Patent Application
20110297194
The present application claims the benefit of priority of German Application No. DE102010029641.4, filed Jun. 2, 2010. The entire text of the priority application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a cleaning system of the typeused for cleaning bottles in beverage bottling operations.
In conventional cleaning systems, particularly for glass and/or plastic bottles, the bottles are inserted e.g. in transverse rows into bottle carriers, the bottle carriers being fastened one after the other to at least one surrounding transport chain. For instance, up to 74 bottles or more are conveyed side by side in successive transverse rows in a relatively close arrangement through different zones in the cleaning system, namely along partly arcuate tracks. Even if the bottles are held in the bottle carriers, the contact e.g. of the bottle bottom with the contact top side of the sheet-metal wall causes mutual wear. Especially in at least one dome-shaped deflection zone along the bottle transport path a significant wear portion is noticed in the bottle paths since each bottle in the bottle carrier performs a tilting movement during deflection and is put into an inclined position in a locally concentrated form with the bottle bottom on the bottle contact side. The local wear is all the more pronounced the more dirt and sand has been introduced into the cleaning system. Since each bottle in the deflection zone tilts virtually at the same place, a significant, clearly visible and noticeable notch in the bottle contact side of the sheet-metal wall is evolving at said place over time. The quality of the bottle bottom has a great influence on the wear characteristics. If the material wear is very advanced on the sheet-metal wall, the bottles get more and more damaged. In the case of glass bottles, the breakage of glass further intensifies the gradual destruction of the sheet-metal wall. The cleaning system must then be repaired. For this purpose the sheet-metal wall is removed completely, e.g. in sections, and a new sheet-metal wall or new sheet-metal sections are welded in. This repair can only be carried out by specifically trained experts in housing construction and necessitates a long down time of the cleaning system.
It is one aspect of the present disclosure to provide a cleaning system of the aforementioned type in which such repair work due to wear can be carried out in an easy and fast way.
Since the at least one exchangeably arranged wear plate is provided in the wear portion, the repair work can be carried out easily and rapidly just by exchanging the worn wear plate. The sheet-metal wall is used further at least at the beginning. The repair work can be carried out without any problems even by untrained persons, and it just necessitates a short down time of the cleaning system. Since the repair can be carried out easily and rapidly, it can be performed earlier than in former times so as to minimize damage to the bottles, which can thus circulate more often according to the return or recycling principle. This also reduces the use of new bottles during recycling.
In an expedient embodiment the wear plate is exchangeably fixed in the wear portion by screws. The screws have just to be unscrewed for repair and, after the wear plate has been replaced by a new one, they have just to be tightened again. This requires only relatively untrained personnel, and the down time of the cleaning system is also relatively short.
The respective wear plate could be engaged alternatively or additively for screwing or it could be fixed by means of detachable locks.
For easier handling and since wear may vary in the transverse direction of the wear portion, i.e. in a direction transverse to the bottle transport direction, it is expedient when in the wear portion a plurality of individually exchangeable wear plates are provided side by side, preferably butt-jointed to one another. This makes it possible to exchange only a particularly strongly worn wear plate and to further use other plates in the wear portion. Alternatively, a for instance strip-shaped space could be provided between two wear plates, said space being preferably aligned with a gap between bottle paths where there is hardly any wear. Even if in case of repair all wear plates are exchanged in the wear portion, the subdivision into a plurality of wear plates simplifies handling during repair. Similarly, more than only one wear plate could be exchangeably arranged in bottle transport direction in the wear portion. It would alternatively be possible to mount a separate wear plate to be individually exchangeable in each bottle path defined in the cleaning system.
In an expedient embodiment each wear plate is a sheet-metal strip with rectangular or square outer contour. Screw holes for the screws are expediently placed along the outer contour of the sheet-metal strip. Due to the great number of screw holes distributed along the outer contour one obtains a fun closure of the mounted wear plate in the wear portion. This, however, is not meant to exclude a situation where the wear plates are given contour shapes, optionally adapted to the conditions in the wear portion, that differ from a rectangle or square, e.g. an oval shape or a rectangular shape with corrugated edges, or the like. Expediently, the screws are screwed for easier repair handling from the bottle contact side into the wear plate and with a mounting positioned thereunder e.g. of the sheet-metal wall itself. Alternatively or additively the screws could also be introduced from the opposite side. At any rate it is expedient to place the screws flush with the contact top side, optionally slightly countersunk relative to the bottle contact side. Other locks could similarly also be used for fixing purposes, e.g. also locks that are only anchored in the sheet-metal wall or/and in a holder.
In an expedient embodiment the wear plate is more wear resistant than neighboring portions of the sheet-metal wall so as to take into account the locally stronger wear in the wear portion. For instance the wear plates are made of a material of a higher quality, e.g. a sheet-metal material, e.g. of high quality steel, than the adjoining sheet-metal wall.
In another alternative the wear plate has at least a more wear-resistant bottle contact side than the area of the sheet-metal wall adjacent to the wear plate, e.g. a coating, surface refinement, or the like.
In one embodiment the wear portion of the sheet-metal wall in an arcuate bottle deflection zone of the housing, e.g. in a dome-shaped or depression-shaped deflection zone, comprises a bottle contact side facing the bottles, which is convexly or concavely curved, for instance for bottle bottoms. The wear plate which is exchangeably mounted there is a correspondingly bent sheet-metal strip, optionally a prefabricated spare part which is also delivered by the manufacturer to the user of the cleaning system or a spare part produced on site. This, however, is not to exclude a situation where at least one wear plate is provided in an at least substantially flat wear portion, for instance in a section of the bottle transport path in which locally strong wear must be expected for other reasons, e.g. in a curve or at a place where more abrasive soiling occurs during cleaning.
In a further embodiment the bottle deflection zone extends in a direction transverse to the transport direction of bottles conveyed in transverse rows and, in the wear portion, wear plates of the same width with the same or different lengths in a direction transverse to the transport direction are arranged in a direction transverse to the transport direction one after the other and in an individually exchangeable way. Identical lengths simplify the manufacture due to an identical part principle.
In a further embodiment the sheet-metal wall is configured to be continuous in transport direction, and the wear plate is screwed onto the sheet-metal wall. The continuous sheet-metal wall ensures tightness to cleaning media and acts as a stable carrier of each wear plate.
It may here be expedient when the wear plate edges positioned in transport direction at the front and/or rear are beveled to ensure smooth transitions.
In a further embodiment the sheet-metal wall has at least one respective local recess matched to the wear plate thickness for the flush insertion of at least one wear plate. The sheet-metal wall may here be a sheet-metal edge part. The wear wall mounted in the recess avoids objectionable transitions during transportation of the bottles over the wear portions. Alternatively, a section framed e.g. at the rear side could be provided in the sheet-metal wall for this purpose, and a possibly necessary seal could even be formed therein with the non-rotated wear plate.
Finally, it may be expedient that the bottles in each transverse row are conveyed spaced apart from one another with gaps, and the screws of the exchangeably arranged wear plate are aligned with the gaps between the bottles. This avoids collisions causing wear between the bottles and the screws or screw holes.
The subject matter of the disclosure shall now be explained with reference to the drawing, in which:
The cleaning system R comprises a housing 2 in which a sheet-metal wall 3 forms a boundary for a bottle transport path through system zones of the cleaning system R, e.g., as shown, in a system zone with a deflection zone U which is dome-shaped, i.e. arcuately convexly curved, in bottle transport direction T and which has a dome crest oriented e.g. in a direction transverse to the transport direction T. The bottles F are e.g. arranged in bottle carriers H. The bottle carriers H are conveyed by at least one transport element 1, e.g. a conveyor chain, in transport direction T through the cleaning system 2. In the illustrated embodiment successive transverse rows of the bottles F are also conveyed over the deflection zone U. The bottles F can contact the sheet-meal wall 3 at least sometimes, for instance with their bottle bottoms, but lastingly contact the wall in the deflection zone U, which thereby constitutes a wear portion V in which locally strong wear has to be expected along the bottle transport path. The reason for this is that upon deflection in the deflection zone U each bottle can perform a relative tilt movement in the bottle carrier H virtually at the same place of the wear portion V, in which tilt movement the bottle bottom, for instance, lastingly contacts the bottle contact side in the wear portion V, resulting in a significant material removal at said place over time. Such a wear portion V can also or only be expected in a concave depression and/or in a flat section, possibly even only at one place or a plurality of places located side by side or one after the other.
To simplify the repair work required because of such a wear, to shorten the repair time and to reduce the efforts in terms of material and work for the repair, at least one wear plate 4a, 4b 4c is exchangeably arranged according to the disclosure in the and/or in the respective wear portion V or at least at a wear-sensitive place.
Expediently, as outlined in
As outlined in
Each wear plate 4a, 4b, 4c can be made from a more wear-resistant material, particularly sheet-metal material, than portions of the sheet-metal wall 3 adjacent to the wear plate. The wear plate of higher quality, which might be expensive, increases the total costs only insignificantly because it occupies only a relative small sub-portion in the sheet-metal wall. Alternatively, at least the bottle contact side of the wear plate could be made more wear-resistant, with a lining, a coating, or by way of a special surface treatment, than portions of the sheet-metal wall adjacent to the wear plate. The advantage of the simple and less expensive repair is thereby combined with a longer service life or a lower repair frequency.
The arrangement of a plurality of wear plates of the same size or of different sizes in a direction transverse to or in bottle transport direction T results not only in simplified handling during repair, but makes it also possible to exchange only a strongly worn wear plate and to leave others for the time being. This, however, should not rule out that a wear plate extending over the total width of the sheet-metal wall at the most is exchangeably provided or/and more than one wear plate is exchangeably arranged in the wear portion V in transport direction.
Prefabricated and optionally correspondingly fittingly bent wear plates, e.g. for a plurality of system zones of the cleaning system that are critical with respect to wear can expediently be stored at the place of use of the cleaning system so as to carry out repairs at any time, if necessary, for instance by the personnel of the user of the cleaning system.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102010029641.4 | Jun 2010 | DE | national |
