UV sterilization device

Abstract

To provide a UV light sterilization device capable of sterilizing the whole surface of a workpiece even with a reduced number of UV light sources.SOLUTION: A UV light sterilization device 10 comprises a workpiece feed mechanism 11 for feeding workpieces (balls B) one by one to a processing position 100, a workpiece rotation mechanism 16 for rotating the workpiece at the processing position 100, a UV light irradiation part 13 for applying UV light to the rotating workpiece at the processing position 100, and a workpiece discharge mechanism 17 for discharging the workpiece from the processing position 100. The UV light is applied to the rotating workpiece staying at the processing position 100, so that the whole surface of the workpiece can be sterilized with a reduced number of UV light sources.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus for sterilizing an object to be treated by irradiating the object with ultraviolet light, and more particularly to an apparatus for sterilizing an object to be treated that has a spherical, ellipsoidal, or cylindrical shape, or a shape similar to any of these shapes. [Background technology]

[0002] In sports that use balls, such as basketball and volleyball, multiple players touch the same ball during competition and practice. If one of these players is infected with pathogenic bacteria or viruses, there is a risk that the ball touched by the infected player will become contaminated with bacteria or viruses and infect other players through that ball. To reduce this risk, there is a demand for sterilizing balls after use.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses an ultraviolet sterilization device that includes a roller conveyor made up of a number of rollers arranged side by side, and irradiates ultraviolet rays onto objects to be treated while being transported by the roller conveyor. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 64-026041 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In order to enhance the sterilization effect of the object to be treated, it is necessary to thoroughly irradiate the entire surface of the object to be treated with ultraviolet light. Therefore, in the ultraviolet sterilization device described in Patent Document 1, ultraviolet light sources are arranged above, on both sides, and between (below) adjacent rollers so as to surround the object transport space above the roller conveyor. However, a configuration in which ultraviolet light sources are arranged at multiple locations surrounding the object transport space has the problem of requiring many ultraviolet light sources.

[0006] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an ultraviolet sterilization device that can sterilize the entire surface of an object to be treated even if the number of ultraviolet light sources is reduced. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The ultraviolet sterilization device according to the present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems, is: covered a processing object supply mechanism that supplies processing objects one by one to a predetermined processing position; At the processing position A mechanism for rotating an object to be processed, comprising two parallel rotating shafts, two rotating bodies provided on each of the two rotating shafts and supporting the object to be processed at its lower part, for a total of four rotating bodies, and a driving unit for rotating at least one of the rotating bodies. a workpiece rotating mechanism; The object to be treated rotating at the treatment position is irradiated with ultraviolet light. Purple an external beam irradiation unit; Discharging the object from the processing position The mechanism includes two support parts that support the two rotating shafts, respectively, and a movement mechanism that moves one or both of the support parts between a first state in which the two rotating shafts are close to each other so that the four rotating bodies can support the workpiece, and a second state in which the two rotating shafts are separated from each other so that the four rotating bodies cannot support the workpiece. Discharge mechanism for processed material The present invention is characterized by comprising: Another aspect of the ultraviolet sterilization device according to the present invention is: a processing object supply mechanism that supplies spherical processing objects one by one to a predetermined processing position; a treatment object rotation mechanism having three or more rotating bodies, which are wheels that can rotate in all directions and support the treatment object at its lower part, and a drive unit that rotates at least one of the rotating bodies in various directions, and which rotates the treatment object while keeping it at the treatment position; an ultraviolet irradiation unit that irradiates ultraviolet rays onto the object to be treated that is rotating at the treatment position; a treatment object discharge mechanism that discharges the treatment object from the treatment position; The present invention is characterized by comprising:

[0008] According to the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present invention, ultraviolet rays are irradiated onto the object to be treated that remains in the treatment position while rotating using the object to be treated rotation mechanism, so the entire surface of the object to be treated can be sterilized even if the number of ultraviolet irradiation units (ultraviolet light sources) is fewer than in conventional ultraviolet sterilization devices (in which ultraviolet light sources are arranged to surround the space through which the object to be treated is transported).

[0009] In the present invention, the object to be processed is anything that can be rotated by the object rotation mechanism. Typical examples include spherical balls such as volleyballs and basketballs, but it can also be an oval ball such as a rugby ball. Furthermore, the object to be processed may be anything other than a ball, such as fruits or vegetables, as long as it has a shape that can be rotated by the object rotation mechanism, such as a sphere, an oval sphere, a cylinder, or a shape similar to these (however, it is not limited to the shapes exemplified here).

[0010] The workpiece rotating mechanism can be composed of three or more rotating bodies that support the workpiece at its lower part, and a drive unit that rotates at least one of the rotating bodies. If the three or more rotating bodies are, for example, wheels that can rotate in all directions, and the drive unit is configured to rotate one of the rotating bodies in various directions, the rotation of one rotating body causes the object to rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation of that rotating body, and the remaining rotating bodies rotate in the same direction as that of the one rotating body. With this configuration, the entire surface of the object to be treated can be sterilized by simply irradiating ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet irradiation unit onto a portion of the surface of the object to be treated.

[0011] Furthermore, when the three or more rotating bodies are, for example, wheels that can rotate in one direction and the drive unit rotates one of the rotating bodies in one direction, the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light irradiation unit is irradiated onto a strip-shaped region on the surface of the object to be treated that intersects with the direction of rotation of the object to be treated. With this configuration, the entire surface of the object to be treated is irradiated with ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light irradiation unit during one rotation of the object to be treated, thereby sterilizing the entire surface of the object to be treated.

[0012] Furthermore, the workpiece rotation mechanism can be configured with two parallel rotating shafts, two rotating bodies on each of the two rotating shafts (a total of four rotating bodies), and a drive unit that rotates one of the two rotating shafts. In this configuration, the workpiece is placed on the four rotating bodies, and one of the two rotating shafts is rotated. This causes the two rotating bodies on that rotating shaft to rotate, and the workpiece rotates in the opposite direction to the rotation of the rotating bodies. Furthermore, the two rotating bodies on the other rotating shaft rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation of the workpiece as the workpiece rotates. With this configuration, the workpiece can be rotated while being stably supported by the four rotating bodies. Note that, when the workpiece is heavy, the drive unit may rotate both of the two rotating shafts.

[0013] In a configuration in which the workpiece is supported and rotated by a total of four rotating bodies, two of which are provided on each of the two rotating shafts, the workpiece discharge mechanism can be composed of two support parts that support each of the two rotating shafts, and a moving mechanism that moves one or both of the support parts between a first state in which the two rotating shafts are close together so that the four rotating bodies can support the workpiece, and a second state in which the two rotating shafts are far apart so that the four rotating bodies cannot support the workpiece.

[0014] In the above configuration, the support unit is set to the first state, and the object to be treated is supplied to the treatment position. Furthermore, when sterilization of the object to be treated is completed, the support unit is moved to the second state. This causes the two rotating shafts to separate, and the object to be treated is no longer supported by the four rotating bodies, and the object to be treated is discharged from the treatment position. The object to be treated discharged from the treatment position can be collected in a collection container, such as a basket, by placing the collection container below the treatment position.

[0015] In the ultraviolet sterilization device according to the present invention, the treatment object supply mechanism is a transport path for transporting the object to the processing position; a rotating body provided at an end of the transport path on the processing position side so as to be rotatable in a transport direction of the workpiece, the rotating body having a plurality of arms extending radially from a rotation center of the rotating body; a progressive rotor drive mechanism that intermittently rotates the progressive rotor; The configuration can be such that:

[0016] The progressive rotator is a member for supplying workpieces conveyed along the conveying path to the processing position one by one, and the length of each arm, the angular interval between adjacent arm parts, the number of arm parts, etc. are set so that two adjacent arm parts among the multiple arm parts can hold one workpiece. According to the above configuration, workpieces conveyed along the conveying path to the end of the conveying path on the processing position side are held by two adjacent arm parts of the progressive rotator and are fed into the processing position by the intermittent rotation of the progressive rotator. The progressive rotator can be configured to have three arms arranged at an angular interval of 120 degrees, for example.

[0017] The transport path can be formed, for example, from two rails. If the transport path is configured to slope downward from the end of the transport path where the workpiece is fed toward the end of the transport path where the workpiece is processed, the workpiece placed on the end of the transport path on the feed side can reach the end of the transport path where the workpiece is processed by its own weight.

[0018] In addition, the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present invention can be configured to include a treatment object presence determination unit that determines whether or not a treatment object is present at the treatment position, and when the treatment object presence determination unit determines that a treatment object is present at the treatment position, the ultraviolet irradiation unit irradiates ultraviolet rays onto the treatment object. According to the above configuration, ultraviolet light is not emitted wastefully from the ultraviolet light irradiating section when no object to be treated is present at the treatment position.

[0019] The object presence determination unit may be, for example, an optical sensor or a weight sensor that directly detects whether an object is present at the processing position. Alternatively, the object presence determination unit may determine that an object is present at the processing position based on the object supply mechanism supplying the object to the processing position.

[0020] In addition, the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present invention can be configured to include a distance measuring sensor that detects the distance between the object to be treated supplied to the treatment position and the ultraviolet irradiation unit, and a light source moving mechanism that moves the ultraviolet irradiation unit so that the distance detected by the distance measuring sensor is within a predetermined range.

[0021] According to the above configuration, the distance between the ultraviolet irradiating unit and the object to be treated can be appropriately set regardless of the size of the object to be treated, thereby enabling ultraviolet rays of appropriate intensity to be irradiated onto the object to be treated. [Effects of the Invention]

[0022] According to the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present invention, the entire surface of the object to be treated can be sterilized even if the number of ultraviolet light sources is reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B are a side view and a top view showing one embodiment of an ultraviolet sterilization device according to the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of a treatment object supply mechanism of the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present embodiment. [Figure 3] 1A is a side view showing the configuration of a treatment object rotation mechanism and a treatment object discharge mechanism of the ultraviolet sterilization device of this embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a side view showing the operation of the treatment object discharge mechanism. [Figure 4] 3 is a side view showing an ultraviolet irradiation unit and a light source moving mechanism of the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 5] 3 is a side view showing the light-shielding cover and the light-shielding cover moving mechanism of the ultraviolet sterilization device of the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 6]5A to 5C are side views showing the operation of the workpiece supply mechanism in chronological order. [Figure 7] 7A to 7C are side views showing, in time sequence, the operation of the workpiece supply mechanism when a ball (workpiece) having a diameter different from that of the example in FIG. 6 is used. [Figure 8] 1A is a side view showing the operation of the light source moving mechanism, in which FIG. 1A shows the state in which the ultraviolet irradiation unit has been moved to match the size of a certain ball, and FIG. 1B shows the state in which the ultraviolet irradiation unit has been moved to match the size of a ball smaller than the certain ball. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] An ultraviolet sterilization device 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 8. This ultraviolet sterilization device 10 is a device manufactured primarily for the purpose of sterilizing balls (objects to be treated) such as basketballs, volleyballs, and handballs.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1, this ultraviolet sterilization device 10 includes a workpiece supply mechanism 11, a workpiece detection sensor 12, an ultraviolet irradiator 13, a light source moving mechanism 14, a light-shielding cover 15, a workpiece rotation mechanism 16, a workpiece discharge mechanism 17, and a control unit (not shown) that controls each of these components. These components are mounted on a metal frame 18 that is U-shaped in plan view. The frame 18 is supported by four legs 19 (only the two legs on the front side are shown in FIG. 1(a)). A first housing 21 is mounted on the frame 18, covering a portion of the workpiece supply mechanism 11, the workpiece detection sensor 12, the ultraviolet irradiator 13, the light source moving mechanism 14, the light-shielding cover 15, the workpiece rotation mechanism 16, and the workpiece discharge mechanism 17. A second housing 22 is mounted connected to the first housing 21 and covers another portion of the workpiece supply mechanism 11. A first opening 211 is provided at the boundary between the first housing 21 and the second housing 22, and a second opening 221 is provided on the side of the second housing 22 opposite the first housing 21. Both the first opening 211 and the second opening 221 have a size that allows the object to be processed to pass through. The configuration of each of the above components will be described in detail below.

[0026] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the workpiece supply mechanism 11 includes a guide rail 111 (conveying path), a ball stopper 112 (progressive rotating body), a gear motor (progressive rotating body drive unit) 113 for rotating the ball stopper, a ball sensor 114, a rotational position sensor 115 for detecting the rotational position of the ball stopper 112, a solenoid lock 116, and a solenoid timer 117.

[0027] The guide rail 111 consists of two metal rails arranged side by side with a gap of 131.3 mm, which is shorter than the diameter of any of the balls to be processed (handball diameter (160 mm), volleyball diameter (190 mm), and basketball diameter (245 mm)). The guide rail 111 is roughly U-shaped when viewed from above (FIG. 1(b)). More specifically, one of the vertical lines on the left and right of the "U" is slightly longer than the other, and the guide rail 111 slopes downward from one end to the other. Hereinafter, one end of the guide rail 111 will be referred to as the upstream side, and the other end will be referred to as the downstream side. The other (downstream) end will be referred to as the "end 1110." The workpiece is placed on the upstream side of the guide rail 111 relative to the workpiece supply mechanism 11.

[0028] Ball stopper 112 is disposed between two rails near end 1110 of guide rail 111. Ball stopper 112 is composed of a rotating shaft 1121 disposed below guide rail 111 and extending in a direction perpendicular to guide rail 111, and three rod-shaped arms 1122 extending radially and provided at equal angular intervals on the outer circumferential surface of rotating shaft 1121. An output shaft of gear motor 113 is connected to rotating shaft 1121.

[0029] In this embodiment, the gear motor 113 intermittently rotates the rotating shaft 1121 by 120° so that one of the three arm units 1122 stops in an upright position on the rotating shaft 1121. Furthermore, the position of the rotating shaft 1121 and the lengths of the arm units 1122 are determined so that when one arm unit 1122 is upright on the rotating shaft 1121, the arm unit 1122 protrudes a predetermined length above the guide rail 111. Here, the "predetermined length" refers to the length at which a ball conveyed along the guide rail 111 abuts against the upright arm unit 1122 without climbing over it. By setting the arm unit 1122 to such a length, the ball can be stopped at the end 1110 of the guide rail 111.

[0030] The ball stopper 112 may have four or more arms, but if there are too many arms, the distance between two adjacent arms becomes too narrow and the ball cannot be stopped, so it is preferable that the number of arms be around three to five.

[0031] Ball sensor 114 is disposed below guide rail 111 at a position upstream of ball stopper 112, and detects whether or not a ball is present at that position. Rotational position sensor 115 detects whether one arm 1122 of ball stopper 112 is in an upright position.

[0032] The solenoid lock 116 consists of an iron core, a spring, and a solenoid (coil). When the solenoid is not energized, the iron core protrudes from the solenoid due to the spring. When the solenoid is energized, the magnetic field generated by the solenoid causes the iron core to retract into the solenoid against the spring force. The solenoid lock 116 is positioned so that the iron core protruding from the solenoid intersects with the arm 1122 of the ball stopper 112. When one of the three arms 1122 of the ball stopper 112 is in an upright position, one of the other two arms 1122 of the arm 1122 contacts the iron core protruding from the solenoid, preventing the ball stopper 112 from rotating. On the other hand, when the iron core is retracted into the solenoid, the iron core is separated from the arm 1122. As will be described later, the solenoid timer 117 is a timer that counts a predetermined time so that the supply of current to the solenoid of the solenoid lock 116 is stopped after the predetermined time has elapsed since the current was supplied to the solenoid.

[0033] The workpiece rotation mechanism 16 and the workpiece discharge mechanism 17 are arranged on the end 1110 side of the guide rail 111. Above the workpiece rotation mechanism 16 is a processing position 100 where the sterilization processing of the ball B is performed. The workpiece detection sensor 12 is a sensor that detects whether or not the ball B is present at the processing position 100.

[0034] 3(a) and 3(b), the workpiece rotation mechanism 16 includes two driving wheels 161 supported on one of two shafts that are substantially horizontal and perpendicular to the direction in which the guide rail 111 extends, two driven wheels 162 supported on the other shaft, and a driving wheel rotation motor 163 that rotates the shaft on which the driving wheels 161 are supported in the direction of arrow A2. The two driving wheels 161 and the two driven wheels 162 are located at substantially the same height. The distance between the two driving wheels 161 and the distance between the two driven wheels 162 are both set to be slightly larger than the distance between the guide rails 111.

[0035] The workpiece discharge mechanism 17 includes a fixed base 170 to which shafts supporting the two driving wheels 161 are attached, a movable base 171 to which shafts supporting the two driven wheels 162 are attached, a movable base movement motor 172 that moves the movable base 171, a first movable base detection sensor 173, and a second movable base detection sensor 174. The fixed base 170 and the movable base 171 are located at approximately the same height, and the movable base 171 is moved between a position close to the fixed base 170 and a position separated from the fixed base 170 by the operation of the movable base movement motor 172. The first movable base detection sensor 173 and the second movable base detection sensor 174 detect whether the movable base 171 is in the close position or the separated position.

[0036] When the movable base 171 is in the close position (FIG. 3(a)), the distance between the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 is configured to be smaller than the minimum diameter of the balls to be processed, and the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 are in a state where they can support the balls. At this time, the lower parts of the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 are closed by the movable base 171 and the fixed base 170.

[0037] On the other hand, when the movable table 171 is in the separated position (FIG. 3(b)), the distance between the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 is configured to be larger than the maximum diameter of the balls to be processed, and the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 are unable to support the balls. At this time, the lower parts of the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 are open, allowing the balls to pass through. Therefore, the balls that are no longer supported by the two driving wheels 161 and the two trailing wheels 162 are discharged from the processing position 100.

[0038] A space is provided below the frame 18 and below the processing position 100, and a ball storage basket 90 for storing sterilized balls discharged from the treatment object discharge mechanism 17 can be placed in this space (see FIG. 1). In addition, an obstacle sensor 175 is provided below the frame 18 to detect the presence or absence of an obstacle below the processing position 100 (see FIG. 3).

[0039] The ultraviolet irradiation unit 13 and the light source moving mechanism 14 are disposed above the processing position 100. As shown in FIG. 4, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 13 includes six ultraviolet light sources 131 and the same number of arms 132 as the ultraviolet light sources 131. These six arms 132 are connected in series, and a connector (a total of five) is provided between each adjacent arm 132. Of the five connectors, a central connector 1330 provided at the center, a left connector 1331 provided at the left end, and a right connector 1332 provided at the right end each connect two adjacent arms 132 so that a predetermined angle (e.g., 150°) is formed between them. The other two connectors serve as joints 133 that rotatably connect the two adjacent arms 132 so that the angle formed by the adjacent arms 132 is variable. The arms 132 connected in this manner are shaped like an upwardly convex elliptical arc overall, and an ultraviolet light source 131 is attached to the inner surface of each arm 132. In this example, one ultraviolet light source 131 is attached to one arm 132, but multiple ultraviolet light sources 131 may be attached to one arm 132. Near the upper end of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 13, a distance measurement sensor 134 is provided to measure the distance to the ball B supplied to the processing position 100.

[0040] The light source moving mechanism 14 includes a substantially cross-shaped, plate-like base 141 erected on a base frame 18 (see FIG. 1 ), a main guide hole 142 elongated in the vertical direction and provided in the center of the base 141, a left auxiliary guide hole 1431 and a right auxiliary guide hole 1432 provided at both left and right ends of the base 141, respectively, and a motor 144 for vertically moving the ultraviolet irradiation unit 13. A central connector 1330 is inserted into the main guide hole 142. The left auxiliary guide hole 1431 and the right auxiliary guide hole 1432 are elongated holes formed to approach each other from top to bottom, and a left connector 1331 and a right connector 1332 are inserted into the main guide hole 142. The upper ends of the left auxiliary guide hole 1431 and the right auxiliary guide hole 1432 are lower than the upper end of the main guide hole 142, and the lower ends of the left auxiliary guide hole 1431 and the right auxiliary guide hole 1432 are lower than the lower end of the main guide hole 142.

[0041] The central connector 1330 is configured to move up and down along the main guide hole 142 by a motor 144, and as the central connector 1330 moves up and down, the left connector 1331 and the right connector 1332 move up and down along the left auxiliary guide hole 1431 and the right auxiliary guide hole 1432, respectively. Accordingly, the six arms 132 connected in series move up and down, and the angle formed by two adjacent arms 132 at two joints 133 changes, thereby changing the distance between the left connector 1331 and the right connector 1332. Note that "left" and "right" here are merely defined for convenience in accordance with the diagram shown in FIG. 4 and do not limit the orientation of the ultraviolet sterilization device 10 during use.

[0042] The light-shielding cover 15 is configured to be displaceable between a state in which it is positioned between the processing position 100 and the guide rail 111 (a light-shielding state shown by a dashed line in FIGS. 1(a) and 5) and a state in which it is rotated upward from the light-shielding state (a retracted state shown by a solid line in FIGS. 1(a) and 5). When the light-shielding cover 15 is in the light-shielding state, the light-shielding cover 15 closes the first opening 211 (see FIG. 1(a)). The light-shielding cover 15 is displaced between the light-shielding state and the retracted state by a motor 151. An upper limit position detection sensor 152 and a lower limit position detection sensor 153 are provided near the light-shielding cover 15. The upper limit position detection sensor 152 detects that the light-shielding cover 15 is in the retracted state, and the lower limit position detection sensor 153 detects that the light-shielding cover 15 is in the light-shielding state.

[0043] Next, the sterilization operation by the ultraviolet sterilization device 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0044] When the power of the ultraviolet sterilization device 10 is turned on, each part of the ultraviolet sterilization device 10 is set to an initial state. Specifically, in the treatment object rotation mechanism 16 and the treatment object discharge mechanism 17, the movable base 171 is in a close position, and the two driving wheels 161 and the two driven wheels 162 are in a state in which they can support the balls. In addition, the lower part of the treatment position 100 is in a state in which it is closed by the movable base 171 and the fixed base 170. In the workpiece supply mechanism 11, the ball stopper 112 has one of three arms 1122 standing upright. The solenoid lock 16 is in a state where the supply of current to the solenoid is stopped, and one of the three arms 1122 is in contact with the iron core of the solenoid lock 16, thereby locking the ball stopper 112. In the ultraviolet irradiation unit 13 and the light source movement mechanism 14, the central connector 1330 is positioned at the top of the main guide hole 142. The light-shielding cover 15 is in a retracted state.

[0045] In the above initial state, when ball B is placed on guide rail 111 closer to the upstream side than ball stopper 112, ball B rolls due to the gradient of guide rail 111 and moves to end 1110 of guide rail 111, where it comes into contact with upright arm portion 1122 and stops (FIG. 6(a)). Then, when ball sensor 114 detects that ball B is at end 1110, after a predetermined waiting time has elapsed since detection by sensor 114, current is supplied to the solenoid of solenoid lock 16, causing the iron core of solenoid lock 16, which had been in contact with one arm portion 1122, to separate from arm portion 1122, thereby unlocking ball stopper 112, and gear motor 113 is driven to rotate ball stopper 112 in the direction of arrow A1. When rotation position sensor 115 detects that ball stopper 112 has rotated approximately 120° (i.e., that arm portion 1122 is in an upright position), gear motor 113 stops. Furthermore, when solenoid timer 117 counts a predetermined time that is slightly shorter than the time it takes for ball stopper 112 to rotate 120°, the supply of current to the solenoid of solenoid lock 16 is stopped, and the rotation of ball stopper 112 urges the iron core of solenoid lock 16 toward arm portion 1122, locking the rotation of ball stopper 112.

[0046] As the ball stopper 112 rotates, the upright arm portion 1122 tilts in the direction of arrow A1, and the ball B enters and is held between the arm portion 1122 and the adjacent arm portion 1122 (FIGS. 6(b) and (c)). Then, by the time the ball stopper 112 rotates 120°, the ball B held by the two arm portions 1122 is sent to the processing position 100 (FIGS. 6(d) and (e)).

[0047] By the above operation, one of the three arms 1122 is again in an upright position. At this time, if another ball B is present at the end 1110 of the guide rail 111, the ball B will come into contact with the upright arm 1122 and stop (FIG. 6(e)), and will wait until the sterilization process of the ball B previously sent to the processing position 100 is completed.

[0048] 7 shows the operation when a ball B' having a smaller diameter than the ball B shown in FIG. 6 is supplied to the processing position 100. The workpiece supply mechanism 11 of this embodiment can supply a plurality of types of balls having different diameters to the processing position 100 in the same manner. Furthermore, even when a plurality of balls having different diameters are placed on the guide rail 111, the plurality of balls B can be supplied to the processing position 100 in sequence.

[0049] The ball supplied to the processing position 100 is supported by two driving wheels 161 and two driven wheels 162. Furthermore, the central connector 1330, which was positioned at the top of the main guide hole 142, is lowered by the motor 144, and when the distance measurement sensor 134 detects that the distance from the ball has reached a predetermined value, the motor 144 stops (FIG. 8). As the central connector 1330 descends, the left connector 1331 and the right connector 1332 descend along the left auxiliary guide hole 1431 and the right auxiliary guide hole 1432, respectively. As a result, all of the six arms 132 approach the ball and cover at least the upper half of the ball.

[0050] When a ball B' having a smaller diameter is supplied to the processing position 100 (FIG. 8(b)), the position of the central connector 1330 is lower and the distance between the left connector 1331 and the right connector 1332 is smaller than when a ball B having a larger diameter is supplied to the processing position 100 (FIG. 8(a)). In other words, in either case, the distance between the entire six arms 132 and the surface of the upper half of the ball is approximately the same.

[0051] Furthermore, the light-shielding cover 15, which was in a retracted state until the ball B was supplied to the processing position 100, is displaced by the operation of the motor 151 and placed in a light-shielding state. As a result, the first opening 211 is closed.

[0052] Next, when the driving wheel 161 rotates in the direction of arrow A2, the ball B rotates in the opposite direction to the driving wheel 161, and as the ball B rotates, the driven wheel 162 rotates in the opposite direction to the ball B, i.e., in the same direction as the driving wheel 161 (Figure 3(a)).

[0053] In this state, ultraviolet light is emitted from the ultraviolet light source 131 of the ultraviolet light irradiation unit 13, and the position of the ultraviolet light irradiated on the ball B changes gradually as the ball B rotates, and the entire surface of the ball B is irradiated with ultraviolet light during one rotation of the ball B, thereby sterilizing it.

[0054] Although ultraviolet light has a sterilizing effect on the object to be treated, if it is irradiated onto the human body, it can have harmful effects on the eyes, skin, etc. Therefore, in the ultraviolet sterilization device 10 of this embodiment, the upper side of the treatment position 100 is covered with a first housing 21, and the first opening 211 of the first housing 21 is closed with a light-shielding cover 15 (as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 1( a)). In addition, the fixed base 170 of the object discharge mechanism 17 serves to cover the lower side of the treatment position 100, and the movable base 171 serves to close the opening at the bottom of the treatment position 100 during ultraviolet irradiation. With this configuration, ultraviolet light irradiated from the ultraviolet irradiation unit 13 toward the ball B is blocked by the first housing 21, the light-shielding cover 15, the fixed base 170, and the movable base 171, and is prevented from leaking to the outside through the first opening 211, the second opening 221, and the opening at the bottom of the treatment position 100.

[0055] When the ball is irradiated with ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet irradiation unit 13 for a predetermined period of time and the sterilization process of the ball is completed, the movable table 171 is moved to the separated position and the bottom of the processing position 100 is opened. As a result, the ball, which is no longer supported by the two driving wheels 161 and the two driven wheels 162, is discharged from the opening at the bottom of the processing position 100 (FIG. 3(b)). Also, the operation of the motor 151 displaces the light-shielding cover 15 to a retracted state. This makes the processing position 100 ready to receive the next ball B. This completes the sterilization process for one ball. Furthermore, by repeating the above-mentioned operations, sterilization processes for multiple balls can be performed continuously.

[0056] As the sterilization process is continuously performed on a large number of balls, the sterilized balls accumulate in the ball storage basket 90, and the obstacle sensor 175 detects the balls. This stops the supply of balls from the workpiece supply mechanism 11 to the workpiece discharge mechanism 17 and the discharge of balls from the workpiece discharge mechanism 17, and an alarm device (not shown) sounds an alarm with a light or a buzzer, urging the user to retrieve the sterilized balls. Once the user retrieves the balls and the obstacle sensor 175 no longer detects the balls, the user can resume operation of the ultraviolet sterilization device 10 by performing a predetermined operation.

[0057] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are permitted within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 10…Ultraviolet sterilization device 100...Processing position 11...Workpiece supply mechanism 111...Guide rail (transport path) 1110: Downstream end of guide rail 112...Ball stopper (progressive rotating body) 1121...Rotation axis 1122...Arm part 113... Gear motor (progressive rotating body drive unit) 114...Ball sensor 115...Rotational position sensor 116...Solenoid lock 117...Solenoid timer 12...Workpiece detection sensor 13...Ultraviolet irradiation unit 131...UV light source 132...Arm 133...Joints 1330...Central connector 1331...Left connector 1332…Right connector 134...Distance measurement sensor 14...Light source moving mechanism 141...Base material 142...Main guide hole 1431...Left auxiliary guide hole 1432...Right auxiliary guide hole 144...Motor 15...Light-blocking cover 151...Motor 152...Upper limit position detection sensor 153...Lower limit position detection sensor 16...Workpiece rotation mechanism 161...Driving wheel 162...following wheel 163...Drive wheel rotation motor 17…Processed material discharge mechanism 170…Fixed stand 171…Movable platform 172... Movable table movement motor 173...First movable table detection sensor 174...Second movable table detection sensor 175...Obstacle sensor 18...frame 19...legs 21...1st Housing 211...First opening 22...Second housing 221...Second opening 90...Ball storage basket B, B'...ball

Claims

1. a processing object supply mechanism that supplies the processing objects one by one to a predetermined processing position; a workpiece rotation mechanism that rotates the workpiece at the processing position, the workpiece rotation mechanism having two parallel-arranged rotating shafts, two rotating bodies provided on each of the two rotating shafts for supporting the workpiece at its lower portion, a total of four rotating bodies, and a drive unit that rotates at least one of the rotating bodies; an ultraviolet irradiation unit that irradiates ultraviolet rays onto the object to be treated that is rotating at the treatment position; a mechanism for discharging the workpiece from the processing position, the mechanism including two support parts for supporting the two rotating shafts, respectively, and a movement mechanism for moving one or both of the support parts between a first state in which the two rotating shafts are close to each other so that the four rotating bodies can support the workpiece, and a second state in which the two rotating shafts are separated from each other so that the four rotating bodies cannot support the workpiece; An ultraviolet sterilization device comprising:

2. a processing object supply mechanism that supplies spherical processing objects one by one to a predetermined processing position; a treatment object rotation mechanism having three or more rotating bodies, which are wheels that can rotate in all directions and support the treatment object at its lower part, and a drive unit that rotates at least one of the rotating bodies in various directions, and which rotates the treatment object while keeping it at the treatment position; an ultraviolet irradiation unit that irradiates ultraviolet rays onto the object to be treated that is rotating at the treatment position; a treatment object discharge mechanism that discharges the treatment object from the treatment position; An ultraviolet sterilization device comprising:

3. The workpiece supply mechanism a transport path for transporting the object to the processing position; a rotating body provided at an end of the transport path on the processing position side so as to be rotatable in a transport direction of the workpiece, the rotating body having a plurality of arms extending radially from a rotation center of the rotating body; a motor that intermittently rotates the progressive rotor so that areas sandwiched between two adjacent arm sections among the plurality of arm sections sequentially face the processing position; The ultraviolet sterilization device according to claim 1 or 2, comprising:

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