Powder filling apparatus

Abstract

To provide a powder and granular material filling device having a drive control structure of a stirring member 40 capable of stabilizing a powder and granular material filling amount.SOLUTION: A stirring control unit 60 for controlling the drive of the stirring member 40 is provided. The stirring control unit 60 controls driving of the stirring member so that the stirring member 40 passes through the lower region of the powder and granular material insertion port 13 at least once to stir the powder and granular material in the lower region on the basis of the position of the stirring member 40 in the rotation direction recognized by the stirring member position recognition unit during each filling cycle for each object 100 to be filled recognized by the filling cycle recognition unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This invention relates to a powdered or granular material filling device that is configured to discharge powdered or granular material inserted into a hopper through a powdered or granular material insertion port through the rotation of an auger shaft and fill it into an object to be filled located below. [Background technology]

[0002] Various conventional powder and granular material filling devices have been proposed that are equipped with a structure for agitating powder and granular material within a hopper in order to achieve stable, constant filling. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an agitator (stirring member) having beam members and stirring blades, which effectively stir the powder raw material put into a hopper without causing ratholes, thereby stabilizing the powder filling amount.

[0003] Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration equipped with a lower stirring member and an upper stirring member, in which the upper stirring member stirs the upper part of the powder stirring area formed by the lower stirring member, thereby suppressing the swirling motion of the powder, preventing excess air from being mixed into the powder, and stabilizing the powder filling amount.

[0004] Furthermore, Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration equipped with plate-shaped blades and an inverted U-shaped breaker, which prevents the rotation of the blades from creating tunnel-like holes in the powder inside the hopper, and also uses the breaker to loosen and fluidize the powder that has separated from the rotation axis, thereby stabilizing the amount of powder filled. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-132427 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-289379 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-043813 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The inventions disclosed in the above-mentioned patent documents all aim to stabilize the powder filling amount by focusing on the structure of the member that stirs the powder or granular material. In contrast, the inventors of the present invention have focused on the drive control of the stirring member and have carried out development, and as a result of extensive investigation, have been able to achieve a significantly more stable and fixed amount of powder or granular material filling with less variation by appropriately controlling the drive of the stirring member.

[0007] That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a powdered or granular material filling device having a drive control structure for an agitating member that can stabilize the amount of powdered or granular material filled. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, the powdered or granular material filling device of the present invention comprises: a hopper having an inverted conical peripheral wall, a powdered or granular material insertion port provided inside the peripheral wall for inserting powdered or granular material from above, and a powdered or granular material outlet formed at the inner bottom; a powdered or granular material filling tube having an upper end connected to the powdered or granular material outlet of the hopper and a lower end serving as a powdered or granular material discharge port; and an auger shaft arranged coaxially within the hollow part of the powdered or granular material filling tube, wherein, as the auger shaft rotates, the powdered or granular material inserted inside the hopper is discharged through the powdered or granular material discharge port through the hollow part of the powdered or granular material filling tube, and the powdered or granular material is filled into a filling object arranged below the powdered or granular material discharge port, and further comprises: a stirring member that rotates inside the hopper and stirs the powdered or granular material inserted inside the hopper, and a stirring control unit that controls the drive of the stirring member.

[0009] The stirring control unit is characterized by including an agitator position recognition section that recognizes the rotational position of the agitator; a filling cycle recognition section that recognizes the timing of the filling cycle for each filling object placed successively below the powder / granular material discharge outlet, with a filling cycle being from the start of filling of powder / granular material for one filling object placed below the powder / granular material discharge outlet to the start of filling of the next; and an agitator member drive control section that controls the drive of the agitator so that the agitator passes through the area below the powder / granular material insertion port at least once to agitate the powder / granular material in that area, based on the rotational position of the agitator member recognized by the agitator position recognition section, during each filling cycle for each filling object recognized by the filling cycle recognition section.

[0010] Here, it is preferable that the agitator member drive control unit is configured to control the drive of the agitator member so as to stop the agitator member at a position outside the lower area of ​​the powder and granular material insertion port based on the rotational position of the agitator member recognized by the agitator member position recognition unit.

[0011] Furthermore, the agitator drive control unit can be configured to control the drive of the agitator so as to stop the agitator at the position where it was stopped before filling began, based on the rotational position of the agitator recognized by the agitator position recognition unit.

[0012] Alternatively, a plurality of stirring members may be provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction around the rotation axis, and the stirring members may rotate integrally with the rotation axis. In this case, the stirring member position recognition unit has a function of recognizing the rotational positions of the stirring members. The stirring member drive control unit is preferably configured to control the drive of the plurality of stirring members so that each stirring member stops at a position where any one of the stirring members was stopped before the start of filling, based on the rotational positions of the stirring members recognized by the stirring member position recognition unit.

[0013] Furthermore, when the agitator is stopped at a preset number of filling cycles (X), the agitator drive control section can be configured to control the rotation amount (nX) of the agitator from when the agitator starts to drive until the number of filling cycles (X) ends using the following formula: nX=X×N / m Note that N is an arbitrary natural number, and m is the number of stirring members.

[0014] In addition, the stirring member can be configured so that a portion of it rotates and moves inside the powder or granular material inserted inside the hopper to stir the powder or granular material, and at least any portion from the upper end is exposed from the top surface of the powder or granular material inserted inside the hopper. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] According to the present invention, during each filling cycle for the filling objects sequentially arranged below the powder / granular material discharge port, the stirring member passes through the area below the powder / granular material insertion port at least once to stir the powder / granular material in that area, thereby preventing the powder / granular material from accumulating in the area below the powder / granular material insertion port and achieving stabilization of the amount of powder / granular material filled into each filling object. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 is a front cross-sectional view showing, in simplified form, the overall structure of a powder or granular material filling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] (a) is an enlarged front cross-sectional view showing the inside of the hopper of a powder / granular material filling device and its surrounding structure, and (b) is an enlarged view showing a schematic diagram of the phenomenon in which the surface of the powder / granular material rises in the area below the powder / granular material insertion port. [Figure 3] 10(a) to 10(c) are plan views showing examples of the configuration and operation of the stirring member. [Figure 4] 10(a) to 10(c) are plan views showing examples of the configuration and operation of other stirring members. [Figure 5] 10(a) to 10(c) are plan views showing further examples of the configuration and operation of the stirring member. [Figure 6]2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the powder / granular material filling device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front cross-sectional view showing, in a simplified form, the overall structure of a powder or granular material filling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The powdered or granular material filling device shown in the figure comprises a hopper 10 into which powdered or granular material is inserted and stored, a powdered or granular material filling tube 20 connected to the inner bottom of the hopper 10, an auger shaft 30 which guides the powdered or granular material in the hopper 10 into the hollow portion of the powdered or granular material filling tube 20, transports the powdered or granular material within the hollow portion, and discharges it from the lower end opening, and a stirring member 40 which stirs the powdered or granular material inserted inside the hopper 10.

[0018] FIG. 2(a) is an enlarged front cross-sectional view showing the inside of a hopper 10 of a powder or granular material filling device and its surrounding structure. Hopper 10 is a hollow tank having an inverted conical peripheral wall 11. A powder / granular material insertion pipe 12, also called a short pipe, is connected to the ceiling of hopper 10. The opening at the bottom of powder / granular material insertion pipe 12 forms powder / granular material insertion port 13, and powder / granular material stored in a powder / granular material storage tank (not shown) is inserted into the hopper 10 from powder / granular material insertion port 13 via powder / granular material insertion pipe 12. Hopper 10 is provided with a sensor 14 that detects the surface height of the powder / granular material inserted and piled up inside. Furthermore, a powder / granular material outlet 15 opens at the inside bottom of hopper 10.

[0019] The powder / granular material filling tube 20, also called a funnel tube, is connected to the inner bottom of the hopper 10. The upper opening of the powder / granular material filling tube 20 communicates with the powder / granular material outlet 15 of the hopper 10, and the powder / granular material in the hopper 10 is sent from the powder / granular material outlet 15 into the hollow portion of the powder / granular material filling tube 20. The opening at the bottom end of the powder / granular material filling cylinder 20 is a powder / granular material discharge port 21. A conveying path 101 for the objects 100 to be filled is provided below the powder / granular material filling cylinder 20, as shown in FIG.

[0020] Various types of objects capable of being filled with powder or granular material, such as a packaging bag or a packaging container, can be used as the filling object 100. The filling object 100 that has been filled with powder or granular material and then sealed moves from directly below the powder or granular material discharge port 21 and is carried out along the conveying path 101. Then, a new empty filling object 100 is placed directly below the powder or granular material discharge port 21.

[0021] The auger shaft 30 is coaxially disposed within the hollow portion of the powder / granular material filling cylinder 20 and is connected to the lower end of an auger rotation drive shaft 31. The auger rotation drive shaft 31 is disposed along the central axis of the hopper 10 and is rotationally driven by the driving force of an auger shaft drive motor 32 shown in FIG. 1. The auger shaft 30 is also rotationally driven together with the auger rotation drive shaft 31 by the driving force of the auger shaft drive motor 32.

[0022] A screw blade 30a is provided on the circumferential surface of the auger shaft 30. When the auger shaft 30 is rotated by the driving force from the auger shaft drive motor 32, the powder or granular material stored inside the hopper 10 is guided by the screw blade 30a of the auger shaft 30, flows through the powder or granular material outlet 15 into the hollow portion of the powder or granular material filling tube 20, is transported downward, and is discharged from the powder or granular material discharge port 21. The powder or granular material discharged from the powder or granular material discharge port 21 is filled into the filling target object 100 located directly below it.

[0023] An agitation rotation drive shaft 41 is coaxially provided on the outer periphery of the auger rotation drive shaft 31. This agitation rotation drive shaft 41 is rotated by an agitation member drive motor 42 shown in FIG. It is preferable that the auger shaft drive motor 32 and the agitator drive motor 42 be both servo motors that can realize highly accurate rotation control.

[0024] The agitator 40 is disposed inside the hopper 10 and is attached to the lower end of the agitator rotary drive shaft 41. The agitator 40 rotates integrally with the agitator rotary drive shaft 41 to agitate the powder and granular material accumulated inside the hopper 10. The stirring member 40 may have various structures that rotate and move inside the powder or granular material, a portion of which is inserted inside the hopper 10, to stir the powder or granular material. For example, stirring members (agitators, breakers) disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 may be used.

[0025] 1 and 2(a), it is preferable that an arbitrary portion A of the upper end of the stirring member 40 is exposed from the upper surface H of the powder or granular material accumulated inside the hopper 10. By exposing an arbitrary portion A of the upper end of the stirring member 40 from the upper surface H of the powder or granular material in this way, the stirring member 40 can pass through an area close to the upper surface H of the powder or granular material and reliably stir that area.

[0026] As shown enlarged in Figure 2(b), it is inevitable that the upper surface H of the powder or granular material inserted into the hopper 10 through the powder or granular material insertion opening 13 and piled up will be higher than other areas in the region 13A below the powder or granular material insertion opening 13, where the powder or granular material falls. When the surface height of the powder or granular material is uneven, the density of the powder or granular material piled up in the hopper 10 may vary from place to place. This is thought to be because in the region below the powder or granular material insertion opening 13, where the surface of the powder or granular material is raised, the powder or granular material in the lower layer is more strongly compressed than in other regions, resulting in a higher density of the powder or granular material.

[0027] In this way, if the density of the powder and granular material accumulated in the hopper 10 varies from place to place, the density of the powder and granular material discharged from the powder and granular material outlet 15 will also become uneven, and there is a risk that the amount of powder and granular material filled into the filling object 100 will vary and become unstable.

[0028] Therefore, in the powder and granular material filling device of the present invention, the mound of powder and granular material in the lower region 13A of the powder and granular material insertion port 13 through which the powder and granular material falls is broken down by the stirring member 40, thereby making the surface height of the powder and granular material accumulated in the hopper 10 uniform.

[0029] Furthermore, if an arbitrary portion A from the upper end of the stirring member 40 is adjusted so as to be exposed from the upper surface H of the raised powder or granular material in the lower region 13A of the powder or granular material insertion port 13, the raised powder or granular material can be broken down even more effectively.

[0030] 3(a) to 3(c) are plan views showing examples of the configuration and operation of the stirring member. The stirring member 40 shown in Figures 1 to 3 is composed of a single stirring member 40, which is fixed to the stirring rotation drive shaft 41 and protrudes radially, and the stirring blade 40a rotates near the inner surface of the hopper 10 to stir the powder and granular material (see Figure 2(a)).

[0031] The agitator blade 40a is positioned so that it rotates along a trajectory that passes through the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13. Therefore, when the agitator blade 40a passes through the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13, it agitates the powder / granular material accumulated in this region 13A. This agitation action also causes the mounds of powder / granular material that have formed in this region 13A (see FIG. 2(b)) to collapse. As a result, the surface height of the powder / granular material accumulated in the hopper 10 becomes uniform, and at the same time, the density of the powder / granular material also becomes uniform. Of course, the overall agitation action of the agitator 40 contributes to the effect of uniforming the density of the powder / granular material accumulated in the hopper 10.

[0032] 3(a), the agitator 40 is controlled to stop at a position outside the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13. By rotating the agitator 40 from such a position, the agitator 40 can enter one end of the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13 and pass through to the other end in at least one rotation, thereby reliably agitating the entire region 13A.

[0033] Generally, with regard to the operation of a powdered or granular material filling device, the operation timing from the start of filling one filling object 100 placed below the powdered or granular material discharge outlet 21 to the start of the next filling is defined as a "filling cycle." Specifically, the auger shaft 30 is driven to rotate, and the powder or granular material discharged from the powder or granular material discharge port 21 is filled into the object 100 placed below, and when a preset amount of powder or granular material has been filled, this series of filling operations ends. Thereafter, the next object 100 to be filled is placed below the powder or granular material discharge port 21, and the operation timing up to the start of filling the next object 100 with powder or granular material is the filling cycle.

[0034] The powdered or granular material filling device of this embodiment drives and controls the agitating member 40 so that, for each filling object 100 placed successively below the powder or granular material discharge port 21, the agitating member 40 passes through the lower region 13A of the powder or granular material insertion port 13 at least once during each filling cycle to agitate the powder or granular material in that region 13A. This ensures that the powder and granular material accumulated in the lower region 13A of the powder and granular material insertion port 13 is stirred reliably at each filling cycle, thereby suppressing variations in powder and granular material density within the hopper 10 and achieving uniform filling amounts into the object to be filled 100.

[0035] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the agitator 40 is controlled to stop again at the position P where it was stopped before the timing of the start of filling, after the timing of the end of filling (see Figures 3(a) and (c)).

[0036] 4(a) to 4(c) are plan views showing other configuration examples and operations of the stirring member. The stirring member 40 shown in the figure is made up of two stirring members 40, which are fixed to the stirring rotation drive shaft 41 at 180° intervals in the circumferential direction of the stirring rotation drive shaft 41. The stirring blade 40a of each stirring member 40 is provided to protrude radially and rotates near the inner circumferential surface of the hopper 10 to stir the powder and granular material.

[0037] Each agitator 40 shown in the figure is also positioned so that the agitator blade 40a rotates along a trajectory that passes through the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13. Therefore, when the agitator blade 40a passes through the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13, it agitates the powder / granular material accumulated in that region 13A. This agitation action also causes the mound of powder / granular material that has formed in that region 13A (see FIG. 2(b)) to collapse. As a result, the surface height of the powder / granular material accumulated in the hopper 10 becomes uniform, and at the same time, the density of the powder / granular material is also uniform.

[0038] 4(a), the agitator 40 is controlled to stop at a position outside the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13. By rotating the agitator 40 from such a position, the agitator 40 can enter one end of the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion opening 13 and pass through to the other end in at least one rotation, thereby reliably agitating the entire region 13A.

[0039] The agitating members 40 configured as shown in FIGS. 4(a) to 4(c) are controlled to stop each agitating member 40 at the position where either one of the two agitating members 40 was stopped before the start of filling. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4(a), if the two agitating members 40 were stopped at positions P1 and P2, which are 180° apart, before the start of filling, the drive of each agitating member 40 is controlled to stop one agitating member 40 at position P1 and the other agitating member 40 at position P2 after the filling operation is completed. In this case, the agitating member 40 that was stopped at position P1 before the start of filling may be stopped at position P1 or position P2 after the filling operation is completed. Similarly, the agitating member 40 that was stopped at position P2 before the start of filling may be stopped at position P2 or position P1 after the filling operation is completed.

[0040] In an agitator 40 configured in this manner, the agitator 40 agitates the area 13A below the powder / granular material insertion port 13 each time the agitator 40 is rotated 180°, thereby more efficiently breaking down mounds of powder / granular material formed in the area 13A and making the density of the powder / granular material deposited in the hopper 10 uniform.

[0041] As shown in Figures 5(a) to (c), when four stirring members 40 are stopped at positions P1 to P4, respectively, before the start of filling, the stirring member 40 that was stopped at position P1 before the start of filling is controlled to stop at one of positions P1 to P4 after the filling operation is completed, and the other stirring members 40 are controlled in the same way.

[0042] In the agitator 40 configured in this manner, the agitator 40 agitates the area 13A below the powder / granular material insertion port 13 each time the agitator 40 is rotated 90°, thereby more efficiently breaking down the mounds of powder / granular material formed in the area 13A and making the density of the powder / granular material deposited in the hopper 10 uniform.

[0043] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control system of the powder / granular material filling device according to this embodiment. The powder and granular material filling device of this embodiment is equipped with an auger shaft control unit 50 for controlling the drive of the auger shaft drive motor 32 that rotates the auger shaft 30, and an agitation control unit 60 for controlling the drive of the agitation member drive motor 42 that rotates the agitation member 40.

[0044] Furthermore, the agitation control unit 60 includes a filling cycle recognition unit 61 that recognizes the timing of the filling cycle for each filling object 100 that is sequentially arranged below the powder / granular material discharge outlet 21, an agitation member position recognition unit 62 that recognizes the position of the agitation member 40 in the rotational direction, and an agitation member drive control unit 63 for controlling the rotation of the agitation member 40.

[0045] Each of these units 50 and 60 can be configured, for example, by a personal computer PC and a control program.

[0046] The auger shaft control unit 50 drives and rotates the auger shaft 30 in accordance with the filling cycle for each of the objects 100. Specifically, the auger shaft drive motor 32 is started in accordance with the timing when the filling of the powder or granular material starts, and is stopped in accordance with the timing when the filling of the powder or granular material ends. Here, the rotation amount (rotation angle) of the auger shaft 30 in each filling cycle is controlled to the rotation amount necessary to fill a predetermined amount of powder or granular material into the filling target 100 in a fixed amount.

[0047] A filling cycle measuring unit 70 is also connected to the auger shaft control unit 50. The filling cycle measuring unit 70 can be configured, for example, with a counter or timer that measures the filling cycle. The filling cycle timing for each filling object 100 is detected by this filling cycle measuring unit 70. The filling cycle measuring unit 70 outputs a timing detection signal for each filling cycle, and the filling cycle recognition unit 61 inputs this detection signal.

[0048] The filling cycle recognition unit 61 of the agitation control unit 60 inputs a timing detection signal from the filling cycle measurement unit 70 and recognizes the timing of the filling cycle for each filling object 100 from the control signal, i.e., the time timing from the start to the end of each filling cycle. Furthermore, agitator position recognition section 62 of agitation control unit 60 recognizes the position of agitator 40 in the rotational direction. Specifically, a rotation detection section 80 that detects the rotational movement of agitator drive motor 42 (servomotor) or agitator 40 is provided alongside, and agitator position recognition section 62 can recognize the position of agitator 40 in the rotational direction based on the detection signal output from rotation detection section 80. Rotation detection section 80 can be configured, for example, with an encoder that detects the rotation angle of agitator drive motor 42 (servomotor), a sensor that can detect the rotational position of agitator 40, or the like.

[0049] Then, the agitation member drive control section 63 of the agitation control unit 60 controls the drive of the agitation member 40 (specifically, the drive of the agitation member drive motor 42) based on the rotational position of the agitation member 40 recognized by the agitation member position recognition section 62 during each filling cycle for each filling object 100 recognized by the filling cycle recognition section 61, so that the agitation member 40 passes through the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion port 13 at least once to agitate the powder / granular material in the lower region 13A.

[0050] Furthermore, the agitator drive control unit 63 controls the drive of the agitator 40 so as to stop the agitator 40 at a position outside the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion port 13 based on the rotational position of the agitator 40 recognized by the agitator position recognition unit 62. In this embodiment, as described above, the drive of the agitating member 40 is controlled so that the agitating member 40 is stopped at the position P where the agitating member 40 was stopped before the start of filling.

[0051] 4 and 5, in a configuration in which a plurality of agitating members 40 are provided on the agitation rotation drive shaft 41, the agitation member position recognition unit 62 recognizes the positions of the plurality of agitating members 40 in the rotational direction.

[0052] Then, the agitator drive control unit 63 controls the drive of the agitator members 40 so that each agitator member 40 is stopped at a position outside the lower region 13A of the powder / granular material insertion port 13 based on the rotational positions of the multiple agitator members 40 recognized by the agitator position recognition unit 62. In this embodiment, as described above, the drive of the multiple agitating members 40 is controlled so that each of the multiple agitating members 40 is stopped at a position P1 to P4 where any one of the multiple agitating members 40 was stopped before filling began.

[0053] Here, when the agitation member drive control unit 63 stops the agitation member 40 at a preset number of filling cycles (X), the rotation amount (nX) of the agitation member 40 from when the agitation member 40 starts to drive until the number of filling cycles (X) ends is expressed by the following equation. nX=X×N / m Here, N is an arbitrary natural number, and m is the number of stirring members 40.

[0054] For example, in a powder filling device having one stirring member 40 as shown in FIG. When the stirring member 40 is stopped at the timing when the first filling is completed, the rotation amount (nX) of the stirring member 40 can be set to one rotation, two rotations, three rotations, or N rotations. Furthermore, in a powder / granular material filling device having four agitating members 40 as shown in FIG. 5, for example, when the agitating members 40 are to be stopped at the timing when the third filling is completed, the rotation amount (nX) of the agitating members 40 may be set to a multiple of 3 / 4 rotation.

[0055] Furthermore, even in conventional powdered and granular material filling devices, it is believed that during the filling cycle, the agitating member 40 may pass through the lower region 13A of the powdered and granular material insertion port 13 and agitate the powdered and granular material in the lower region 13A, or the agitating member 40 may stop at a position outside the lower region 13A of the powdered and granular material insertion port 13. However, there is no prior art that has a configuration that always drives and controls the stirring member 40 in this manner through control by the stirring control unit 60, and the present invention is clearly different from prior art in that it has such a control system (see Figure 6).

[0056] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications and applications are possible as required.

[0057] For example, the number of stirring members 40 fixed to the stirring rotation drive shaft 41 is not limited to the numbers shown in Figures 3 to 5, and for example, three or five or more stirring members 40 can be fixed to the stirring rotation drive shaft 41. [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 10: hopper, 11: peripheral wall, 12: powder / granular material insertion tube, 13: powder / granular material insertion port, 13A: lower region of powder / granular material insertion port, 14: sensor, 15: powder / granular material outlet, 20: Powder filling cylinder, 21: Powder discharge port, 30: Auger shaft, 30a: Screw blade, 31: Auger rotation drive shaft, 32: Auger shaft drive motor, 40: stirring member, 40a: stirring blade, 41: stirring rotation drive shaft, 42: stirring member drive motor, 50: Auger axis control unit, 60: Agitation control unit, 61: Filling cycle recognition unit, 62: Agitation member position recognition unit, 63: Agitation member drive control unit, 70: Filling cycle measuring unit, 80: Rotation detection unit, 100: filling object, 101: conveying path

Claims

1. a hopper having an inverted cone-shaped peripheral wall, a powder / granule material insertion port for inserting powder / granule material from above within an interior surrounded by the peripheral wall, and a powder / granule material outlet formed in an inner bottom portion; a powder / granule filling cylinder having an upper end connected to the powder / granule outlet of the hopper and a lower end serving as a powder / granule discharge port; an auger shaft arranged coaxially within the hollow portion of the powder or granular material filling cylinder, A powdered or granular material filling device configured to discharge powdered or granular material inserted into the hopper through a hollow portion of the powdered or granular material filling cylinder and from the powdered or granular material discharge outlet as the auger shaft rotates, and to fill a filling target placed below the powdered or granular material discharge outlet with the powdered or granular material, The apparatus further includes an agitator that rotates inside the hopper and agitates the powder or granular material inserted inside the hopper, and an agitation control unit that controls the drive of the agitator, The stirring control unit an agitator position recognition unit that recognizes the position of the agitator in the rotation direction; a filling cycle recognition unit that recognizes the timing of the filling cycle for each of the filling objects sequentially arranged below the powder or granular material discharge outlet, the filling cycle being defined as the period from the start of filling of powder or granular material into one filling object arranged below the powder or granular material discharge outlet to the start of filling of the next filling; a stirring member drive control unit that controls the drive of the stirring member so that the stirring member passes through the area below the powder / granular material insertion port at least once to stir the powder / granular material in the area below, based on the rotational position of the stirring member recognized by the stirring member position recognition unit, during each filling cycle for each filling object recognized by the filling cycle recognition unit.

2. The powdered or granular material filling device described in claim 1, characterized in that the agitating member drive control unit controls the drive of the agitating member so as to stop the agitating member at a position outside the lower area of ​​the powder or granular material insertion port based on the rotational position of the agitating member recognized by the agitating member position recognition unit.

3. The powder and granular material filling device described in claim 2, characterized in that the agitator drive control unit controls the drive of the agitator so as to stop the agitator at the position where the agitator was stopped before filling started, based on the rotational position of the agitator recognized by the agitator position recognition unit.

4. The stirring members are provided at equal intervals in a circumferential direction around the rotation shaft, and the stirring members rotate integrally with the rotation shaft. the stirring member position recognition unit has a function of recognizing the positions of the plurality of stirring members in a rotational direction, The powder and granular material filling device described in claim 2, characterized in that the agitation member drive control unit controls the drive of the multiple agitation members so that each of the multiple agitation members stops at a position where any of the multiple agitation members was stopped before filling started, based on the rotational positions of the multiple agitation members recognized by the agitation member position recognition unit.

5. The stirring member drive control section When the stirring member is stopped at a predetermined number of filling cycles (X), 5. The powdered or granular material filling device according to claim 3, wherein the rotation amount (nX) of the agitating member from when the agitating member starts to be driven until the number of filling cycles (X) is completed is controlled by the following formula: nX = X × N / m Here, N is an arbitrary natural number, and m is the number of the stirring members.

6. The powdered or granular material filling device described in claim 1, characterized in that a portion of the stirring member rotates and moves inside the powder or granular material inserted inside the hopper to stir the powder or granular material, and at least an arbitrary portion from the upper end is exposed from the top surface of the powder or granular material inserted inside the hopper.

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