A FILLING STATION FOR GAS CYLINDERS COMPRISING MEANS FOR SUPPLYING THE CYLINDERS TO A CARROUSEL

Abstract: For the successive introduction of gas cylinders onto a filling carrousel in a filling plant is used a swivel arm (18), which rotates about a vertical shaft (16) as mounted sidewise of an inlet station (4), at the lee side thereof relative the movement of the carrousel. The swivel arm (18) rotates in synchronism with the carrousel and pushes the cylinder (12) onto the carrousel with decreasing velocity. The cylinder is accelerated in the moving direction of the carrousel by its friction therewith, whereby the cylinder is held against an end portion (22) of the swivel arm and is thereby guided entirely onto the carrousel during the last part of the pushing-in movement of the swivel arm. Almost optimal introduction conditions with respect to rapidity and positioning accuracy are achievable with the use of an extremely simple mechanism, which will even work correctly independent of variations of the r.p.m. of the carrousel.

Description: A filling station for gas cylinders comprising means for supplying the cylinders to a carrousel. The present invention relates to a system for transferring transported articles into predetermined positions on a moving conveyor, primarily for transferring gas cylinders onto a filling carrousel in a gas cylinder filling plant. Such a filling carrousel consists of an annular row of individual filling devices comprising a support plate for a respective individual gas cylinder and overhead means for connecting the gas cylinders with the filling device. The gas cylinders should be moved onto the carrousel at predetermined positions thereon in order to located adjacent the respective filling devices and for, in weight filling plants, being positioned correctly on the support plates as additionally constituting individual weighing platforms of the filling plant. For practical reasons the filling carrousel should be moved with an even rotational movement, whereby an accurate supply of the gas cylinders could ideally take place along a path tangential to the carrousel, but since each filling device on the carrousel is expensive, the distance between the position of removal of the filled cylinders from the carrousel and the position of introduction of the new cylinders should be small, and in practice this will condition the introduction of the new cylinders to be effected substantially radially onto the carrousel, viz. in conjunction with the passage of each of the support plates past a station for supplying the cylinders from outside. It is no principal problem, of course, to push a gas cylinder onto a passing-by support plate, but a practical problem is faced anyway in that the pushing in should be effected with a reasonably high speed and under the condition that the support plate already during the introduction causes the gas bottle, by frictional engagement therewith, to be brought along by the carrousel already before the termination of the introduction, whereby the final positioning of the gas bottle may be inaccurate. The positioning accuracy may be improved by increased speed of introduction, but such a high speed, itself, will create problems with respect acceleration and deceleration of the cylinders. It is the purpose of the invention to provide a simple transfer system, which is operable to introduce the bottles in a practically satisfactory manner, even independent of variations of the r.p.m. of the carrousel. According to the invention this is achieved by arranging, laterally of a supply position for the introduction of a cylinder onto the carrousel, a horizontally rotatable swivel arm, which is rotated in synchronism with the motion of the carrousel so as to swing forwardly against the rear side of the cylinder for initial pushing thereof and thereafter by further swinging to guide the cylinder as engaged by the outer end of the swivel arm further onto the carrousel while the cylinder is held against the end of the swivel arm by virtue of the conveying of the cylinder as caused by the frictional engagement between the cylinder and the carrousel. In practice it has been found possible to achieve a well controlled introduction movement of the cylinder in this simple way, viz. an almost ideally decelerated radial movement of the cylinder and simultaneously a likewise ideally accelerated movement thereof in the moving direction of the carrousel. As the swivel arm operated in synchronism with the carrousel the conditions as to the radial and the peripheral movements of the cylinders will be the same irrespective of the momentary moving velocity of the carrousel, i.e. no' 1 , attention should be paid to this velocity being high or low. The swivel arm may be designed as a double arm rotating about a vertical middle axis, whereby one end of the arm may initiate the introduction of a new cylinder immediately upon the other end having terminated the introduction of the preceding cylinder, i.e. the simple arrangement may easily operate with a considerable introduction capacity. In the following the invention is explained in more detailwith reference to the drawing, in which:- Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a system according to the invention with the said swivel arm shown in different positions during the initial introduction of a gas cylinder onto a filling carrousel. Fig. 2 is a corresponding view illustrating the final stages of the introduction, and Fig. 3 is a top view of a broader fraction of the filling carrousel. In Fig. 1 is indicated a filling carrousel 2 for gas cylinders, which are to be introduced from an inlet station 4 onto individual weighing platforms 6 on the carrousel. The inlet station 4 is arranged endwise of a radial supply conveyor line 8 and is provided with support rollers 10 for receiving a single gas cylinder 12, a retractable stop member 14 being provided for holding back the following gas cylinders on the conveyor line 8. The filling carrousel rotates in the direction illustrated by an arrow A, and adjacent the side of the inlet station 4 as located frontwise relative this moving direction is arranged a vertical shaft 16, which carries, topwise, a bilaterally projecting arm 18, which, by rotation of the shaft 16, is swingable so as to engage the gas cylinder 12 as having been conveyed into the inlet station 4. As shown in dashed lines the cylinder 12 will hereby be caused to get pushed forwardly on the rollers 10 for initial introduction onto a passing-by weighing platform 6 of the carrousel 2, and already by this initial introduction the cylinder 12 will be influenced to move towards the right by its frictional engagement with the platform 6, i.e. the cylinder will now start being moved along with the carrousel, normally during a certain self rotation of the cylinder r the swivel arm is provided with a laterally projecting nose portion having an outermost roller 20, which will allow for the cylinder to rotate without any substantial friction against the swivel arm. Besides, the outer end of the swivel arm is shaped as a concentric circular surface 22, which, during the following pushing movement, will reach to get partly displaced inwardly in front of the outer front side of the cylinder, now as seen in the moving direction of the carrousel, such that during the movement it will constitute a successively less oblique guiding-out surface for the cylinder as carrying out the last part of its introduction movement. Very soon thereafter the cylinder will slide off tangentially from the outer end of the swivel arm, which, itself, will be swung a distance along with and thereafter away from the moving path of the cylinder. These last phases of the introduction of the cylinder are illustrated in Fig. 2. Immediately upon the swivel arm 18 having initiated the introduction of a cylinder onto the carrousel the stop member 14 is retracted or swung away from the next cylinder, which is then, by the conveyor, moved into the delivery station 4, and as soon as the preceding introduction has been finished the new cylinder will be introduced by means of the swivel ar ^ ortion at the other side of the shaft 16, whereby the introduction capacity can be high. It may be suitable that the cylinders during the first phase of the introduction are supported against a lateral railing in the right hand side of the inlet station, such that the frictional bringing along of a cylinder by the carrousel is not initiated until the cylinder has already advanced a distance onto the carrousel. In a simple device for ^this purpose the stop member 14 is constituted by the end of a rod, which is pivoted about the shaft 16 and is extended to the opposite side of the shaft, whereby the outward pivoting of the stop end 14 will be associated with the extension pivoting inwardly to a position, in which it forms the said support railing just at the time it is needed, e.g. until the cylinder has advanced slightly further than to the position as shown in dash lines in Fig. 1; hereby, then, the next cylinder will be on its way into the station 4, and the stop rod 14 may now be swung back for stopping the next following cylinder while the lateral railing is correspondingly swung outwardly. It has been found that a well defined cylinder introduction is achievable irrespective of the moving velocity of the carrousel, when the swivel arm rotates in synchronism therewith. Different cylinders, of course, may behave slightly different with respect to the detailed mutual movements of the swivel arm and the cylinders, but the result is nevertheless that the introduction will take place with an effectively decelerated inlet movement and an effectively accelerated movement in the moving direction of the carrousel, such that the cylinders are delivered onto the support platforms 6 with a high degree of safety and accuracy. In Fig. 3 is shown that the inlet station may be located quite close to a station 30 for letting out the cylinders from the carrousel. Also in the station 30 OMPI the frictional engagement between the cylinders and the carrousel is utilized for contributing to the control of the desired movement of the cylinders. The cylinders are normally removed by means of an extraction hook, which, by means of a heavy moving device, is pushed into the moving path of the cylinders in front of each cylinder as having caused, through the control system of the carrousel, a ready signal with respect to correct filling to be produced, whereafter the hook is retracted for pulling out the cylinder. These movements may give rise to certain problems with respect to synchronization with the movement of the carrousel, and the cylinders may be handled in a rather rough manner. In the outlet station as shown in Fig. 3 is used for the cylinder removal a passive element shaped as an oblique arm 32, which is provided with a number of rollers 34 on its side as facing the cylinders and is mounted on a slide 36, by means of which the arm 32 is radially reciprocal relative the carrousel, controlled e.g. by a compressed air working cylinder. The associated control system is designed such that the arm remains in its active position until the arrival of any such cylinder, which has produced a "not ready" signal, e.g. an only partl -filled cylinder, whereby the slide 36 is actuated for rapid refraction of the oblique arm 32. Thus, the cylinders to be let out are simply moved against the oblique arm 32, which will produce on the cylinders an outwardly directed component of force as based on the existing frictional engagement with the carrousel. This influence is sufficient for a rapid outlet of the cylinder, which is then brought to an outlet conveyor belt in the station 30. With the use of the oblique arm 32 a full synchromization between the outlet movement and the carrousel movement will be obtained quite automatically, as the former is simply directly determined by the latter. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the cylinder carrying device being a carrousel, since a straigh lined conveyor could be used as well.

Claims: CLAIMS : 1. A filling station for LPG gas cylinders or a corresponding plant having a carrousel for successive reception of gas cylinders as pushed onto platforms on the carrousel, characterized in that the pushing in is effected by means of a swivel arm (18) , which is swung forwardly against the rear side of an inlet- ready cylinder for initial pushing in thereof, whereafter the swivel arm is swung further through a position perpendicular to the relevant radius of the carrousel, inwardly towards the carrousel and forwardly in the moving direction thereof, such that the cylinder is held against an end portion of the swivel arm by virtue of its frictional engagement with the carrousel, whereby during further swinging of the swivel arm the cylinder is guided inwardly into its final position on the carrousel and leaves the swivel arm end along a curved tangential path. 2. A station according to claim 1 , characterized in that the swivel arm is a double arm, which is rotated in synchronism with the carrousel. 3. A station according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cylinders are removed from the carrousel by abutting an oblique guiding arm (32) as pushed into their moving path. O JI

Inventors: HANSEN SOEREN EDVARD, TRYK PAUL, HANSEN, SOEREN, EDVARD, TRYK, PAUL
Applicants: COSAN CRISPLANT AS, KOSAN CRISPLANT A/S
Application year: 1983
Main classification: B65G47
IPC codes: B65G47, B67C3, F17C5