JP4329929B2 - Powder filling device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a granular material filling apparatus for quantitatively filling granular material (powder or granular material) into a container or the like.

As an apparatus for quantitatively filling a powder container into a packaging container, an auger type powder filling apparatus is conventionally known.
FIG. 6 is a front sectional view showing a schematic structure of a conventional auger type powder filling apparatus. As shown in the figure, the auger type powder filling device includes an inverted conical cylindrical hopper 100, a supply cylinder 200 connected to the top of the lower end of the hopper 100, and an auger disposed on the central axis of the supply cylinder 200. A shaft 300 is provided. The auger shaft 300 is rotationally driven by a drive motor 350 provided above the hopper 100.

The powder A is filled in the hopper 100, is transferred downward in the supply cylinder 200 by the fins 310 with the rotation of the auger shaft 300, and is discharged from the tip opening 210. Since the discharge amount of the granular material A depends on the rotation amount of the auger shaft 300, it can be arbitrarily adjusted by the control of the drive motor 350.
In general, a packaging container (not shown) is automatically arranged below the supply cylinder 200, and the granular material A discharged from the tip opening 210 is quantitatively filled into the packaging container.

  Since the auger type powder filling device having the above-described configuration presses and transfers the powder particles downward by the fins 310 of the auger shaft 300, some powder particles are compressed by the fins 310 to become a lump. there were. The bulky granular material has a non-uniform volume, and when it is discharged from the supply tube 200, the filling amount into the container becomes unstable, and there is a possibility that high-precision quantitative filling cannot be performed.

On the other hand, the granular material filling device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 eliminates the auger shaft, and transfers a certain amount of granular material to the hopper with positive pressure / negative pressure action and vibration action on the hopper. The structure is used to discharge the wastewater.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-87903 JP 2002-234501 A

  However, all of the granular material filling devices described in the above-mentioned patent documents have a drawback that a complicated incidental equipment is required and the apparatus becomes large. For example, in the granular material filling apparatus of Patent Document 1, a system including a pipe for forming a positive pressure and a negative pressure, a flow rate adjusting valve, a controller, and the like is necessary (see FIG. 4 of the same document 1). ). Moreover, in the granular material filling device of Patent Document 2, a mesh for temporarily damming the granular material and a large vibration device for vibrating the mesh are necessary.

  Furthermore, in order to achieve high-precision quantitative filling of powder and particles with the powder and particle filling devices described in each of these patent documents, extremely accurate positive and negative pressure control and mesh vibration control are required. In reality, it is speculated that high-precision quantitative filling cannot be desired.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a powder and particle filling apparatus that can realize high-precision quantitative filling with a simple configuration and without making the particles agglomerated.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a hopper for storing powder particles, a vertically extending arrangement, an upper end opening communicated with a lower end portion of the hopper, and a lower end opening formed of the granular material. A cylindrical nozzle that forms a discharge port, a rod-shaped shaft that is supported so as to be movable in the axial direction, and extends in the vertical direction inside the hopper or nozzle, a drive source that moves the shaft up and down, and a shaft And a shutter that opens and closes the lower end opening of the nozzle as the shaft moves up and down.

  According to the present invention, when the shutter provided at the lower end of the shaft is moved by the vertical movement of the shaft to open the nozzle discharge port (lower end opening), the granular material stored in the hopper is sprayed by its own weight. Falls from the discharge port. With such a simple configuration, the powder and granular material can be discharged from the hopper without being pressed, so that stable quantitative filling can always be performed.

Here, the shutter has a peripheral edge corresponding to the lower end opening of the nozzle, enters the hollow portion of the nozzle, closes the lower end opening of the nozzle in a non-contact manner, and is exposed downward from the lower end opening of the nozzle. It is preferable that the lower end opening of the nozzle is opened.
Even when the shutter closes the lower end opening of the nozzle, it maintains a non-contact state with the nozzle, so that damage due to friction is suppressed and durability is improved. In a closed state, by setting a minute gap smaller than the average particle diameter of the granular material between the inner wall of the nozzle and the shutter, the granular material is dammed up by the minute gap bridge and the shutter, and non-contact An occluded state is formed.
In addition, by allowing the shutter to enter the inside of the nozzle so as to be close to the inner wall, the powder particles adhering to the inner wall near the lower end opening groove portion of the nozzle can be scraped off by the shutter.

  Further, if the shutter is configured by a conical cup member having a lower end peripheral edge corresponding to the lower end opening of the nozzle and the upper end apex is attached to the lower end of the shaft, the shutter in the closed position is the shaft. It descends with the lowering action, and the gap between the conical circumferential surface and the lower end opening of the nozzle gradually widens. Therefore, the gap can be easily finely adjusted by the lowered position of the shutter, and as a result, the discharge amount of the granular material can be adjusted with high accuracy.

  Furthermore, the present invention includes a control circuit that controls the drive source, and can be configured such that the vertical stroke and vertical movement speed of the shaft can be arbitrarily adjusted by the control of the drive source by the control circuit. Thereby, filling control of various granular materials can be performed according to the purpose. For example, if the shaft is rapidly lowered and the shutter is opened to discharge the powder particles at once, the shaft is pulled up at a gentle speed and then the shutter is gradually closed. Can be filled with accuracy.

  According to the present invention, high-precision quantitative filling can be realized with a simple configuration and without lump the granular material.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view showing a granular material filling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional side view, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional front view showing a lower part from a hopper of the granular material filling apparatus. FIG.
The granular material filling apparatus includes a hopper 10 for storing granular particles, a cylindrical nozzle 20, a rod-shaped shaft 30, a linear servo motor 40 as a drive source for moving the shaft 30 up and down, and a shutter 50. .

  The hopper 10 has an inverted conical shape and is hollow inside, and the granular material A is stored in the hollow portion. The powder A is supplied from the sub hopper 11 communicating with the hopper 10 into the hollow portion of the hopper 10 at appropriate times. An agitator 12 (stirring member) is provided in the hollow portion of the hopper 10. The agitator 12 is driven to rotate by a drive motor (not shown), circulates in the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface of the hopper 10, and stirs the powder A. By this stirring action, the granular material A in the hopper 10 moves quickly to the nozzle 20 without staying.

  The nozzle 20 extends in the up-down direction, and the upper end opening communicates with the lower end top of the hopper 10. Further, the lower end opening 20 a of the nozzle 20 forms a discharge port for the granular material A. That is, the granular material A stored in the hollow part of the hopper 10 falls from the lower end top part of the hopper 10 through the hollow part of the nozzle 20 and from the lower end opening part 20a. The cross-sectional shape of the nozzle 20 is arbitrary. For example, a cylindrical shape can be used as shown in FIG. 4A, and a rectangular tube shape can be used as shown in FIG.

  The hopper 10 and the shaft 30 are disposed on the same central axis, and the shaft 30 is provided along the central axis. The shaft 30 is supported by a bearing 31 disposed above the hopper 10 so as to be movable in the axial direction (vertical direction). A linear servo motor 40 is connected to the upper end of the shaft 30. The linear servo motor 40 is driven and controlled by the control circuit 60. With the control of the linear servo motor 40 by the control circuit 60, the vertical movement stroke, the vertical movement speed, and the acceleration / deceleration of the shaft 30 are adjusted.

Further, the cross-sectional area of the shaft 30 is set to be sufficiently smaller than the cross-sectional area of the hollow portion of the nozzle 20 within a range in which stable movement can be ensured at least for a portion disposed in the nozzle 20 without causing deflection. Is preferred. Thus, by making the nozzle 20 slender, the space in the nozzle 20 is ensured widely, and the granular material A can be dropped smoothly without the shaft 30 becoming an obstacle.
The cross-sectional shape of the shaft 30 is arbitrary, and is not limited to a round bar, but may be a square bar shape. Furthermore, the shaft 30 does not have to be disposed on the central axis of the hopper 10 and the nozzle 20 and can be disposed at a position offset from the central axis.

  The shutter 50 is provided at the lower end of the shaft 30 and moves up and down integrally with the shaft 30. The shutter 50 is configured by a conical cup member, and the top end of the shutter 50 is attached to the lower end of the shaft 30. Further, the lower peripheral edge 50 a of the shutter 50 has a shape corresponding to the lower end opening 20 a of the nozzle 20.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the shutter 50 has a lower end peripheral edge 50a close to the inner wall in the vicinity of the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20, and closes the lower end opening 20a in a non-contact manner. The non-contact blocking means that the gap d (see FIG. 4A) between the inner wall of the nozzle 20 and the lower peripheral edge 50a of the shutter 50 is a minute gap smaller than the average particle diameter of the powder A. The state that is.
Here, the small gap smaller than the average particle diameter is aimed at forming a fine bridge of the granular material formed in the minute gap within a certain time by taking the average particle diameter. is there. The minute gap may be a gap exceeding the average particle diameter. The microscopic bridge of the granular material is formed by particles entering the small gaps in the order of large, medium and small, and the large particles are formed on the basis and overlapped in the order of small and medium, and this closes the gap and forms a non-contact closed state. The

Thus, since the shutter 50 closes the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20 in a non-contact state, damage due to friction is suppressed and durability is improved. In addition, by allowing the shutter 50 to enter the inside of the nozzle 20 and close to the inner wall, the powder A attached to the inner wall near the lower end groove portion of the nozzle 20 can be scraped off by the shutter 50.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the shutter 50 is exposed from the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20 and opens the lower end opening 20a.

Next, operation | movement of a granular material filling apparatus is demonstrated.
When the linear servo motor 40 is driven based on a command signal from the control circuit 60 to raise the shaft 30, the shutter 50 provided at the lower end of the shaft 30 enters the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20 and is in a non-contact manner. The lower end opening 20a is closed (see FIG. 5A). In this closed state, the granular material A in the nozzle 20 is blocked by the shutter 50.

  Next, when the linear servo motor 40 is driven and the shaft 30 is lowered, the shutter 50 is also lowered and exposed from the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20 (see FIG. 5B). In this state, a gap is generated between the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20 and the periphery of the shutter 50, and the powder A falls downward from the gap. A container is disposed below the nozzle 20 and the granular material A is filled into the container. The filling amount of the powder A can be controlled with high accuracy by adjusting the time during which the shutter 50 is lowered, the lowered position of the shutter 50, and the like.

  That is, since the shutter 50 is formed of a conical cup member, the gap between the lower end opening 20a and the lower end opening 20a varies depending on the degree of exposure from the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20. If the shutter 50 is slightly lowered and slightly exposed from the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20, the gap is small, and thus the granular material A is discharged in small amounts. On the other hand, if the lowering stroke of the shutter 50 is increased and sufficiently exposed from the lower end opening 20a of the nozzle 20, the gap becomes larger and the discharge amount of the granular material A per unit time increases.

  If the shaft 30 is rapidly lowered to open the shutter 50 at once, a large amount of powder A is discharged in a short time, and then the shaft 30 is pulled up at a moderate speed to gradually close the shutter 50, it is constant. An amount of the powder A can be filled quickly and with high accuracy.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, various application implementation or deformation | transformation implementation is possible as needed. For example, the shutter may be configured to contact the lower end opening of the nozzle or an inner wall in the vicinity thereof and close the lower end opening of the nozzle.

It is a partial cross section front view which shows the granular material filling apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a section side view showing the granular material filling device concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a cross-sectional front view which expands and shows a lower part from the hopper of a granular material filling apparatus. (A) is an enlarged bottom view of a nozzle and a shutter, (b) is an enlarged bottom view which shows the modification of a nozzle and a shutter. (A) is an enlarged front sectional view showing a closed state of the shutter, (b) is an enlarged front sectional view showing an opened state of the shutter. It is a cross-sectional front view which shows the conventional auger type granular material filling apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

10: Hopper 11: Sub hopper 12: Agitator 20: Nozzle 20a: Lower end opening 30: Shaft 40: Linear servo motor 50: Shutter 60: Control circuit

Claims (4)

A hopper for storing powder particles;
A cylindrical nozzle that is arranged extending in the vertical direction, the upper end opening communicates with the lower end of the hopper, and the lower end opening forms a discharge port for the granular material,
A rod-like shaft that is supported so as to be movable in the axial direction and extends in the vertical direction inside the hopper or nozzle;
A drive source for moving the shaft up and down;
A shutter that is provided at a lower end of the shaft, and that opens and closes a lower end opening of the nozzle as the shaft moves up and down,
The shutter has a peripheral edge corresponding to the lower end opening of the nozzle, enters the hollow portion of the nozzle, closes the lower end opening of the nozzle in a non-contact manner, and is exposed downward from the lower end opening of the nozzle. By doing this, the granular material filling apparatus which is the structure which open | releases the lower end opening part of the said nozzle . 2. The granular material filling device according to claim 1 , wherein the shutter has a configuration in which a peripheral edge of a lower end is formed by a conical cup member having a shape corresponding to a lower end opening of the nozzle, and an upper end apex is attached to a lower end of the shaft. . Wherein comprises a control circuit for controlling the drive source, with the control of the driving source by the control circuit, granular material filling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 of the configuration of the vertical stroke is arbitrarily adjusted the shaft. Wherein comprises a control circuit for controlling the drive source, with the control of the driving source by the control circuit, granular material filling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 of the configuration of the vertical movement speed is arbitrarily adjusted the shaft.

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