Patent Grant
11104122
The present invention relates to the technical field of printing, and more particularly to an apparatus and a process for printing beer barrels.
Beer barrel is a common container for containing beer. To guarantee the strength of the beer barrel while reducing weight and resisting rust, the beer barrel is usually made of stainless steel. On the body of the beer barrel, related identification information is printed on the body of the beer barrel. In a traditional manufacturing process, a matrix printing tool is provided for printing the identification information on a raw material (such as a stainless steel plate), and then the raw material with the printed identification information is stretched and welded to form the body of the barrel. However, such manufacturing process has the following drawbacks:
If a semi-finished product is scrapped due to an operational error occurred in the stretching and welding processes or any other reasons, the previous printing process will become useless correspondingly, and thus incurring additional manufacturing cost and increasing the manufacturing time.
During the production process, words of a mark may be the same and different, but a beer barrel with all of these words in the mark is molded as a whole. Since the fonts are not all the same, therefore it is necessary to prepare several matrix printing tools with different marks. As a result, the cost for the matrix printing tools and the manufacturing time are increased.
The present invention provides an apparatus and a process for printing barrels after the barrel is stretched and welded to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional manufacturing process which may cause an unnecessary scrap of a semi-finished product when a printed material fails in a stretching or welding process, since the printed material obtained from the previous printing process becomes useless.
To overcome the aforementioned problem, the present invention provides an apparatus for printing a beer barrel, and the apparatus comprises a workbench and a hydraulic pushing device, a barrel outer-sided printing device and a barrel inner-sided printing device installed on the workbench. The barrel inner-sided printing device comprises a turntable rotating by using the Z-axis as an axis line and capable of mounting the barrel, and an inner mold is installed on a circumferential surface of the turntable for printing an inner side of the barrel. The barrel outer-sided printing device comprises a connecting frame moving linearly in the Y-axis direction, and the connecting frame has an outer mold installed thereon for printing an outer side of the barrel. The hydraulic pushing device controls the outer mold on the connecting frame to move linearly along the X-axis direction, so that the outer mold and the inner mold can be operated together to print a sidewall of the barrel.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the hydraulic pushing device comprises a hydraulic cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder mount, a first guide rail and a moving rack. The hydraulic cylinder is installed on the workbench by the hydraulic cylinder mount, and the first guide rail is laid on a tabletop of the workbench, and the moving rack is installed on the first guide rail, and moved linearly along the X-axis direction by a pushrod of the hydraulic cylinder.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the barrel outer-sided printing device further comprises a Y-axis servomotor, a screw and a second guide rail. The Y-axis servomotor, screw and second guide rail are installed on the moving rack, and the Y-axis servomotor drives the screw to rotate, and an end of the connecting frame is mounted onto the second guide rail and slidably coupled along the Y-axis and the other end of the connecting frame is spirally coupled to the screw.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the barrel inner-sided printing device further comprises a Z-axis servomotor and a bearing. The bearing is installed on the workbench, and the turntable is installed in the bearing, and the Z-axis servomotor is installed at the bottom of the workbench and provided for driving the turntable to rotate on the bearing by using the Z-axis as an axis line.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, both of the inner mold and the outer mold include at least a matrix, and the matrix in the single inner mold and the matrix in the single outer mold are paired to form a pair of matrix elements for printing a single text. The matrix is installed on the Y-axis plane of the connecting frame and the circumferential surface of the turntable separately, and the matrix of the connecting frame is pressed along the X-axis, the printing of the single matrix element is completed.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, both of the circumferential surface of the turntable and the Y-axis plane of the connecting frame have at least a dovetail notch of the same size, and each matrix is of the same size. The back side of the matrix is correspondingly latched into the dovetail notch, so that the matrix is installed onto the Y-axis plane of the connecting frame and the circumferential surface of the turntable separately.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, both upper and lower ends of the matrix in the outer mold have a fixing plate coupled to the connecting frame to abut and fix the matrix.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, if the X-axis and the diameter of the turntable are situated on a straight line, then the matrix of the connecting frame at the linear position and the matrix of the turntable at the linear position can be used for normal printing.
The apparatus for printing a beer barrel further comprises a barrel driving mechanism, and the barrel driving mechanism comprises a 3-jaw positioning tool for positioning the barrel and controlling the barrel to rotate axially and independently, and the 3-jaw positioning tool and the turntable are positioned coaxially and can be moved axially.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the barrel driving mechanism further comprises a third guide rail, a fourth guide rail, a placement plate, a Z-axis cylinder, a first cylinder and a lifting mechanism. The third guide rail and the fourth guide rail are disposed on the workbench and the lifting mechanism respectively and parallel to the Z-axis. The placement plate is installed onto the third guide rail and moved linearly along the third guide rail by the Z-axis cylinder. The 3-jaw positioning tool is installed onto the fourth guide rail and moved linearly along the fourth guide rail by the first cylinder. The lifting mechanism is installed on the placement plate for driving the 3-jaw positioning tool to ascend and descend vertically.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the 3-jaw positioning tool comprises a chuck mount, a chuck servomotor and a 3-jaw chuck coaxially configured with the turntable. The 3-jaw chuck is installed onto the fourth guide rail by the chuck mount and capable of rotating axially, and a gear is installed onto the back side of the 3-jaw chuck and configured to be coaxially with the 3-jaw chuck. The chuck servomotor is fixed onto the chuck mount and engaged with the gear to rotate the barrel axially and independently with respect to the turntable. The first cylinder is provided for controlling the chuck mount to move along the fourth guide rail.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the lifting mechanism comprises a lifting cylinder, a lifting plate and a socket bar and a guide rock disposed at the periphery of the placement plate. The lifting cylinder and the socket bar are fixed onto the placement plate. The guide rod is slidably plugged into the socket bar, and the top of the guide rod is coupled to the lifting plate, and the lifting rod of the lifting cylinder drives the lifting plate to ascend and descend vertically, and the fourth guide rail is installed onto the lifting plate.
The apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the beer barrel further comprises a barrel placement mechanism, and the barrel placement mechanism comprises two support members each including a sliding seat, an adjustment mechanism, a positioning plate installed onto the lifting plate and a pair of symmetrical wheels disposed on both left and right sides of the sliding seat respectively. The outer circumferential surface of the rotating wheel is contacted with the outer wall of the barrel, and both left and right ends of the sliding seat are installed onto the fourth guide rail and slid linearly. The positioning plate is disposed at the top of the sliding seat and has a plurality of adjustment holes distributed along the Z-axis. The sliding seat is coupled to the adjustment mechanism by the adjustment hole.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the sliding seat has a slotted hole, and the slotted hole is fixed to the adjustment hole by the adjustment mechanism.
The apparatus for printing a beer barrel further comprises an abutting mechanism disposed at the top of the barrel placement mechanism. The abutting mechanism comprises a slide block, a second cylinder, a fifth guide rail and a pair of symmetric abutting blocks disposed on both left and right sides of the slide block respectively. Both of the fifth guide rail and the second cylinder are installed onto the hydraulic cylinder mount, wherein the fifth guide rail is parallel to the X-axis. The slide block is installed onto the fifth guide rail and pushed to slide linearly along the fifth guide rail by the second cylinder. An axial end of the barrel is latched to the 3-jaw chuck, and the other end of the barrel abuts against the abutting block.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the abutting block abuts against a middle position of the barrel.
In the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, the abutting block is made of nylon.
The present invention also provides a process I for printing beer barrels, and the process I comprises the following steps:
Step 1: Install a matrix element onto the Y-axis plane of a connecting frame and the circumferential surface of a turntable separately and arrange and label a plurality of corresponding single texts.
Step 2: Sheath a stretched and welded barrel on the turntable, such that the inner side of the barrel is configured to be corresponsive to a matrix of a male die structure in a matrix element, and the outer side of the barrel is configured to be corresponsive to a matrix of a female die structure in the matrix element, wherein the matrix of the first female die structure and the matrix of the first male die structure are arranged at a printing position
Step 3: Move the connecting frame along the X-axis, so that the matrix of the first female die structure touches a sidewall of the barrel and operates together with the matrix of the first male die structure to print a first text on the sidewall of the barrel, and then move the connecting frame in an opposite direction along the X-axis, so that the matrix of the first female die structure and the matrix of the first male die structure are separated from each other
Step 4: Move the connecting frame along the Y-axis after the matrix of the first female die structure and the matrix of the first male die structure are separated from each other, so that the matrix of the next female die structure can move to the printing position, and the turntable rotates along the Z-axis so that the barrel and the matrix of the next male die structure also rotate and move to the printing position, and perform the printing as described in Step 3.
Step 5: Print the remaining text by the method as described in Step 4 to complete a labelled printing.
In Step 1, if the text and order of the matrix element used are the same as those of the previously installed matrix element, then the previous matrix element will be kept, and only the matrix element with a different text and a different order will be changed.
In the process I, after the connecting frame moves along the X-axis to separate the matrix of the female die structure and the matrix of the male die structure from one another, the sidewall of the barrel is still printed by the matrix of the male die structure and latched to the matrix of the male die structure, so as to drive the turntable to rotate the barrel along the Z-axis.
The present invention further provides a process II for printing beer barrels, and the process II comprises the following steps:
Step 1: Install a matrix element onto the Y-axis plane of a connecting frame and the circumferential surface of a turntable separately and arrange and label a plurality of corresponding single texts, wherein a matrix of a female die structure is installed on the Y-axis plane of the connecting frame, and a matrix of a male die structure is installed on a circumferential surface of the turntable.
Step 2: Position an end of a stretched and welded barrel by a 3-jaw chuck and move the barrel to a printing position, such that the inner side of the barrel is configured to be corresponsive to a matrix of a male die structure and the outer side of the barrel is configured to be corresponsive to a matrix of a female die structure.
Step 3: Automatically find the matrix of the corresponding female die structure and move the matrix to a printing position by the connecting frame when a first text is printed, and automatically find the matrix of the corresponding male die structure and rotating the matrix along the Z-axis to a printing position by the turntable, and move the matrix of the female die structure along the X-axis by a hydraulic cylinder and operate together with the matrix of the male die structure for printing, and restore the matrix of the female die structure to its original position after the printing is completed, and lift the barrel by a lifting cylinder to separate the barrel from the matrix of the male die structure.
Step 4: Print a next text, and control a 3-jaw chuck independently to rotate the barrel to an appropriate angle first, and then perform the operation as described in Step 3.
Step 5: Use the method as described in Step 4 to print the remaining text, so as to complete the labeled printing.
In the process II, the barrel, the connecting frame, and the turntable have independently controlled power.
In Step 2 of the process II, the barrel is placed horizontally on a barrel placement mechanism, and the 3-jaw chuck moves towards the barrel, so that both ends of the barrel abut against the abutting mechanism and the 3-jaw chuck respectively, and then the 3-jaw chuck is provided for connecting and positioning the barrel, and the abutting mechanism restores its original position along the X-axis, and then the barrel is sent to a printing position.
In summation, the apparatus and process for printing a beer barrel in accordance with the present invention have the following advantages:
With the turntable and the connecting frame having the inner mold and the outer mold with the corresponding identification, the stretched and welded barrel is placed on the turntable of this apparatus and pressed by the outer mold and inner mold for printing, so that labels can be printed onto the sidewall of the barrel, so as to achieve the effect of stretching and welding the barrel before printing the barrel. Such arrangement can overcome the drawback of wasting the previous printing when it is necessary to scrap a semi-finished product of the stretched and welded barrel. This invention can simplify the manufacturing procedure and reduce the manufacturing cost and time.
The matrix in the single inner mold and the matrix in the single outer mold are paired and configured to be corresponsive to a pair of matrix elements for printing a single text, and the matrix is installed onto the connecting frame and the turntable separately, so as to divide the matrix printing tool of labeled identification into a plurality of matrix elements of several single texts. During the production process, some of the texts of the labeled identification are the same and some are different. As a result, it is only necessary to change the required matrix and adjust the order, and the original matrix elements of the same text are kept for use, so as to achieve excellent versatility and interchangeability of the same matrix elements for different labeled identifications. Such arrangement not just saves the time of changing the mold only, but also skips the manufacture of several matrix printing tools for different labeled identifications. The invention reduces the manufacturing cost and time of the mold.
By the principle of controlling the servomotor, the matrix can be positioned more accurately while moving and rotating.
After the connecting frame moves along the X-axis to separate the matrix of the female die structure and the matrix of the male die structure from each other, the sidewall of the barrel is still pressed on and latched to the matrix of the male die structure, so that the turntable drives the barrel to rotate along the Z-axis, wherein the turntable may install barrels of different sizes or specifications. Therefore, it no longer needs to prepare several turntables of different sizes, and this invention reduces the manufacturing cost of the apparatus for printing beer barrels.
The barrel outer-sided printing device, the barrel inner-sided printing device and the barrel driving mechanism of the present invention can be controlled independently, so that there will be enough matrixes on the turntable and the connecting frame, and the corresponding printing position can be found automatically according to the inputted printing content. This invention saves lots of time for changing the text and provides a very convenient effect for imprinting an embossed serial number.
Since the barrel driving mechanism can rotate the barrel on the turntable, therefore the gap between two adjacent texts printed on the barrel can be adjusted to make the printed text very beautiful and the distribution of the texts printed on the outer wall of the barrel can be adjusted.
The technical contents of the present invention will become apparent with the detailed description of preferred embodiments accompanied with the illustration of related drawings as follows. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.
With reference to
With the apparatus of the present invention, a complete mark can be printed, and the effect of stretching and welding the barrel before printing the barrel can be achieved. The invention overcomes the drawbacks of the traditional manufacturing process which may cause an unnecessary scrap of a semi-finished product when a printed material fails in a stretching or welding process, since the printed material obtained from the previous printing process becomes useless. The invention also simplifies the manufacturing procedure to reduce the manufacturing cost and time. By the control of the servomotor, the outer mold 62 and the inner mold 61 can be moved more accurately.
With reference to
With reference to
Step S10: Install a matrix element onto the Y-axis plane of a connecting frame and the circumferential surface of a turntable separately and arrange and label a plurality of corresponding single texts. In the Step S10, if the text and order of the matrix element used in Step S10 are the same as those of the previously installed matrix element, then the previous matrix element will be kept to achieve the effect of providing excellent versatility and interchangeability of the matrix, and such arrangement not just saves the time of changing the mold only, but also skips the manufacture of several matrix printing tools with different marks. Therefore the invention can save the manufacturing cost and manufacturing time of the mold.
Step S20: Sheath a stretched and welded barrel on the turntable 41, such that the inner side of the barrel is configured to be corresponsive to a matrix 63 of a male die structure in a matrix element, and the outer side of the barrel is configured to be corresponsive to a matrix 63 of a female die structure in the matrix element, and the connecting frame moves the turntable 41 along the X-axis. In addition, a normal printing position is designed between the matrix 63 of the male die structure and the matrix 63 of the female die structure in a single matrix element. Now, the positions of the matrix 63 of the first female die structure and the matrix 63 of the first male die structure are at the printing positions (wherein if the X-axis and the diameter of the turntable are situated on a straight line, the matrix 63 of the connecting frame 31 at the linear position and the matrix 63 of the turntable at the linear position can be used for a normal printing, and such linear positions are printing positions).
Step S30: Move the connecting frame 31 along the X-axis, such that the matrix 63 of the first female die structure touches the sidewall of the barrel, and operates together with the matrix 63 of the first male die structure to print a first text of a mark printed on the sidewall of the barrel, and then move the connecting frame 31 in an opposite direction along the X-axis, such that the matrix 63 of the first female die structure and the matrix 63 of the first male die structure are separated from each other.
Step S40: Move the connecting frame 31 along the Y-axis after the separation of the matrixes 63, such that the matrix of the next female die structure is moved with a corresponding distance to the printing position. Since the printed sidewall of the barrel is latched into the first matrix element, therefore the sidewall of the barrel is still pressed on the matrix of the male die structure when the matrix of the female die structure is separated from the sidewall of the barrel along the X-axis. The turntable drives the barrel to rotate along the Z-axis, and the turntable 41 rotates to a corresponding distance along the Z-axis, and the barrel 5 and the matrix of the next male die structure are also rotated to the printing positions, so that the turntable may mount barrels of different sizes or specifications without requiring the manufacture of several turntables of different sizes. This invention further reduces the manufacturing cost of the apparatus for printing a beer barrel, and the method as described in Step 3 is used for printing the barrel.
Step S50: Use the method as described in Step S40 to print the remaining text, so as to complete pressing the whole mark.
This process can simplify the manufacturing procedure, and improve the interchangeability of the matrix, so as to reduce the manufacturing cost and time of the mold and provide a convenient operation.
With reference to
In
In
In
In
The sliding seat 81 has a slotted hole 86, and the slotted hole 86 is fixed to the adjustment hole 85 by the adjustment mechanism 82.
In
This apparatus further comprises a program for embossing serial numbers, and the program can be used for printing a respective serial number to a next barrel, and the serial number is corresponsive to the matrix. When the next barrel is printed, the corresponding matrix is retrieved. For example, if we want to print 20150703-001 on this barrel and 20150703-002 on the next barrel, so that each barrel has a unique serial number, then we will simply need to input a first serial number and then change the serial number according to a sequence without the need of changing text or re-enter the information. The operation is very convenient.
With reference to
Step S100: Install a matrix element onto the Y-axis plane of a connecting frame and the circumferential surface of a turntable separately and arrange and label a plurality of corresponding single texts, wherein a matrix of a female die structure is installed on the Y-axis plane of the connecting frame, and a matrix of a male die structure is installed on a circumferential surface of the turntable.
Step S200: Place a stretched and welded barrel 5 horizontally on a rotating wheel 84 and move the abutting block 94 downwardly to a middle position of the barrel 5, wherein after the first cylinder 67 drives the 3-jaw chuck 613 to move towards the barrel 5 and touch the barrel 5, the 3-jaw chuck 613 is driven to move continuously until an axial end of the barrel 5 abuts against the 3-jaw chuck 613, and the other end of the barrel 5 abuts against the abutting block 94, and then the 3-jaw chuck 613 clamps the barrel 5 for the positioning purpose, and the abutting block 94 is moved upwardly and the Z-axis cylinder 66 controls the barrel 5 to move towards the turntable 41 and to the printing position.
Step S300: When the first text is printed, the connecting frame 31 automatically finds the matrix of the corresponding female die structure and moves the matrix to the printing position, and the turntable 41 automatically finds the matrix of the corresponding male die structure and rotate the matrix along the Z-axis to the printing position, and the hydraulic cylinder 21 moves the matrix of the female die structure along the X-axis for printing. After the printing is done, the matrix of the female die structure restores its original position along the X-axis, and the barrel 5 is separated from the matrix of the male die structure by the upward movement of the lifting cylinder.
Step S400: When the next text is printed, the 3-jaw chuck is controlled independently to rotate the barrel to an appropriate angle, and then the Step 3 is used for performing the operation.
Step S500: The method as described in Step S400 is used to print the remaining text to complete printing the whole mark.
While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201610303861.6 | May 2016 | CN | national |
| 201620418749.2 | May 2016 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2016/088598 | 7/5/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/193464 | 11/16/2017 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10086601 | Luo | Oct 2018 | B2 |
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| 2698581 | May 2005 | CN |
| 2820532 | Sep 2005 | CN |
| 201362048 | Dec 2009 | CN |
| 101734028 | Jun 2010 | CN |
| 103935117 | Jul 2014 | CN |
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| 204278901 | Apr 2015 | CN |
| 105799347 | Jul 2016 | CN |
| 2011-0095475 | Aug 2011 | KR |
| Entry |
|---|
| English language machine translation of CN103935117A. (Year: 2014). |
| International Search Report for corresponding PCT application No. PCT/CN2016/088598 dated Feb. 21, 2017. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190160807 A1 | May 2019 | US |
