JP7515978B2 - Coolant Purification Equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a coolant purification device that purifies contaminated coolant that contains cutting chips discharged from a machine tool.

As is well known, when performing machining such as cutting, grinding, drilling, etc. on a metal workpiece, coolant is supplied to the machining point and its surroundings for the purpose of lubricating and cooling the contact point (machining point) between the workpiece and the machining tool attached to the machine tool. The coolant supplied to the machining point is generally discharged outside the machine tool together with various large and small machining debris (hereinafter referred to as "chips") generated during the machining of the workpiece, and then purified by a coolant purification device before being reused.

For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses a coolant purification device for purifying contaminated coolant discharged from a machine tool (separating the contaminated coolant into cutting chips and purified coolant from which the cutting chips have been removed). This purification device is provided with a contaminated coolant storage tank that is provided under the conveyor frame and receives the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool, a cylindrical filter drum that is placed in the storage tank and rotates around a horizontal axis to filter the contaminated coolant to produce purified coolant, a conveyor belt that circulates within the conveyor frame and scoops up the cutting chips in the contaminated coolant storage tank and discharges them outside the conveyor frame, and a coolant tank that stores the purified coolant discharged from the filter drum.

According to the coolant purification device of Patent Document 1 having the above configuration, the contaminated coolant is separated into chips and purified coolant as follows.

When the dirty coolant discharged from the machine tool is poured into the dirty coolant storage tank, the chips in the storage tank are picked up by the conveyor belt that circulates within the conveyor frame and discharged into a chip collection box. As the conveyor belt circulates, the filter drum placed in the dirty coolant storage tank is also rotated. As a result, the chips contained in the dirty coolant are captured by the filter installed on the outer periphery of the filter drum, while the liquid component of the dirty coolant (coolant) passes through the filter and flows into the inside of the filter drum. Therefore, the coolant that flows into the inside of the filter drum becomes purified coolant from which the chips have been removed. This purified coolant is discharged from the inside of the filter drum through a suction pipe into the coolant tank and stored in the coolant tank.

JP 2014-97544 A

In the coolant purification device of Patent Document 1, the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool is directly fed into a contaminated coolant storage tank installed under the conveyor frame, so chips contained in the contaminated coolant are dispersed throughout the entire contaminated coolant storage tank. This creates a problem in that it is difficult to efficiently remove chips contained in the contaminated coolant.

In addition, the coolant purification device of Patent Document 1 requires a filter drum that rotates within a conveyor frame (contaminated coolant storage tank) to generate purified coolant and store it in a coolant tank, and a pump unit to move the purified coolant that has flowed into the filter drum to the coolant tank, which raises concerns that the entire device may become complex and large-scale.

The present invention aims to provide a coolant purification device that has a simple configuration yet can efficiently purify contaminated coolant containing cutting chips discharged from a machine tool.

The present invention, which has been invented to achieve the above object, is a coolant purification device that purifies contaminated coolant containing chips discharged from a machine tool, and is characterized by comprising a chute that causes the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool to flow diagonally downward, a filter panel that captures the chips contained in the contaminated coolant flowing down the chute and allows them to fall freely, a transport conveyor that receives the freely falling chips and carries them out of the purification device, and a guide path that guides the coolant that has passed through the filter panel to a coolant tank in which it is stored. Note that the "chips" referred to in this invention is a concept that includes chips of various sizes and shapes generated when machining a workpiece to be machined, and is not intended to be limited to minute chips such as powder or small pieces.

According to the coolant purification device of the present invention having the above configuration, chips contained in the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool are removed from the contaminated coolant upstream of the transport conveyor and then transferred to the transport conveyor. Therefore, the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool is directly poured into the contaminated coolant storage tank provided at the bottom of the conveyor frame, which increases the efficiency of removing chips contained in the contaminated coolant compared to the purification device of Patent Document 1, in which the chips contained in the contaminated coolant are dispersed in the contaminated coolant storage tank.

Furthermore, with the coolant purification device according to the present invention, the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool is separated into chips and coolant from which the chips have been removed (purified coolant) upstream of the transport conveyor, and the purified coolant is guided to the coolant tank without being put into the transport conveyor. Therefore, with the purification device according to the present invention, there is no need for power-requiring devices such as the filtering drum used in the purification device of Patent Document 1, or a pump unit for moving the purified coolant from the filtering drum (contaminated coolant storage tank) to the coolant tank. This makes it possible to greatly simplify the overall configuration of the purification device.

In a coolant purification device having the above configuration, it is preferable that the filter panel is arranged so that the capture surface that captures the chips forms an acute angle with the horizontal direction.

In this way, when the contaminated coolant flowing down the chute hits the filter panel, a force acts on the chips captured by the capture surface of the filter panel in a direction that causes them to peel off from the capture surface, making it easier for the chips captured by the filter panel to fall freely. This effectively prevents the filter panel from clogging, while further increasing the efficiency of chip removal and recovery.

As described above, the coolant purification device according to the present invention has a simple configuration and can efficiently purify the contaminated coolant discharged from a machine tool.

1 is a schematic side view of a coolant purification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a schematic plan view of a coolant purification device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a partial schematic vertical sectional view of the coolant purification device shown in FIG. 1 . 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 3.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings (Figs. 1 to 4). Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a coolant purification device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the purification device 1, Fig. 3 is a partial schematic vertical cross-sectional view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line X-X in Fig. 3.

The coolant purification device 1 shown in Figures 1 and 2 purifies contaminated coolant 2, including chips, discharged from machine tool A when machine tool A performs machining such as cutting, grinding, and drilling on a workpiece (not shown in the figure) (for example, a metal workpiece) (separates the contaminated coolant 2 into chips 3 and purified coolant 4, which has been purified to a degree that it can be reused by removing the chips 3). It mainly comprises a chute 5 located below machine tool A, a filtration unit 20 that filters the contaminated coolant 2 to remove the chips 3 from the contaminated coolant 2, a transport conveyor 10 that transports the chips 3 to the outside of purification device 1, and a coolant tank 7 that stores the purified coolant 4.

The conveyor 10 receives the chips 3 removed from the contaminated coolant 2 by the filtration unit 20 and transports them outside the device 1. The conveyor 10 in the illustrated example has a lower horizontal conveying section 11 that receives the chips 3, an upper horizontal conveying section 12, and an inclined conveying section 13 that connects the two horizontal conveying sections 11, 12, and these conveying sections 11 to 13 are housed in a conveyor frame 14. A chip inlet 15 (see FIG. 3) is formed on the upper surface of the part of the conveyor frame 14 that houses the lower horizontal conveying section 11, and a chip discharge outlet 16 is formed in the part that houses the upper horizontal conveying section 12. A chip collection box 17 is installed below the chip discharge outlet 16 to collect and store the discharged chips 3.

The transport conveyor 10 may be of the so-called hinge type, which transports the chips 3 placed on the conveyor belt, the scraper type, which transports the chips 3 by scraping them off with scrapers spaced apart along the length of the conveyor belt, or the magnet type, which transports the chips 3 by attracting them with the magnetic force of a magnet. The type of transport conveyor 10 to be used is selected according to the size of the chips 3, etc. This type of transport conveyor 10 is also called a chip conveyor.

The coolant tank 7 in this embodiment is composed of a tank body that is rectangular in plan view and has an open top, and houses the lower horizontal transport section 11 of the transport conveyor 10 (more precisely, the part of the conveyor frame 14 that houses the transport conveyor 10 that houses the lower horizontal transport section 11). Although not shown, the coolant tank 7 is provided with a support member that can support the conveyor frame 14 from below at a position shifted a predetermined amount upward from the inner bottom surface of the coolant tank 7. This prevents chips 3 from being mixed into the purified coolant 4 stored in the coolant tank 7 as much as possible.

Although not shown in the figure, the coolant purification device 1 has a pump that draws in the purified coolant 4 stored in the coolant tank 7 and pressure-feeds (resupplies) it to the machine tool A.

The chute 5 is disposed between the machine tool A and the filtration unit 20 (details will be described later), and has a chute surface 6 that causes the contaminated coolant 2 discharged from the machine tool A to flow diagonally downward toward the filtration unit 20. The upstream end of the chute 5 is disposed below the discharge outlet for the contaminated coolant 2 provided on the machine tool A, and the downstream end of the chute 5 is connected in a liquid-tight manner to the filtration unit 20 (a filter case 23 that constitutes the filtration unit 20).

As also shown in FIG. 3, the filtration unit 20 is disposed above the lower horizontal conveying section 11 of the transport conveyor 10. This filtration unit 20 comprises a filter panel 21 arranged in an upright position such that one surface (capture surface) 22 intersects with the extension line 6a of the chute surface 6, and a filter case 23 that is fixed to the upper part of the conveyor frame 14 (the part of the conveyor frame 14 that houses the lower horizontal conveying section 11) and houses the filter panel 21 in a predetermined position. The filter panel 21 is detachable from the filter case 23.

The filter panel 21 is a plate-like member that has sufficient rigidity not to deform when the contaminated coolant 2 flowing down along the chute surface 6 hits the capture surface 22, and that allows the liquid component (coolant) of the contaminated coolant 2 to pass through smoothly while capturing most of the chips 3 contained in the contaminated coolant 2 on one surface (capture surface) 22. Specifically, for example, a punched metal (a metal plate with numerous through holes) can be used as the filter panel 21.

The filter case 23 holds the filter panel 21 in an inclined position such that the upper end 21a is located closer to the chute 5 than the lower end 21b. In other words, the filter panel 21 is housed and held in the filter case 23 such that the angle θ that the capture surface 22 makes with the horizontal direction is an acute angle (preferably 30°≦θ≦70°), and here, in order to increase the filtering efficiency of the contaminated coolant 2, the filter panel 21 is held in the filter case 23 such that the angle θ is larger than the angle θ ₁ that the chute surface 6 makes with the horizontal direction. In FIG. 3, θ ≈ 40°, and θ ₁ ≈ 10°.

As will be explained later, the chips 3 contained in the contaminated coolant 2 are captured by the capture surface 22 of the filter panel 21 provided in the above-mentioned manner, and the captured chips 3 fall freely and are received by the lower horizontal conveying section 11 of the conveyor 10. For this reason, a chip discharge port 24 having approximately the same size and shape as the chip inlet 15 provided in the conveyor frame 14 is provided concentrically with the chip inlet 15 on the bottom plate 23E of the filter case 23 holding the filter panel 21, and the filter panel 21 is arranged so that at least a part of the capture surface 22 (the entire area of the capture surface 22 in the illustrated example) is located within the projection plane F obtained by projecting the chip discharge port 24 upward. With this configuration, the chips 3 captured by the capture surface 22 of the filter panel 21 can be appropriately transferred to the lower horizontal conveying section 11 of the conveyor 10.

3 and 4, the filter case 23 has a front plate 23A provided with an inlet for the contaminated coolant 2 flowing down along the chute surface 6, a rear plate 23B arranged on the opposite side of the front plate 23A with the filter panel 21 in between, a pair of side plates 23C connecting the front plate 23A and the rear plate 23B, a top plate 23D and a bottom plate 23E, and a pair of panel support plates 23F arranged closer to the center of the width of the conveyor 10 than the side plates 23C and supporting both ends of the filter panel 21 from below. The front end of the panel support plate 23F (the end on the left side of the paper in FIG. 3) is in liquid-tight contact with the front plate 23A, and the lower end of the panel support plate 23F is in liquid-tight contact with the bottom plate 23E. Therefore, the internal space of the filter case 23 is divided into an inner space defined by the cooperation of the front plate 23A, the bottom plate 23E, the pair of panel support plates 23F, and the filter panel 21, and an outer space defined by the cooperation of the front plate 23A, the rear plate 23B, the pair of side plates 23C, the bottom plate 23E, the pair of panel support plates 23F, and the filter panel 21.

The top plate 23D functions as an opening/closing door that can open and close the top opening of the filter case 23 defined by the front plate 23A, the rear plate 23B, and the pair of side plates 23C. When the machine tool A is in operation, the top opening of the filter case 23 is closed, while when the filter panel 21 is cleaned or replaced, the top opening is opened, and the filter panel 21 is removed from the filter case 23 through this top opening. In the illustrated example, the top plate 23D is connected to the rear plate 23B via a hinge member, so that the top plate 23D functions as an opening/closing door. In addition, in order to make it possible to visually check from the outside whether the contaminated coolant 2 is being properly filtered (whether the filter panel 21 is clogged) when the machine tool A is in operation, it is preferable that a part or all of the top plate 23D is made of a transparent plate such as an acrylic plate.

The filtration unit 20 (filter case 23) has a guide path 25 for guiding the coolant (purified coolant 4) purified by passing through the filter panel 21 to the coolant tank 7. This guide path 25 is composed of a first passage 26 formed between the filter panel 21 and the rear plate 23B, a second passage 27 formed between the panel support plate 23F and the side plate 23C adjacent in the width direction of the filter case 23, and a coolant discharge hole 28 formed in the filter case 23. The coolant discharge hole 28 is provided in at least one of the bottom plate 23E and the side plate 23C, and in this embodiment, the coolant discharge hole 28 is provided in the bottom plate 23E (see FIG. 4).

The coolant purification device 1 of this embodiment has the above configuration, and separates the contaminated coolant 2 discharged from the machine tool A into cutting chips 3 and purified coolant 4 as follows.

First, the contaminated coolant 2 discharged from the machine tool A falls freely onto the chute surface 6 of the chute 5, and then flows diagonally downward along the chute surface 6 toward the filtration unit 20. When the contaminated coolant 2 flowing down along the chute surface 6 flows into the internal space of the filter case 23 (more specifically, the inner space described above) and collides with the capture surface 22 of the filter panel 21, the chips 3 contained in the contaminated coolant 2 are captured by the capture surface 22 of the filter panel 21 and fall freely. Meanwhile, the liquid component (coolant) of the contaminated coolant 2 passes through the filter panel 21 and flows into the outer space described above.

The chips 3 that have fallen freely are fed into the conveyor frame 14 via the chip discharge port 24 provided in the bottom plate 23E of the filter case 23 and the chip inlet port 15 provided in the conveyor frame 14, and are received by the lower horizontal conveying section 11 of the transport conveyor 10. The chips 3 received by the lower horizontal conveying section 11 are transported to the upper horizontal conveying section 12 via the inclined conveying section 13, and then discharged outside the purification device 1 via the chip discharge port 16 provided in the conveyor frame 14, and stored in the chip collection box 17.

Meanwhile, the coolant that passes through the filter panel 21 becomes purified coolant 4 from which the cutting chips 3 have been removed. This purified coolant 4 flows along the guide path 25 formed in the filter case 23 and is discharged to the outside of the filter case 23 through the coolant discharge hole 28. The purified coolant 4 discharged to the outside of the filter case 23 falls freely and is contained in the coolant case 7. The purified coolant 4 contained and stored in the coolant case 7 is sucked into a pump (not shown) and pressure-fed to the machine tool A.

According to the coolant purification device 1 of this embodiment described above, the chips 3 contained in the polluted coolant 2 discharged from the machine tool A are removed from the polluted coolant 2 upstream of the transport conveyor 10 and then transferred to the transport conveyor 10. Therefore, the efficiency of removing the chips 3 contained in the polluted coolant 2 can be significantly improved compared to the purification device of Patent Document 1, in which the polluted coolant discharged from the machine tool is directly poured into the polluted coolant storage tank, causing the chips contained in the polluted coolant to disperse in the polluted coolant storage tank.

In addition, according to the coolant purification device 1 of this embodiment, the contaminated coolant 2 discharged from the machine tool A is separated into chips 3 and purified coolant 4 upstream of the transport conveyor 10, and the purified coolant 4 is guided toward the coolant tank 7 and discharged without being fed into the conveyor frame 14 that houses the transport conveyor 10. Therefore, the purification device 1 of this embodiment does not require devices that require power, such as the filter drum used in the purification device of Patent Document 1 or a pump unit for moving the purified coolant from the filter drum to the coolant tank. This makes it possible to greatly simplify the overall configuration of the coolant purification device 1.

In addition, in the coolant purification device 1 of this embodiment, the filter panel 21 is arranged so that the angle θ that the capture surface 22 that captures the chips 3 makes with the horizontal direction is an acute angle. In this way, when the contaminated coolant 2 flowing down along the chute 5 collides with the filter panel 21, a force acts on the chips 3 captured by the capture surface 22 of the filter panel 21 in a direction that causes the chips 3 to peel off from the capture surface 3, making it easier for the chips 3 captured by the capture surface 22 to fall freely. This effectively prevents clogging of the filter panel 21 while further increasing the efficiency of removing and collecting the chips 3.

From the above, the coolant purification device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention has the characteristic of being able to efficiently purify the contaminated coolant 2 while having a simple configuration.

The above describes the coolant purification device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, but the coolant purification device 1 can be modified as appropriate without changing the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the embodiment described above, a transport conveyor 10 consisting of a lower horizontal transport section 11, an upper horizontal transport section 12, and an inclined transport section 13 connecting both horizontal transport sections 11, 12 is used, but it is also possible to use a transport conveyor 10 consisting of only horizontal transport sections.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Coolant purification device 2 Contaminated coolant 3 Cutting chips 4 Purified coolant 5 Chute 6 Chute surface 7 Coolant tank 10 Transport conveyor 14 Conveyor frame 20 Filtration unit 21 Filter panel 22 Capture surface 23 Filter case 25 Guide path 28 Coolant discharge hole A Machine tool θ Angle

Claims (2)

A coolant purification device that purifies contaminated coolant containing cutting chips discharged from a machine tool,
a chute having a chute surface that causes the contaminated coolant discharged from the machine tool to flow obliquely downward;
a filter panel that has a capture surface that forms an acute angle with respect to the horizontal direction and against which the contaminated coolant flowing down along the chute surface collides, and that, when the contaminated coolant collides with this capture surface, captures the chips contained in the contaminated coolant with the capture surface while allowing coolant, which is a liquid component of the contaminated coolant, to pass through ;
a transfer conveyor that receives the chips that are captured on the capture surface and then fall freely and carries them out of the coolant purification device;
a guide path for guiding the coolant that has passed through the filter panel to a coolant tank that stores the coolant ,
A coolant purification device, characterized in that an angle that the capture surface makes with respect to the horizontal direction is larger than an angle that the chute surface makes with respect to the horizontal direction . 2. The coolant purification device according to claim 1, wherein the trapping surface forms an angle of 30 degrees or more and 70 degrees or less with respect to the horizontal direction.

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