Patent Application
20080054024
The present invention relates to a material pressure feeding apparatus and a material pressure feeding method, in particular to a material pressure feeding apparatus and a material pressure feeding method, which is capable of reducing the amount of the residual material after feeding material out of a container with pressure.
Conventionally, resin materials of high viscosity such as silicone rubber and epoxy resin have been utilized as sealing materials. Such resin material contained in a predetermined container is arranged to be sucked and fed by pressure by required amount to a nozzle, from which the material is discharged onto a sealing surface and the like of a work.
Problems to be solved by the Invention
In the material pressure feeding apparatus 50, however, as the press member 54 descends, the sack 51 is pulled down within the container 52. Therefore, the press member 54 generates wrinkles in the lower portion of the sack 51 containing the material M. As the press member 54 descends, the wrinkles are generated a lot not only in the side area but also in the bottom portion of the sack 51. As a result, the sack 51 wrinkled during the suction of the material M tends to block the suction port 56. Due to this, succeeding sucking of the material M becomes unsatisfactory or impossible, leading to that the material M tends to be left and also such a disadvantage arises that the sack 51 is broken due to the suction force from the suction port 56 and air bubbles are mixed in the material M.
Here, when the initial setting for the lower limit of the press member 54 is set to a higher position, the amount of the wrinkle generation can be reduced and thus the suction port 56 can be prevented from being blocked. In this case, however, such a reflective disadvantage that a lot of material M is left within the sack 51 is caused.
Further, the upper area of the sack 51 is kept opened and the material M is in the state to be exposed, and then the press member 54 is placed on the liquid surface. Therefore, the air is readily mingled in the material M from the interface between the press member 54 and the liquid surface, leading to such a disadvantage that a considerable amount of the material M has to be disposed at air purging. In particular, depending on the viscosity of the material M, since waves tend to be formed on the liquid surface, a larger amount of air is mingled in the material M, resulting in the disadvantage of significant amount of material disposition.
Moreover, the lower face of the press member 54 comes into contact with the material M. Therefore, when the press member 54 is reused at each occasion of replacement of the sack 51, it is inevitable to carry out such a troublesome work to remove the material M adhered on the press member 54. Further, while carrying out the removal work of the adhered material M or folding back the upper end of the sack 51, there can be such a disadvantage that the material M accidentally adheres to hands, container 52 and/or other equipment causing a dirt or damage.
The present invention has been proposed in view of the above disadvantages. An object of the present invention is to provide a material pressure feeding apparatus and a material pressure feeding method capable of reducing the residual material in the container as small as possible after feeding out the material in the container with pressure thereon.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a material pressure feeding apparatus and a material pressure feeding method capable of preventing the air mingling to the material.
Further another object of the present invention is to provide a material pressure feeding apparatus and a material pressure feeding method capable of preventing unintended adhesion of the material to reduce the maintenance work and the like.
Means to Solve the Problems
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs a material pressure feeding apparatus, which includes:
a sack containing a material with a predetermined viscosity;
a container for containing the sack formed with an opening in its upper portion;
a press member disposed within the container and positioned on the sack; and
a pressure feeder for lowering the press member to pressurize the sack containing the material, and having a suction port for sucking the material by lowering the press member, wherein
the press member is arranged to descend and reduce the capacity of the sack so as to form a wrinkled portion, and to form a reception space for receiving the wrinkled portion in the lower portion thereof.
The present invention preferably employs such arrangement that the press member includes a plate, which has a plane shape substantially identical to that of the opening of the container, and a tubular member, which is positioned along the inner peripheral side surface of the container, hanging down vertically from the outer peripheral side of the plate to form the reception space therein.
Also, the plate may employ such arrangement that the plate includes a through hole communicating with the suction port in the central area of the plane, along which the sack can be cut off.
Further, it is preferred to employ such arrangement that a spacer is provided between the bottom portion of the container and the bottom outer surface of the sack so as to be received inside the above mentioned reception space.
Further, the spacer may employ such arrangement that, when the spacer is received inside the reception space, the spacer forms a space for containing the wrinkled portion of the sack within the reception space.
The method of the present invention employs such a material pressure feeding method, in which a sack containing a material having a predetermined viscosity; a container for holding the sack in an upper portion of which an opening is formed; a press member disposed within the container and positioned on the sack; and a pressure feeder for lowering the press member to pressurize the sack containing the material, are included and a material is sucked from a suction port in the pressure feeder by lowering the press member, wherein
the press member includes: a plate having a plane shape substantially identical to that of the opening of the container; a tubular member positioned along the inner peripheral side surface of the container and hanging down vertically from the outer peripheral side of the plate to form a reception space; and a through hole formed within a plane of the plate and communicating with the suction port; wherein
the plate is placed on the sack so that the sack is positioned within a reception space of the press member, thereafter forming a hole by cutting off the sack along the periphery of the through hole, and succeedingly
the press member is lowered by means of the pressure feeder causing the material in the sack to pass through the hole and the through hole to suck the material via the suction port, and a wrinkled portion of the sack formed by reducing the volume of the sack is received in the reception space.
According to the present invention, the wrinkled portion formed on the sack is received in a reception space of the press member. Therefore, it is possible to restrain forming of wrinkled portion in an unspecified position such as the bottom portion of the sack; and thus, also possible to prevent the suction port being blocked by the wrinkled portion. Owing to this, even when the lowest position of the press member is set to a lower position, the suction port can be prevented from being blocked by the wrinkled portion. Air mingling to the material due to sack breakage, which is a conventional problem, is prevented and the amount of the residual material within the sack after feeding out the material with pressure can be reduced.
Also, the press member is arranged so as to use the plate and the tubular member, which is formed being connected to the plate hanging down along the inner peripheral side surface of the container. Accordingly, the reception space can be formed in the press member with a simple arrangement. Further, while the press member descends, the lower end of the tubular member enters between the inner peripheral side surface of the container and the peripheral surface of the sack. Accordingly, at a position along the tubular member in the reception space, the wrinkled portion is continuously formed and received efficiently.
Furthermore, if the sack is arranged so as to be cut off along the through hole of the plate in a state that the sack is closed and the press member is placed thereon, a hole can be formed by cutting off the sack. The hole allows the through hole and the inside of the sack to communicate with each other. Thereby, the lower face of the plate can be maintained in a substantially non-contact state with the material and thus the material can be almost kept away from adhering to the plate. Owing to this, in the case where the press member is reused at the occasion of the sack replacement, cleaning work to remove the material from the press member can be eliminated resulting in a reduced maintenance work and the like. And further, air mingling to the material through the interface between the plate and material liquid surface, which is a conventional problem, is restrained and the amount of the waste material at air purging can be reduced.
Still further, in the case where the spacer which is arranged to be receivable inside the reception space is provided, the spacer can reduce the space for the material to remain in the reception space when the press member descents, and thereby the amount of the residual material in the container can be reduced.
Still furthermore, the spacer forms a space for settling the wrinkled portion of the sack in the reception space, in other words the spacer and the wrinkled portion can be contained concurrently in the reception space. Accordingly, the amount of the residual material can be further reduced.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this specification, the wordings “upper” and “lower” are used with reference to
The sack 11 is formed of a resin film such as polyethylene. As shown in
The container 12 is formed of a metal such as stainless steel or a hard resin such as polypropylene capable of maintaining a given shape. The container 12 is formed as a container with bottom, which has a peripheral wall 17 having a substantially cylindrical shape oriented in the vertical direction, and a bottom wall portion 18 as the bottom continuously formed with the lower portion of the peripheral wall 17; and the an opening 19 is formed in the upper portion thereof.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Next, suction and pressure feeding steps for the material M by the material pressure feeding apparatus 10 will be described.
First of all, as a preparation for carrying out suction of the material M, as shown in
In this state, the pressure feeder 15 lowers the press member 13 by operation of the lift (not shown). Owing to this, the press member 13 pressurizes the sack 11 containing the material M, and the dimension of the sack 11 is reduced leading to inner pressure increase of the material M. Thus, the material M is sucked via the suction port 37A through the through hole 25 and the hole 46, and the material M is fed by pressure to an operation nozzle not shown through the path 37. As shown in
Here, the state of the sack 11 when the press member 13 is lowered will be described further in detail.
Accompanying the volumetric reduction of the sack 11, as shown in
Therefore, according to the above embodiment, since the wrinkled portion S is formed in a position within the reception space 23 along the tubular member 22, the wrinkled portion S is settled in a position away from the suction port 37A sufficiently enough, enabling to prevent blockage of the suction port 37A by the wrinkled portion S. Moreover, since the space 30 is formed so that the wrinkled portion S and the spacer body 28 are settled concurrently within the reception space 23, the lowest position of the press member 13 can be set to a position where the upper face of the spacer body 28 comes closer to the lower face of the plate 21. Accordingly, the residual material M in the reception space 23 can be reduced; thus, the material can be used to its end as much as possible.
Also, in the upper portion of the sack 11, the hole 46 can be formed in a substantially same shape as that of the opening of the through hole 25, therefore due to the sack 11, substantially non-contact state of the lower face of the plate 21 with respect to the material M is realized. Owing to this, the material adhesion to the plate 21 is prevented, which can eliminate washing work and the like of the press member 13 at the occasion of the sack 11 replacement, which likely causes dropping material M and so on, thereby enabling to improve the working environment. Furthermore, compared to the conventional type, the area that the material M comes into contact with the air is made smaller. Thus, the air is prevented from mingling to the material M and the amount of the waste material M, which has to be disposed of at air purging can be reduced.
Furthermore, a tapered portion 26 is formed at the lower end side of the tubular member 22. Accordingly, the tubular member 22 easily enters between the outer surface of the sack 11 and the inner peripheral side surface of the peripheral wall 17; thus, the press member 13 can be lowered smoothly. To be more specifically, the sloped face 26B inside the tapered portion 26 serves as a guide. That is, owing to the sloped face 26B, the side-upper end of the sack 11 is oriented to the direction so as to enter into the reception space 23. Owing to this, the sack 11 is received in the reception space 23 in order to form the wrinkled portion S.
Still further, when the press member 13 descends, since the central area in the plane of the plate 21 is depressed by the flange portion 36 of the pressure feeder 15. Accordingly, the central area of the plate 21 is flexibly deformed in a concave shape; and owing to the flexible deformation, the lower portion of the tubular member 22 is enlarged outward. Owing to this, the contact force between the lower portion and the tapered portion 26 of the tubular member 22 and the inner peripheral side surface of the peripheral wall 17 can be increased, and thereby, the tubular member 22 can enter more easily between the outer surface of the sack 11 and the inner peripheral side surface of the peripheral wall 17.
The best arrangement and so on for carrying out the present invention have been disclosed so far. However, the present invention is not limited to the above.
That is, the present invention has been specifically illustrated and described with respect to a particular embodiment. It is possible for a person skilled in the art to add various modifications to the above-described embodiment in shape, number and other detailed arrangement without departing from the scope of the technical spirit and the object of the present invention. Therefore, the above-disclosed arrangement has been given just an example for the purpose to facilitate understanding of the present invention, not to limit the present invention. Therefore, the descriptions using appellations of component members disregarding all or a part of the limitations such as the shape and the like are to be included in the present invention.
For example, the press member 13 may be variously modified as far as the reception space for receiving the wrinkled portions is included. However, in order to obtain the above working and effect satisfactorily, such arrangement as the above-described embodiment is preferably employed.
In this embodiment, the projecting member 40 is provided at the suction port 37A and a hollowed portion 32 is formed in the upper face of the spacer 14. However, such arrangement without these may be employed.
Further, the sack 11 may be contained without disposing the spacer 14 in the container 12. However, it is advantageous to dispose the spacer 14 to reduce the amount of the residual material M.
Furthermore, the shape of the opening 19 of the container 12 may be modified to a substantially quadrangle, a substantially polygonal shape, a substantially elliptical shape or the like; and the plane shape of the plate 21 of the press member 13 may be changed so as to be substantially identical thereto.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-293260 | Oct 2004 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP05/18324 | 10/4/2005 | WO | 3/30/2007 |
