JP3151299B2 - Ash removal device for automatic smoking machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic smoking machine for automatically smoking cigarettes such as cigarettes and automatically analyzing the components contained in the smoke. It relates to a device for automatically removing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When manufacturing and selling cigarettes such as cigarettes, components such as nicotine and tar contained in smoke when smoking the cigarette are analyzed to determine the content and the like. Must be displayed.

[0003] The tobacco leaves of this cigarette roll such as cigarettes are agricultural products, and their properties are not exactly constant. When producing the above cigarette rolls, the cigarette is produced at a predetermined ratio in accordance with the number of cigarettes manufactured. A number of samples are taken out, the samples are smoked by a smoking machine, and the components contained in the smoke are analyzed. Therefore, as the number of manufactured cigarette turns increases, the number of turns to be analyzed also increases.

[0004] The smoking machine is provided with a plurality of smoking ports, and a cigarette or other cigarette winding is attached to these smoking ports via a holder. Then, while igniting the mounted winding, the smoking machine inhales air through the tobacco winding in a predetermined pattern. A Cambridge filter is provided inside the holder to collect components such as tar. In addition, other components of the gas inhaled into the smoking machine are analyzed by the analyzer.

[0005] Conventionally, mounting of a cigarette roll or holder on the smoking machine, elimination of butts, and the like have all been performed manually by an inspector. However, since the number of cigarette rolls to be inspected is large, simple operations such as mounting these cigarette rolls and removing butts must be repeated for a long time, which increases the burden on the inspector.

In order to solve such a problem, an attempt has been made to develop a device for automatically mounting a cigarette winding, igniting, removing butts, etc. by a robot. However, during one operation of the smoking machine and the robot, the winding must be performed and the butts must be removed many times.
In the conventional smoking machine, the ash, cigarette butts, etc. of the rolls are dropped into an ashtray container installed below the smoking mouth. However, as mentioned above, when the mounting of the winding and the exclusion of the butts are repeated many times,
A lot of ash and butts accumulate in the ashtray container, and smoke and the like rising from the ashtray container are sucked into the roll currently undergoing the smoking inspection, which causes a problem that the inspection result is adversely affected.

During operation of the robot, in order to prevent danger, an operator cannot enter the turning radius of the arm or the like, and the ash or butts collected in the ashtray container may be removed by the operator. Cannot be ruled out.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-mentioned circumstances. In an automatic smoking machine for automatically mounting a cigarette roll, removing a cigarette butt, etc., the present invention relates to an ash or cigarette butt for a cigarette roll. Is automatically removed away from the smoking mouth to prevent the ash and the smoke from the butts from adversely affecting the analysis result.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a smoking machine, comprising a plurality of smoking ports arranged horizontally in front of a main body of a smoking machine.
A conveyor mechanism is disposed in a horizontal direction, and the conveyor mechanism is provided with a heat-resistant endless belt, and the belt is configured to travel in a horizontal direction. An ashtray container is disposed at the end of the conveyor mechanism.

According to a preferred embodiment, the belt is formed of a metal, for example, a thin plate of stainless steel.

[0011]

The ash falling from the smoking roll and the butts of the roll are received on the belt of the conveyor mechanism. Then, the belt is run and conveys the received ash and butts in the horizontal direction and drops the ash and butts into the ashtray container. Therefore, this ash and butts are automatically removed and stored in an ashtray container away from the smoking mouth. Therefore, the ash, smoke from the butts and the like are not sucked into the roll during the smoking analysis, and more accurate analysis becomes possible.

According to the embodiment, the belt is formed of a thin metal plate. Such metals, for example, stainless steel, are less likely to adhere to dirt and are easy to clean. Further, since such a thin metal plate has a high thermal conductivity, the heat of the fallen ash and butts is dissipated, and the fire of the ash and butts is surely extinguished.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show the entirety of the automatic smoking machine of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a side view. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a smoking machine main body.
The front plate 5 has a plurality of smoking ports 2 protruding therefrom. A holder 3 is attached to each of the smoking openings 2, and a cigarette roll 4 such as a cigarette is attached via the holder 3.

A smoking mechanism 11 as shown in FIG. 4 is provided inside the smoking machine main body 1 so as to correspond to each of the above-mentioned smoking ports 2. This smoking mechanism 11 includes:
A cylinder mechanism 13 is provided. The cylinder mechanism 13 is connected to the smoking port 2 and the smoke collecting bag 1 through a three-way valve 12.
5 is connected. And, this cylinder mechanism 13
The reciprocating drive is performed at a predetermined cycle by the drive mechanism 14, and the three-way valve 12 is switched in response to the operation of the cylinder mechanism 13. Air is intermittently sucked through the cigarette roll 4 attached to the smoking port 2 via the holder 3, and the sucked gas is sent to the collection bag 15 via the three-way valve 12.

The collection bag 15 is connected to a suction pump 17 via a two-way valve 16, and the smoke sent into the collection bag 15 is sucked by the suction pump 17. Further, a gas analyzer 18 is provided at an exhaust port of the suction pump 17.
Is connected.

A Cambridge filter is built in the holder 3, and tar in the smoke from the winding 4 is collected by the Cambridge filter. The other components in the smoke are analyzed by the gas analyzer 18 described above.

A moving mechanism 21 is provided in front of the smoking machine main body 1, and the moving mechanism 21 has a rail 22. The rail 22 is parallel to the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1. Are located in A movable table 23 is provided on the rail 22, and the movable table 23 is configured to move to an arbitrary position along the rail 22. The movable table 23 is provided with a winding table 24 on which the cigarette roll 4 to be inspected is mounted and a holder mounting table 25 on which the holder 3 is mounted.

A robot 31 is attached to the moving table 23 as a winding automatic attaching / detaching device. The robot 31 is a general-purpose arm-type robot that is commercially available, and includes an articulated arm 32. And
A working hand 33 is attached to the tip of the arm 32. The work hand 33 is attached to the arm 32 via a shaft 34, and the work hand 33 is rotatable around the shaft 34. It is rotatable.

The work hand 33 includes a gripping mechanism 35 for gripping the cigarette winding, a gripping mechanism 35 'for gripping the holder 3 and a cigarette winding cutting mechanism 36 provided at another position, and an ignition of the winding. Each of the ignition mechanisms 37 is protruded. Each of these mechanisms is protruded in a direction orthogonal to each other, and when performing corresponding operations, the work hand 33 rotates around the axis 34, and the shaft 34 is attached to the arm 32. The mechanism to be rotated is configured to be opposed to the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1.

Therefore, when mounting the winding, first, the robot 31 is operated, and the holder 3 on the holder mounting table 25 is gripped by the gripping mechanism 35 'and is mounted on the corresponding smoking opening 2, Next, the gripping mechanism 35 grips the winding on the winding table 24 and mounts the winding on the holder.

Next, the mounted winding is ignited by the ignition mechanism 37, and smoking is performed in a predetermined mode by the smoking mechanism 11 in the smoking machine main body 1, and gas is analyzed.

A combustion position detecting mechanism 41 is provided in the vicinity of each of the smoking ports 2. These combustion position detecting mechanisms 41 are provided with infrared sensors, detect infrared rays emitted from the burning portion of the winding, and detect infrared rays emitted from the burning portion when the burning of the winding proceeds to a predetermined position. Thus, it is detected that the winding has been burned to a predetermined position.

When it is detected that the winding has been burned to a predetermined position, the robot 31 operates,
The gripping mechanism 35 'of the working hand 33 grips the cutting mechanism 36 at another position, and the cutting mechanism 36 cuts off the burning portion at the leading end of the winding to stop the combustion.
Then, the smoke is sucked by the above-mentioned smoking mechanism 11 so that all the smoke remaining inside the winding is sucked.

Further, when the cutting is completed, the robot 31 operates, the gripping mechanism 35 of the working hand 33 faces the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1, and grips and pulls out the butts of the cigarette roll 4. Then, after repeating the mounting of the winding, the burning, the burning stop by cutting, and the removal of the butts four times, the holder 3 is removed from the smoking port 2 by the gripping mechanism 35 '.

The robot 31 is moved by the moving mechanism 21 and positioned in front of an arbitrary smoking opening 2. The above operation is repeated, and the robot 31 is moved to all the smoking openings 2 as described above. Automatically performs winding, mounting of holder, ignition, cutting of combustion part, and removal of butts and holder.

A smoke exhaust hood 61 is provided above each of the smoking ports 2 to control the flow rate of air around the winding 4 attached to each of the smoking ports 2. These smoke exhaust hoods 61 are configured to be movable up and down by a cylinder mechanism 62. When various operations are performed by the above-described robot 31, these smoke exhaust hoods 61 are moved upward, and the robot arm and the like are moved. To prevent interference. Further, a small fan 63 is provided at the upper end of the smoke exhaust hood 61 to generate a forced air flow in the smoke exhaust hood 61 and the air around the winding below the smoke exhaust hood. Controls the flow of smoke and gas from the combustion section of this winding. And, for example, send this smoke or gas upward,
It is configured to feed to a duct 64 disposed above the smoke exhaust hood 61.

Further, such an automatic smoking machine is provided with an apparatus for removing ash and cigarette butts during smoking of the above-mentioned rolls. Hereinafter, this apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

That is, the above-mentioned smoking mouths 2 are provided in a horizontal direction on the front surface of the smoking machine main body 1. A conveyor mechanism 51 is provided below these smoking ports 2. This conveyor mechanism 51 is arranged along the horizontal direction. The conveyor mechanism 51 is provided with a pair of rollers 52 at both ends thereof, and an endless belt 53 is stretched between the rollers 52. These rollers 52 are rotationally driven by a drive mechanism (not shown), whereby the belt 53 runs horizontally in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

The belt 53 is formed of a heat-resistant material, for example, a thin metal plate material such as stainless steel. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the belt 53 has a wide width having a sufficient margin greater than the length of the winding 4. The belt 53 may be formed of a heat-resistant synthetic rubber, a synthetic resin, or the like, instead of the above-described thin metal plate.

An ashtray container 55 is disposed below the end of the conveyor mechanism 51. Therefore,
The ash 54, butts, etc. of the rolls dropped onto the belt 53 of the conveyor mechanism 51 are conveyed in the horizontal direction by the traveling of the belt 53, and fall into the ashtray container 55 described above.

The conveyor mechanism 51 is preferably operated for a predetermined time each time the burning portion at the end of the winding after the smoking operation is completed is cut off, and the butts are removed and fall on the belt 53 for a predetermined time. The ash and butts in the combustion part are immediately conveyed into the ashtray container 5 and eliminated.

As described above, the ash and butts of the dropped combustion portion are immediately conveyed into the ashtray container 55 by the conveyor mechanism 51. Is prevented from adversely affecting the analysis result, and more accurate analysis becomes possible.

In this embodiment, the belt 53
Is made of a metal material such as stainless steel, the heat conductivity thereof is high, and the heat of the ash and the like in the burning part that has fallen is dissipated, and the fire is reliably extinguished in a short time.

In the above-described embodiment, the automatic smoking machine provided with the robot for automatically attaching and detaching the cigarette roll has been described. However, the automatic ash removing device of the present invention is not limited to such a smoking machine. For example, the present invention can be applied to an automatic smoking machine in which a worker removes and attaches a winding.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the ash, butts, etc. of the dropped combustion part are eliminated by the conveyor mechanism and stored in the ashtray container. Therefore, the ash and the butts can be automatically removed without requiring any manual operation.

In addition, since the ash and butts of the dropped combustion part are immediately removed and stored in an ashtray container, smoke rising therefrom is sucked into another cigarette and adversely affects the measurement result. And a more accurate analysis is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire automatic smoking machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the entire automatic smoking machine of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the entire automatic smoking machine of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the smoking mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a conveyor mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conveyor mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Smoking machine main body 2 ... Smoking mouth 11 ... Smoking mechanism 21 ... Moving mechanism 31 ... Robot 33 ... Work hand 51 ... Conveyor mechanism 53 ... Belt 55 ... Ashtray container

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kokichi Suda 1-31 Kurobeoka, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa Japan Tobacco Inc. Production Technology Development Center (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB Name) G01N 33/00 A24C 5/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cigarette roll automatic smoking machine having a smoking machine main body and a plurality of smoking mouths arranged in a horizontal direction on a front surface of the smoking machine main body. A conveyor mechanism provided with an endless heat-resistant belt that is disposed along and travels in the horizontal direction, and the ash and butts of the cigarette roll that is disposed below the end of the conveyor mechanism and transported by the conveyor mechanism. An ash removing device for an automatic smoking machine, comprising an ashtray container for receiving the ash. 2. The ash removing device for an automatic smoking machine according to claim 1, wherein said belt is formed of a thin metal plate.