JP6515428B2 - Solid supply device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to, for example, a flow path through which solid matter such as powder is circulated, and more particularly to a solid matter supply device having a function of automatically eliminating stagnation generated in a pinch valve.

Conventionally, solid substances exemplified by pharmaceutical products such as tablets and capsules, confectionery such as rice cakes and rice confectionery, food products such as small macaroni, fruits and jelly products, powders such as sugar and flour or toner for printing machine In the process of manufacturing, processing, etc., the process of transferring or transferring between the apparatuses which process these solid substances is needed.
In the process of transferring or transferring, for example, when transferring powder or slurry containing powder, if pressure is applied to the powder due to narrowing of the flow path, the powder adheres to each other. The phenomenon of lumps and stagnation in the flow path, so-called bridges, rat holes, funnel flows, etc. may occur, which may cause a problem that the powder can not be transferred.
When such a stagnation phenomenon occurs, in particular, when a bridge phenomenon occurs in a region where solids are concentrated in the vicinity of the outlet of the hopper, the bridge formed in the flow passage is struck or impacted on the wall surface of the flow passage or the hopper. Methods and apparatus are known that overcome by destruction (see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP, 2009-67400, A JP 2005-335718 A

In the arch bridge destruction device described in Patent Document 1, a gate is attached near the lower portion of the shooter cylinder so that the passage can be opened and closed by a shutter. In such an apparatus, when the shutter is closed, powder grains and the like in the hopper concentrate in the vicinity of the gate to form a bridge, and even if the shutter is opened, the powder grains and the like do not flow. is there. In this case, since the shutter is merely moved across the path, it is difficult to clear the bridge even if the shutter is opened and closed.
For this reason, in the invention of Patent Document 1, when breaking the arc bridge formed in the silo, the hopper wall swinging means is attached to the tapered hopper wall of the silo, and the pushing force and the pulling force of the hopper wall are provided. The technique of destroying the arc bridge is adopted by repetitively adding.
However, the arch bridge breaking device described in Patent Document 1 is transmitted to the hopper wall because it is configured to transmit the amplitude (reciprocation) generated by the hopper wall swinging means attached from the outside to the hopper wall of the silo to the hopper wall. Because the amplitude is transmitted to the whole silo and to the fixed structure of the silo, and the drive source (motor etc.) of the hopper wall swinging means and the hopper wall that oscillates generate noise, depending on the use environment, vibration measures or noise may occur. Measures are needed.
Furthermore, since the hopper wall swinging means is additionally attached to the hopper wall, there is a problem that the structure of the silo becomes complicated and the manufacturing cost becomes high.

On the other hand, in the bridge breaking apparatus described in Patent Document 2, an annular member for air injection is provided between the lower part of the hopper and the powder transport pipe, and the hopper side is provided on the inner surface side of the air injection member. Method is used to form a plurality of air injection holes for injecting compressed air toward the target, and the compressed air is blown from the air injection holes to a stagnant substance such as a bridge in the hopper to destroy the stagnant substance. .
The breaking device of the bridge described in the patent document 2 has the advantage that it can be arranged in series in the flow path of the powder and has less additional structure compared to the arch bridge breaking device described in the cited document 1 is there.
However, since compressed air is introduced from the outside of the flow path formed by the hopper and the powder transport pipe, some impurities may be mixed into the flow path via the compressed air, for example, food and medicine In the case of handling powder in the field of etc., there is a problem that application becomes difficult.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a solid substance supply device capable of removing the stagnant matter (bridge or the like) formed in the valve without using a complicated structure and without mixing of impurities in the flow path. The purpose is

In order to achieve the above-mentioned problems, one of the representative solid supply devices of the present invention is a pipe through which solids are transferred, a pinch valve connected in series to the pipe, and a pinch valve of the pinch valve. From the control device that is provided in the pipe on the outlet side and detects the presence or absence of the flow of the solid in the pipe, and a control device that issues an open / close operation command to the pinch valve by receiving a detection signal from the sensor Do Ri,
The control device instructs the pinch valve to perform a canceling operation to repeatedly open and close when not receiving a detection signal from the sensor while instructing the pinch valve to open .

According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the stagnant matter (bridge and the like) formed in the valve without using a complicated structure and without the contamination of impurities in the flow path.
In addition, by using a sensor that detects the flow of solids, it is possible to automate the supply of solids including the operation of clearing the stagnant material.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the outline | summary of the solid substance supply apparatus by Example 1 of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the pinch valve currently applied to the solid substance supply apparatus shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of the valve | bulb main body of a pinch valve shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal state of pinch valve vicinity in a pinch valve closed state. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal state of pinch valve vicinity in a pinch valve open state. It is sectional drawing of the inside of the pinch valve vicinity which shows the cancellation | release operation which fractures | assembles the stagnant thing adhering in the pinch valve. It is a schematic diagram which shows the outline of the control apparatus applied to the solid substance supply apparatus by Example 2 of this invention.

Example 1
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an outline of a solid substance feeding device according to Example 1 of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the solid supply device 5 has a supply path of the solid P from the storage tank 3 through the pipe 2 to the transfer device or the packing device 4. At this time, a pinch valve 1 for blocking or opening the flow of the solid matter P is provided in the middle portion of the pipe 2.
The solid matter supply path is structured such that the pipe 2 is connected to the lower end of the storage tank 3 and then the pinch valve 1 and the pipe 2 are connected to the conveying device or the packing device 4. When the pinch valve 1 is open, it is configured to drop by its own weight.

The solid supply device 5 according to the first embodiment further includes a sensor 6 that detects the flow of solid in the flow path, and a control unit 7 that receives a signal from the sensor 6 and controls the operation of the pinch valve. Have.
The sensor 6 is disposed in the vicinity of the outlet of the pinch valve of the pipe 2 connected downstream of the pinch valve 1 in order to detect whether or not the stagnation of solids is generated around the pinch valve 1, and the presence of the solid is present When it detects a detection signal, it sends a detection signal to the control device 7.
As a sensor for detecting whether or not stagnation of solid matter has occurred, for example, a non-contact type sensor such as a laser sensor, a magnetic sensor or an image processing mechanism using a high speed camera, or a contact such as a probe is disposed inside a pipe. Any means such as a contact sensor that directly detects the flow of solids may be used.

The control device 7 opens and closes the pinch valve 1 in a state in which the sensor 6 detects a solid in the pipe 2, that is, the solid supply is normally performed (solids are flowing normally). Emits a signal to control the
However, if the sensor does not detect the transfer (flow) of solids for a predetermined period of time despite issuing an open command to the pinch valve 1, it is assumed that stagnant matter is generated in the pinch valve by the control device 7 It judges and issues the command which implements cancellation operation of the staying thing mentioned below.
By using such a control system, it is possible for the solid supply device 5 to automatically eliminate the occurrence of stagnation (bridge or the like) of the solid and perform the automatic operation.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the pinch valve 1 applied to the solid-substance supply device 5 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the valve body of the pinch valve shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the pinch valve 1 includes a valve main body 10 having a disc-like appearance and a drive device 20 for driving a mechanism provided inside the valve main body 10.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the valve main body 10 shown in FIG. 2 includes a first valve housing 100, a pipe attachment portion 102 provided in the first valve housing 100, and a second valve housing 110. And a pipe mounting portion 112 provided in the second valve housing.

As shown in FIG. 3, inside the first valve housing 100 and the second valve housing 110 that constitute the valve body 10, a rotor that functions as a pinch lever drive mechanism that drives a pair of pinch levers described later 120 is rotatably inserted.
A gear portion 122 is formed on a part of the outer peripheral portion of the rotor 120, and is in mesh with a pinion gear 250 provided in the drive device 20. On the other hand, inside the rotor 120, a pair of first cam peaks 124 and second cam peaks 125 are provided opposite to each other.
Further, inside the rotor 120, a tube 150 made of an elastic material is disposed, and the flange portions 153 at both ends thereof are the pipe attachment portion 102 and the pipe of the first valve housing 100 and the second valve housing 110. The mounting portions 112 are mounted in contact with each other. Examples of the material of the tube 150 may include silicone rubber, fluorine-based resin, and polymer materials such as ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM).

Inside the rotor 120 and outside the central portion of the tube 150, a pair of pinch levers 160 for pinching the tube 150 to seal the flow of solids flowing inside is provided rotatably about the post 116 Be
When the rotor 120 rotates, the pinch lever 160 is pressed inward by the first cam ridge 124 formed inside the rotor 120 and rotates. By the rotation operation, the distance between the pair of pinch levers 160 is reduced, and the central portion of the tube 150 is crushed and pinched.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, the crushing operation of the stagnant matter in the method for eliminating the stagnation in the valve according to the present invention will be described.
FIG. 4A shows the inside of the pinch valve as viewed from the side with respect to the pinch direction (the direction in which the pinch lever 160 pinches the tube 150) the internal state of the pinch valve when the general pinch valve is closed. FIG. Further, FIG. 4 (b) shows a state of the inside of the pinch valve corresponding to FIG. 4 (a) as viewed from the pinch direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, at both ends of the tube 150, pipes 2 for transferring solids are attached. When the pinch valve is closed, the solid matter P (for example, powder or the like) transferred in the tube 150 is blocked at a portion pinched by the pair of pinch levers 160 to form a dam region PS.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 4A, the damming region PS has a tapered shape toward the pinch portion when viewed from the side.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, since the pinched tube 150 is deformed laterally along the pair of pinch levers 160, the damming area PS is smaller than the original tube diameter when viewed from the pinching direction Too wide.

FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the inside of the pinch valve when the inside of the pinch valve is viewed from the side with respect to the pinch direction when the general pinch valve shifts from the closed state to the open state. is there. FIG. 5 (b) shows a state of the inside of the pinch valve corresponding to FIG. 5 (a) as viewed from the pinch direction.
In the closed state of the pinch valve shown in FIG. 4, pressure is applied to the powder of the dam region PS from the subsequent powder to coagulate, so that the dam region PS solidifies to form a stagnant substance such as a so-called bridge Sometimes. In such a case, since the stagnant matter adheres to the inlet of the valve and stops the flow of the powder, the transfer of the powder can not be continued.

  When the stagnant material is formed inside the pinch valve 1, when the pinch lever 160 is opened to open the valve, the tube 150 which has been pinched returns to the original tubular shape, as shown in FIG. And FIG. 5 (b), the stagnant material has a tapered shape when viewed laterally from the pinch direction and a shape substantially equal to the width of the tube 150 when viewed from the pinch direction (ie, FIG. 4 (b In the dam area PS shown in), a portion formed wider than the tube diameter is broken by the return of the tube 150).

As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), when a stagnant substance is formed inside the pinch valve 1, normally, once the closed state is returned to the open state, part of the stagnant substance is broken. Be done.
However, as described above, if the sensor 6 does not detect the flow of solids when the controller 7 shown in FIG. 1 issues an opening command to the pinch valve 1, the controller 7 will be shown in FIG. It is judged that the stagnant matter of such a shape remains, and a command is issued to carry out the following elimination operation of the stagnant matter.

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the inside of the pinch valve when the removal operation of the stagnant matter fixed in the pinch valve 1 is viewed from the side with respect to the pinch direction. FIG. 6 (b) shows a state of the inside of the pinch valve corresponding to FIG. 6 (a) as viewed from the pinch direction.
As shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), in the method of eliminating stagnation in the valve of the present invention, a pair of pinches of pinch valve 1 is used to crush the stagnant matter stuck in the valve. The opening and closing operation of the lever 160 is repeated several times (for example, two to three times).

That is, in the closed state of the pinch valve (see FIG. 6 (a)), the pinched tube 150 is in pressure contact with the surface on the pinch lever 160 side of the stagnant matter, and the open state of the pinch valve (see FIG. 6 (b)) In this case, the tube 150 is in pressure contact with the side surface of the stagnant material (the surface on the side orthogonal to the surface on the side of the pinch lever 160). At this time, when the pinch valve 1 as shown in FIG. 2 is applied, the pair of pinch levers 160 rotate around the support 116 to crush the tube 150 when performing the pinch operation, so the tube 150 is centered The force in the twisting direction on the shaft also acts, and the combined force on the stagnant matter acts to increase the elimination effect.
By carrying out such an operation, the tube 150 of the pinch valve 1 applies repetitive pressing force to the stagnant matter, so the solidified powder is crushed and stagnation is eliminated.
Then, when the sensor 6 shown in FIG. 1 detects the flow of the solid again, the control device 7 determines that the transfer of the solid is normally performed and continues the normal automatic operation.

Example 2
In the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, a solid supply is provided which automatically eliminates stagnant solids in the valve using the pinch valve 1, the sensor 6, and the control device 7. An example of the device 5 is shown.
The solid-substance feeder according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a control device capable of performing an additional retention operation.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the details of the control device 70 applied to the solid substance feeding device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 7, the control device 70 includes a main control unit 72, a timer 74, a counter 76, and an alarm device 78.
The main control unit 72 is a part that performs the same control operation as the control device 7 of the first embodiment, receives a signal from a sensor that detects the flow of solids provided in the pipe, and drives the pinch valve. In addition to the control, the timer 74 controls the clocking operation by the timer 74 and the counting operation by the counter 76.
The timer 74 has a function of starting timing based on a timing command of the main control unit 72 and emitting a timing end signal to the main control unit 72 when a preset time (for example, 30 seconds) has elapsed.

Further, the counter 76 integrates the number of times of receiving the counting instruction based on the counting instruction of the main control unit 72, and when the counting instruction of the preset number of times (for example, three times) is received It has a function of emitting a warning signal.
Further, the alarm device 78 notifies the operator of an abnormality in the solid substance supply device in response to an alarm command from the main control unit 72. For example, a lamp for notifying by lighting or blinking of red light or a buzzer notifying with alarm sound The means can be combined and applied.

When the above-mentioned sensor does not detect the flow of solids when the release command is issued to the pinch valve, the main control unit 72 determines that the stagnant matter having a shape as shown in FIG. 5 remains in the valve. And issues a command to the pinch valve to carry out the settling operation of the stagnant material as shown in FIG. At this time, the main control unit 72 issues a command to the retention operation of the accumulated matter, and at the same time, issues a timing instruction to the timer 74.
When the main control unit 72 receives the detection signal from the sensor before receiving the time counting end signal from the timer 74, the main control unit 72 determines that the supply of the solid material has returned to normal by the elimination operation of the above-mentioned stagnant material, Continue driving.
On the other hand, when the time measurement end signal from the timer 74 is received before the detection signal from the sensor is received, the command for eliminating the stagnant matter to the pinch valve and the time measurement command to the timer 74 are issued again, A counting command is issued to the counter 76.

As described above, the counter 76 integrates the number of times the counting command is received from the main control unit 72, and issues a warning signal to the main control unit 72 when a predetermined number of commands are received.
When the main control unit 72 receives a warning signal from the counter 76, the main control unit 72 determines that a trouble (for example, damage to a tube or a pinch lever) other than stagnant matter has occurred in the valve and issues an alarm command to the alarm device 78. Stop the automatic operation of the solids feeder.
By using these configurations, the solid-substance supply apparatus according to the second embodiment not only automatically carries out the elimination operation of the stagnant substance but also detects a trouble such as a failure occurring in the apparatus and stops the automatic operation. Can also increase the safety of the device.

In the above embodiment, the case of powder solidified by aggregating each other is illustrated as a solid to be transferred, but for example, small electronic parts, short noodles, etc. are accumulated by being entangled with each other, and a channel The above-mentioned solution method can be applied to the case of stagnation.
Moreover, although the case where the slow opening and closing operation by a pair of pinch levers in a pinch valve was repeated was illustrated as operation which gives pushing pressure to a thing thing, for example, the amount of rotations of the pivoting movement of a pair of pinch levers The tube may be finely vibrated by setting it small and shortening the repetition interval, and the fixation or solidification of the stagnant material may be resolved by transmitting the vibration to the stagnant material.

The solid feed apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the form of the embodiment described above, but may be a storage tank disposed upstream of the pinch valve, a transport apparatus or packing apparatus disposed downstream, or a sensor configuration, etc. Various modifications and combinations are included.
In addition, it is possible to add, delete, and replace other configurations of the solid material supply device of the present invention and a part of the configuration thereof without departing from the technical concept of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the pinch valve in which the pinch operation is performed by rotating the pair of pinch levers according to the rotation of the rotor is illustrated, but the pair of pinch levers is made to face parallel to the tube The present invention can also be applied to a pinch valve that performs a pinch operation by translating the opposing surfaces close to each other.
In addition, a tubular outer peripheral member may be provided in a pinched area of a tube disposed in the valve housing. Such a configuration can extend the life of the tube itself.
Furthermore, for example, in FIG. 1, the piping of the solid supply device is in the vertical direction, that is, the solid is transported downward through the pinch valve, but in the case where the piping is arranged horizontally, Even when tilted with respect to the horizontal direction, it is possible to obtain the above effect.

The solid supply device according to the present invention is, for example, stagnant in the valve caused by a long time of stopping when stopping operation of the device with the pinch valve closed at night and reactivating the next morning. A mode may be added in which the control device instructs a repetitive opening / closing operation to eliminate the above.
In addition, when it is determined that the flow of solids can not be normalized even if repeated operations for removing the stagnant material are performed, the control device issues an alarm and stops the automatic operation, thereby securing safety of the manufacturing line. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of defective products.

The pinch valve shown in FIG. 2 used in the solid substance supply device of the present invention differs from the opening and closing operation of the flow path by the shutter, ball valve, etc., and the tube in the valve performs every pinch operation (opening and closing operation). In addition to being able to eliminate the stagnant matter without using a complicated structure such as means for vibrating the hopper wall as in the prior art and means for jetting air into the pipe, which will come into contact with the stagnant matter, Since the pinch lever 160 rotates about the support 116 and squeezes the tube 150, a force in the twisting direction with respect to the central axis also acts on the tube 150, which has the feature that stagnant matter is extremely unlikely to occur.
Moreover, in addition to such excellent performance, according to the solid matter supply device of the present invention, a sensor is provided in the pipe downstream of the pinch valve to detect the presence or absence of the flow of the solid matter, and the stagnant matter is detected based on the detection result. In addition to determining the presence or absence of the movement of the pinch valve and issuing a command to perform the canceling operation, the automatic operation of the apparatus can be enabled and the production efficiency can be improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 pinch valve 2 piping 3 storage tank 5 solid substance supply apparatus 6 sensor 7, 70 control apparatus 10 valve main body 20 drive apparatus 100 1st valve housing 102 piping mounting part 110 2nd valve housing 112 piping mounting part 116 pillar 120 rotor 150 tube 160 pinch lever

Claims (3)

A pipe through which solids are transferred, a pinch valve connected in series to the pipe, and a sensor provided in the pipe on the outlet side of the pinch valve to detect the presence or absence of the flow of solids in the pipe; A control device that receives a detection signal from the sensor and issues an open / close operation command to the pinch valve ;
When the control device does not receive the detection signal from the sensor while instructing the pinch valve to perform the opening operation, the control device instructs the pinch valve to perform the canceling operation to perform the open / close operation repeatedly.
Solids supply device characterized by the above. The control device includes a main control unit and a timer.
When the sensor does not detect the flow of solids while the open command is issued to the pinch valve, the main control unit instructs the timer to execute the canceling operation for the pinch valve and the timer. Release
The timer starts clocking based on the clocking command, and issues a clocking end signal to the main control unit when a preset time has elapsed.
The main control unit is characterized in that, upon receiving the detection signal from the sensor before receiving the time-counting end signal from the timer, the main control unit determines that the supply of the solid substance has returned to normal. The solid-supplying device according to Item 1 . The control device further comprises a counter and an alarm device.
When the main control unit receives the timing end signal from the timer before receiving the detection signal from the sensor, the main control unit again instructs the timer to execute the cancellation operation for the pinch valve. Issue a counting command to the command and the counter,
The counter integrates the number of times of receiving the counting instruction from the main control unit, and issues a warning signal to the main control unit when receiving a predetermined number of instructions.
The solid supply device according to claim 2 , wherein the main control unit issues an alarm command to the alarm device when receiving the alarm signal, and stops the automatic operation of the solid supply device. .

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