EP0105197B1 - Device for simultaneously filling a plurality of containers such as receptacles, casks, packages or the like with a liquid, gaseous or solid substance - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for simultaneously filling a liquid or solid, flowable medium into a plurality of containers, such as containers, barrels, packs or the like, according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

Filling systems are known for the filling of liquid, gaseous or flowable goods, but they are constructed in such a way that the required amount of goods to be filled is individually determined even when several containers are filled at the same time. Such a filling system requires a number of devices corresponding to the number of individual filling devices with which the filling volume or weight of each container is measured and monitored.

According to US ― A ― 3,548,891 a system for simultaneous filling of several containers is known, but using dosing and filling devices in a number corresponding to the number of containers to be filled, each container to be filled being assigned its own filling device. The filling nozzles used in this system enable individual containers to be filled according to the filling volume, which is possible by assigning a filling device to each individual container. However, with this filling device neither the filling volume nor the filling weight of a single container is measured and monitored, so that the filling of the containers is not controlled by the filling volume or the filling weight of a single container. Rather, the filling volume or the filling weight for each individual container is monitored and used to control the filling device.

CH-A-147 328 describes a filling device in which a weight-dependent control element is provided which works in such a way that the further supply of the medium to be filled is interrupted when the respectively predetermined weight is reached. For this purpose, the container to be filled is arranged on a support plate, which is supported at the end by means of cutting-like bearings on the free ends of two levers, the facing free lever ends of which actuate a switch via which the opening and closing of the filling valve is controlled, this control being carried out by means of a Electromagnets are carried out so that the further supply of filling medium is interrupted when a predetermined target weight is reached. Controlling a large number of filling valves only via a single weight-controlled device is not provided for in this filling device.

A filling device is known from US ― A ― 3,205,920, with which containers passed by several filling valves can be filled with liquids. The containers to be filled are fed in via a conveyor belt, the forward movement of which is switched off when the number of containers corresponding to the number of filling valves comes to rest under the discharge openings of the filling valves. At this moment, all the filling valves are simultaneously placed on the openings of the containers to be filled via a gate control, the quantity of liquid which is to be filled into the containers then being supplied to the filling valves at the same time via pumps. In order to ensure that the filling valves are evenly placed on the tank openings, all filling valves are attached to a support beam that is held in a vertical guide. This support beam with the filling valves can be moved up and down via the link drive. The filling valves are connected to the pumps via flexible hose lines. With this filling device, too, all containers are filled with liquid at the same time using filling valves, via which the metering is carried out at the same time.

DE-A-27 28 759 discloses a machine system for separating and filling and closing cup-shaped containers made of paper, cardboard or plastic, which consists of an endless conveyor device provided with a plurality of receiving pockets arranged next to one another, above which stacking stations for containers are placed one after the other. Cover sheets and lids are provided with devices for separating and feeding the same, further comprising a dosing station with dosing elements for simultaneous filling of several containers, a lid station and possibly a cover sheet station and a pressing station with a bottom printing unit. The machine system is traversed in the longitudinal direction by a main drive shaft connected to a drive motor, from which secondary drive shafts are branched off vertically at the corresponding intervals in the individual stations, which are housed with the main drive shaft in a machine housing near the ground, which in turn has guide rails perpendicular to the main drive shaft for inserting one complete station tool, which is provided with connections for the associated and adjacent supply lines to each station. This machine system, the cup-shaped container are fed for filling and closing, is designed so that complete tools can be exchanged with each other or replaced by other tools, for which neither a great physical effort nor specialists nor a particular amount of time should be required. Furthermore, in this machine system, each station tool is assigned a line box which is permanently installed and provided with supply lines between two adjacent station tools. The tools that can be installed and removed in the machine system in this way, which can be put out of operation and put back into operation in a very short time, even with unskilled personnel, together with the drive and supply line, are to bring advantages in that they are small Operation with a basic machine and two tools start the production of sales packaging and can design it more and more by subsequently purchasing additional tools. In addition, a certain tool, for example for the cover sheet or sealing station, should be able to be used wherever it is needed in several basic machines. It is essential in this machine system, however, that the control of the quantity or weight of the medium to be filled is not carried out by detecting the weight of a container during its filling process, but at the same time several containers are filled via correspondingly provided metering devices.

DE-A-30 22 413 relates to a device for filling liquids with the aid of a balance, this device being designed as a filling valve for weighing filler which has two opening stages, these two opening stages consisting of two superposed valves which can be actuated one after the other, whereby a valve is formed from the valve housing and a valve body movable up and down in the valve housing, and the other valve is formed from a body fastened within the valve housing and a valve body connected to a rod. With a filling valve designed in this way, the advantage of a safe and simple method of operation with short filling times and high filling accuracy should result. The valve housing of this filling valve has a coarse filling nozzle in the lower area, in which a fine filling pipe is arranged.

The valve seats for the coarse filling nozzle and the fine filling tube are assigned to one another such that when a filling process is initiated by means of a pull magnet, the two valve seats of the coarse filling nozzle and the fine filling tube are opened and an impact magnet is switched on, so that the entire outlet cross section, i.e. the openings of the coarse filling nozzle and the fine filling pipe is released After reaching a preset intermediate quantity, which can be preselected over time or in another suitable manner, the pull magnet is switched off and the valve seat of the coarse filling nozzle is closed, so that no further inflow of the medium to be filled in the container is possible via the coarse filling nozzle.

The valve seat for the fine fill tube remains open until the target weight is reached. If this is reached, the shock magnet is switched off and the valve seat for the fine filling tube is closed, so that the fine filling is also interrupted.

The entire weighing filling device is controlled automatically using a balance and a control unit, via which the filling valve is controlled. With this filling device, when each container is filled, the contents to be fed into the container via a filling valve are recorded by weight, the coarse filling and the fine filling being controlled by means of the control unit via this weight recording. A simultaneous filling of several containers, with the contents of only one container being determined by weight and used for control purposes of the filling valves of all other filling stations, is not provided in this known device.

From US ― A ― 3,580,304, a system for simultaneously filling water into several glasses via a water distribution manifold with a number of liquid outlet nozzles corresponding to the number of glasses to be filled is known, one outlet nozzle being assigned to a vessel to be filled. The water is fed to the water distribution manifold by means of a single valve which is arranged in the main feed line and which is controlled by a device. This control device consists of a platform designed as a one-armed lever, which is arranged on the one side pivotable about a pivot point and receives a support plate on which the glasses to be filled are arranged. The free end of this support plate is acted upon by a spring, in such a way that in the case of glasses placed on this support plate, the inflow valve assumes an open position before and during the filling process and is first closed when all the containers on the support plate and the support plate are filled due to the resulting higher weight is moved against the pressure of the spring acting on the support plate, with the result that the water inlet valve is closed via a control rod. With this filling device, however, the filling volume or weight of a single container is not measured and monitored and is used for control purposes for carrying out the filling process for the other containers. Rather, the filling weight of all containers is used to control the inflow valve. Each of the containers to be filled is not assigned its own controllable filling valve, but the water supply to the entire water distribution manifold is controlled via a single valve. The use of a single control valve has the disadvantage that when the valve is closed, all the inlet nozzles to the containers of the water distribution manifold to be filled are not closed at the same time, and the liquid still in the water distribution manifold therefore continues to flow, which ultimately occurs can lead to different fill quantities and fill weights. In addition, there is no uniform pressure of the supplied liquid in the water distribution manifold, since there is a decrease in pressure, the longer and larger this water distribution manifold and the more outlet nozzles are provided for the containers to be filled. In addition, the filling device is in no way expandable; it is also not possible to reduce the number of containers to be filled. An extension is not possible for the very reason because the vessel carrier has predetermined dimensions for the containers to be filled and is designed such that a predetermined number of containers to be filled can be accommodated. Proper functioning of the filling device is not guaranteed if a smaller number than the number of containers provided on the vessel carrier is arranged on the vessel carrier. In this case, it is not possible to control the water inlet valve, since the weight of the filled containers is not sufficient to pivot the vessel carrier against the pressure of the spring in order to close the inlet valve.

The invention solves the problem of creating a verifiable filling system with which several containers can be filled at the same time, only the filling volume or weight of a container needing to be measured and monitored, so that a simple, economical filling system is obtained, the work performance of which can be easily increased at any time without great technical effort.

Furthermore, the invention solves the problem of creating a verifiable filling system with which several containers can be filled at the same time, only the filling volume or weight of a container having to be measured and used to control the inflow of further medium in order to be able to carry out comparative measurements of flow quantities to control the filling volume or weights for the other containers, whereby only the flow quantities to the individual containers are compared with a stored target value and the control of the further inflow quantity of medium is carried out and this can be accommodated in several rooms if in In the only space available, the entire device cannot be set up with several filling stations.

To solve this problem, a generic filling device is proposed, which according to the invention has the features specified in the characterizing part of patent claim 1.

With such an embodiment, a verifiable filling device is created, with which several containers can be filled at the same time, only the filling volume or weight of a container being measured and monitored. This ensures that the remaining containers, which are not monitored by a balance or a ring piston counter, are also filled with the desired weight or volume of the medium within the permissible tolerances. In one embodiment, this is achieved in that the impellers of the volume chambers are driven via a rigid shaft centrally through the medium flowing to the filling valves, the rotational speed of the shaft connecting the impellers of the volume chambers to one another being controlled by means of a braking device which can be controlled by a system pressure-dependent control device, so that the same pressure conditions prevail in all volume chambers, so that the medium to be filled is fed to the filling valves with the same pressure. The filling valves are controlled by using a single scale or a ring piston meter as a control station. All filling valves are opened or closed at the same time. The filling valves are closed at the same time when the target weight specified on the scale is reached.

• -Nur ein Gebinde wird gewogen oder durch einen Ringkolbenzähler volumetrisch überwacht.
• -Die Fülltoleranz aller weiteren Abfüllventile hängt lediglich von der Genauigkeit der mechanisch gekoppelten Volumenkammern ab. Da die Genauigkeit der mechanisch gekoppelten Volumenkammern sehr groß ist, werden keine bzw. kaum das Endgewicht beeinflussende Fülltoleranzen erhalten.
• -Eine vorhandene Abfüllvorrichtung kann erweitert werden.
• -Druckwellen und Druckschwankungen in dem Rohrleitungssystem der Vorrichtung haben keinen Einfluß auf die Fülltoleranz.
• -Durch die Koppelung der Volumenkammern mittels einer starren Welle und durch die synchrone Betätigung der Abfüllventile durch eine Stellmechanik ist die Bedingung der Eichfähigkeit erfüllt.

The following advantages are achieved with a filling device designed in this way:

• -Only one container is weighed or monitored volumetrically by a ring piston meter.
• -The filling tolerance of all other filling valves depends only on the accuracy of the mechanically coupled volume chambers. Since the accuracy of the mechanically coupled volume chambers is very high, no filling tolerances or hardly any effects on the final weight are obtained.
• -An existing filling device can be expanded.
• Pressure waves and pressure fluctuations in the piping system of the device have no influence on the filling tolerance.
• -The coupling of the volume chambers by means of a rigid shaft and the synchronous actuation of the filling valves by means of an actuating mechanism fulfill the condition of calibration capability.

A further advantageous embodiment of the invention is characterized in claim 3. In this embodiment, the impeller of each volume chamber is arranged on a shaft which is not connected to the shafts of the other impellers, each filling valve being connected to a two-stage pneumatic switching cylinder and each volume chamber being connected to a flow rate registration device, the flow rate registration device of the volume chamber being connected to that controlled by the balance Filling valve is connected to a device which stores the flow of medium through which the medium to be filled flows when the supply of the medium to be filled is switched off and which is detected by the flow rate registration device, in which the other flow volume registration devices of the other volume chambers are brought together and in which the setpoint values the flow rate registration device with the actual values of the other flow rate registration devices for controlling the other filling valves are compared, when the target is reached -Values for the volume chambers that can be switched off for these filling valves.

With this configuration, too, a legal-for-trade filling device is created, with which several containers can be filled at the same time, only the filling volume or weight of a single container being measured, monitored and the flow rate to the filling station of a single container controlled by the scale being stored, in which case the target value determined in this way is compared with the registered and stored flow rate values of the other filling stations with the other containers. These comparative measurements are then used to control the further inflow or to shut off the inflow of medium to the further filling stations with the containers. This ensures that the remaining containers, which are not monitored by a balance or an annular piston counter, are also filled with the desired weight or volume of the medium within the framework of the smallest tolerances. This is achieved in that only a single filling valve of all filling valves is closed by means of a single balance via a control element. The amount of medium to be filled which has flowed through the volume chamber to this closed filling valve is recorded in the associated flow rate registration device until the filling valve closes, and the flow rate value thus obtained is entered into the memory as the desired value. At the same time, the flow rate values recorded by the flow rate registration devices of the other volume chambers are put into the memory. The actual values of the values recorded by the flow rate registration devices are then compared in the memory with the stored flow rate value (setpoint value) of the flow rate registration device whose associated filling valve is controlled by the balance. If the actual values of the other flow rate registration devices agree with the target value, the other filling valves are closed so that the same amount of medium is contained in all containers. Since the measured value comparison takes place in the shortest time unit in the memory and therefore there is no delay, the result is that when the filling valves are closed, the same amount of medium is ultimately contained in all containers. This comparative measurement in the memory leads to the fact that in those filling stations at which the predetermined target weight has not been reached in the container to be filled, filling material flows in until the predetermined target weight is reached, only then is the assigned one Filling valve closed.

• -Nur ein einziges Gebinde wird gewogen und durch einen Ringkolbenzähler volumetrisch überwacht, wobei die Durchflußmenge durch die zugeordnete Volumenkammer als Soll-Wert gespeichert wird.
• -Die Fülltoleranz aller weiteren Abfüllventile hängt lediglich von der Schnelligkeit der vergleichenden Messungen der Durchflußmengenwerte in dem Speicher für die übrigen Abfüllstationen ab, wobei bei Nichterreichen des Soll-Wertes noch die Fehlmenge an Füllgut zuströmt, bis der Soll-Wert erreicht ist und erst dann schließen die Abfüllventile der entsprechenden Abfüllsysteme. Die Genauigkeit aufgrund der vergleichenden Messungen der Durchflußmengenwerte und der Steuerung über diese vergleichenden Messungen ist sehr groß.
• -Dadurch, daß die Abfüllventile aller mit der Waage nicht verbundenen Abfüllstationen getrennt vom Speicher gesteuert werden, wird erreicht, daß keine das Endgewicht beeinflussenden Fülltoleranzen erhalten werden; es ist damit erreichbar, daß alle Gebinde gleiche Füllmengen oder gleiche Füllgewichte aufweisen.
• -Dadurch, daß die Volumenkammern nicht mehr miteinander mechanisch gekoppelt sind, ist es möglich, einzelne oder zu einzelnen Gruppen zusammengefaßte Volumenkammern mit ihren Abfüllventilen in gesonderten Räumen unterzubringen, wenn der vorhandene Raum für eine Unterbringung der gesamten Anlage nicht ausreichen sollte.
• -Druckwellen und Druckschwankungen in dem Rohrleitungssystem haben keinen Einfluß auf die Fülltoleranz und werden aufgrund der vergleichenden Messungen im Speicher berücksichtigt.

The following advantages are achieved with a filling device designed in this way:

• -Only a single container is weighed and monitored volumetrically by a ring piston meter, the flow rate through the assigned volume chamber being stored as the target value.
• The filling tolerance of all other filling valves only depends on the speed of the comparative measurements of the flow rate values in the memory for the other filling stations, whereby if the target value is not reached, the shortage of filling material flows in until the target value is reached and only then close the filling valves of the corresponding filling systems. The accuracy due to the comparative measurements of the flow rate values and the control over these comparative measurements is very high.
• The fact that the filling valves of all filling stations not connected to the scale are controlled separately from the storage means that no filling tolerances influencing the final weight are obtained; it can thus be achieved that all containers have the same filling quantities or the same filling weights.
• Because the volume chambers are no longer mechanically coupled to one another, it is possible to accommodate individual or grouped volume chambers with their filling valves in separate rooms if the available space is not sufficient to accommodate the entire system.
• Pressure waves and pressure fluctuations in the piping system have no influence on the filling tolerance and are taken into account on the basis of the comparative measurements in the memory.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention emerge from the subclaims.

• Fig. 1 in einer schematischen Darstellung eine Abfüllvorrichtung zum gleichzeitigen Abfüllen eines Mediums in mehrere Gebinde mit Volumenkammern, deren Laufräder über eine gemeinsame, von einer Waage gesteuerte Steuerwelle miteinander verbunden sind und
• Fig. 2 in einer schematischen Darstellung eine weitere Ausführungsform einer Abfüllvorrichtung mit einer Steuerung der Abfüllstationen über die Durchflußmengen in den Volumenkammern in Verbindung mit einer Waage.

In the following the subject matter of the invention is explained in the drawings. It shows

• Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a filling device for simultaneous filling of a medium in several containers with volume chambers, the impellers are connected to each other via a common control shaft controlled by a scale and
• Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of another embodiment of a filling device with a control of the filling stations on the flow rates in the volume chambers in connection with a scale.

1 consists of a pipeline system 10, which comprises a main feed line 11 for the medium to be filled, in which a feed pump 12 is arranged, and a number of further feed lines 13, 113, 213 branching off from the main feed line 11, which lead to a corresponding number of filling valves 20, 120, 220. The number of filling valves can be chosen arbitrarily; it depends on the size of the filling device and the number of containers to be filled at the same time. In the embodiment of the filling device shown in FIG. 1, three filling valves are provided.

The actuation of the filling valves 20, 120, 220 designed in a manner known per se, i.e. The opening, the setting and the closing are carried out via an adjusting device 21 which is connected to the filling valves 20, 120, 220 and which is controlled by a two-stage, pneumatic switching cylinder 25.

A container 30, 130, 230 to be filled is assigned to each filling valve 20, 120, 220. These containers are containers, drums, packs, or the like, with no restrictions in the dimensions of the containers to be filled given are. Instead of the containers, the loading areas of trucks, transport ships or the like can also be used. be filled in the same way at the same time.

Each filling valve 20, 120, 220 is preceded by a volume chamber 40, 140, 240, which is arranged in the supply lines 13, 133, 213 branching off from the main supply line 11 and leading to the filling valves 20, 120, 220. Each volume chamber 40, 140, 240 has in its interior an impeller (not shown in the drawing) which is rotatably mounted in the volume chamber and which is circulated by the medium flowing to the filling valve. The impellers of all volume chambers 40, 140, 240 are firmly connected to one another via a mechanical shaft 41. This mechanical shaft 41 is connected to a braking device 45 which is controlled by a system pressure-dependent control device 145, which in turn predetermines the rotational speed of the impellers in the volume chambers 40, 140, 240, so that the same pressure conditions prevail in all volume chambers.

The bearing shafts of the impellers of the volume chambers 40, 140, 240 can be connected to one another via plug connections to the shaft 41, so that there is the possibility of expanding an already existing filling system with a certain number of volume chambers with filling valves. For this purpose, each filling valve with the volume chamber assigned to it is designed as a unit 70, so that only a connection of the volume chamber to the main feed line 11 of the existing piping system 10 and a connection to the actuating device 21 is required.

One of the filling valves 20, 120, 220 of the filling device is associated with a scale 50 designed in a manner known per se. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the balance 50 is arranged below the filling valve 120. The scale 50 is connected to a control element 60, via which the switching cylinder 25 can in turn be controlled. In addition, according to a further embodiment, it is possible to arrange an annular piston counter 150 in the connecting line between the volume chamber 140 and the filling valve 120, which is connected to the control element 60 in the same way as the balance 50.

1 works as follows: The medium to be filled is conveyed by the feed pump 12 through the piping system 10 to the filling valves 20, 120, 220. The medium flows from the filling valves into the containers below. Before each Abfüitventii 20, 120, 220 the medium flows through the volume chambers 40, 140, 240 upstream of the filling valves, the impellers of which are put into circulation by the flowing medium.

The fact that the impellers of the volume chambers 40, 140, 240 assigned to the filling valves 20, 120, 220 are connected to one another by the shaft 41, ensures that each filling valve within the scope of the accuracy of the impellers of the volume chambers 40 rigidly coupled via the shaft 41 140, 240 the same amount of medium is supplied. The filling valves 20, 120, 220 are set to coarse and fine volumes by means of the two-stage pneumatic switching cylinder 25 and opened and closed. The exact synchronization when opening, adjusting and closing the filling valves 20, 120, 220 is generated by the actuating device 21 between the switching cylinder 25 and the filling valves.

The pneumatic switching cylinder 25 is controlled via the control device 60, which responds either to the weight of the filled medium via the balance 50 or to the filled volume via the ring piston counter 150.

If necessary, a braking device 45 can be provided for controlling the system pressure on the mechanical shaft 41, which connects the impellers of the volume chambers 40, 140, 240. The braking torque is regulated via the control device 145 in accordance with the optimal system pressure.

The filling device is suitable for filling liquid, gaseous or solid substances, the latter having to have flow properties.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the rotational speed of the shaft 41 and the impellers of the volume chambers 40, 140, 240 connected to it are not controlled by the braking device 45, but by means of a controllable electric motor (not shown in the drawing). This control motor can also be designed to be pole-changing.

Switching from coarse to fine feed of the medium to be filled takes place via the scale 50 or the ring piston counter 150 via the switching cylinder 25 controlled by the control element 60. This changeover from coarse feed to fine feed is achieved by a predetermined weight, so that when this weight or volume is reached, as much medium is fed in via the fine feed until the actual target weight is reached.

2 is constructed approximately in accordance with the filling device according to FIG. 1.

The filling device also consists of a pipeline system 10, which comprises a main feed line 11 for the medium to be filled, in which a feed pump 12 is arranged, and a number of further feed lines 13, 113, 213 branching off from the main feed line 11, which lead to a corresponding one Guide the number of filling valves 20, 120, 220. The number of filling valves can be chosen arbitrarily; it depends on the size of the filling device and the number of containers to be filled at the same time. The one in the drawing The illustrated embodiment of a filling device has three filling valves.

The actuation of the filling valves 20, 120, 220 designed in a manner known per se, i.e. The opening, the setting and the closing are carried out via pneumatic, advantageously two-stage switching cylinders 25, 125, 225, but control devices and drive devices of a different design can also be provided for actuating the filling valves 20, 120, 220.

A container 30, 130, 230 to be filled is assigned to each filling valve 20, 120, 220. These containers are containers, drums, packs and the like, with no restrictions on the dimensions of the containers to be filled. Instead of the containers, the loading areas of trucks, transport ships or the like can also be used. be filled in the same way at the same time.

Each filling valve 20, 120 220 is preceded by a volume chamber 40, 140, 240, which is arranged in the supply lines 13, 113, 213 branching off from the main supply line 11 and leading to the filling valves 20, 120, 220. Each volume chamber 40, 140, 240 has in its interior an impeller, not shown in the drawing, which is rotatably mounted in the volume chamber by means of shafts 41, 141, 241 and which is circulated by the medium flowing to the filling valve. The impellers of all volume chambers 40, 140, 240 are mounted in a corresponding manner via their shafts 41, 141, 241.

Each shaft 41, 141 or 241 of each impeller of each volume chamber 40, 140 or 240 is connected to a flow rate registration device 42, 142 or 242. These flow rate registers 42, 142, 242 record the quantities of the media flowing through the volume chambers 40, 140, 240, specifically via the rotational speed or the number of revolutions of the shafts 41, 141, 241 of the individual impellers. Because the volume of each volume chamber is fixed and all the volume chambers 40, 140, 240 have the same volumes, it is possible via the shafts 41, 141, 241 to record and record the quantities of medium flowing through the individual volume chambers.

Each filling valve with the volume chamber assigned to it is designed as a structural unit 70, so that only a connection of the volume chamber to the main feed line 11 of the existing piping system 10 is required in order to be able to expand existing systems to suit the required requirements.

One of the filling valves 20, 120, 220 of the filling device is associated with a balance 50 designed in a manner known per se. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the scale 50 is arranged below the filling valve 20. The scale 50 is connected to a control element 60, via which the switching cylinder 25 can be controlled. In addition, according to a further embodiment, it is possible, instead of the balance 50, to arrange an annular piston meter 150 in the connecting line between the volume chamber and the filling valve, which is connected to the control element 60 in the same way as the balance 50. The switching cylinder 25 for switching the filling valve 20 on and off, which is assigned to the container 30, is controlled via the scale 50 and the control element 60. However, there is also the possibility of controlling one of the other filling valves 120 or 220 via the scale 50.

The flow rate registration devices 42, 142, 242 connected to the volume chambers 40, 140, 240 serve to record the quantities of the media flowing through the volume chambers. All three flow rate registration devices 42, 142, 242 are connected to a device 160 which stores the flow rate values recorded by the flow rate registration devices. The overall arrangement is such that the flow rate value detected by the flow rate registration device 42 is entered as a target value in the memory 160. The flow rate values detected by the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 are also given in the memory 160 as actual values and are compared there with the stored flow rate value (target value) of the flow rate registration device 42. This memory 160 can simultaneously take on control functions, unless a separate control element 170 is provided. The control function is that when the volume chambers 140, 240 have reached their target values, which must match the stored target value of the flow rate registration device 42, the filling valves 120, 220 are switched off by means of the switching cylinders 125, 225. For this reason, the switching cylinders 125, 225 are connected to the control element 170 or to the control part of the memory 160.

2 works as follows: The medium to be filled is conveyed by means of the feed pump 12 through the piping system 10 to the filling valves 20, 120, 220, which have an open position. The medium flows from the filling valves into the containers 30, 130, 230 positioned underneath. On the way to each filling valve 20, 120, 220, the medium flows through the volume chamber 40, 140 or 240 upstream of the respective filling valve, the impeller of which flows through the flowing medium is put into circulation. The quantities flowing through the volume chambers are recorded by the flow quantity registration devices 42, 142, 242 and the values obtained, which will be discussed in more detail below, are stored in the memory 160.

Due to pressure fluctuations and pressure waves in the pipeline system, it is possible for the containers 30, 130, 230 to have different quantities or volumes via the filling valves 20, 120, 220 of the medium are fed. However, in order to have the same quantities or volumes of the medium to be filled in all the containers 30, 130, 230, the filling valve 20 is closed via the controlled switching cylinder 25 via the scale 50 when a predetermined weight is reached, specifically by means of the control element 60 the quantity of medium that has flowed through the volume chamber 40 is detected and the flow quantity value is recorded in the flow quantity registration device 42 and given as a target value in the memory 160. The values of the quantities of medium which have flowed through the volume chambers 140, 240 and which are recorded by the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 are put into the memory 160 as actual values. In the memory 160, the actual values of the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 are compared with the target value of the flow rate registration device 42 by means of devices known per se, and when the actual values of the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 have reached the target value of the flow rate registration device 42, the two switching cylinders 125, 225 of the filling valves 120, 220 are actuated by the switching element 170 and the filling valves 120, 220 are closed. Further medium can therefore no longer flow into the containers 130, 230.

In this way, it is possible to control the flow rate through the other volume chambers 140, 240 with a flow volume value taken from the volume chamber 40 as the target value and to close their filling valves 120, 220 at that point in time at which the through the volume chambers 140, 240 Amount of medium has flowed through, which has already been detected by the flow rate registration device 42.

If, for example, all three containers 30, 130, 230 are to be filled with a quantity of 50 kg of filling medium, the weight of 50 kg, e.g. of 48 kg, in the container 30 via the scale 50 through the control element 60, the filling valve 20 is closed. The flow rate of 48 kg detected by the flow rate registration device 42 is entered as a target value in the memory 160, whereby a difference in the quantity resulting from the volume chamber 40 to the filling valve 20 is taken into account in the flow rate registration device 42. If the flow rate values detected by the flow rate registering devices 142, 242 deviate from the 48 kg value stored in the memory 160 as the target value, the two filling valves 120, 220 for the containers 130, 230 remain open via the control element 170 until the flow rates in the volume chambers 140, 240 have reached the desired value in the memory 160. If the flow rate values of the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 are below the target value in the memory 160, medium continues to flow through the opened filling valves 120, 220 into the containers 130, 230 until the target value is reached. The flow rate registration devices 142, 242 each record the new actual values that arise and place them in the memory 160, in which the respectively changing actual values are compared. The control element 170 then causes the filling valves 120, 220 to close when the actual values of the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 have reached the stored target value of the flow rate registration device 42.

Advantageously, the scale 50 is set so that the filling valve 20 closes even before the predetermined weight target value of the scale is reached. This avoids that through the volume chambers 140, 240 a larger amount of medium flows to the filling valves 120, 220 and gets into the containers 130, 230, which are above the predetermined weight target value of the balance 50.

The filling device according to FIG. 2 is also suitable for filling liquid, gaseous or solid substances, the latter having to have flow properties.

Switching from coarse to fine feed of the medium to be filled takes place via the scale 50 or the ring piston counter 150 via the switching cylinder 25 controlled by the control element 60. This changeover from coarse to fine feed is achieved by a target weight specified in the balance (example: 40 kg), so that when this target weight or target volume is reached, as much medium is then fed in via the fine feed until the predetermined target weight value (example: 50 kg) is determined by the scale 50 and the filling valve 20 is closed. The flow rate registration device 42 now detects the desired volume value corresponding to the desired weight, which is entered into the memory 160. If the flow rate values of the flow rate registration devices 142, 242 are below the target value in the memory 160, medium continues to flow into the containers 130, 230 via the opened filling valves 120, 230 until the target volume value and thus the target weight value of 50 kg is reached is and thus all containers 30, 130, 230 are filled with a quantity of 50 kg of filling medium. A corresponding preselection of the switchover point from coarse feed to fine feed, the switching cylinders 125, 225 also being designed in such a way that a coarse feed and a fine feed can also be controlled via this means that individual containers can be filled more than the desired weight or the desired volume completely avoidable.

Claims (5)

1. Device for simultaneously filling a plurality of containers such as receptacles, casks, packages or the like with a liquid, gaseous or solid substance, consisting of a pipe system (10) with a feed pump (12) for the feeding of the substance to be filled into the individual containers and equipped with a filling valve, whereby the opening and closing of the filling valve is actuated by means of a control device dependent on the weight of the substance to be filled, characterized in that the pipe system (10) has a number of feeding pipes (13; 113; 213) corresponding to the number of containers (30; 130; 230) to be filled, each of the feeding pipes (13; 113; 213) having a filling valve (20; 120; 220) positioned above each container (30; 130; 230), that in each of the feeding pipes (13; 113; 213) leading to the filling valves (20; 120; 220) a chamber (40; 140; 240) is arranged with a running wheel fixed within its interior and brought into rotation by the substance which flows to the respective filling valve (20; 120; 220), that at least one filling valve (20; 120; 220) is linked with a control device consisting of a two-step pneumatic switch cylinder (25) which is linked directly with the filling valve (20) and with the other filling valves (120; 220) via an adjusting device, whereby the switch cylinder (25) can be actuated by a control element (60), which is linked with an apparatus allocated to one of the filling valves and determining the weight or the quantity of the substance to be filled into the receptacle allocated to the filling valve, such as a scale (50) or a cylindrical piston water meter (150), whereby the running wheels of the chambers are coupled with each other.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the coupling of the running wheels of all chambers (40; 140; 240) is performed via a rigid mechanical shaft (41), which is linked with a brake device (45) which can be controlled by means of a control device (145) which is dependent on the system pressure.

3. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the pipe system (10) has at least two filling valves (20; 120; 220) which are linked via feeding pipes (13; 113; 213), that each of the running wheels of the chambers (40; 140; 240) is arranged on a separate bearing shaft (41; 141; 241), whereby the coupling of the bearing shafts is performed via a set-value memorizing device (160), that each of the filling valves (20; 120; 220) is linked with a two-step pneumatic switch cylinder (25; 125; 225) and each chamber (40; 140; 240) with a flow quantity registration device (42; 142; 242), the flow quantity registration device (42) of the chamber (40) being linked with the filling valve (20) which is controlled by the scale (50) and with the device (160) memorizing as a set value the quantity of the substance which flowed to the filling valve (20) and was recorded by the flow quantity registration device (42) when the feed of the substance is switched off, in which the other flow quantity registration devices (142, 242) of the other chambers (140, 240) are centralized and in which the set values of the one flow quantity registration device (42) are compared with the actual values of the other flow quantity registration devices (142, 242) to control the other filling valves (120, 220), whereby, as soon as the set values for the chambers (140, 240) are achieved, the filling valves (120, 220) allocated to them can be switched off.

4. Device according to claims 1 and 3, characterized in that the running wheel of each chamber (40; 140; 240) can be driven by means of an adjustable electromotor.

5. Device according to claims 1-4, characterized in that each chamber (40; 140; 240) and its allocated filling valve (20; 120; 220) is a component part which is extendible by means of an existing device.

Images