JP4373566B2 - Laundry dewatering machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pressure-type dehydrator that presses laundry placed on a conveyor belt or basket having water permeability with a pressing body that descends from above and discharges moisture contained in the laundry. It is.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Laundry squeezing-type dehydrators are devices that dehydrate the water contained in the laundry by pressing and squeezing it with a pressing body. Mainly in combination with continuous washing machines, large quantities of commercial towels and sheets are used. Often used in laundry lines. This type of squeezing dehydrator has a higher processing speed than a centrifugal dehydrator and the like, and is particularly suitable for dehydrating laundry that is conveyed as a lump for each laundry lot by a conveyor belt or the like.
[0003]
The laundry immediately after being discharged from the washing machine contains about 2.5 times the weight of the laundry itself. In the case where the washing machine is a continuous washing machine, the water is discharged together with the laundry, and the water is discharged with 2 to 3 times its own weight due to the fact that the water is discharged together with the laundry and slides down on the chute. In order to process the laundry quickly, it is necessary to quickly dehydrate the laundry containing a large amount of water immediately after it is discharged from the washing machine, and in order to increase the dehydration speed, the pressing body is fast. It is necessary to operate the speed and squeeze the laundry quickly.
[0004]
However, when the laundry containing a large amount of water is dehydrated rapidly, there is a problem that the laundry is damaged by the momentum of the discharged water. Therefore, in order to increase the processing speed without damaging the laundry, what is the structure of the pressing body and how to operate the dehydrator becomes a problem.
[0005]
In the conventional squeezing type dehydrator, a hydraulic cylinder is used as an elevating drive device for pressing the pressing body against the laundry. Therefore, the oil pressure supplied to the hydraulic cylinder is set in 3 to 4 stages, mainly a timer. Thus, dehydration is performed by pressing the pressing body against the laundry while sequentially switching the oil pressure from a small pressure to a large pressure. That is, when the laundry is pressed at a high pressure in the initial stage of pressing containing a large amount of moisture, the laundry is damaged because a large amount of water tends to flow through the laundry. Therefore, in order to avoid this, the pressing force is reduced in the initial stage of pressing, and the pressing force is increased in the later stage of pressing after most of the water is discharged, so that the moisture content of the laundry after dehydration is reduced as much as possible.
[0006]
The pressing body usually includes a fluid chamber in which a fluid such as water is enclosed, and the lower surface of the fluid chamber is formed of an elastic membrane (membrane) having flexibility, and the membrane surface of the elastic membrane is the laundry. The laundry is squeezed in a state of being deformed according to the shape of the upper surface. When this membrane collides with a basket that surrounds the laundry to be dehydrated while descending or a foreign object mixed in the laundry and the pressing body stops descending, it simply controls the pressing force with a timer. In some cases, the pressing force increases when the membrane is caught and damages the membrane. Therefore, mainly in order to avoid this problem, control is performed in which the height of the pressing body in the middle of pressing is detected, and the increase in pressing force is limited by the position signal.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
If the quality and quantity of the laundry for each lot put into the washing machine are constant, the above-described conventional means is effective as such. However, since the moisture content of the laundry changes depending on the quality of the laundry, in a laundry line where the type of laundry is frequently changed, the timer setting time is adjusted each time the type of laundry changes. There is a problem of having to. In addition, even if the laundry type is the same, if there is a variation in the amount of laundry for each lot, it is necessary to set the timer on the safe side in consideration of the degree of the variation. , Processing speed decreases.
[0008]
According to the present invention, it is possible to perform an optimum dewatering operation for each lot of individual laundry lots having a variation in the input amount, and further perform a dewatering operation according to the type of laundry. It is an object to obtain a squeeze-type dehydrator that can be used.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The squeezing type dehydrator for laundry according to the present invention includes a pressing body 9 having a fluid chamber 10 having a lower surface as an elastic pressing surface 11, and an elevating device for raising and lowering the pressing body, the pressing body facing the laundry. In a laundry dehydrator that dehydrates by lowering 9 and pressing the laundry with the elastic pressing surface 11, a pressure detector 12 that detects the pressure of the fluid chamber 10 or a load acting on the lifting device, and a pressing body 9 A position detector 22 for detecting the height of the sensor, a variable speed drive device 14 for driving the lifting device 6, and a control device 18. The control device 18 detects the detected pressure of the pressure detector 12 and the position detector 22. And a speed control means for controlling the descending speed of the elevating device 6 based on the absolute height or relative height of the pressing body detected in.
[0010]
The relative height of the pressing body, the control unit 18, and stores the height of the pressing body 9 when the lifting device 6 the pressure detector 12 from the start of the downward movement first detects the pressure rise as the initial bulkiness The calculation is performed by providing a means and a relative height calculating means for calculating the relative height of the pressing body from the height of the subsequent pressing body and the initial bulkiness .
[0011]
When a hydraulic cylinder is used as the lifting device 6 as in the prior art, the pressing speed can be controlled by a flow control valve, a variable displacement pump, a pump motor speed control, or the like. An encoder is preferably used for detecting the position of the pressing body. A linear encoder may be used, or a structure in which linear movement of the pressing body is converted into rotation by a rack and pinion device and detected by the rotary encoder is possible. In this case, the pressing force can be detected by detecting the oil pressure in the cylinder or by detecting the pressure in the fluid chamber 10.
[0012]
When more accurate control is performed, a structure using a servo motor as a lifting drive and a ball screw as a lifting device is possible. The detection of the pressing force in this case is performed by detecting the fluid pressure in the fluid chamber 10, but it is also possible to detect the load of the servo motor or using a load cell.
[0013]
The control of the pressing speed is basically control that lowers the pressing speed when the pressure detected by the pressure detector is high and increases the pressing speed when the height of the pressing body is high. These relations are not simple linear relations or proportional relations, but the optimum operating speed is calculated using arithmetic expressions and tables based on the actual values when various types of laundry and the amount of laundry are changed. Is preferred. This control can be performed continuously, or the squeezing operation can be divided into several stages from the initial stage to the final stage, and the operation setting can be performed for each stage.
[0014]
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a position at which the pressure detector first detects a pressure rise after starting the lowering operation of the pressing body is stored as an initial bulk, and the subsequent pressing operation is controlled in relation to the initial bulk. The dehydrating operation can be handled accurately and promptly by changing the amount of laundry input every time.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of a squeeze type dehydrator according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a laundry chute discharged from a washing machine (not shown), and a conveyor belt 2 and a basket 3 are arranged at a position for receiving the laundry falling from the chute 1. The conveyor belt 2 is a belt having water permeability such as many small holes and meshes, and is stopped when the laundry is received and the dehydration operation is performed. The basket 3 is provided so as to surround the position where the laundry falls, and moves up when the laundry is transferred by driving the conveyor belt 2.
[0016]
Posts 5 are erected at the four corners of the base 4 that supports the conveyor belt 2 and the basket 3, and hydraulic cylinders 6 supported by the posts 5 are provided above the basket 3. The hydraulic cylinder 6 is mounted with the rod 7 facing downward, a downward cup-shaped pressing frame 8 is fixed to the lower end of the rod, and a pressing body 9 is held by the pressing frame. The pressing body 9 is formed of a rubber-like elastic body having a thick periphery and a relatively thin lower surface, and forms a fluid chamber 10 sealed with the pressing frame. The lower surface of the pressing body 9 is a flat plane, and this flat portion is an elastic pressing surface 11 having flexibility that can be bent along the shape of the upper surface of the laundry. The pressing frame 8 is provided with a pressure sensor 12 for detecting the pressure in the fluid chamber 10, and a pipe 13 for supplying and discharging the pressure fluid to and from the fluid chamber 10 is connected as necessary.
[0017]
The hydraulic oil in the hydraulic cylinder 6 is supplied by a positive displacement hydraulic pump 15 driven by a servo motor 14. The hydraulic circuit is shown in a simplified manner in FIG. 2, and the pressure control valve and the check valve are not shown, but only the switching valve 16 is shown. The speed of the servo motor 14 is controlled by the control device 18 via the servo driver 17. The servo motor 14 incorporates an encoder 19, and the encoder signal is given to the servo driver 17 as a feedback signal.
[0018]
A rack 20 is erected at one place on the upper surface of the pressing frame 8, and a pinion 21 pivotally supported at a fixed position is engaged with the rack, and a rotary encoder 22 for detecting the height of the pressing body 9 is attached to the pinion. ing. The signal of the rotary encoder 22 and the signal of the pressure sensor 12 are given to the control device 18. The control device 18 includes a storage device (memory) 23 for storing the initial bulkiness, a relative height calculation means (program) 24 for calculating a relative height from the stored initial bulkiness and the detected value of the rotary encoder 22, and a pressure A pressing speed calculating means (program) 25 for calculating the pressing speed from the detected value of the sensor 12 and the calculated relative height is provided.
[0019]
Next, the operation of the above embodiment apparatus will be described. With the conveyor belt 2 stopped and the basket 3 lowered, one lot of laundry is discharged from the chute 1 into the basket 3. When the discharge of the laundry is detected by a sensor (not shown), the switching valve 16 is immediately switched and the pressing body 9 starts to descend. The height of the pressing body when the elastic pressing surface 11 comes into contact with the top of the laundry and the pressure in the fluid chamber 10 starts to rise is detected by the rotary encoder 22 and recorded in the initial bulk memory 23.
[0020]
The subsequent descending speed of the pressing body 9 is performed according to the speed calculated by the control device 18 based on the detected value of the pressure sensor 12 and the detected value of the rotary encoder 22. For example, when the detected value of the pressure sensor 12 at a certain height of the pressing body 9 is too high than the pressure suitable for dewatering the laundry, the control device 18 causes the servo motor to decrease the descending speed of the pressing body 9. 14 speeds are controlled.
[0021]
In this way, when the pressure value of the pressure sensor 12 reaches the pressure at the end of the dehydration, the switching valve 16 is switched to raise the pressing body 9, and simultaneously raise the basket 3, and then rotate the belt conveyor 2. And transport dehydrated laundry.
[0022]
The dehydration operation for one lot of laundry can be performed with continuous control from the start to the end as described above, but as with a conventional dehydrator using a timer, the dehydration starts and ends. It is also possible to control the dehydrating operation by dividing the operations up to several stages. For example, when the control is performed in three stages, it is performed as follows, for example.
[0023]
First, in the first step, when the pressing body 9 is lowered at a constant speed and the elastic pressing film surface 11 comes into contact with the laundry, the pressure in the fluid chamber 10 increases. Therefore, this position is stored as the initial bulkiness of the laundry, the weight of the laundry is estimated and calculated, and the relationship between the descending speed of the pressing body 9 and the pressure in the fluid chamber corresponding to the weight is calculated by the control device.
[0024]
In the second step, the pressing body 9 is lowered to the second step end position (height) by the lowering speed and the fluid chamber pressure calculated in the first step to press the laundry. Then, the laundry weight and the amount of water are estimated and calculated from the position of the pressing body 9 at the end of the second step, and the pressing pattern of the third step is calculated by the control device.
[0025]
In the final third step, the final dehydration is completed by pressing to the final position with the pressing pattern calculated after the end of the second step.
[0026]
The structure of the first embodiment of FIG. 1 is a structure in which the pressing body 9 is raised and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder 6 provided above the pressing body 9. In the case of this structure, when oil leaks from the peripheral surface of the rod 7 of the hydraulic cylinder 6, a means for removing the leaked oil is necessary. The structure of the second embodiment in FIG. Is installed at the lower side on both sides outside the machine, and the pressing body 9 is attached to the center of the arch 26 connecting the two cylinders, so that the oil leakage to the laundry can be completely prevented.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a simplified control block diagram. FIG. 3 is a side view of a second embodiment.
6 Hydraulic cylinder 9 Pressing body
10 Fluid chamber
11 Membrane
12 Pressure sensor
14 Servo motor
18 Control unit
22 rotary encoder

Claims (2)

A pressing body (9) having a fluid chamber (10) whose lower surface is an elastic pressing surface (11) and a lifting device for raising and lowering the pressing body are provided, and the pressing body (9) is lowered toward the laundry. A pressure detector (12) for detecting the pressure of the fluid chamber (10) or a load acting on the lifting device in the laundry press dewatering machine that dehydrates by pressing the laundry with the elastic pressing surface (11). A position detector (22) for detecting the height of the pressing body (9), a variable speed drive device (14) for driving the lifting device (6), and a control device (18), and a control device (18 ) is provided with a speed control means for controlling the lowering speed of the lifting device (6) based on the absolute height of the pressure detector (12) for detecting the pressure and the position detector pressing body detected by (22) A squeezing-type dehydrator for laundry. A pressing body (9) having a fluid chamber (10) whose lower surface is an elastic pressing surface (11) and a lifting device for raising and lowering the pressing body are provided, and the pressing body (9) is lowered toward the laundry. A pressure detector (12) for detecting the pressure of the fluid chamber (10) or a load acting on the lifting device in the laundry press dewatering machine that dehydrates by pressing the laundry with the elastic pressing surface (11). A position detector (22) for detecting the height of the pressing body (9), a variable speed drive device (14) for driving the lifting device (6), and a control device (18), and a control device (18 ) Means for storing the height of the pressing body (9) as the initial bulkiness when the pressure detector (12) first detects a pressure increase after the elevating device (6) starts the lowering operation, and thereafter based from the height of the pressing member and the initial bulk and the relative height calculating means for calculating a relative height of the pressing body, the relative height of the detected pressure and the computed pressure body of the pressure detector (12) Characterized in that it comprises a speed control means for controlling the lowering speed of the descending device (6), compression type dehydrator of the laundry.

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