Container dehydrator

Abstract

To provide a container dehydrator enabled to further improve dehydration efficiency.SOLUTION: The container dehydrator comprises a support table 3 supporting a container C, and a plurality of support columns 5 are erected on the support table 3 in a manner of surrounding the container C. A plurality of stoppers 6 are each detachably attached to a corresponding support column 5. The stoppers 6 are configured to restrict the container C from moving in the disengaging direction from the rotation direction of the container C, when the support table 3 is rotated by a rotary drive shaft 7.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a container dewatering device capable of dewatering a container. [Background technology]

[0002] Generally, shallow box-shaped containers used to store and transport various small items such as beverage crates, food crates, and trays for packaged ingredients are collected after a certain number of repeated uses or after each use, and are washed and dried to remove dirt and sterilize them before being reused.

[0003] As an apparatus for dehydrating such container containers, for example, a dehydrating apparatus as described in Patent Document 1 is known. In the dehydrating apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a lifting base waiting below is raised by the advancement operation of a lifting cylinder, so that a container container is transferred from the second chain conveyor onto the lifting base, and is then pressed against the rotary drive frame above, and a pair of anti-slip pins 35 engage with each of the four corners of the container container from both sides, thereby locking the container container to the rotary drive frame so that it cannot rotate relative to the rotary drive frame. Next, the rotary drive frame rotates at high speed by the operation of a drive motor, and the container container engaged with the rotary drive frame and the lifting base rotate together, so that moisture adhering to the container container is removed by centrifugal dehydration. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-132541 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Although the above-mentioned dehydration apparatus can improve the processing efficiency and reduce the labor required for line construction work, there is a problem that there is room for further improvement since the container vessel needs to be raised and lowered.

[0006] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a container dewatering device that can further improve the processing efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The above-mentioned problems can be solved by the following means. Note that the parentheses indicate reference symbols of the embodiments described below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0008] The container dewatering device according to claim 1 comprises a support stand (3) for supporting a container (C); a support column (5) erected on the support stand (3) so as to surround the container vessel (C); A stopper portion (6) that is detachably provided on the support portion (5); A driving means (rotary drive shaft 7, motor M) for rotating the support table (3), The stopper portion (6) is When the support base (3) is rotated by the driving means (rotation drive shaft 7, motor M), the container container (C) is restricted from moving in a direction away from the rotation direction of the container container (C) (left and right direction in FIG. 2).

[0009] The container dewatering apparatus according to claim 2 is the container dewatering apparatus (1) according to claim 1, The stopper portion (6) is an insertion portion (61) to be inserted into the support portion (5); and a restricting portion (60) provided so as to be positioned on a side surface (Ca) of the container vessel (C). Effect of the Invention

[0010] Next, the effects of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the reference symbols in the parentheses are those of the embodiments described below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0011] According to the invention of claim 1, when the support stand (3) is rotationally driven by the drive means (rotary drive shaft 7, motor M), the container container (C) rotates. At this time, the stopper portion (6) regulates the container container (C) from moving in a direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2) away from the rotation direction of the container container (C). As a result, not only is moisture adhering to the container container (C) removed by the centrifugal dehydration action as in the conventional method, but it also makes it unnecessary to raise and lower the container container (C) as in the conventional method.

[0012] Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to further improve the processing efficiency.

[0013] According to the invention as defined in claim 2, the stopper portion (6) has a simple structure and can be easily manufactured. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a container dewatering device of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of the container dewatering device according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3] 13 is a front view showing a configuration in which a connecting portion is added to the stopper portion according to the embodiment, and showing a state in which a rotation drive shaft, a timing belt, a motor, and a processing chamber have been removed. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a container dewatering device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, when directions such as up, down, left and right are indicated, they refer to up, down, left and right when viewed from the front in the drawings.

[0016] <Explanation of container dehydration equipment> 1 and 2, container containers C washed in a processing chamber of a cleaning device (not shown) are stacked vertically in multiple tiers by a pre-stacker (not shown) and then transported to the container container dehydration device 1. As shown in Fig. 2, the container container dehydration device 1 has a processing chamber 2 formed in a rectangular shape in cross section when viewed from the front, and a support table 3 provided in the processing chamber 2 and having a horizontally elongated rectangular shape when viewed from the front. The container containers C stacked vertically in multiple tiers are supported on the support table 3, as shown in Fig. 2.

[0017] On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 1, a base 4 having a rectangular shape in a plan view is attached and fixed to the support stand 3 with screws 4a at a predetermined interval so as to surround the periphery of the container vessel C. Then, as shown in Fig. 2, a warhead-shaped support section 5 extending vertically upward is attached and fixed to the base 4.

[0018] On the other hand, such a support portion 5 is provided with a stopper portion 6 which can be freely attached and detached, as shown in Fig. 2. This stopper portion 6 has a restricting portion 60 provided at a position adjacent to a side surface Ca of the container container C, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This restricting portion 60 is formed in an inverted L-shape when viewed from the front, as shown in Fig. 2, and is capable of restricting movement of the container container C in the left-right direction in the figure. In other words, even if the container container C moves in the left-right direction as shown in Fig. 2, the side surface Ca of the container container C comes into contact with the restricting portion 60, and this makes it possible to restrict movement of the container container C in the left-right direction in the figure.

[0019] On the other hand, a pair of insertion parts 61 are attached and fixed to the restricting part 60 at a predetermined interval in the up-down direction as shown in Fig. 2. The insertion parts 61 are formed in a generally rectangular shape when viewed from the front as shown in Fig. 2, are hollow, and have an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the support part 5. Therefore, the insertion parts 61 are formed in a cylindrical shape, and can be inserted into and removed from the support part 5 as shown in Fig. 2.

[0020] Thus, when such a stopper part 6 is attached to or detached from the support part 5, it can be attached or detached using a robot hand RH attached to the tip of a robot arm RA as shown in FIG. 2. That is, by using the robot hand RH shown in FIG. 2 to hold the insertion part 61 of the stopper part 6 by suction or the like and move it in a vertically upward direction, the insertion part 61 can be removed from the support part 5. At this time, since the restricting part 60 and the insertion part 61 are fixedly attached, the restricting part 60 also moves in a vertically upward direction together with the insertion part 61. This allows the stopper part 6 to be removed from the support part 5. On the other hand, by using the robot hand RH shown in FIG. 2 to hold the insertion part 61 of the stopper part 6 by suction or the like and move it in a vertically downward direction, the insertion part 61 can be inserted into the support part 5. At this time, since the restricting part 60 and the insertion part 61 are fixedly attached, the restricting part 60 also moves in a vertically downward direction together with the insertion part 61. This allows the stopper part 6 to be attached to the support part 5. Therefore, in this way, the stopper portion 6 can be attached to and detached from the support portion 5.

[0021] Thus, if the stopper portion 6 is detachably attached to the support portion 5 in this way, it becomes possible to accommodate various sizes of container containers C. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, when the width (width in the left-right direction) of the container container C is smaller than the width (width in the left-right direction) of the container container C shown in FIG. 2, the restricting portion 60 and the inserting portion 61 may be connected by a connecting portion 62 having a horizontally elongated rectangular shape in a front view as shown in FIG. 3 in order to match the width (width in the left-right direction) of the container container C. In this way, since the distance between the restricting portion 60 and the inserting portion 61 becomes longer than that in FIG. 2, it is possible to accommodate the container container C shown in FIG. 3, which is smaller than the width (width in the left-right direction) of the container container C shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, if the connecting portion 62 having a longer or shorter width (width in the left-right direction shown in FIG. 3) is prepared, it becomes possible to accommodate various sizes of container containers C simply by attaching and detaching the stopper portion 6 to and from the support portion 5.

[0022] On the other hand, even if the connecting portion 62 is not provided with a longer or shorter width (width in the left-right direction shown in FIG. 3), the inserting portion 61 may be rotated 180 degrees from the position of the inserting portion 61 shown by the solid line to the position of the inserting portion 61 shown by the dashed line as shown in FIG. 3, and inserted into the support portion 5 using the robot hand RH shown in FIG. In this way, it becomes possible to accommodate container vessels C of two sizes. The same applies to FIG. 2 in which the connecting portion 62 is not provided.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 2, a rotary drive shaft 7 having a generally rectangular shape in front view is attached and fixed to the lower part of the support base 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotary drive shaft 7 is rotatably attached to the rotary shaft Ma of the motor M via a timing belt 8. As a result, when the motor M is driven to rotate, the rotary drive shaft 7 rotates via the timing belt 8. At this time, since the support base 3 is attached and fixed to the rotary drive shaft 7, the support base 3 also rotates in accordance with the rotation of the rotary drive shaft 7. Therefore, the container containers C stacked in multiple tiers on the support base 3 also rotate in accordance with the rotation of the support base 3. As a result, moisture adhering to the container containers C is removed by centrifugal dehydration, as in the conventional case.

[0024] As described above, the stopper portion 6 is attached to the support portion 5 as shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, when the container containers C stacked in multiple tiers supported on the support base 3 rotate, even if the container containers C try to move in a direction away from the rotation direction (left and right direction in Fig. 2), the restricting portion 60 restricts the movement of the container containers C in the left and right direction in the figure. In other words, even if the container containers C move in a direction away from the rotation direction of the container containers C (left and right direction in Fig. 2), the side surface Ca of the container container C comes into contact with the restricting portion 60, and this restricts the movement of the container containers C in the left and right direction in the figure.

[0025] Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is no longer necessary to raise and lower the container C as in the conventional method, and therefore it is possible to further improve the processing efficiency compared to the conventional method.

[0026] <Description of Modifications> It should be noted that the contents exemplified in this embodiment are merely examples, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention as described in the claims. For example, in this embodiment, the stopper portion 6 is exemplified as described above, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any configuration may be used as long as it can restrict the container container C from moving in the direction of its removal from the rotation direction of the container container C when the support base 3 is rotated. However, it is preferable that the stopper portion 6 has the configuration described above. This is because the configuration described above simplifies the configuration and makes it easier to manufacture.

[0027] Further, in this embodiment, a plurality of container vessels C are exemplified, but the present invention can of course also be applied to a single container vessel C. [Explanation of symbols]

[0028] 1 Container dehydration equipment 3 Support stand 5 Support section 6 Stopper part 60 Regulatory Department 61 Insertion section 62 Connecting part 7 Rotating drive shaft (drive means) M Motor (drive means) C Container Ca side

Claims

1. A support base for supporting the container vessel; A support column is provided on the support base so as to surround the container vessel; A stopper portion detachably provided on the support portion; A driving means for rotating the support base, The stopper portion is A container dewatering device that restricts the container from moving in a direction away from the rotation direction of the container when the support table is rotationally driven by the driving means.

2. The stopper portion is An insertion portion to be inserted into the support portion; The container dewatering apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a restricting portion provided to be positioned on a side surface of the container.

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