JPH0257654B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for detecting gas leakage from the mouth of a liquid container, particularly a carbonated beverage such as a beer keg, and a device used therefor.

Prior Art Conventionally, liquid containers as described above have a fitting set at the mouth of a metal container body made of stainless steel or the like, but leakage in this fitting is prevented by a seal made of rubber packing. This will prevent this from happening.

By the way, such seals can fail due to various reasons such as poor sealing and aging of the rubber packing, and internal gas leaks.If the leak is a small amount, only the gas leaks, or if the leak is a large amount. If it leaks, the gas will be accompanied by the beverage. When the amount of gas leaking exceeds a predetermined amount, the container must be discontinued as a defective container.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The conventional method for detecting such gas leaks is to use a recess formed at the mouth of a container, inject water into the recess, and visually observe the bubbles rising in the water. However, this method requires workers to constantly observe carefully, which results in overwork, and has the drawback that accurate detection is difficult to expect. It was hot.

So, as a way to overcome these shortcomings,
A method has been proposed in which the recess is filled with liquid, the conductivity of the liquid is measured, and detection is performed based on whether the measured value is above or below a predetermined level. However, in order to carry out this method, the measurement accuracy will not be achieved unless the water injected into the recess after cleaning the mouth part is pure water. Pure water must be supplied from the pipe to the mouth, which not only increases equipment costs, but also indirectly measures the amount of gas rather than directly. If there is a gas leak from the tank,
It is difficult to accurately grasp the degree of change in conductivity, making it difficult to obtain accurate measured values, and electrodes may oxidize with long-term use, making it difficult to obtain accurate measured values. There are drawbacks such as hindering the ability to obtain the desired results.

The purpose of this invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the conventional measurement methods as described above, to avoid overwork of the workers, and to eliminate the need for expensive equipment such as water purification equipment. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a detection method that is highly economical and can obtain reliable measurement values, and a detection device that can be used directly to carry out the method.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention fits a detection head into the mouth of a liquid container, communicates the detection head with a suction type gas measuring device, and connects the detection head to the suction type gas measuring device. This method is characterized in that after the container is previously purged with clean air, the atmosphere at the mouth of the container is sucked in by a gas measuring device through a detection head, and the gas concentration in the atmosphere is measured.

In carrying out the above-described process, the present invention includes a detection head, a detection head,
An operating member that brings this detection head into contact with and separates it from the mouth of the container, a gas measuring device that measures the gas concentration by sucking the atmosphere at the mouth through the sensing head, and a gas measuring device that supplies clean air to the gas measuring device when not measuring gas concentration. The device is characterized in that it includes a source of clean air to be supplied, and a stop member that stops the supply of clean air to the gas measuring device during gas measurement.

Example This example shows a case where the present invention is used to detect gas leakage at the mouth of a beer barrel.
has the same structure as the conventional one, and is conveyed by the conveyor 2 in exactly the same manner as in the conventional one.

Above this conveyor 2, barrel detection optical sensors 3, 3' and a barrel stopper 4 are placed between the barrels 1.
4' is provided, and the stops 4, 4' have actuating cylinders in a conventional manner. An inspection device frame 5 is installed above the position where the barrel 1 is stopped by the stoppers 4 and 4', and a detection head that is located directly above the mouth 6 of the barrel 1 when the barrel 1 is stopped is installed on this frame 5. 7 is provided, and an operating cylinder 8 for moving the detection head 7 up and down is further installed on the frame 5. The detection head 7 is constructed as shown in FIG. 2, and is provided with a recess 9 into which the mouth 6 of the barrel 1 is fitted, and a ventilation hole 10 that communicates the recess 9 with the outside. is connected to a ventilation pipe 11. Furthermore, a packing 12 is fitted into the annular groove at the top of the recess 9, and a hammer 13 is provided protruding from the side surface. A limit switch 19 is installed in the path of movement of the hammer 13, which is operated by the hammer.

A suction type CO ₂ gas measuring device 14 is installed on the frame 5, and this uses a commercially available infrared type.
The tip of the ventilation pipe 11 is connected to the input port of this measuring device 14, and a clean air pipe 15 is connected in the middle of this ventilation pipe 11.
An automatic gate valve 16 and a pressure reducing valve 17 are arranged in this air pipe 15, and a rear end thereof is connected to a clean air source 18. and gate valve 1
6 is designed to close when limit switch 19 is ON.

The operation of the above will be explained with reference to the time chart shown in FIG.

While the barrel 1 is being conveyed by the conveyor 2,
The gas measuring device 14 sucks outside air from the detection head 7 through the ventilation pipe 11, and also has a gate valve 16 open, sucks clean air from a clean air source 18 from there, and uses this clean air. Being purged (t0).

In this condition, the barrel 1 that has been transported
is detected by the optical sensors 3 and 3' (t1),
As a result, the stoppers 4, 4' are actuated at the same time and the barrel 1 is stopped.

After a short time, the operating cylinder 8
is activated to lower the detection head 7 and stop when it fits into the mouth 6 of the barrel 1 (t2). At this time, the limit switch 19 activates the striker 1 of the detection head 7.
3 and turns ON, which turns the gate valve 16 OFF and closes it, thus stopping the purging of the measuring device 14 with clean air.
At the same time, only the atmosphere at the mouth 6 is sucked into the measuring device 14 by the detection head 7, and measurement of the gas concentration contained therein is started. This measurement will be performed for a predetermined time (actually about 2 seconds) until time t3. Purging the measuring device 14 with clean air prior to this measurement is as follows:
This is to prevent measurement accuracy from decreasing due to the previously sucked CO ₂ gas remaining in the measuring device 14 or the measuring device 14 sucking CO ₂ gas present in the workplace. By performing this purging, the measuring device 14 can always accurately measure the gas concentration under constant conditions.

In this manner, at time t3 after the measurement time has elapsed, the detection head 7 is raised by the reverse operation of the operating cylinder 8, and at the same time the gas concentration measurement is completed, atmospheric air is sent to the measuring instrument 14 for purging. is started.

Thereafter, at time t4, limit switch 19
is turned off, the gate valve 16 is turned on and opened, clean air is again sent from the clean air source 18 to the measuring instrument 14, and purging is restarted, and the stoppers 4 and 4' are turned off. to release barrel 1 (t5), barrel 1 starts moving,
The optical sensors 6, 6' are turned off (t6), and one cycle of detection work is thus completed (t7).

The above-mentioned series of operations may be performed by a sequence control circuit incorporating various components such as normally used timers and switches, or alternatively, by employing a computer program. good.

As described above, the measurement of the gas concentration is performed by the measuring device 14 between t2 and t3, but at this time, the leakage gas tolerance is set in the measuring device 14 in advance, and the gas concentration is measured as described above. If the gas concentration measured by
Accordingly, such defective barrels can be identified without any particular difficulty.

In addition, although I have omitted illustrations and explanations, if a defective barrel like the one described above is detected, a device that generates an alarm or a device that removes it from the conveyor is installed, and this can be used as a measuring device. They may be operated in conjunction. Further, although an infrared type measuring device is used as the measuring device 14, the measuring device 14 is not limited to this, and other types may be used. Furthermore, it goes without saying that other types of members may be adopted as appropriate as long as they have similar functions.

Effects of the Invention This invention is as described above, and the atmosphere at the mouth of the container is sucked with a gas measuring device to directly measure the concentration of gas contained therein, and at that time, the measuring device is purged with clean air in advance. In addition to being economical as it does not require excessive labor for workers such as direct observation of air bubbles, and does not require extra equipment such as a water purifier, it also has high measurement accuracy. This has the effect of extremely high resistance, and in particular, the measurement device can maintain constant conditions by purging with clean air each time measurements are taken, resulting in stable measurement results.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the same detection head, and FIG.
The figure is a time chart during operation of the same as above. 1...Liquid container (beer barrel), 2...Conveyor,
3, 3'... Optical sensor for barrel detection, 4, 4'... Stopper, 5... Frame, 6... Barrel mouth, 7...
Detection head, 8... Operating cylinder, 11... Ventilation pipe, 14... Gas measuring device, 16... Automatic gate valve,
18...Clean air source.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A detection head is fitted into the mouth of a liquid container, this detection head is communicated with a suction type gas measuring device, and after the gas measuring device is purged with clean air, the atmosphere at the mouth is A method for detecting a gas leak in a liquid container, comprising sucking the gas through the detection head and measuring the gas concentration in the atmosphere. 2. A detection head that fits into the mouth of a liquid container, an actuating member that fits and removes the detection head into the mouth, and is connected to the detection head by a vent pipe,
a gas measuring device that measures the gas concentration by sucking the atmosphere at the mouth; a clean air source connected to the vent pipe; and a gas measuring device that measures clean air from the clean air source when measuring the gas concentration with the gas measuring device. 1. A gas leak detection device for a liquid container, comprising a stop member for stopping supply to the container.