B so as to be able to run idle. The roller opening / closing device 112 is moved in parallel by the opening / closing drive motor 118 in a direction in which the two roller heads 115 and 116 come into contact with and separate from each other, so that the opposing tightening rollers 111 can be opened and closed with respect to a cap tightening region sandwiched therebetween. . Thus, the tightening roller 111 forms the cap chuck 47A that holds the cap 2.

The roller rotation device 112 includes a rotation drive motor 121, upper shafts 122A and 123A, pulleys 124,
The support table 12 in which 25 and 126 are fixed to the second lift 114
7 and the rotating shafts 122, 1 of the roller rotating device 112.
23 are supported on the support 127 of the second lift 114, and upper end shafts 122A and 123A are used as slide rotation shafts, and the slide rotation shafts 122A and 123A and the two roller heads 11 are used.
5 and 116, the lower end shaft 122 supported by each
B, 123B, the upper and lower universal joints 128, 12
9 via intermediate rotation shafts 122C and 123C. As shown in FIG. 9, the slide rotation shafts 122A and 123A are supported at both ends by upper and lower bearings 130 and 131, and slide keys 132 and 133 (not shown) are provided in key grooves 124 and 125 (not shown) of pulleys 124 and 125. Engagement is enabled to slide in the axial direction. A flange 134 is fixed to upper ends of the slide rotation shafts 122A and 123A. FIG. 9 shows the slide rotation shafts 122A and 122A.
It is shown that the flange 134 of 3A is at the slide lower end of the slide rotation shafts 122A and 123A, which abuts on the support 127. Thereby, the rotation drive motor 121
The timing belt 135A wound around the pulley 135 fixed to the output shaft of the
26, and the motor 121 rotates the telescopic rotary shaft 12.
2, 123 can be driven. And the rotating shaft 12
The rotation force transmitted to the lower end shafts 122B, 123B of the tightening roller 111 via the gear 136
The rotation is transmitted to 11A, and the tightening roller 111 can be forcibly rotated.

In this cap setting device 47,
A part of the rotation shafts 122 and 123 between the rotation drive motor 121 and the tightening rollers 111 of the roller heads 115 and 116 are slide rotation shafts 122A and 123A that are supported by the second lifting table 114 at both ends and can slide. Therefore, the rotating shafts 122 and 123 due to the opening and closing operation of the tightening roller 111
The amount of movement in the height direction of the slide rotation shafts 122A, 122A
Absorbed by 3A slide or tightening roller 111
When the cap 2 is tightened, the amount of movement of the roller heads 115 and 116 that sinks together with the sinking of the cap 2 can be absorbed by sliding the slide rotation shafts 122A and 123A.

Further, the cap setting device 47 includes a driving head 47B formed of an air cylinder on a support 127 of the second lifting platform 114.

At this time, the capping machine 40A (40
B), as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 16, each of the X-axis direction drive unit, the Y-axis direction drive unit, the Z-axis direction drive unit, and the rotation axis drive unit of the cap supply robot 43 is a servo motor M
12, M13, M14, and M15, and these servo motors M12 to M15 are connected to the capping controller 103.
Controllable by the speed controller and the position controller.

The capping machine 40A (40B)
Sets the drive unit of the cap feeder 44 to the servo motor M1.
6, the servo motor M16 can be controlled by the speed control unit and the position control unit of the capping controller 103.

The capping machine 40A (40B)
Are the servo motors M17 and M18 for the elevation drive unit and the traverse drive unit of the cap supply head 45, and these servo motors M17 and M18 are
Controllable by the speed controller and the position controller.

Further, the capping machine 40A includes a servo motor M19 for driving the lifting drive of the cap setting device 47 and a motor 1 for the roller rotating device 112 of the chuck 47A.
Reference numeral 21 denotes a servo motor M20, and the lifting drive unit and the traverse drive unit of the ironing chuck 48 are servo motors M21 and M22. These servo motors M19 to M22 can be controlled by a speed control unit and a position control unit of the capping controller 103.

(Bottle discharging machine 50) (FIGS. 1 to 3, FIG. 1)
5) The bottle discharging machine 50 has a bottle transfer robot 52 as shown in FIG. The bottle discharging machine 50 chucks the filled and capped bottle 1 in the bottle conveying tool 4 stopped at the bottle discharging section 50A on the upper conveying path 11A by the chuck 52A of the bottle transfer robot 52, and It is transferred to the bottle discharge line 51.

At this time, the bottle discharging machine 50 is
As shown in FIG. 16, each of the X-axis direction drive unit and the Y-axis direction drive unit of the bottle transfer robot 52 is connected to a servo motor M2.
3, M24, and these servo motors M23, M24
Can be controlled by the speed control unit and the position control unit of the bottle discharge controller 105.

(Bottle processing device 60) (FIGS. 2, 11-11)
FIG. 14) As described above, the bottle processing device 60 includes the bottle front / back determination correcting device 61 and the in-bottle cleaning device 71.

The bottle front / back discriminating / correcting device 61 has a lifting / lowering turning table 62 at a bottle processing position on the lower conveying path 11B, and the front side of the bottle 1 held by the bottle conveying tool 4 stopped at this bottle processing position. Color mark sensor 6
3. A reflection plate 64 is provided on the back side. The lifting / lowering turning table 62 is disposed directly below the conveyor of the lower transport path 11B,
It has a lifting cylinder 62A, a swing actuator 62B, and a positioning pin 62C that can be engaged with and disengaged from a positioning hole 81E provided on the lower surface of the base member 81 of the bottle carrier 4. The color mark sensor 63 is
It is determined that there is no bottle 1 at the bottle processing position by detecting strong light saturation based on the amount of light reflected by the reflection plate 64. For example, the front surface of the bottle 1 is determined by low light saturation, and the back surface of the bottle 1 is medium. Discrimination is based on lightness and saturation.

When the color mark sensor 63 detects the absence of the bottle 1 and the surface of the bottle 1,
2 is inoperative. Color mark sensor 63 is bottle 1
When the back surface of the table 62 is detected, the table 62 is raised by the lifting cylinder 62A,
2C is engaged with the positioning hole 81E of the bottle carrier 4 to lift the bottle carrier 4 above the conveyor belt 14 of the lower conveyor path 11B, and then the bottle actuator 4 is rotated 180 degrees by the turning actuator 62B. , Lifting cylinder 62
The table 62 is lowered by A, and the bottle conveying tool 4 is returned on the conveying belt 14 of the lower conveying path 11B, and the front and back are corrected so that the surface of the bottle 1 faces the front side.

The in-bottle cleaning device 71 moves the cleaning head 72 disposed directly above the bottle 1 held at the bottle processing position at the bottle processing position on the lower transport path 11B, which is stopped at the bottle processing position. Have. The cleaning head 72 is lowered by the elevating cylinder 72 </ b> A and fitted to the mouth of the bottle 1, and the air blow passage 72.
B and an air suction passage 72C. The in-bottle cleaning device 71 lowers the cleaning head 72 by an elevating cylinder 72A,
Is fitted to the mouth of the bottle 1 and air blow and suction for removing foreign matter in the bottle 1 are performed.

That is, the bottle processing device 60 operates as follows. (1) The bottle 1 conveyed through the lower conveyance path 11B is stopped at the bottle processing position (FIG. 12).

(2) The front and back of the bottle 1 are determined by the color mark sensor 63.

(3) Simultaneously with the above (2), the lifting cylinder 72
The cleaning head 72 is lowered by A, the cleaning head 72 is fitted to the mouth of the bottle 1, and air blowing and suction inside the bottle 1 are performed (FIG. 13).

(4) When the back surface of the bottle 1 is detected, the lifting / lowering turning table 62 is raised by the lifting / lowering cylinder 62A to separate the bottle conveying tool 4 from the lower conveying path 11B, and the table 62 is rotated by 180 ° by the turning actuator 62B. Then, the surface of the bottle 1 is turned to the front (FIG. 13). At this time, the operation (3) is performed while the cleaning head 72 is fitted to the mouth of the bottle 1. When the surface of the bottle 1 is detected, both the lifting cylinder 62A and the turning actuator 62B are deactivated.

(5) The elevating and lowering table 62 is lowered by the elevating cylinder 62A, and the bottle conveying device 4 is moved to the lower conveying path 1.
1B, the cleaning head 72 is raised by the lifting cylinder 72A and returned to the original position.

(6) The bottle transporter 4 returned to the lower transport path 11B is carried out through the lower transport path 11B.

Accordingly, the filling capping operation by the filling and packaging equipment 10 is performed as follows. (1) Bottle supply The upper transport path 1 is controlled by the transport control of the bottle transport conveyor 11.
When the bottle carrier 4 on 1A is intermittently fed and stopped at the bottle supply position, the empty bottle 1 supplied by the bottle supplier 20 is supplied to the bottle carrier 4. The bottle conveying tool 4 is transferred to the lower conveying path 11B by the elevator 13 at the lowermost end of the upper conveying path 11A.

(2) Bottle processing The lower transport path 1 is controlled by the transport control of the bottle transport conveyor 11.
When the bottle conveying tool 4 on 1B is stopped at the bottle processing position, the bottle front / back discriminating / correcting device 61 of the bottle processing device 60 and the in-bottle cleaning device 71 discriminate the front / back of the empty bottle 1 and clean the front surface of the bottle 1. While turning to the front side, the inside of the empty bottle 1 is cleaned. The bottle transporter 4 is located at the lowermost end of the lower transport path 11B,
2 to the upper transport path 11A.

(3) Filling The upper transport path 1 is controlled by the transport control of the bottle transport conveyor 11.
When the bottle carrier 4 on 1A is stopped at the filling position, the contents are filled into the empty bottle 1 by the filling machine 30.

(4) Cap supply The upper transport path 1 is controlled by the transport control of the bottle transport conveyor 11.
When the bottle carrier 4 on 1A is stopped at the cap tightening position, the spray cap 2 supplied by the capping machine 40A is screwed onto the bottle 1.

Subsequently, when the bottle conveying tool 4 on the upper conveying path 11A is stopped at the cap driving position, the cover cap 3 supplied by the capping machine 40B is moved to the bottle 1 position.
Around the spray cap 2.

(5) Bottle discharge The upper transport path 1 is controlled by the transport control of the bottle transport conveyor 11.
When the bottle conveying tool 40 on 1A is stopped by the bottle discharging unit 50A, the bottle discharging device 50 transfers the bottle 1 to the bottle discharging line 51 and discharges the bottle 1 to a lower process.

When executing the filling capping operations (1) to (5), the line controller 100 uses numerical control data corresponding to the type of the bottle 1 to be filled and packed this time. 102, 10
3 and the like, a bottle conveying conveyor 11 and a bottle feeder 2
0, the servo motors M1 to M24 of the filling machine 30, the capping machines 40A and 40B, and the bottle discharging machine 50 are controlled as described above. Bottle conveyor 11, bottle feeder 20, filling machine 30, capping machine 40A, 4
0B, the numerical control data predetermined for the various types of bottles for the bottle discharging machine 50 is not limited to those stored in the line controller 100, but may be stored in the controllers 101, 102, 103 and the like. Alternatively, it may be stored in a host computer for the line controller 100.

Here, the bottle carrier 4 will be described. (Bottle Transporter 4) (FIGS. 17 to 20) As shown in FIGS. 17 to 20, the bottle transporter 4 includes first and second base members 81 and 82 as base members, and height adjusting members. A bottle holding member 84 is provided via 83,
The bottle 1 can be held by the bottle holding member 84.

The first base member 81 has a rectangular shape, and has a circular concave portion 81A for fitting the second base member 82 on the upper surface.
The lower surface is provided with a ridge portion 81B for engaging with the feeding engagement portion of the conveyor, and a cleaning through-hole 81C at the center. Also, the central axis of the bottom surface of the circular recess 81A 4 position P ₁ ~
A positioning pin 81D for the second base member 82 is provided at each of P ₄ (the corner points of the rectangles P _{1 to} P ₄ ).

The second base member 82 has a circular shape.
Circular convex portion 8 fitted into circular concave portion 81A of base member 81
2A and a circular annular portion 82B on the circular convex portion 82A. In addition, the lower end outer peripheral side corner surface portion 82a of the circular convex portion 82A of the second base member 82 is tapered to facilitate introduction into the circular concave portion 81A of the first base member 81.
Also, four positions P around the central axis of the lower end surface of the circular convex portion 82A.
Each ₁ to P _4, the positioning holes 82C of the positioning pin 81D of the first base member 81 is engaged input is provided. A positioning pin 82 for the height adjusting member 83 is provided at each of four positions R _{1 to} R ₄ (corner points of the rectangles R _{1 to} R ₄ ) around the central axis of the upper end surface of the circular annular portion 82B.
D is provided. A thin plate ring for adsorption 85 made of a magnetic material such as a magnet or a metal plate is joined to the upper end surface of the circular annular portion 82B by an adhesive or the like. Thin ring 8
5 has a hole 85A that is inserted into the positioning pin 82D of the circular annular portion 82B.

The height adjusting member 83 has an annular shape, and is provided with a positioning hole 83A into which the positioning pin 82D of the second base member 82 is engaged at each of four positions R _{1 to} R ₄ around the center axis of the lower end surface. , 4 positions R _{1 to} R around the center axis of the upper end surface
₄ is provided with a positioning pin 83B for the bottle holding member 84. The positioning hole 83A is preferably a tapered opening for facilitating the introduction of the positioning pin 82D. A thin plate ring for adsorption 86 made of a magnetic material such as a magnet or a metal plate is joined to the lower end surface of the height adjusting member 83 with an adhesive or the like. The thin plate ring 86 has a hole 86 corresponding to the positioning hole 83A of the height adjusting member 83.
A is provided. A thin plate ring 85 similar to that provided on the upper end surface of the circular annular portion 82B of the second base member 82 is joined to the upper end surface of the height adjusting member 83.

The bottle holding member 84 has an annular shape, and is provided with a positioning hole 84A into which a positioning pin 83B of the height adjusting member 83 is engaged at each of four positions R _{1 to} R ₄ around the central axis of the lower end surface. A plurality of (six in this embodiment) shape memory members 8 fixed to the upper end surface by a fixing ring 87
8 are provided horizontally. Fixing ring 87 is screw 8
7A, it is attached to the upper end surface of the shape holding member 84. The height adjusting member 8 is provided on the lower end surface of the shape holding member 84.
A thin plate ring 86 similar to the one provided on the lower end surface of No. 3 is joined.

That is, as shown in FIG. 20, the bottle holding member 84 is composed of six shape memory members 88, each of which is radially arranged around the central axis.
A bottle holding area 89 (FIGS. 18 and 19) is formed by those tip portions. At this time, each shape memory member 88 is formed by processing a flat plate made of a shape memory resin (for example, shape memory polymer “Diary” manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.), and as shown in FIG. The base end side fixed by 87 is a fan-shaped portion 88
A, and the front end portion facing the bottle holding region 89 is a flat rectangular portion 88B.

However, since the shape memory member 88 is made of the shape memory resin as described above, (a) it returns to the initial memory shape (for example, a flat plate) at a temperature higher than a certain temperature (glass transition temperature T _g ), and the bottle model It can be freely deformed into a bottle holding shape that can collide with the bottle. Then, (b) the bottle holding shape is fixed in an operating temperature range (normal temperature) lower than a certain temperature (glass transition temperature T _g ) to form a bottle holding area 89. The shape memory member 88 in FIG. 20 has a flat initial memory shape, and the shape memory member 88 in FIGS. 17 and 18 has a fixed bottle holding shape for holding a bottle having an elliptical cross section. is there.

Therefore, in the bottle carrier 10, the bottle holding shape using the bottle model (desired bottle shape) having the same shape as the bottle to be held is stored in the shape memory member 88 of the bottle holding member 84. 17) and (b), the shape memory member 88 obtains a bottle holding shape obtained by deforming at least the flat rectangular portion 88B into a curved shape around the bottle holding region 89 as shown in FIG. Bottle 1
Can be stably held. At this time, since the shape memory member 88 made of the shape memory resin has a high elastic modulus in the use temperature range where the bottle holding shape is fixed, it is hard in the use temperature range and a strong bottle holding force can be obtained.

The shape memory member 88 increases the bottle holding force in the bottle holding area 89 if the diameter of the bottle model is made smaller than the size of the bottle to be held when giving the bottle holding shape. If the diameter is larger than the bottle size, it is possible to smoothly insert the bottle into the bottle holding area 89.

In the bottle holding member 84, 6
Since the shape memory members 88 are arranged radially around the bottle holding area 89, the entire periphery of the bottle 1 can be stably held by each of the six shape memory members 88. In the bottle holding member 84, when the cross section of the bottle 1 to be held is elliptical, a pair of shape memory members 8 whose major axis directions of the ellipse are located on the same diameter in the bottle holding member 84.
The shape memory members 88 are adapted to be aligned with the center line directions so that the long sides in the major axis direction of the elliptical shape can be stably held at the center in the width direction of these shape memory members 88.

In the bottle holding member 84, the shape memory member 88 has a flat rectangular portion 88B at the tip end which is provided with the bottle holding shape and faces the bottle holding region 89. The flat rectangular portion 88B of the member 88 contacts the bottle 1 with a flat surface, so that the bottle 1 can be stably held.

In the bottle holding member 84, the initial storage shape of the shape storage member 88 shown in FIG.
The flat rectangular portions 88B of all the shape memory members 88 have an overlap at the center. Thus, even if the size of the bottle to be held is a very small diameter, the shape memory member 88 obtains a bottle holding shape in which the flat rectangular portion 88B is always deformed into a curved shape around the bottle holding area 89, and the extremely small diameter is obtained. The bottle holding area 89 for the bottle can be reliably formed. That is, it is possible to cope with the very small diameter bottle 1.

In the bottle holding member 84, the initial storage shape of the shape storage member 88 shown in FIG.
Other shape memory members 8 in which all shape memory members 88 are adjacent
8 with a gap g. Accordingly, when each shape memory member 88 returns to the flat initial memory shape in the above (a), and when the shape memory member 88 is deformed into a curved shape so that the bottle holding shape can be given by the bottle model, the shape is not added. For this purpose, there is no disturbance due to the edges of adjacent shape memory members 88 rubbing or interfering with each other. Therefore, the shape memory member 88 (particularly, the flat rectangular portion 88B) provided with the bottle holding shape forms a straight bottle holding surface without inclination or distortion around the central axis, and can stably hold the bottle 1.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the following operations are provided. The transport speed of the bottle 1 can be arbitrarily set by controlling the servomotor M1 that drives the bottle transport conveyor 11 intermittently. For this reason, even if the transport speed of the bottle 1 is increased, the impact at the time of acceleration of the bottle 1 from stop to transport or at the time of deceleration from transport to stop can be alleviated and liquid splashing can be avoided.

As described above, splashing can be avoided while the bottle 1 is conveyed at a high speed, and the productivity of the filling and packaging can be increased without increasing the number of rows of the filling and packaging line.
0 and the number of working heads of the capping machines 40A, 40B can be reduced, and the number of bottle transporters 4 used for transporting the bottle 1 can be reduced. Replacement parts / man-hours can be reduced.

As described above, the number of parts and man-hours required for changing the type of bottle 1 can be reduced, so that high productivity can be maintained even in a multi-type production line. A servo motor M1 for intermittently driving the bottle conveyor 11
The stop position of the bottle 1 can be set arbitrarily by the control of the eccentric bottle 1. Therefore, in the eccentric bottle 1, the stop position of the bottle with respect to the filling machine 30 and the capping machines 40A and 40B can be reliably and easily adjusted according to the amount of eccentricity. High productivity can be maintained even in a multi-product production line including 1.

By using the servo motors M10 and M11 for the various motors of the filling machine 30, for example, the filling liquid level control according to the type of bottle by controlling the servomotor M10 for raising and lowering the bottle, or the servomotor M11 for the filling piston.
The control of the filling amount according to the bottle type by the above control can be performed reliably and easily.

The servomotors M12 to M20 are used for the various motors of the capping machines 40A and 40B,
For example, a servo motor M19 for moving a cap tightening head,
Servomotor M20 for cap tightening roller, Servomotors M21 and M2 for dip tube ironing chuck movement
2, the capping operation according to the bottle type can be performed reliably and easily.

As described above, the filling machine 30 and the capping machines 40A, 40B can be set up in a reliable and easy manner in accordance with the type of bottle, and high productivity can be maintained in a multi-type production line.

The filling machine 30 and the capping machine 40A,
Since 40B is fixedly arranged, the controller 10B
Rotary joint (slip ring) transfer of numerical control data from 0, 102, 103 to each servomotor
This can be performed reliably without the intervention of a program. Filling machine 3
When the zero and the capping machines 40A and 40B are of a revolving type, data transfer from the controller to each servomotor is performed via a rotary joint, and it is difficult to secure control reliability.

Since the bottle conveying tool 4 used in the bottle conveying conveyor 11 can freely correspond to the type of the bottle 1, high productivity can be maintained in a multi-type production line also in this regard.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and the design may be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. The present invention is also included in the present invention. For example, since the capping machine 40A and the capping machine 40B have the same configuration, cap forms other than those described in the present embodiment (eg, trigger cap, pump cap, etc.)
Needless to say, even if the capping machine 40A and the capping machine 40B are specially designed for the spray cap and the cover cap, respectively, the capping machine 40A and the capping cap can be freely handled within the range of the bottle type having the cap form. Capping machine 40A (capping machine 4
0B) may be constituted by the cap tightening machine 46A (46B), and the cap supply means such as the cap supply robot 43 and the cap supply head 45 may be constituted by another means, and the capping machine 40B may not be provided. Filling machine 3
0, the cap tightening machine 46A (46B) has a structure in which the filling means and the cap setting means can be fixedly arranged with respect to the bottle conveying direction, that is, the filling means and the cap setting means move in synchronization with the conveyance to the bottle to be conveyed. Other structures may be used as long as the structure is not a rotary type that performs processing.

The container to be processed by the present equipment may be a bottle, a tube, or the like, and the bottle holding member of the bottle holder may have any structure as long as it can correspond to containers of various shapes, and has a mechanical holding mechanism. It is good also as a structure.

[0090]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a filling and packaging facility, splashing of liquid can be avoided while transferring bottles at high speed, and a multi-product production line with high productivity can be constructed. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a filling and packaging facility.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a filling and packaging facility.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a filling and packaging facility.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a bottle transport conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a bottle feeder.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a filling machine.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a capping machine.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a cap setting device.

FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a bottle front / back discriminating / correcting machine.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a front / back discrimination state of the bottle front / back discriminator.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle reversing state of the bottle front / back discriminating / correcting machine.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a front / back discrimination correction state of the bottle front / back discrimination / correction machine.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing a bottle discharging machine.

FIG. 16 is a control system diagram of a filling and packaging facility.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing a bottle and a bottle carrier.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a bottle carrier.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing an exploded state of the bottle carrier.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing a bottle holding member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 bottle 2 spray cap (cap) 3 cover cap (cap) 4 bottle transporter (container transporter) 10 filling and packaging equipment 11 bottle transport conveyor (container transport conveyor) 30 filling machine (filling machine) 33 filling nozzle (filling means) 40A, 40B Capping machine (capping machine) 47 Cap setting device (cap setting means) M1 servo motor M10, M11 servo motor M12 to M22 servo motor 84 Bottle holding member (container holding member)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A filling and packaging equipment for filling a container with contents and capping the container, comprising: a filling machine for filling the container with contents along a container conveyor, and a capping machine for capping the container. Filling means and cap setting means are arranged so as to be fixedly arranged in the transport direction of the container, and the container transport conveyor is used as an intermittent feed conveyor so that the container can be positioned intermittently in the filling machine and the capping machine sequentially, and the container transport conveyor is provided. Can be driven by a servo motor,
A filling and packaging facility characterized in that the servomotor can be controlled by a controller. 2. The filling and packaging equipment according to claim 1, wherein the filling machine and the capping machine are also driven by a servomotor, and the servomotors are also controllable by a controller. 3. A container holding member capable of holding the containers by being held by a container carrier and transporting the container conveyor, wherein the container carrier is capable of freely holding containers of various shapes. The filling and packaging equipment according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: