GB2164029A - Automatic fining and top-up machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic fining and top-up machine 1 is arranged to receive a filled cask from a conveyor at the left of the figure, to rotate the cask until the keystone opening 26 engages stop 27 and then to hold the cask in a fixed position with its head uppermost. A turret 18 is mounted on the machine so as to be movable under automatic control relative to the cask, the turret carrying a plurality of devices which may be selectively positioned above the head of the cask on rotation of the turret, one of said devices being a sensing device adapted to sense the position of the keystone opening 26 and arranged to control the movement of the turret so as to position the turret in a predetermined relation to the keystone opening, and at least one other of the devices being a filler device for supplying liquid to the cask via the keystone opening. Movement of the turret relative to the cask is by means of an electric stepping motor, lead screw and nut arrangement 16 and a stepping motor and depending shaft 17. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Automatic fining and top-up machine This invention relates to an automatic fining and top-up machine.

Among the few remaining operations which are still performed manually in a plant for filling casks with beer are the addition of finings to a filled cask and the operations of checking the level of the beer in the cask and topping-up as necessary to provide the desired volume contents. Machines are available for filling a cask through a bung hole opening in the belly of the cask. While the cask is being filled the keystone opening in the head of the cask is closed by a keystone plug. After filling the bung is inserted in the belly filler opening and the cask is carried from the filling station on a con veypr. The fining operation can be carried out at this time or alternatively after the cask has been in store for some time, and it is effected by way of the keystone opening or by way of the spile (venting) opening in the bung.The operation is usually carried out manually because a variety of sizes of cask are in use both of different capacities and from different manufacturers and the position of the keystone opening varies as between different casks both radially and circumferentially. This presents great difficulty in locating the opening for injecting liquids automatically and a complex and expensive mechanism is generally thought to be necessary for positioning the cask relative to the filling nozzles. The problem is of course aggravated by the fact that the cask may have to be accurately positioned several times, e.g. at machine stations for removing the keystone bung, injecting the finings, sensing the beer level, injecting top-up beer as necessary, and driving in the bung.

According to the invention there is provided an automatic fining and top-up machine arranged to receive a filled cask from a conveyor and to hold the cask in a fixed position with its head uppermost, and comprising a carrier which is mounted on the machine so as to be movable under automatic control relative to the cask, the carrier carrying a plurality of devices which may be positioned above the head of the cask, one of said devices being a sensing device adapted to sense the position of a keystone opening in the head of the cask and arranged to control the movement of the carrier so as to position the carrier in a predetermined relation to the keystone opening, and at least one other of the devices being a filler device for supplying liquid to the cask via the keystone opening.

In operation the sensing device is arranged to control movement of the carrier relative to the cask so that the carrier is correctly positioned with respect to the keystone opening. By mounting the sensing device on the carrier and sensing the keystone opening, the carrier may be accurately positioned relative to the keystone opening, thus avoiding the difficulty of positioning caused by casks of various dimensions.

Preferably the carrier is mounted on the machine so as to be rotatable and movable linearly, preferably enabling the sensing device to be moved in two generally perpendicular directions, one of which is generally radial of the cask.

In one form of the invention a miniature T.V.

camera and image-processing system may be used to detect the keystone opening or the surrounding keystone boss. In another form, the sensing device is an ultrasonic sensor arranged to detect the keystone opening.

Preferably the machine includes means for rotating the cask about its axis of rotational symmetry so as to position the keystone opening generally within the range of operation of the sensing device. For example, the cask may be rotated until the keystone boss engages a fixed stop. Such preliminary positioning is useful to reduce the range of movement needed by the sensing device so that a sensing device which is movable with high resolution over a relatively small area may be employed.

The carrier may carry a device for removing the plug, adding finings and beer and inserting a plug all along the same vertical axis and the sensing device may for example be positioned on this axis below the device and movable off the axis when the device is required to operate. In an alternative form the carrier comprises a rotatable turret carrying at separate circumferential positions the sensing device and other devices for operating on the cask, the turret being accurately indexable on rotation so that the devices at the separate positions may be brought successively into position above the keystone opening. Clearly, once the turret has been accurately positioned by means of the sensing device each other device may also be accurately positioned relative to the keystone opening simply by rotating the turret a predetermined amount.In a preferred form of the invention the turret carries for operation in the stated order a position sensing device, a device for extracting a keystone bung from the opening, a device for injecting a controlled amount of finings, a device for sensing the level of liquid in the cask, a second device for injecting a controlled amount of liquid and a device for inserting a bung in the opening.

The machine may comprise a device for allowing only one cask to enter the machine at a time, and guide and/or sensor means for locating the cask on the machine. The machine may include a short conveyor for carrying the cask and preferably comprises a turntable which is engageable with the bottom of the cask and may be rotated to rotate the cask for preliminary positioning as mentioned above. Devices for handling the movement of the cask may be pneumatically operated whereas the movement of the carrier may be controlled by electric stepping motors.

Preferably the carrier is mounted on a shaft which is rotatable by a first stepping motor and which is carried by mounting means which in turn is guided for linear movement under the control of a second stepping motor. The linear movement may be generally radial of a cask when positioned on the machine and the rotational movement will be generally perpendicular thereto, i.e. circumfer ential, over small distances. Typical variations in the position of the keystone opening are +2" in the radial direction and It?/8" in the circumferential direction relative to a point a fixed distance from the outer edge of the keystone boss.

The control system of the machine may comprise electrical circuits for controlling the sequential operations of the machine, for controlling the movement of the carrier in response to signals from the sensing device and for controlling the amount of liquid supplied to the cask. An operator input control may be provided to pre-set the nominal cask capacity into the control system for use in determining the quantity of finings and top-up beer to be supplied, and the control system may be arranged to operate a pump having a substantially constant stroke volume for a predetermined time or a predetermined number of strokes so as to supply the desired amount of liquid.

Certain embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an elevation of a first embodiment of an automatic fining and top-up machine according to the invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the guides for positioning a cask in the machine of Figure 1; Figures 4 and 4a are elevations showing the turret of the machine of Fig. 1 and some of the tools mounted thereon; Figures 5 and 5a are elevation and plan views respectively showing a method of attaching a facing to the shaft 17 for carrying sensing, fining and top up devices in a second embodiment; Figures 6 and 6a are elevation and plan views respectively of a fining and top-up device of the second embodiment; and Figures 7 and 7a are elevation and plan views respectively showing a manner of mounting a position sensing device in the second embodiment.

Referring now to the drawings, an automatic fining and top-up machine 1 is constructed of a framework of welded metal channel members and plates. It includes a conveyor consisting of two chains 2 carried by bearings 3 for receiving casks from another conveyor, e.g. from a cask filling station, and conveying them to the right as indicated by the arrow in Figure 2. Devices 4 are provided to ensure that only one cask enters the apparatus at a time and guides 5 position the cask on the apparatus by engaging the rolling bands 6 of the cask.

Mounted below the upper run of the conveyor is a turntable arrangement 7 which is liftable by means of a pneumatic jack 8 and is rotatable by means of a jack 9 via a rack and pinion arrangement, a rack being formed on the rod of the jack 9 and a pinion being formed on the shaft 10 connected to the turntable 7. The turntable is provided with bearings 11 to reduce the rotational force required.

The guides 5 are positioned above the upper run of the conveyor and a frame 12 is positioned above the guides and is vertically movable on four pillars 13, for example by means of an electric motor driving screw jacks. The frame 12 carries a pair of guides 14 on which is slidably mounted a carrier including a plate 15. The plate 15 may be driven to the left and right by means of an electric stepping motor, lead screw and nut 16 as shown in Figure 2.

The plate 15 carries a depending shaft 17 which is rotatable by another stepping motor and carries at its lower end a turret 18 to be described with reference to Figure 4.

Devices 4 each consist of an upper arm 20 carrying a wheel 21 for engaging a cask, a shaft 22 carrying the arm 20 and pivotally mounted in bearings mounted on the frame of the machine, and a lower arm 23 also mounted on the shaft 22.

The lower arm 23 may be moved by a pneumatic jack 24 to thereby rotate the shaft 22 and upper arm 20 to remove the wheel 21 from the path of the casks and permit a cask to enter the machine.

The operation of the machine is generally as fol- lows: a cask is carried by the conveyor chains 2 into the machine until it engages the guides 5. A sensor is mounted on the guides 5 to detect the er- rival of the cask and will be described with reference to Figure 3. When the presence of the cask is detected the central boss of the cask will be located above the turntable 7 and an electronic cortrol system to be described causes jack 8 to operate to raise the cask by the centre of its end face. The cask is raised until its upper face engages a thrust member 25. The jack 9 is then operated by the control system to rotate the cask in the bearings 11 and the rotation continues until the keystone boss 26 engages a stop 27.The stepping motors of the turret assembly are then operated to carry a position sensor, for example an ultrasonic sensor or a miniature T.V. camera, over the keystone boss 26. The motors are controlled by the output of the position sensor so as to accurately locate the turret assembly with respect to-the boss 26. The turret then indexes to the next station where the keystone is removed by a pneumatic cylinder fitted with a suitable adaptor. The turret then indexes to the next station where a metered amount of finings will be injected into the cask.

The next station of the turret carries a probe, e.g.

an ultrasonic probe, which measures the level of beer in the cask and the next station is arranged to supply the correct quantity of beer to fill the cask to the required level. Tie final station of the turret carries a device which is supplied with a keystone bung from a vibratory feeder and which drives the bung into the keystone opening by a pneumatic impact cylinder.

The arms 30 of the guides 5 may now be opened and the cask lowered onto the conveyor and taken out of the machine towards the right in Figures 1 and 2. As it exits it operates a sensor switch which causes the arms 30 to be returned to their previous position and the turret to be returned to the start position. As the turret returns the keystone plug which has been removed will be ejected from the adaptor and collected in a suitable receptacle for re-use. Finally, the arms 20 are opened to admit another cask and start another cycle.

Referring now to Figure 3, one of the guides 5 is shown in more detail. It comprises two plates 30 and 31, plate 31 being disposed generally parallel to the direction of movement of the cask to define its lateral position. Plate 30 provides a stop for the forward movement of the cask and is provided with a cask sensor in the form of a leaf 32 arranged to operate a micro-switch 33 when contacted by the cask. The plate 30 is pivotally mounted with respect to the plate 31 about a pivot 34 and it may be moved into a position colinear with the plate 31 by operation of a pneumatic jack 35 to allow the cask to continue its movement. The jack and plate assembly is mounted for movement towards and away from the path of the cask on two guides 36.Such movement may be controlled by a hand wheel and screw 37 and a scale 38 is provided to enable the assembly to be positioned appropriately for various sizes of cask. The jack and plate assembly and guides 36 are mounted on a slide 39 which may be moved parallel to the direction of movement of the cask. In Figure 3 the slide is shown in its rightmost position appropriate for the largest size of cask and the jack and plate assembly is retracted as far as possible from the path of the casks. A second scale 40 is provided for setting the stop position and the slide 39 may be clamped in position by clamping screws, not shown. The position of the guide 5 for the smallest size of cask is shown in phantom lines.

Referring to Figure 4, the turret 18 is shown mounted on shaft 17 which is suspended via bearings 42 below mounting plate 15. As seen in plan in Figure 2, the turret provides a plurality of positions for mounting devices above the head of the cask. Two devices are shown in Figure 4 and one in Figure 4a. Device 43 is designed to extract the keyhole bung 44 from the boss 26. It consists of an extractor head 45 carried by a pneumatic jack 46 and adapted to engage under the head of the bung 44. The jack is retracted to extract the bung. A filling device is indicated at 47. It comprises a filling tube 48 arranged to be inserted in the keystone opening on retraction of the jack 49. Liquid (i.e. finings in one filling device and top-uo beer in another) is supplied to the tube 48 by a rotary pump via a ball valve. A bung insertion device is indicated at 49.A fresh bung 50 is supplied to the device from a vibratory feeder or the like and when the device is correctly positioned a pneumatic impact cylinder 51 is operated to push the bung into the keystone opening. In general, the machine will be used for adding finings to and topping up a batch of casks of generally similar size but with variations in the position of the keystone opening.

An operator presets the height of the frame 12 by operating an electric motor driving the screw jacks referred to above. The thrust member 25 is thereby positioned just above the expected height of the casks. The guides 5 are positioned appropriately to the size of the cask using the scales 38 and 40 described with reference to Figure 3. An indication as to the nominal capacity of the casks in the batch is the input into an electronic control apparatus of the machine. In addition to controlling the sequential operation of the pneumatic jacks described above, the electronic control apparatus controls the operation of the stepping motors which respectively move the carrier generally radially of the cask and rotate the carrier. This movement is of course under the control of the output of the position sensing device which is positioned over the keystone opening.Once the carrier has been moved so that the position sensor is accurately positioned over the keystone opening, the electronic control deactivates the stepper motor for providing linear movement and subsequently indexes the devices carried by the turret by operation of only the stepper motor which rotates the turret. The working portions of the devices, i.e. bung extractor, filling nozzles, level sensor and bung inserter, are all positioned the same radial distance from the axis of the turret. The electronic control serves to inject a quantity of finings appropriate to the preset cask size by operating the pump for an appropriate time or number of strokes. It will also similarly control the amount of top-up beer supplied in accordance with the output of the level sensor, which may be an ultrasonic probe, for example.The calculation of the amount of top-beer required of course depends on the liquid surface area as well as the level and this value is selected by the electronic control in dependence on the preset cask size. In an alternative arrangement the operation of sensing the amount of liquid in the cask and thus the amount of top-up liquid required may be carried out by weighing the cask by means of a load cell.

In a second embodiment, the turret carrying separate devices at separate circumferential positions is replaced by a single machine for adding finings, topping up and bung insertion and a position sensor is retractably positioned below the topping up machine on the same vertical axis. Referring to Figures 5 and 5a, the turret 18 is replaced by a pair of cheek plates 55 wel led to the shaft 17 and carrying a facing plate 56 provided with holes 57 for mounting machine 58 shown in Figures 6 and 6a.

The machine 58 is pneumatically operated and is able to supply finings or top-up liquid through injector tube 59. Tuts (keystone plugs) may be supplied from tut box 60 under the influence of air cylinder 61 and inserted into the keystone opening by cylinder 62. The tut box 60 is supported on a pair of bars 63 and a position sensor 65 (Figs 7, 7a) in the form of a miniature TV camera is carried by bars 63. The mounting of the camera 65 is shown in separate figures for clarity. Referring to Figures 7 and 7a, a support block 66 is adjustably secured to bars 63 and carries two depending plates 67 which support a lower plate 68. Plate 68 carries a pneumatic jack 69 and a pivoted lever 70 carrying camera 65. The position of the support block is adjusted so that in the retracted position of jack 69 the camera 65 is on the axis of injector tube 59.

In operation, the cask is first positioned as described above with the keystone boss 26 against the stop 27. The carrier is then moved by the stepper motors under the control of the output of the camera 65 until the axis of the machine 58 is accu- rately positioned over the keystone opening. The jack 69 is then operated to retract the camera 65 leaving the machine 58 free to operate in the keystone opening.

Claims (20)

1. An automatic fining and top-up machine arranged to receive a filled cask from a conveyor and to hold the cask in a fixed position with its head uppermost, and comprising a carrier which is mounted on the machine so as to be movable under automatic control relative to the cask, the carrier carrying a plurality of devices which may be positioned above the head of the cask, one of said devices being a sensing device adapted to sense the position of a keystone opening in the head of the cask and arranged to control the movement of the carrier so as to position the carrier in a oredetermined relation to the keystone opening, and at least one other of the devices being a filler device for supplying liquid to the cask via the keystone opening.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the carrier is mounted on the machine so as to be rotatable- and movable linearly.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2 wherein the sensing device is movable in two generally perpendicular directions, one of which is generally radial of the cask

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the sensing device comprises a miniature T.V. camera and image-processing system.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the sensing device comprises an ultrasonic sensor arranged to detect the keystone opening.

6. A machine as claimed in any preceding claim including means for rotating the cask about its axis of rotational symmetry so as to position the keystone opening generally within the range of operation of the sensing device.

7. A machine as claimed in claim 6 including means for rotating the cask until the keystone boss engages a fixed stop.

8. A machine as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the carrier carries a device for removing the plug, adding finings and beer and inserting a plug all along the same vertical axis.

9. A machine as claimed in claim 8 wherein the sensing device is positioned on said axis.

10. A machine as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7 wherein the carrier comprises a rotatable turret carrying at separate circumferential positions the sensing device and other devices for operating on the cask, the turret being accurately indexable on rotation so that the devices at the separate positions may be brought successively into position above the keystone opening.

11. A machine as claimed in claim 10 wherein the turret carries said position sensing device, means for extracting a keystone bung from the opening, means for injecting a controlled amount of finings, means for injecting a controlled amount of liquid and means for inserting a bung in the opening.

12. A machine as claimed in claim 11 including means for detecting the weight of the cask so as to determine said amount of liquid.

13. A machine as claimed in any of claims 10 to 12 wherein said turret carries for operation in the stated order a position sensing device, a device for extracting a keystone bung from the opening, a device for injecting a controlled amount of finings, a device for sensing the level of liquid in the cask, a second device for injecting a controlled amount of liquid and a device for inserting a bung in the opening.

14. A machine as claimed in claim 13 wherein said device for sensing the level of liquid in the cask comprises means for sensing the level of the liquid in the cask.

15. A machine as claimed in claim 14 wherein said device for sensing the level of liquid in the cask comprises an ultrasonic probe.

16. A machine as claimed in any preceding claim comprising a device for allowing only one cask to enter the machine at a time, and guide andl or sensor means for locating the cask on the machine.

17. A machine as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the carrier is mounted on a shaft which is rotatable by a first stepping motor and which is carried by mounting means which in turn is guided for linear movement under the control of a second stepping motor.

18. A machine as claimed in any preceding claim including electrical circuits for controlling the sequential operations of the machine, for controlling the movement of the carrier in response to signals from the sensing device and for controlling the amount of liquid supplied to the cask.

19. An automatic fining and top-up machine arranged to receive a filled cask from a conveyor and to hold the cask in a fixed position with its head uppermost, and comprising a rotatable turret which is mounted on the machine so as to be movable under automatic control relative to the cask, the turret carrying a plurality of devices which may be selectively positioned above the head of the cask on rotation of the turret, one of said devices being a sensing device adapted to sense the position of a keystone opening in the head of the cask and arranged to control the movement of the turret so as to position the turret in a predetermined relation to the keystone opening, and at least one other of the devices being a filler device for supplying liquid to the cask via the keystone opening.

20. An automatic fining and top-up machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.