The present invention relates to an alloy plate material supplying device for supplying an alloy plate material to a can forming device for forming a metal beverage can, and the can forming device.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a configuration in which oil is applied to the surface of a plate material by controlling, for control of an oil application amount, a metering pump that supplies the oil to the surface of at least one of a pair of rollers with a variable rotary driving device to adjust an application thickness of the oil applied to the surface of the plate material according to a desired speed of the plate material, when a desired oil is applied to the surface of the plate material by running the plate material of a desired thickness between the pair of upper and lower rollers.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a scraper conveyor in which a number of scrapers are swingably attached via a cantilever arm to an endless chain that circulates and moves through upper and lower two-stages guide rails provided between both ends of a conveyance gutter, and the direction of each scraper is reversed by sliding the cantilever arm against the scraper guide provided at both ends of the conveyance gutter. The scraper conveyor is provided with a roller that contacts the cantilever arm of the scraper in a non-conveyance state that moves the upper guide rail and an oil pot that replenishes the roller with lubricating oil.
When a pair of rolls is rotating, lubricating oil replenished and stored inside each roll is distributed almost uniformly in a circumferential direction on an outer circumferential surface of the rolls, so that the lubricating oil is applied uniformly to the alloy plate material that is passed between the pair of rolls.
However, when a rotation of the rolls is stopped, the lubricating oil accumulates on a lower side of each roll, and as time passes, uniform distribution is not maintained in the circumferential direction of the outer circumferential surface of the rolls.
If a process of forming a blank material into a cup-shaped material stops, the alloy plate material stops running and the rolls that apply the lubricating oil also stop. Therefore, if the lubricating oil is not applied uniformly to the alloy plate material and uneven application occurs at the initial stage of restarting the process after a long period of stoppage, the cup-shaped material formed in the portion with uneven application may be discarded in terms of product quality, and cause a deterioration of yield.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alloy plate material supplying device and a can forming device that can suppress uneven application of lubricating oil to an alloy plate material after restarting.
An alloy plate material supplying device according to an aspect of the present invention is the alloy plate material supplying device for supplying an unwound coil material as an alloy plate material to a can forming device for forming the alloy plate material into a metal beverage can, the alloy plate material supplying device includes: a first roll configured to contain lubricating oil in a first outer circumferential section; a second roll with a second outer circumferential section; a switching unit configured to switch between a first state in which the alloy plate material contacts the first outer circumferential section of the first roll and the second outer circumferential section of the second roll, and the first outer circumferential section and/or the second outer circumferential section apply the lubricating oil to the alloy plate material, and a second state in which the first roll and/or the second roll applying the lubricating oil in the first state are idly rotatable by separating from the alloy plate material; and a driving force applying unit configured to apply a driving force to the idly rotatable first roll and/or the idly rotatable second roll in the second state as switched by the switching unit.
Here, the driving force applying unit may apply a rotational driving force to the idly rotatable first roll and/or the idly rotatable second roll to alternate a period of applying a driving force and a period of not applying a driving force. Further, the driving force applying unit may include: a controlling section configured to control ejection of compressed air; and a portion of the first roll and/or the second roll which receive the ejected compressed air. Moreover, the switching section switches the first state to the second state by moving one of the first roll and the second roll away from the other, and moving the alloy plate material away from the other.
Further, from another standpoint, a can forming device according to an aspect of the present invention is the can forming device for forming an alloy plate material with an unwound coil material into a metal can, the can forming device includes: a first roll configured to contain lubricating oil in a first outer circumferential section; a second roll with a second outer circumferential section; a switching unit configured to switch between a first state in which the alloy plate material contacts the first outer circumferential section of the first roll and the second outer circumferential section of the second roll, and the first outer circumferential section and/or the second outer circumferential section apply the lubricating oil to the alloy plate material, and a second state in which the first roll and/or the second roll applying the lubricating oil in the first state are idly rotatable by separating from the alloy plate material; and a driving force applying unit configured to apply a driving force to the idly rotatable first roll and/or the idly rotatable second roll in the second state as switched by the switching unit.
The present invention can suppress uneven application of lubricating oil to an alloy plate material after restarting.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to attached drawings.
A metal beverage can, especially an aluminum alloy beverage can, is formed from an alloy plate material 11 and is usually manufactured through the same processes as conventional ones, which will be described in detail below.
The beverage can referred to herein is particularly preferably a closed-end cylindrical can, and the material thereof is preferably aluminum or aluminum alloy, and particularly preferably 3004 alloy and 3104 alloy, which are widely used for metal can bodies. The beverage can body is formed by drawing and ironing, and the contents are preferably alcoholic beverages such as beer or Chuhai (shochu-based beverages), or soft drinks (non-alcoholic beverages).
As shown in
The alloy plate material 11 shown in
The state in which the first lubricating oil is applied to both sides of the alloy plate material 11 includes the state in which the first lubricating oil is applied to one side of the alloy plate material 11 and the alloy plate material 11 is wound in the coil shape, resulting in the first lubricating oil being adhered to both sides of the alloy plate material 11.
The coil material 1 is unwound by the uncoiler (UC) to provide the alloy plate material 11, which is sent downstream by a feed roll 3 while being sandwiched between felt rolls 21 and 22 provided on both upper and lower sides of the alloy plate material 11.
The cupping press 4 is provided downstream of the uncoiler (UC). The cupping press 4 punches out a circular blank material from the alloy plate material 11, and performs the drawing such that a punch 41 is pressed into a die 42 to form a cup-shaped material.
In order to prevent appearance defects such as chipping, scratches, wrinkles and pinching (abnormal elongation) from occurring on a surface of the cup-shaped material formed by the drawing, a process of applying lubricant to a surface of the alloy plate material 11 by the lubricator (LU) 2 is provided in the preceding process of the drawing process.
When the cup-shaped material is formed, the cup-shaped material is sent to a body maker (BM) that performs the drawing and ironing on the cup-shaped material to form a can body with a side wall of predetermined thickness and a bottom. Furthermore, an upper ear portion of a circumferential wall of the can body is trimmed to form the closed-end cylindrical can body.
The can body is cleaned by a washing device (WS), and then provided with printing on an outer circumferential side surface of the can body by a printer (PR), painted on an outer surface of a can bottom by a bottom coater (BTC), and baked by a pin oven (PO).
The can body with the printed outer surface is painted on an inner surface by an inside spray (INS), and the painted inner surface is baked and dried in a bake oven (BO).
Thereafter, an opening edge of the can body is necked and flanged with a necker flanger (QNF), or in the case of a screw-lid can, the opening edge is necked, and then threaded to form into a final shape of the can body.
The can body formed into the final shape is inspected for appearance by a defective can tester (DCT) and for holes by a light tester (LT). The can judged to be good in each inspection is loaded on a pallet by a palletizer (PT) and shipped as a product.
A process with a long takt time on the production line is processed in parallel by dividing the same process into multiple parts to shorten the cycle time of the entire production line, from forming the can body from the coil material 1 to loading it on the pallet.
Since the outer surface of the can is subjected to more severe processing in the drawing and ironing process than the inner surface, it is necessary to keep a thicker oil film thickness. A high viscosity of the lubricating oil generally enables the oil film thickness to be kept thick to satisfy the required lubrication performance, so that it is preferable that a viscosity of the second lubricating oil is higher than a viscosity of the first lubricating oil. However, this is not limiting and any other conditions may be used as long as the oil film thickness on the surface of the cup-shaped material is sufficiently kept.
The lubricating oil such as re-oil as the first lubricating oil and the lubricant as the second lubricating oil are applied to form the oil film on the surface of the alloy plate material 11. The lubricant is applied only in the preceding process of the drawing process, while a small amount of the re-oil is applied to the coil material 1 in advance.
In the drawing and ironing process, coolant, which is the lubricating oil for maintaining lubricity during forming and for cooling the alloy plate material 11, is applied.
The coolant applied in the drawing and ironing process and the small amount of the re-oil applied to the coil material 1 in advance may be the same or may have different viscosity, so that the coolant and the re-oil are not particularly limited.
The lubricant is stored in a tank 23 of the lubricator 2, which is a lubricating machine, and supplied from the tank 23 of the lubricator 2 to the upper felt roll 21 through a supply pipe 24, and is applied to an upper surface A of the alloy plate material 11 (a side that becomes an inner surface A of the can body) through the felt roll 21. The lubricant supplied from the tank 23 to the lower felt roll 22 through a supply pipe 25 is applied to a lower surface B of the alloy plate material 11 (a side that becomes an outer surface B of the can body) through the felt roll 22.
The lubricant is applied to both sides of the alloy plate material 11, but this is not limiting; a configuration example in which the lubricant is applied only to one side of the alloy plate material 11 may be adopted. For example, the lubricant is not applied to the upper surface A of the alloy plate material 11, but is applied only to the lower side B of the alloy plate material 11 through the lower felt roll 22.
The lubricator 2 shown in
The plate material lift 51 includes a lifting section 51a that can come into contact with and separate from the alloy plate material 11, and an air cylinder 51b that lifts and lowers the lifting section 51a. An air pipe 27 supplies air (compressed air) to the air cylinder 51b. The lifting section 51a is lifted and lowered by controlling the ON/OFF of a solenoid valve 51c of the air pipe 27. The solenoid valve 51c is controlled for its ON/OFF by a control section 53.
Thus, the plate material lift 51 moves and lifts the alloy plate material 11 in the same direction with the felt roll 21 moved away from the felt roll 22. The alloy plate material 11 and all the felt rolls 21 and 22 are separated, and the felt rolls 21 and 22 are rotated by an idling mechanism (refer to
The lubricator 2 includes a moving mechanism 52 for moving the upper felt roll 21 in a vertical direction. In the present embodiment, the moving mechanism 52 is an air cylinder as a driving source composed of a cylinder 52b with a fixed side fulcrum 52a and a rod 52d with a moving side fulcrum 52c. The air pipe 27 supplies air to the cylinder 52b of the moving mechanism 52. The upper felt roll 21 is lifted and lowered by controlling the ON/OFF of a solenoid valve 52e of the air pipe 27. The solenoid valve 52e is controlled for its ON/OFF by the control section 53.
The moving mechanism 52 retracts the upper felt roll 21 upward, and thereby the felt roll 21 and the felt roll 22 can be separated from each other.
The present embodiment adopts a configuration in which the lower felt roll 22 does not move up and down unlike the felt roll 21.
The lubricator 2 can be switched between a state in which the alloy plate material 11 is in contact with outer circumferential surfaces 21a and 22a of the felt rolls 21 and 22, and a state in which the alloy plate material 11 is separated from the outer circumferential surfaces 21a and 22a of the felt rolls 21 and 22, by the solenoid valves 51c and 52e of the plate material lift 51 and the moving mechanism 52. The plate material lift 51, the moving mechanism 52, the solenoid valves 51c and 52e and the control section 53 in the present embodiment are examples of a switching unit.
The lubricator 2 described above is an example of an alloy plate material supplying device, and the metal beverage can production line 10 is an example of a can forming device. The lubricant applied to the alloy plate material 11 by the lubricator 2 is an example of lubricating oil. One of the felt rolls 21 and 22 is an example of a first roll and the other is an example of a second roll, and the outer circumferential surface of the one roll is an example of a first outer circumferential section, and the outer circumferential surface of the other roll is an example of a second circumferential section.
The felt roll 21 includes the outer circumferential surface 21a containing the lubricant, and the felt roll 22 includes the outer circumferential surface 22a containing the lubricant. During the operation shown in
As described above, the lubricant is supplied from the tank 23 (refer to
Further, during the idling shown in
It should be noted that the supply of the lubricant is stopped during the idling.
To further explain, the felt rolls 21 and 22 during idling rotate idly rather than being stopped all the time. The idle rotation of the felt rolls 21 and 22 is an operation to make the distribution of the lubricant uniform over the circumferential direction of the outer circumferential surfaces 21a and 22a of the felt rolls 21 and 22. For this reason, the felt rolls 21 and 22 may be rotated constantly or rotated and stopped repeatedly. In other words for the latter case, a rotational driving force is applied to the felt rolls 21 and 22 so that a period of applying the driving force alternates with a period of not applying the driving force. Interposing the period of not applying the driving force can help suppress a power while maintaining uniform distribution of the lubricant, which contributes to energy saving.
The idle rotation of the felt rolls 21 and 22 may be alternately controlled by rotating one of them and not rotating the other, or alternately controlled by rotating one of them, rotating the other, and not rotating either of them. Furthermore, when the felt rolls 21 and 22 are rotated idly, a control example can be considered in which a forward rotation state and a reverse rotation state are repeated.
In
The state shown as the comparative example is during a long period of stoppage, in which the conveyance of the alloy plate material 11 is stopped and the rotation of the felt rolls 21 and 22 is also stopped. For this reason, the lubricant in the felt rolls 21 and 22 accumulates on a lower side, and the amount of the lubricant increases in each lower side of the outer circumferential surfaces 21a and 22a, while the amount of the lubricant decreases in an upper side.
Thus, in the comparative example, the uniform distribution of the lubricant in the circumferential direction of the outer circumferential surfaces 21a and 22a of the felt rolls 21 and 22 is not maintained, resulting in non-uniformity. Therefore, at the time of restarting, the lubricant cannot be applied uniformly to the alloy plate material 11, and there is a high possibility that forming defects will occur when the alloy plate material 11 is punched out and subjected to the drawing process by the cupping press 4, and thus the formed cup-shaped material is discarded.
Moreover, the lubricant drips from the outer circumferential surface 21a of the felt roll 21 onto the alloy plate material 11. In
In the comparative example, the discarding of the cup-shaped material at the time of the restarting cause a deterioration of yield, and furthermore, it is difficult to restart automatically due to the need for operating personnel at the time of the restarting.
As shown in
Here, in
Even if the lubricant is applied to the alloy plate material 11 only with the lower felt roll 22, the defect of the uneven application of the lubricant to the alloy plate material 11 occurs at the time of the restarting. The same defect occurs in the case of applying the lubricant only with the upper felt roll 21.
As shown in
To further explain, as shown in
As shown in
The felt rolls 21 and 22 are held rotatably, so that the felt rolls 21 and 22 do not stop immediately after the air ejection is stopped, but rotate for a while. Therefore, the felt rolls 21 and 22 can be idly rotated periodically by ejecting air intermittently.
More specifically, the driving force is applied to the felt rolls 21 and 22 by ejecting air, and the driving force is not applied to the felt rolls 21 and 22 upon stoppage of ejecting air. During the period of applying the driving force, the felt rolls 21 and 22 continue to rotate, but it does not mean that the felt rolls 21 and 22 do not rotate during the period of not applying the driving force, but the felt rolls 21 and 22 continue to rotate due to inertia, and the rotation slows down due to friction and other factors, and eventually stops.
Therefore, except during the operation, the felt rolls 21 and 22 rotate periodically by controlling the solenoid valve so that the period of applying the driving force alternates with the period of not applying the driving force, which makes it possible to maintain the uniform distribution of the lubricant in the circumferential direction of the felt rolls 21 and 22.
The air receiving sections 28 and the control section 53 of the felt rolls 21 and 22 are examples of a driving force applying unit.
In the present embodiment, air is used for applying the driving force to the felt rolls 21 and 22. This is a configuration that facilitates piping when modifying a conventional device since the plate material lift 51 and the moving mechanism 52 use air as a driving source as described above.
An electric motor may be used for applying the driving force to the felt rolls 21 and 22, but there are disadvantages that the control becomes more troublesome and the maintenance takes more time and effort than in the case of using air. In the present embodiment, the use of air prevents the complexity of the control and suppresses the reduction in maintenance efficiency compared with the case of using the electric motor.
2 Lubricator
10 Metal beverage can production line
11 Alloy plate material
21, 22 Felt roll
21
a,
22
a Outer circumferential surface
28 Air receiving section
51 Plate material lift
51
c,
52
e Solenoid valve
52 Moving mechanism
53 Control section
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020-152268 | Sep 2020 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2021/029998 | 8/17/2021 | WO |