RU2843743C1 - Method for volumetric dispensing of thick products - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: dispensing.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of liquid media dosing, namely to the thick products volumetric bottling method, for example, into bottles, jars. Method includes entering containers into slot of positioning star, filling six slots of positioning star with containers, intake of product from pipeline made of rigid quick-release joints of Clamp type, into dosing cylinders due to the piston moving inside the dosing cylinder down with the product simultaneous supply with a pump or press, switching the valves into the dosing mode, lifting the containers to the nozzles, gradual lowering of containers down in parallel with pushing of product from dosing cylinder through nozzles into container due to moving piston upwards by servo motor, switching valves into mode of product intake, turning position star at a given step, output of filled container onto conveyor.

EFFECT: possibility to pack thick product into containers, increased reliability of pipeline system, increased accuracy of dosing due to accurate piston stroke in dosing cylinder, elimination of external factors influence on accuracy of piston stroke.

1 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the field of dosing liquid media, for example into bottles, jars, and can be used in various branches of technology, for example, in bottling food products, packaging liquid medicines, household chemicals, perfumes, etc.

A rotary type pouring machine is known (patent application No. 2005110654), comprising a rotor driven into rotation around a vertical axis of the machine, a boiler located on the rotor, the internal space of which forms a volume for liquid occupied by a liquid product and an overlying gas volume, several pouring elements located on the rotor, having in the body, respectively, a channel for liquid with a valve for liquid between the connection for liquid with the volume for liquid and an outlet made on the lower side of the body, as well as a return gas pipe open on the outlet, connected to gas tracts made in the body of the pouring element.

A dosing device is known (patent No. 2342313) comprising a filling head, a liquid supply line to the dispenser with a shut-off element on the line, a liquid outflow channel into the container, air tubes, an internal cylindrical chamber with a vacuum-forming ejector placed in it, and a membrane. The membrane is located on the upper part of the head. A channel is provided to connect the air cavity above the liquid level in the container with the space under the membrane. The device has a membrane position sensor. The liquid supply channel to the head has an outlet located tangentially to the head axis. The vacuum-forming ejector is located inside the head chamber, but outside the air tube coaxially to the chamber and to the tube. The liquid outflow channel from the internal chamber of the head into the container is made in the form of a nozzle. The vacuum-forming ejector is located so that its lower edge coincides in height with the minimum cross-section of the nozzle.

A multi-jet container filling system is known (patent No. 2474531), taken as a prototype. It comprises a closed conveyor and micro-ingredient dispensers installed next to the closed conveyor and containing one or more micro-ingredients with a dilution ratio of at least 10:1, and one or more macro-ingredient stations installed next to the closed conveyor. In this case, the micro-ingredient dispensers are designed with the ability to dispense the required doses of micro-ingredients without stopping the closed conveyor at each of the said dispensers.

The main disadvantage of the existing dosing mechanisms is the dosing of exclusively liquid product and the impossibility of packing thick product. Also, the dosing mechanisms in No. 2005110654 and No. 2342313 have one filling head, which reduces the productivity of the installation.

The task that the invention is aimed at solving is the creation of a method for volumetric bottling of thick products, which allows for the packing of a thick product into containers with high reliability and accuracy.

The technical result obtained with the practical use of the proposed invention is the ability to pack a thick product into a container, increased reliability of the pipeline system, increased dosing accuracy due to the precise stroke of the piston in the dosing cylinder, and the absence of the influence of external factors on the accuracy of the piston stroke.

The stated task is solved due to the fact that, according to the declared technical solution, the method of volumetric filling of thick products includes the entry of containers into the groove of the positioning star, filling six grooves of the positioning star with containers, taking the product from a pipeline made of rigid quick-release connections of the Clamp type into the dosing cylinders by moving the piston inside the dosing cylinder downwards with simultaneous feeding of the product by a pump or press, switching the valves to the dosing mode, lifting the container to the nozzles, gradually lowering the container downwards in parallel with pushing the product out of the dosing cylinder through the nozzles into the container by moving the piston upwards by the servomotor, switching the valves to the product intake mode, turning the positioning star by a given step, and exiting the filled container onto the conveyor.

The proposed method of volumetric filling of thick products is illustrated by the drawings: Fig. 1 - general view of the dispenser, Fig. 2 - detailed view of the dosing zone, Fig. 3 - view of the container lifting zone.

The following notations are introduced:

1 - inlet conveyor installation location, 2 - inlet opening, 3 - outlet conveyor installation location, 4 - positioning star, 5 - groove, 6 - metering cylinder, 7 - valve, 8 - nozzle, 9 - servo drive, 10 - body, 11 - container lifting mechanism.

General principle of operation of the dosing unit (Fig. 1): the container enters the slot of the positioning star 4 via the input conveyor 1 (not shown), the appearance of the container is recorded by an optical sensor (not shown) and the star rotates by a given step, after filling six slots of the positioning star with the container - the filling process begins. The product is fed into the input opening 2 of the pipeline (any connection can be made: threaded, flanged, etc.). After the end of the dosing cycle, the filled container at each step of the positioning star goes out onto the conveyor 3 (not shown) and moves to the next technological operation.

After filling all six slots 5 (Fig. 2) of the position star with PLC, a signal is sent to take the product from the pipeline into the metering cylinders 6, which have a certain volume, filling occurs due to the movement of the piston inside the metering cylinder downwards, creating a vacuum in the cylinder and sucking the product inside. Also, the product can already be under pressure in the case of using an external pump or press, which facilitates the process of sucking in the product. The piston is moved by rotating the shaft of the servo drive 9 (Fig. 3), which, via a belt drive, transmits rotation to the screw of the ball-screw drive installed in the housing 10, the axis of which has a rigid connection with the piston in the metering cylinder. After filling the dosing cylinder, a signal is received from the PLC to switch all six valves 7 from the product intake position to the product dosing position through the nozzles 8. After switching the valves, the container lifting mechanism 11 to the nozzles is triggered and, gradually lowering the container down parallel to filling with the product, dosing occurs. To supply the product, the servomotor moves the piston up, thereby pushing the product out of the dosing cylinder into the nozzles. The container lifting and lowering mechanism works similarly to the movement of the piston in the dosing cylinder, only instead of the piston itself, there is a container lifting and lowering platform. At the end of the dosing cycle, all six valves switch back to the product intake mode, the position star begins to rotate by a given step, the filled container goes out onto the conveyor, and the empty one goes into the grooves of the position star and the dosing cycle is repeated.

The features of this filling principle are the absence of flexible hoses in the product supply system, as well as the replacement of the pneumatic cylinder, which is the piston drive in the dosing cylinder, with a servomotor and a screw pair. These changes make it possible to pack thick products, since the servomotor can create more force on the piston than the pneumatic cylinder, and a rigidly connected pipeline can withstand more pressure in the system than flexible hoses. Also, with the help of a servomotor, it is more convenient and easier to adjust the piston stroke in the dosing cylinder, since the number of revolutions of the servomotor shaft is set directly from the machine control panel and cannot change in the event of exposure to external factors (for example, vibration). Adjustment of the piston stroke on the pneumatic cylinder is carried out by moving the magnetic reed switch, which registers the position of the piston and stops the air supply to the pneumatic cylinder. The disadvantage of this solution is the lower accuracy of the piston stroke of the dosing cylinder and the influence of external factors on the position of the reed switch. As a result, with the help of these features, it was possible to achieve the following technical result: the ability to pack a thick product into containers, increased reliability of the pipeline system, increased dosing accuracy due to the precise stroke of the piston in the dosing cylinder, and the absence of influence of external factors on the accuracy of the piston stroke.

Ensuring the reliability of the pipeline consists in eliminating flexible connections in the product intake and supply system. The entire pipeline main is made in the form of rigid pipeline connections on quick-release Clamp type connections. Lowering the nozzles into the container to improve dosing accuracy and reduce product splashing is replaced by lifting the container to the nozzles. Raising the container to the nozzles provides the same advantages as lowering the nozzles into the container.

Claims (1)

A method for volumetric filling of thick products, including the entry of a container into a slot of a positioning star, filling six slots of the positioning star with the container, taking the product from a pipeline made of rigid quick-release connections of the Clamp type into dosing cylinders by moving a piston inside the dosing cylinder downwards with simultaneous feeding of the product by a pump or press, switching the valves to the dosing mode, lifting the container to the nozzles, gradually lowering the container downwards in parallel with pushing the product out of the dosing cylinder through the nozzles into the container by moving the piston upwards by a servomotor, switching the valves to the product taking mode, turning the positioning star by a given step, and exiting the filled container onto a conveyor.