JP2015040122A - Conveyance device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveyance device capable of determining whether an article group is properly conveyed to a conveyance destination region with the number of presence/absence sensors reduced and without unnecessarily increasing the length of the conveyance destination region in a conveyance direction.SOLUTION: As presence/absence sensors 18, upstream presence/absence sensors 24 and 25 positioned in a conveyance direction in an upstream of, and downstream presence/absence sensors 25 and 26 positioned in a downstream of, an article group conveyed to a conveyance destination region E6, are provided to the conveyance destination region E6. When all of the upstream presence/absence sensors 24 and 25 and the downstream presence/absence sensors 25 and 26 detect no article, the article group is supposed to be properly conveyed to the conveyance destination region E6. When the articles are detected by any of the upstream presence/absence sensors 24 and 25 and the downstream presence/absence sensors 25 and 26, the article group is supposed to be properly conveyed to the conveyance destination region E6.

Description

  The present invention provides a transport conveyor for placing and transporting articles along a transport direction, a presence / absence sensor for detecting presence / absence of an article on the transport conveyor, a control unit for controlling the operation of the transport conveyor, and the presence / absence sensor. And a management unit that manages whether or not the article is appropriately conveyed based on the detection information, and the article group is conveyed by using three or more articles arranged in the conveyance direction as an article group as a conveyance unit. A transport destination location is set on the transport conveyor, and the control unit has a transport setting condition set in advance after starting the transport operation of the transport conveyor to transport the group of articles to the transport destination location. It is related with the conveying apparatus which performs the conveyance control which controls the operation | movement of the said conveyance conveyor so that the conveyance operation of the said conveyance conveyor will be stopped if it is materialized.

  A conventional example of such a conveying apparatus is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-157063 (Patent Document 1). In the transport apparatus of Patent Document 1, an incoming conveyor or a mainstream conveyor is provided as a transport conveyor. Then, the articles are supplied one by one to the arrival conveyor, and when a set amount of articles (group of articles) is stored on the arrival conveyor, the control device executes conveyance control. By this conveyance control, the article group is conveyed from the arrival conveyor to the mainstream conveyor, and the article group is conveyed to a conveyance destination location outside the figure.

JP-A-7-157063

By the way, in such a conveyance device, the conveyance conveyor is operated to convey the article group to the conveyance destination location. When the article group is conveyed to the conveyance destination location, is the article group appropriately conveyed to the conveyance destination location? It is desirable to determine whether or not.
Therefore, for example, the same number of presence / absence sensors as the number of articles in the article group are provided corresponding to each article in the article group at the transport destination location, and the management unit detects the articles by all of the many presence / absence sensors. If it is determined that the article group is properly transported to the transport destination location, and the article group is not properly transported to the transport destination location unless any of the many presence sensors detect the product It can be considered to be configured so as to be judged.
However, in the case of such a configuration, it is necessary to provide a large number of presence / absence sensors at the transport destination location, which causes a problem that the number of presence / absence sensors is increased and the cost of the transport device is increased.

In addition, a pair of presence / absence sensors are provided for the conveyance destination location so as to detect the downstream end article and the upstream end article in the conveyance direction in the article group. If an article is detected, the management unit determines that the article group has been properly transported to the destination, and if either of the pair of presence / absence sensors has not detected the article, the article group is transported appropriately. It is conceivable that the management unit determines that it has not been transported to the previous location.
However, there are cases where a plurality of types of articles having different lengths in the transport direction are transported as the articles placed and transported by the transport conveyor. In such a case, when the article located at the downstream end of the article group or the article located at the upstream end is a large article in the transport direction, the article located at the downstream end is large because the article is large in the transport direction. The article is detected by the presence / absence sensor even if the article is greatly shifted downstream by the amount, and the article is detected by the presence / absence sensor even if the article located at the upstream end is largely displaced upstream by the amount.
Therefore, in order to allow the shift in the conveyance direction of the article as described above, it is necessary to secure a large range in the conveyance direction as the conveyance destination place, and the length of the conveyance destination place in the conveyance direction is It becomes longer than necessary compared to the length of the group in the transport direction.

  Therefore, it is possible to determine whether or not the group of articles has been properly conveyed to the conveyance destination location while suppressing the number of presence / absence sensors and not having to lengthen the conveyance destination location in the conveyance direction more than necessary. Realization of a transport device is desired.

The characteristic configuration of the transport device according to the present invention includes a transport conveyor that places and transports articles along the transport direction, a presence / absence sensor that detects the presence / absence of articles on the transport conveyor, and a control that controls the operation of the transport conveyor. And a management unit that manages whether or not the article is appropriately conveyed based on the detection information of the presence / absence sensor, and includes three or more articles arranged in the conveyance direction as an article group of conveyance units In addition, a transport destination location where the article group is transported is set on the transport conveyor, and the control unit starts the transport operation of the transport conveyor in advance to transport the article group to the transport destination location. In the transfer device that executes the transfer control for controlling the operation of the transfer conveyor so as to stop the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor when the set transfer setting condition is satisfied,
As the presence / absence sensor, an upstream presence / absence sensor located upstream in the conveyance direction and a downstream presence / absence sensor located downstream from the group of articles conveyed to the conveyance destination location are provided for the conveyance destination location, If an article is not detected by both the upstream presence sensor and the downstream existence sensor after the control unit executes the conveyance control, the management unit appropriately conveys the article group to the conveyance destination location. If an article is detected by either the upstream presence sensor or the downstream existence sensor after the control unit executes the conveyance control, the article group is appropriately placed at the conveyance destination location. The point is that it is not conveyed.

  According to this characteristic configuration, the upstream sensor is provided upstream of the article group conveyed to the conveyance destination location in the conveyance direction with respect to the conveyance destination location, and downstream of the article group conveyed to the conveyance destination location downstream of the conveyance direction. A sensor is provided. Therefore, after the control unit executes the conveyance control, the management unit determines that the article group is appropriately conveyed to the conveyance destination location if no article is detected by both the upstream existence sensor and the downstream existence sensor. If the article is not detected by either the upstream presence / absence sensor or the downstream existence / non-existence sensor after the control unit executes the conveyance control, it can be determined that the article group is appropriately conveyed to the conveyance destination location. .

As described above, the upstream presence / absence sensor is provided upstream from the article group, and the downstream existence sensor is provided downstream from the group pin group. (Interval between the article group at the proper position and the downstream presence / absence sensor) If it is shifted downstream, the article can be detected by the downstream presence / absence sensor, and the article located at the upstream end in the transport direction is set by the set amount from the appropriate position. (Interval between the article group at the appropriate position and the upstream presence / absence sensor) If the position is shifted upstream, the article can be detected by the upstream existence sensor. Therefore, the length in the transport direction of the transport destination location may be a length corresponding to the length of the article group, and the length of the transport destination location in the transport direction becomes longer than necessary with respect to the length of the product group. There is nothing.
As described above, whether or not the group of articles has been appropriately conveyed to the conveyance destination location while suppressing the number of presence / absence sensors and not having to lengthen the conveyance destination location in the conveyance direction more than necessary. It is possible to realize a transfer device that can be identified.

  Here, the transport setting condition is that the transport conveyor is transported by a transport operation amount set in advance corresponding to the distance from the position where the article group before transport exists to the transport destination location. It is preferable that

  According to this configuration, the conveyance conveyor is operated until the count number of pulses output from the rotary encoder reaches the set count accompanying the conveyance of the conveyance conveyor, or the conveyance conveyor is conveyed for a set time in advance. The group of articles can be transported to the transport destination location by transporting the transport conveyor by a set transport operation amount. Therefore, for example, it is not necessary to provide a presence / absence sensor for counting the number of articles conveyed to the conveyance destination location, and the number of presence / absence sensors in the conveyance device can be reduced.

  A plurality of the transport destination locations are set along the transport direction, and the downstream presence / absence sensor provided for the transport destination location on the upstream side with respect to a pair of transport destination locations adjacent to the transport direction; It is preferable that the upstream presence / absence sensor provided for the downstream destination is also used.

  According to this configuration, for a pair of transport destination locations adjacent in the transport direction, a downstream presence sensor provided for the upstream transport destination location and an upstream provided for the downstream transport destination location. By sharing the presence / absence sensor, the number of presence / absence sensors can be reduced.

  In addition, a plurality of the transport destination locations are set along the transport direction, and the control unit sets the plurality of transport destination locations from the transport destination location at the most upstream position to the transport destination location at the most downstream position. In order to sequentially convey, the conveyance control is repeatedly executed, and for the most downstream conveyance destination location among the plurality of conveyance destination locations, each of the articles in the group of articles conveyed to the most downstream conveyance location A plurality of article presence / absence sensors for detecting the presence of an article are provided, and the management unit, for the most downstream conveyance destination location, the number of articles in the article group conveyed to the most downstream conveyance destination location and the plurality If the number of articles detected by the present article presence / absence sensor coincides, it is determined that the group of articles is properly conveyed to the most downstream conveyance destination location, and is conveyed to the most downstream conveyance destination location. The number of articles in the group of articles If not, the number of detected by the article presence sensor article and match, the group of articles is the it is preferable to determine that it is not properly conveyed to the most downstream transport destination point.

According to this configuration, the group of articles is sequentially conveyed to a plurality of conveyance destination locations from the most upstream conveyance destination location to the most downstream conveyance destination location.
And about a conveyance destination location other than the most downstream conveyance destination location, an upstream presence / absence sensor and a downstream presence / absence sensor are provided, and the management unit determines whether or not the article group is appropriately conveyed to the conveyance destination location. Therefore, the number of presence / absence sensors can be reduced.
For the most downstream transport destination location, a plurality of article presence / absence sensors are provided so as to detect the presence of each article in the group of articles transported to the most downstream transport destination location. Since the management unit is configured to determine whether or not each group of articles is properly transported to the transport destination location, it can be determined whether or not the group of articles is properly transported to the transport destination location.

  In addition, a plurality of conveyance units that place and convey articles are driven in parallel in the conveyance direction on the conveyance conveyor, and each of the plurality of conveyance units has a length in the conveyance direction of the group of articles. Preferably, the plurality of transport units are configured to have the same length in the transport direction, and the transport destination location is set for each of the plurality of transport units.

  According to this configuration, since each of the plurality of transport units is configured to have the same length in the transport direction, the plurality of transport units can be configured similarly. And when conveying sequentially to a some conveyance part, since the distance from a conveyance part to the next conveyance part becomes the same, it is easy to operate a conveyance apparatus.

  Further, a storage location is set on the transport conveyor upstream in the transport direction from the transport destination location, the storage location is set longer than the length of the article group in the transport direction, and the control unit is externally connected. A storage setting condition set in advance is established after the conveying operation of the conveyor is started to convey the article supplied to the supply location where the articles are supplied one by one toward the downstream in the conveying direction by a set distance. Then, the control for stopping the transport operation of the transport conveyor is repeatedly executed a plurality of times, the storage control for storing the group of articles in the storage location is executed, and a storage presence / absence sensor is provided downstream of the storage location in the transport direction. If the article is not detected by the storage presence / absence sensor during execution of the storage control by the control unit, the management unit appropriately transports the article to the storage location. Determined that, during the execution of the reservoir control by the control unit, when the article is detected by said reservoir presence sensor, it is preferable to determine the article is not properly conveyed to the reservoir portion.

According to this configuration, the article supplied from the outside to the supply location is conveyed a set distance downstream in the conveyance direction by executing the storage control, and one article is stored in the storage location. In addition, the article supplied from the outside to the supply location is transported a set distance downstream in the transport direction together with the previously stored article by the storage control, and two articles are stored in the storage location. The By repeatedly executing such storage control a plurality of times, three or more articles can be stored as a group of articles in a storage location.
And, when the storage control is being executed, for example, when the article protrudes downstream from the storage location due to, for example, the article moving downstream on the conveyor by inertia when the conveyor is stopped In addition, the protruding article can be detected by the storage presence / absence sensor, and the management unit can determine that the article is not properly conveyed to the storage location.
In this way, when the storage control is repeatedly executed, the management unit can determine whether or not the article is appropriately transported based on the detection information of one storage presence / absence sensor, and is transported to the storage location. The number of storage presence / absence sensors can be reduced compared to the case where a plurality of storage presence / absence sensors are provided so that articles are detected by the storage presence / absence sensors one by one.

Top view of picking equipment Top view of the article removal device Top view of the supply conveyor Control block diagram Control flow diagram Control flow diagram Delivery control (storage control) article conveyance action diagram Article conveyance action diagram of first conveyance control and second conveyance control Article conveyance action diagram of cutting control and merge control

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a picking facility provided with a transport device of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the picking facility includes a plurality of automatic warehouses 1 that store a plurality of types of articles W in a state in which the articles W are stored in the storage containers C <b> 1, and storage containers C <b> 1 that have been delivered from the automatic warehouse 1. A plurality of article take-out devices 2 that take out articles W, a merging conveyor 3 that joins a plurality of types of articles W taken out from the plurality of article take-out apparatuses 2 and conveys them to a shipping container C2, and a shipping container C2 are placed and conveyed. A container conveyor 4 is provided.

  The picking equipment includes a storage container C1 that stores a plurality of articles W of the same type, and a shipping container C2 that stores a plurality of articles W of a plurality of types. It is stored in. In the picking equipment, the storage container C1 is stored in the automatic warehouse 1, the articles W are taken out from the plurality of storage containers C1 in the plurality of article take-out devices 2, and the plurality of kinds of articles W taken out are joined to the merging conveyor 3. After that, it is stored in the shipping container C2.

(Goods take-out device)
Next, the article take-out device 2 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the article take-out device 2 includes a loading / unloading conveyor 14 for placing and transporting the storage container C <b> 1, a supply conveyor 15 for placing and transporting the article W, and storage on the loading / unloading conveyor 14. A transfer robot 16 that takes out the article W from the container C1 and transfers the article W onto the supply conveyor 15 is provided. In the present embodiment, the article take-out device 2 is provided with one loading / unloading conveyor 14, one transfer robot 16, and three supply conveyors 15.

  The transfer robot 16 includes an articulated arm and a suction pad supported at the tip of the arm, and is configured so that the article W can be sucked and supported by the suction pad. Then, the transfer robot 16 takes out the article W from the storage container C1 located at the take-out location E2 in the loading / unloading conveyor 14, and transfers the taken-out article W to the transfer section 15a in any of the plurality of supply conveyors 15. To do. At this time, when the shape of the article W in a plan view is formed in a rectangular shape, in the transfer robot 16, the longitudinal direction of the article W is the conveyance direction of the supply conveyor 15 (second direction indicated by the arrow Y in FIG. 1). Is transferred to the supply conveyor 15 so as to be in a posture along the direction.

The loading / unloading conveyor 14 mounts and conveys the storage container C1 unloaded at the unloading location E1 to the loading location E3. The loading / unloading conveyor 14 is formed in a U shape in a plan view, and a loading location E1 is set at one end, and a loading location E3 is set at the other end. And the extraction location E2 is set in the middle of the conveyance path | route from the delivery location E1 of the entrance / exit conveyor 14 to the receipt location E3.
In other words, the storage container C1 delivered from the automatic warehouse 1 to the delivery place E1 is placed and conveyed to the take-out place E2 by the loading / unloading conveyor 14, and the necessary articles W are transferred from the storage container C1 located at the take-out place E2. The robot 16 takes it out. Thereafter, the storage container C <b> 1 is placed and conveyed from the take-out location E <b> 2 to the storage location E <b> 3 by the storage / conveyance conveyor 14, and stored in the automatic warehouse 1.

  Each of the three supply conveyors 15 is provided linearly in a state extending in a second direction indicated by an arrow Y orthogonal to a first direction indicated by an arrow X in FIG. 1 (conveying direction of the merging conveyor 3). It is comprised so that the articles | goods W may be mounted and conveyed along a direction. The three supply conveyors 15 are arranged in parallel along the first direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the supply conveyor 15 includes five transfer portions 15a, a first buffer portion 15b, a second buffer portion 15c, a third buffer portion 15d, and a supply portion 15e in order from the upstream side in the second direction. Each of the transfer unit 15a, the first buffer unit 15b, the second buffer unit 15c, the third buffer unit 15d, and the supply unit 15e is transported separately to load and transport the article W. . Therefore, for example, the supply conveyor 15 conveys the article W from the second buffer unit 15c to the supply unit 15e while the article W is stopped on the first buffer unit 15b, or on the second buffer unit 15c. With the article W stopped, the article W can be transported from the transfer section 15a to the first buffer section 15b.

  As shown in FIG. 1, three article take-out apparatuses 2 configured in this way are provided, and the three article take-out apparatuses 2 are articles W each placed and conveyed by a plurality of supply conveyors 15. Are joined to a single junction conveyor 3. A plurality of types of articles W stored in the shipping container C <b> 2 are placed and conveyed by the supply conveyor 15 of the article take-out device 2 that is different for each type, and merged by the junction conveyor 3.

(Transport device)
Next, the conveying apparatus A according to this embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the conveying device A detects whether or not the above-described supply conveyor 15 that places and conveys the article W along the conveyance direction (second direction) and the article W on the supply conveyor 15. 18 and a control device H (see FIG. 4) that controls the operation of the supply conveyor 15 and manages whether or not the article W is appropriately conveyed based on the detection information of the presence / absence sensor 18. .
The control device H includes a control unit h1 that controls the operation of the supply conveyor 15 and a management unit h2 that manages whether or not the article W is appropriately conveyed based on the detection information of the presence / absence sensor 18. It is provided in a program format. Further, the supply conveyor 15 corresponds to the transport conveyor of the present invention.

Three or more articles W (five in this embodiment) arranged in the conveyance direction are set as an article group in the conveyance unit, and a conveyance destination E6 to which the article group is conveyed is set on the supply conveyor 15. The pair of transport destination locations E6 are set on the second buffer portion 15c and the third buffer portion 15d, and a plurality of transport destination locations E6 are set along the transport direction. Hereinafter, the transport destination location E6 set on the second buffer unit 15c is referred to as a first transport destination location E6a, and the transport destination location E6 set on the third buffer unit 15d is referred to as a second transport destination location E6b.
The second buffer unit 15c and the third buffer unit 15d correspond to a transport unit for placing and transporting the article W. The supply conveyor 15 is driven by the second buffer unit 15c and the third buffer unit 15d, respectively. In this state, a plurality of lines are arranged in the transport direction.

A storage location E5 is set on the supply conveyor 15 upstream in the transport direction from the first transport destination location E6a. The storage location E5 is set on the first buffer unit 15b.
Further, a supply point E4 is set on the supply conveyor 15 upstream in the transport direction from the storage point E5. The supply location E4 is set on the transfer unit 15a. Incidentally, this supply location E4 is a location where articles W are supplied from the outside by the transfer robot 16 one by one.
Further, a merging preparation point E7 is set on the supply conveyor 15 downstream in the transport direction from the second transport destination point E6b. This junction preparation point E7 is set on the supply unit 15e.

Thus, on the supply conveyor 15, these are arranged in the order of the supply point E4, the storage point E5, the first transfer destination point E6a, the second transfer destination point E6b, and the merging preparation point E7 from the upstream in the transfer direction. Is set.
And in the conveying apparatus A, when the articles | goods W are conveyed one by one from the supply location E4 (transfer part 15a) to the storage location E5 (1st buffer part 15b), and 5 articles | goods W are stored in the storage location E5. The five articles W are transported as a group of articles, and are conveyed in order of the first transport destination location E6a (second buffer unit 15c) and the second transport destination location E6b (third buffer unit 15d). The Further, in the transport device A, the articles W of the article group are transported one by one from the second transport destination place E6b to the joining preparation place E7 (supply unit 15e), and further, the goods are sent from the joining preparation place E7 to the joining conveyor 3. W is joined and conveyed one by one.
The first transfer destination location E6a corresponds to the most upstream transfer destination location E6, and the second transfer destination location E6b corresponds to the most downstream transfer destination location E6.

The first buffer unit 15b, the second buffer unit 15c, and the third buffer unit 15d are configured to have the same length in the transport direction. Each of the first buffer unit 15b, the second buffer unit 15c, and the third buffer unit 15d is formed to be longer than the length in the transport direction of the article group having the longest length in the transport direction. In addition, each of the storage location E5, the first transport destination location E6a, and the second transport destination location E6b is set to be longer than the length in the transport direction of the longest article group. Note that the length of the article group in the conveyance direction varies depending on the length of the article W located in the most upstream direction in the conveyance direction.
Incidentally, each of the transfer unit 15a and the supply unit 15e is formed so that the length in the conveyance direction is shorter than the length in the conveyance direction of the article group and is longer than the length in the conveyance direction of one article W.

Next, the arrangement of the presence / absence sensor 18 will be described.
As the presence / absence sensor 18, a supply presence / absence sensor 21, a first transport presence / absence sensor 22, a second transport presence / absence sensor 23, a first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24, a second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25, a third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26, an article presence / absence sensor 27, A merge presence / absence sensor 28 is provided.

The supply presence / absence sensor 21 is provided at the same position as the supply location E4 in the transport direction, and detects the article W transferred to the supply location E4 by the transfer robot 16.
The first conveyance presence / absence sensor 22 is provided downstream of the supply location E4 and upstream of the storage location E5 in the conveyance direction, and detects that the article W has been conveyed downstream from the supply location E4.
The second conveyance presence / absence sensor 23 is provided at the same position in the conveyance direction as the storage location E5. Specifically, the second conveyance presence / absence sensor 23 is the same in the conveyance direction as the article W located in the uppermost stream among the article group stored in the storage location E5. In the position. The second conveyance presence / absence sensor 23 detects that the article W has been conveyed from upstream to the storage location E5.

The first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 is provided downstream of the storage location E5 and upstream of the first transport destination location E6a in the transport direction. The first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 is configured such that the article W conveyed to the storage location E5 protrudes downstream from the storage location E5, or the article W of the article group conveyed to the first conveyance destination location E6a is the first. When protruding from the transport destination location E6a to the upstream side, the protruding article W is detected.
The second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 is provided downstream of the first transport destination location E6a and upstream of the second transport destination location E6b in the transport direction. The second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 is conveyed when the article W of the article group conveyed to the first conveyance destination location E6a protrudes downstream from the first conveyance destination location E6a, or is conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b. When the article W of the selected article group protrudes upstream from the second transport destination location E6b, the protruding article W is detected.
The third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26 is provided downstream of the second transport destination location E6b and upstream of the junction preparation location E7 in the transport direction. The third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26 is used when the article W of the article group conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b protrudes downstream from the second conveyance destination location E6b, or the item conveyed to the merging preparation location E7. When W protrudes upstream from the merging preparation point E7, the protruding article W is detected.

The article presence / absence sensors 27 are provided at the same position in the conveyance direction as the articles W of the article group conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b, and are provided in the same five as the number of articles W in the article group. The plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27 detect the presence / absence of each of the plurality of articles W located at the second transport destination location E6b. As described above, the article presence / absence sensor 27 that detects the presence of each article W in the article group conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b is provided for the second conveyance destination location E6b.
The merge presence / absence sensor 28 is provided at the same position as the merge preparation location E7 in the conveyance direction, and detects the article W conveyed to the merge preparation location E7.

As described above, the first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 is provided as an upstream presence / absence sensor located upstream of the group of articles conveyed to the conveyance destination location E6 for the first conveyance destination location E6a. The second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 is provided as a downstream presence / absence sensor positioned downstream in the transport direction from the group of articles transported to the transport destination location E6.
For the second transport destination location E6b, a second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 is provided as an upstream presence / absence sensor positioned upstream in the transport direction from the group of articles transported to the transport destination location E6. The sensor 26 is provided as a downstream presence / absence sensor positioned downstream in the transport direction from the group of articles transported to the transport destination location E6.
And about a pair of conveyance destination location E6 (1st conveyance destination location E6a and 2nd conveyance destination location E6b) adjacent to a conveyance direction, the downstream presence / absence sensor provided with respect to the upstream 1st conveyance destination location E6a, An upstream presence / absence sensor provided for the downstream second transport destination E6b is also used.
The first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 corresponds to the storage presence / absence sensor of the present invention.

  Each of the presence / absence sensors 21 to 28 is configured by a transmissive sensor that projects detection light along the lateral width direction (first direction) of the supply conveyor 15. Further, the supply presence / absence sensor 21, the first transport presence / absence sensor 22, the second transport presence / absence sensor 23, the first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24, the second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25, and the third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26 project linear detection light. The article presence / absence sensor 27 and the merge presence / absence sensor 28 are constituted by area sensors that project a wide detection light in the conveyance direction.

(Control device)
Next, the control with respect to the supply conveyor 15 by the control apparatus H is demonstrated.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the control device H (the control unit h <b> 1) controls the delivery control for conveying the articles W one by one from the supply location E <b> 4 to the storage location E <b> 5, from the storage location E <b> 5 to the first transport destination location E <b> 6 a. 1st conveyance control which conveys an article group, 2nd conveyance control which conveys an article group from the 1st conveyance destination location E6a to the 2nd conveyance destination location E6b, and 1 article W from the 2nd conveyance destination location E6b to the merging preparation location E7 Cut-out control for transporting the articles one by one, merge control for joining the articles W at the junction preparation place E7 to the junction conveyor 3, and articles W (four or less articles W in the present embodiment) less than the article group. The preceding transport control for transporting from the storage location E5 to the first transport destination location E6a as a group is executed.
Incidentally, the group of articles is normally configured with five articles W, but the group of articles may be configured with one to four articles W by executing the preceding conveyance control as described later.

(Transmission control)
As shown in FIG. 7 (a) and FIG. 7 (b), in the delivery control, the article W exists at the supply location E4 and the article group does not exist at the storage location E5 (the article W present at the storage location E5). Is less than the number (less than 5) forming the article group). In this delivery control, as shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C, the conveyance operation of the supply conveyor 15 is started so as to convey the article W supplied to the supply point E4 toward the downstream in the conveyance direction by a set distance. The operation of the supply conveyor 15 is controlled so that the conveyance operation of the supply conveyor 15 is stopped when a preset storage setting condition is satisfied after the operation is performed.

  Specifically, in the delivery control, first, the operation of the transfer unit 15a is started. Accordingly, when the article W is conveyed downstream from the supply point E4 and the first conveyance presence / absence sensor 22 detects the article W, the operation of the first buffer unit 15b is started. In this way, the transfer unit 15a and the first buffer unit 15b are operated, the article W is transferred from the transfer unit 15a to the first buffer unit 15b and transferred to the storage location E5, and the second transfer presence / absence sensor 23 is moved. When the article W is detected, the operations of the transfer unit 15a and the first buffer unit 15b are stopped.

By executing such delivery control, the articles W can be conveyed one by one from the supply location E4 to the storage location E5. At this time, as shown in FIGS. When the article W exists at the storage location E5, the new article W is conveyed to the storage location E5, and the previously existing article W is conveyed downstream in the storage location E5.
By repeating this delivery control a plurality of times (the number of articles in the article group), the article group is stored in the storage location E5 as shown in FIG. 7C. The storage control is performed by controlling the operation of the supply conveyor 15 (the transfer unit 15a and the first buffer unit 15b) so that the delivery control is repeatedly performed a plurality of times and the article group is stored in the storage location E5.

  The storage setting condition is that the article W is detected by the second conveyance presence / absence sensor 23 after the operation of the first buffer unit 15b is started. The set distance for delivery control is the distance from the downstream end of the article W located at the supply location E4 to the downstream end of the article W located at the most upstream position in the article group at the appropriate location at the storage location E5.

  And when the control apparatus H is performing each storage control in delivery control, if the goods W are not detected by the 1st abnormality presence / absence sensor 24, the goods W will be conveyed appropriately to the storage location E5. When the article W is detected by the first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 when each storage control is being executed, it is determined that the article W is not properly conveyed to the storage location E5. When the control device H determines that the article W is not properly conveyed to the storage location E5, the control device H causes the operation of the supply conveyor 15 to be stopped.

(First transfer control)
As shown to Fig.8 (a), 1st conveyance control is performed when the goods group exists in the storage location E5, and the goods group does not exist in the 1st conveyance destination location E6a. As shown in FIG. 8B, the first transport control is set in advance after starting the transport operation of the supply conveyor 15 to transport the group of articles from the storage location E5 to the first transport destination location E6a. When the conveyance setting condition is satisfied, the operation of the supply conveyor 15 is controlled so that the conveyance operation of the supply conveyor 15 is stopped.
Specifically, in the first transport control, after the operation of the first buffer unit 15b and the second buffer unit 15c is started to transport the article group downstream from the storage location E5, and after the article group is transported for a set distance, The operation of the supply conveyor 15 is controlled so that the operations of the first buffer unit 15b and the second buffer unit 15c are stopped.

The conveyance setting condition in the first conveyance control is that the supply conveyor 15 is conveyed and operated by a predetermined conveyance operation amount corresponding to the distance from the position where the group of articles before conveyance exists to the first conveyance destination location E6a. Is a condition. Specifically, the pulses output from the rotary encoder in accordance with the operation of the first buffer unit 15b or the second buffer unit 15c are counted from the operation start time, and the number of pulses is set to a preset number of times (constant). It is set as the conveyance setting condition.
The set distance in the first conveyance control is five in which the upstream end of the article W located at the most upstream of the article group appropriately located at the storage place E5 is appropriately located at the first conveyance destination place E6a. The distance is set to move to the position of the upstream end of the most upstream article W in the article group. Therefore, by executing the delivery control, the article group at the storage location E5 is conveyed downstream by a set distance, so that the article group is conveyed to the first conveyance destination location E6a by back-packing.

  If the article W is not detected by the first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 and the second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 after executing the first conveyance control, the control device H is moved to the first conveyance destination location E6a. If the article W is detected by any one of the first abnormality presence / absence sensor 24 and the second abnormality existence / non-existence sensor 25 after determining that the article is properly conveyed and executing the first conveyance control, It is determined that the sheet is not properly conveyed to one conveyance destination location E6a. When the control device H determines that the article W is not properly conveyed to the first conveyance destination location E6a, the control device H causes the operation of the supply conveyor 15 to be stopped.

(Second transfer control)
As shown in FIG. 8B, the second conveyance control is executed when the article group exists at the first conveyance destination location E6a and the article group does not exist at the second conveyance destination location E6b. As shown in FIG. 8B, the second transport control is performed in advance after the transport operation of the supply conveyor 15 is started in order to transport the article group from the first transport destination location E6a to the second transport destination location E6b. When the set conveyance setting condition is satisfied, the operation of the supply conveyor 15 is controlled so that the conveyance operation of the supply conveyor 15 is stopped.

  Specifically, in the second transport control, the operation of the second buffer unit 15c and the third buffer unit 15d is started, the article W is transported downstream from the first transport destination location E6a, and the group of articles is transported by a set distance. Later, the operation of the supply conveyor 15 is controlled so that the operations of the second buffer unit 15c and the third buffer unit 15d are stopped.

The transport setting condition in the second transport control is a condition that the supply conveyor 15 is transported by a preset transport operation amount corresponding to the distance from the position where the group of articles before transport exists to the transport destination location E6. It is said. Specifically, the number of pulses output from the rotary encoder in accordance with the operation of the second buffer unit 15c or the third buffer unit 15d is counted from the operation start time, and the number of pulses is set a preset number of times (of the article group). When the number of articles is less than 5, the conveyance setting condition is that the number of articles corresponding to the number of articles not reached is reached.
The set distance in the first conveyance control is the article group in which the downstream end of the article W located at the most downstream of the article group appropriately located at the storage location E5 is appropriately located at the first conveyance destination location E6a. The distance is set so as to move to the position of the downstream end of the article W located on the most downstream side of the (five articles W). Therefore, by executing the delivery control, the article group at the storage location E5 is conveyed downstream by a set distance, so that the article group is conveyed to the first conveyance destination location E6a in a front-packed manner.

  Then, after executing the second transport control, the control device H detects that the article W is not detected by the second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 and the third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26, and the plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27 If the detected number of articles matches the number of articles in the group of articles, it is determined that the article W is appropriately conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b. In addition, after executing the second transport control, the control device H detects the article W by any one of the second abnormality presence / absence sensor 25 and the third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26, or a plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27. If the number of articles detected in (2) does not match the number of articles in the article group, it is determined that the article W is not properly conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b. When the control device H determines that the article W is not properly conveyed to the second conveyance destination location E6b, the control device H causes the operation of the supply conveyor 15 to be stopped in an emergency.

(Cutout control)
As shown in FIG. 9A, the cutting-out control is executed when the article W exists at the second transport destination location E6b and the article W does not exist at the joining preparation location E7. As shown in FIG. 9 (b), the second transport control includes a third buffer for transporting the article W located most downstream in the transport direction in the article group from the second transport destination location E6b to the merging preparation location E7. The operation of the supply conveyor 15 is performed so that the operation of the third buffer unit 15d and the supply unit 15e is stopped when the preset conveyance cutting condition is satisfied after the transfer operation of the unit 15d and the supply unit 15e is started. Control.

  Specifically, in the cut-out control, the third buffer unit 15d and the supply unit 15e are actuated to convey the article W downstream from the second conveyance destination location E6b, and after conveying the group of articles for a set distance, The operation of the supply conveyor 15 is controlled so as to stop the operations of the 3 buffer unit 15d and the supply unit 15e.

  The set cutting condition is a condition that the supply conveyor 15 is transported by a preset transport operation amount corresponding to the distance from the position where the article group before transport exists to the transport destination location E6. The set distance in the setting cut-out control is the position of the article W where the article W located most downstream of the article group appropriately located at the second transport destination place E6b is appropriately located at the merge preparation place E7. It is set to the distance to move to. Therefore, by executing the cut-out control, only the article W located at the most downstream position in the article group existing at the second conveyance destination place E6b is conveyed to the merging preparation place E7.

  Then, after executing the cut-out control, the control device H detects that the article W is not detected by the third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26 and the number of articles detected by the plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27 is the number of articles. If the article W is detected by the merge presence / absence sensor 28, it is determined that the article W is appropriately conveyed to the merge preparation location E7. Further, after executing the cutting control, the control device H detects the article W by the third abnormality presence / absence sensor 26 or the number of articles detected by the plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27 is the number of articles. If the number does not coincide with the number of articles, or if the article W is not detected by the merge presence / absence sensor 28, it is determined that the article W is not properly conveyed to the merge preparation location E7. When the control device H determines that the article W is not properly conveyed to the joining preparation point E7, the control device H makes the operation of the supply conveyor 15 stop.

(Joint control)
Although detailed explanation is omitted, the article having the width in the first direction with respect to the article W to be merged is conveyed to the merge conveyor 3 with respect to the article W to be merged from the merge preparation place E7 of the supply conveyor 15 to the merge conveyor 3. A zone is set. Then, as shown in FIG. 9 (c), the merging control is a merging timing with the timing at which the transport zone for merging the articles W to be merged in the vicinity of the merging preparation point E7 becomes the merging timing and the merging preparation point E7. This is executed when the article W exists in By executing this merging control, the article W at the merging preparation point E7 is merged and conveyed to the conveying zone of the merging conveyor 3.

(Advance transport control)
As shown in FIG. 7, the preceding conveyance control is executed when the article W does not exist at the merging preparation place E7 and the article W exists at the storage place E5 despite the merging timing. Incidentally, the preceding conveyance control is the same as the first conveyance control except that the conditions for starting execution differ from the first conveyance control (executed in a state where the number of articles is less than five). . In addition, after the preceding conveyance control is executed, the second conveyance control and the cutting control are executed, and the merging target article W is conveyed to the merging preparation point E7. Further, the operation of the merging conveyor 3 is stopped until the merging control is executed after the article W to be merged is conveyed to the merging preparation place E7 and the article W is merged and conveyed to the merging conveyor 3.

Thus, in the transport apparatus A, the upstream presence sensor (the first abnormality presence sensor 24 or the second abnormality presence sensor 25) is upstream of the transportation destination location E6 (the first transportation destination location E6a and the second transportation destination location E6b). A downstream presence sensor (second abnormality presence sensor 25 or third abnormality presence sensor 26) is provided downstream of the transport destination E6.
Therefore, the control device H executes the conveyance control (the first conveyance control or the second conveyance control) and conveys the article group to the conveyance destination location E6, and then the article W is detected by either the upstream presence sensor or the downstream existence sensor. Is detected, it can be determined that the article group is not properly conveyed to the conveyance destination location E6.

[Another embodiment]
(1) In the above-described embodiment, for the pair of transport destination locations E6 adjacent in the transport direction, the downstream presence sensor provided for the upstream transport destination location E6 and the downstream transport destination location E6 are provided. The upstream presence / absence sensor provided, but the downstream presence / absence sensor provided for the upstream transport destination location E6 and the downstream presence / absence sensor provided for the downstream transport destination location E6, It may be provided separately.

(2) In the above embodiment, the upstream presence sensor (second abnormality presence sensor 25) and the downstream presence sensor (third abnormality presence sensor 26) with respect to the most downstream conveyance destination location E6 (second conveyance destination location E6b). The presence / absence sensor groups of both the presence / absence sensor group and the presence / absence sensor group of the plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27 are provided, but the presence / absence sensor group of the upstream presence / absence sensor and the downstream presence / absence sensor and the plurality of article presence / absence sensors 27 are provided. Only one presence / absence sensor group may be provided.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, two transport units, the second buffer unit 15c and the third buffer unit 15d, are provided as a plurality of transport units, but one transport unit (for example, only the third buffer unit 15d) is provided. Alternatively, three or more transport units (for example, a plurality of second buffer units 15c may be arranged in the transport direction) may be provided.
In the above embodiment, a plurality of transport destination locations E6 are set along the transport direction, but the transport destination location E6 may be set to only one location.

(4) In the above embodiment, the articles W are supplied one by one from the outside to the supply location E4, and the articles W are transported to the storage location E5 and stored in the storage location E5 by the storage control. The article W may be supplied to the storage location E5 in units of article groups so that the storage control is not executed.
In addition, the supply location E4 is set in the storage location E5 so that the articles W are supplied one by one from the outside to the location where the article W located at the most upstream of the group of items appropriately positioned in the storage location E5 exists. May be.

(5) In the above-described embodiment, the sheet is discharged one by one from the transport destination location E6 (second transport destination location E6b) to the outside (merge preparation location E7) by the cutout control. The plurality of articles W forming the group of articles may be collectively discharged from the transport destination E6 by the operation of the transfer device.

(6) In the above embodiment, the number of pulses output from the rotary encoder is counted along with the conveyance of the conveyance conveyor, and the number of pulses has reached a preset number of times as a conveyance setting condition. It is good also as setting conveyance conditions to operate a conveyor for setting time.

15 Supply conveyor (conveyor)
15c 2nd buffer part (conveyance part)
15d 3rd buffer part (conveyance part)
18 presence / absence sensor 24 first abnormality presence / absence sensor (upstream presence / absence sensor, storage presence / absence sensor)
25 Second abnormality presence sensor (upstream existence sensor, downstream existence sensor)
26 Third abnormality presence sensor (downstream existence sensor)
E4 Supply location E5 Storage location E6 Transport destination location E6a First transport destination location (the most upstream transport destination location)
E6b Second transport destination location (the most downstream transport destination location)
h1 control unit h2 management unit W article

Claims (6)

Based on a transport conveyor for placing and transporting articles along the transport direction, a presence / absence sensor for detecting the presence / absence of articles on the transport conveyor, a control unit for controlling the operation of the transport conveyor, and detection information of the presence / absence sensor And a management unit for managing whether or not the articles are properly conveyed,
Three or more articles lined up in the transport direction are set as a group of transport unit articles, and a transport destination location where the group of articles is transported is set on the transport conveyor,
The control unit stops the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor when a transfer setting condition set in advance is satisfied after starting the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor to transfer the group of articles to the transfer destination location. , A transport device for performing transport control for controlling the operation of the transport conveyor,
As the presence / absence sensor, an upstream presence / absence sensor positioned upstream in the transport direction and a downstream presence / absence sensor positioned downstream from the group of articles transported to the transport destination location are provided for the transport destination location,
The management unit
If the article is not detected by both the upstream presence / absence sensor and the downstream existence sensor after the control unit executes the conveyance control, it is determined that the group of articles is appropriately conveyed to the conveyance destination location. ,
If an article is detected by either the upstream presence sensor or the downstream existence sensor after the control unit performs the conveyance control, the article group is not properly conveyed to the conveyance destination location. The transfer device to judge.   The transport setting condition is that the transport conveyor is transported by a transport operation amount set in advance corresponding to the distance from the position where the group of articles before transport exists to the transport destination location. The transfer apparatus according to 1. A plurality of the transport destination locations are set along the transport direction,
For the pair of transport destination locations adjacent in the transport direction, the downstream presence / absence sensor provided for the upstream transport destination location and the upstream presence / absence sensor provided for the downstream transport destination location. The conveying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein and are also used. A plurality of the transport destination locations are set along the transport direction,
The control unit repeatedly executes the transport control so as to sequentially transport the plurality of transport destination locations from the transport destination location on the most upstream side to the transport destination location on the most downstream side.
A plurality of article presence / absence sensors for detecting the presence of each article in the article group conveyed to the most downstream conveyance destination place are provided for the most downstream conveyance destination place among the plurality of conveyance destination places. And
The management unit
For the most downstream transport destination location,
If the number of articles in the group of articles conveyed to the most downstream conveyance destination location matches the number of articles detected by the plurality of article presence / absence sensors, the article group is the most downstream conveyance destination location. Is determined to be transported properly,
If the number of articles in the group of articles conveyed to the most downstream conveyance destination location does not match the number of articles detected by the plurality of article presence / absence sensors, the article group is the most downstream conveyance destination location. The conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which determines that the sheet is not properly conveyed. In the transport conveyor, a plurality of transport units for placing and transporting articles are separately arranged in the transport direction in a state of being driven separately,
Each of the plurality of transport units is formed longer than the length of the article group in the transport direction,
The plurality of transport units are configured to have the same length in the transport direction,
The transport apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the transport destination location is set for each of the plurality of transport units. A storage location is set on the transport conveyor upstream in the transport direction from the transport destination location,
The storage location is set longer than the length of the article group in the transport direction,
The control unit is set in advance after starting the transport operation of the transport conveyor so as to transport the articles supplied to the supply location where the articles are supplied one by one from the outside toward the downstream in the transport direction. When the set storage condition is satisfied, the control for stopping the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor is repeatedly executed a plurality of times, and the storage control for storing the group of articles in the storage location is executed.
A storage presence / absence sensor is provided downstream of the storage location in the transport direction,
The management unit
During the execution of the storage control by the control unit, if the article is not detected by the storage presence / absence sensor, it is determined that the article is appropriately conveyed to the storage location,
6. If the article is detected by the storage presence / absence sensor during the storage control by the control unit, it is determined that the article is not properly conveyed to the storage location. The conveying apparatus as described in.

Images