EP1294977B1 - Transfer device for industrial laundry machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a transfer device between a conveyor supplying articles and a second conveyor whereon the articles are spread out, the transfer means including, between the supply conveyor and the second conveyor, a vertical passage wherein each article is successively brought in vertical position and clamps, and means for gripping the article including a slider provided with suction means. The device includes, opposite the means gripping the article, a fixed stop located on a same side of the vertical plane of the article as the supply conveyor, and against which the gripping means are urged to be supported during the phases opening of the clamps and transferring the upper end of the article onto the gripping means.

Description

The present invention relates to a transfer device for an industrial laundry machine called "engaging by the small side".

Such a machine is used to lay flat a rectangular or square article such as a sheet, a mattress pad, a towel or the like, for further processing of this article. This subsequent treatment is in particular the passage of said article in an ironing machine and then in a folding machine.

EP-A-0 345 087 discloses a machine with two movable grippers for gripping the workpiece and a blowing ramp and EP-A-0 424 290 discloses an input means against a fixed stop.

The invention relates more particularly to machines where the sheets are introduced by their small side without seeking the corners of the room.

• de un à quatre postes d'engagement 4 ;
• une table de déballage 2 et un moyen de transfert par postes 14;
• une voie de passage 5 de l'article en elle ;
• un moyen de saisie et de transfert à 90°, 16 ;
• deux chariots déplaçables 7, 9 le long de cette poutre de guidage, équipés de pinces 8, 10 propres à saisir deux coins de l'article ;
• une poutre de guidage 6 perpendiculaire à la direction d'engagement de l'article dans cette voie de passage ;
• une cellule photoélectrique 11 placée au niveau de la zone médiane de ladite voie de passage, en dessous de celle-ci ;
• des moyens de déplacement des chariots le long de la poutre de guidage et
• des moyens de commande de ce déplacement ;
• un moyen de saisie du bord de l'article 12 perpendiculaire à la direction d'engagement de l'article dans la voie de passage 5, animé d'un mouvement de va-et-vient, qui permet la saisie de l'article en position avant et, en position arrière, qui permet la dépose de l'article sur
• un convoyeur 13 qui permet d'emmener l'article dans la voie de passage 5.

A known "small-time feeder" is shown with reference to Figures 1 to 4 . This hirer includes:

• from one to four commitment posts 4;
• an unpacking table 2 and a station transfer means 14;
• a passageway 5 of the article in it;
• 90 ° capture and transfer means, 16;
• two movable carriages 7, 9 along this guide beam, equipped with clamps 8, 10 able to grip two corners of the article;
• a guide beam 6 perpendicular to the direction of engagement of the article in this passageway;
• a photocell 11 placed at the middle zone of said passageway, below it;
• means for moving the carriages along the guide beam and
• control means for this movement;
• a gripping means of the edge of the article 12 perpendicular to the direction of engagement of the article in the passageway 5, moved in a back and forth, which allows the seizure of the article in front and, in the rear position, which allows the removal of the article on
• a conveyor 13 which makes it possible to take the article in the passageway 5.

The current workstations of these machines consist of a non-motorized belt conveyor 1 in support of its own weight on 2. The conveyor 1 is hinged at the rear so that the operator can raise it to recover the item that he had incorrectly introduced.

The operator grasps the piece of laundry, locates the short side of this piece of laundry and introduces it between the conveyor 1 and the conveyor 2.

The piece is held between the two conveyors by the pressure force exerted by the weight of the conveyor 1.

• . Lorsqu'un poste transfère une pièce, l'autre est en attente et l'opérateur attend de pouvoir introduire sa pièce.
• Pour permettre à l'opérateur d'introduire sa pièce même si la pièce du poste en vis-à-vis est encore en cours de traitement, un convoyeur à sangles motorisé 3 est ajouté par poste de travail.

In the case where the posts are vis-à-vis, two solutions exist:

• . When a station transfers a part, the other is waiting and the operator is waiting to introduce his part.
• To allow the operator to introduce his part even if the part of the station vis-à-vis is still being processed, a motorized belt conveyor 3 is added per workstation.

In the latter case, the operator can, in the case where the conveyor 2 is not free, introduce the product between the conveyors 1 and 3. This allows him to prepare the following article.

When the coin presence detection cell is masked by the inserted piece of laundry, the conveyor 2 starts, the piece of laundry is spread out and then transferred by the transfer means 14. The transfer is made perpendicular to the direction of delivery. spreading of the conveyor 2 and on the conveyor 15. The part is then grasped and transferred by the means 16, as shown in FIG. figure 4 . This means 16 transfers the article from its horizontal position to a vertical position in which the article is in free fall in its part located after the transfer means 16. The transfer means 16 consists of a motorized roller 23 and two small rollers 24 and 25 free in rotation placed on the motorized roller 23 and rotated by friction on the same roller 23.

As soon as the article is gripped by the means 16, the transversally displaceable carriages 7 and 9, equipped respectively with the clamps 8 and 10, go against the article and follow it in its fall without ever disturbing the movement of the article. article by means of detection means 17, 18, 19 embedded on the carriage 7 and the means 20, 21, 22 embedded on the carriage 9.

• un système de gestion électronique relié à un ensemble comprenant un variateur et une carte de positionnement pilotant
• un groupe moto-réducteur par chariot équipé chacun d'un codeur par impulsion ;
• une poulie d'entraînement par chariot solidaire du bâti de la machine ;
• une poulie de renvoi par chariot solidaire du bâti de la machine ;
• une courroie crantée de transmission par chariot disposée entre les poulies d'entraînement et de renvoi.

The control means of the carriages 7 and 9 are composed of:

• an electronic management system connected to an assembly comprising a dimmer and a positioning card controlling
• a geared motor unit per trolley each equipped with a pulse encoder;
• a carriage drive pulley integral with the machine frame;
• a return pulley by carriage integral with the frame of the machine;
• a toothed transmission belt trolley disposed between the drive pulleys and return.

The carriage 7 and the carriage 9 are connected to their belt by a fixing means.

When the end of the article is transferred from the conveyor 15 to the means 16, the detection means 26 on board the truck 7 is released giving the end information of the piece for the side of the article located on the side of the carriage 7 relative to the axis of the passageway 5. In symmetry and in a time interval before or after the preceding action, and when the end of the article is transferred from the conveyor 15 to the means 16 , the on-board detection means 27 on the carriage 9 is released giving the end information of the part for the side of the article located on the side of the carriage 9 with respect to the axis of the passageway 5.

The detection means 26 and 27 respectively give the information of end of passage of the article respectively for the left part of the article and the right part of the article with respect to the direction of advancement of the article in the article. passageway 5. This information makes it possible to trigger the closure of the clamp 8 and the clamp 10 on board the carriage 7 and the carriage 9. The closure information associated with a delayed delay adjustable by the electronic management system allow optimize gripping so that the gripper 8 and the gripper 10 grip the article by its rear corners. The entry of the rear corners makes it possible to correct the defects of orientation of the part with respect to the input means 12. This correction is essential to ensure good quality of the drying, folding and stacking treatments which will be applied to the piece more far.

The part gripped by the clamps 8 and 10 is then stretched and centered with respect to the axis of the passageway 5.

In the lower part a means 29 for deflecting the part can be used to improve the quality of removal of parts. This means can be composed of rotating brushes associated with a box where the part is swallowed by an air suction system.

The gripping means 12 constituted by a rule extending over the entire width of the machine, and which was in the waiting position, is actuated forwards and then stopped in a position where the front part of the gripping means 12 is tangent to the piece.

The following two actions consist in opening the clamps 8 and 10 and transferring the workpiece by the transfer means 28. This transfer means may, for example, consist of a tube plugged at its ends, comprising a series of small openings spaced regularly over the entire length of the tube and located on a generatrix of the tube located on the side of the part to be transferred and having a supply of pressurized air. The transfer is obtained by injecting pressurized air over a short period of time into the tube of the transfer means 28 and via a solenoid valve. By escaping through the orifices made on the generatrix of the tube, the air quickly propels the part in a direction adjustable by the orientation of the tube.

These two actions associated with a delayed delay adjustable by the electronic management system make it possible to optimize the transfer. The piece falls against the gripping means 12 which comprises an air suction means and orifices arranged so as to firmly hold the plated part over its entire length.

The gripping means 12 which was in the forward position is actuated towards the rear. The gripping means 12 takes the coin and spreads it on the conveyor 13.

The air suction means which equips the gripping means 12 is deactivated before the end of the stroke of the gripping means 12 in order to release the coin and deposit it on the conveyor 13. The conveyor 13 starts and carries the coin up to the next treatment.

• L'article qui chute peut être aspiré par le moyen de défripage 29 qui agit sur la pièce qui précède l'article qui chute. Pour éviter ce disfonctionnement, la distance entre les pièces est augmentée au détriment de la cadence de production.
• La pièce, suivant sa taille, son état et son grammage, peut descendre pendant le transfert sur le moyen de saisie 12 et au moment de l'ouverture des pinces 8 et 10. Cette chute peut entraîner un échec au transfert et dans ce cas la pièce est perdue. Cette chute, qui a lieu après avoir corrigé l'orientation de la pièce par la prise des coins dans les pinces 8 et 10, entraîne aussi des défauts d'orientation qui réduisent considérablement la qualité des traitements suivants : le séchage, le pliage et l'empilage.
• Lorsque la pièce a été transférée sur le moyen de saisie et de transfert 12, les coins de la pièce se retrouvent rabattus vers le haut ou vers le bas à cause du soufflage qui est appliqué à proximité des coins. A cet endroit le soufflage du moyen de transfert 28 a tendance à faire prendre de l'avance aux coins de la pièce par rapport au reste de la pièce. Cette avance entraîne, au moment du contact de la pièce avec le moyen de saisie 12, des rebonds et des imprécisions dans le positionnement des coins par rapport au reste de la pièce. Ces imprécisions se traduisent par un

ou deux coins repliés ou alors des plis proches des coins.Such a device has several disadvantages:

• The falling article can be sucked by the deflashing means 29 which acts on the part which precedes the falling article. To avoid this malfunction, the distance between parts is increased to the detriment of the rate of production.
• The piece, depending on its size, its state and its basis weight, can descend during the transfer on the gripping means 12 and at the moment of the opening of the clamps 8 and 10. This fall can cause a failure to transfer and in this case the piece is lost. This fall, which takes place after having corrected the orientation of the part by taking the corners in the clamps 8 and 10, also causes orientation defects which considerably reduce the quality of the following treatments: drying, folding and stacking.
• When the part has been transferred to the gripping and transferring means 12, the corners of the part are folded up or down because of the blowing which is applied near the corners. At this point the blowing of the transfer means 28 has a tendency to advance at the corners of the room relative to the rest of the room. This advance causes, at the time of contact of the workpiece with the input means 12, bounces and inaccuracies in the positioning of the corners relative to the rest of the room. These inaccuracies result in a

or two folded corners or folds near the corners.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for increasing the operating rate of the machine by reducing the distance between two successive parts. Another object is to prevent the parts that are transferred from having folded corners and are therefore perfectly flat.

For this purpose, the device it concerns, comprising a conveyor for supplying parts and a second conveyor on which the parts are spread, the transfer means comprising between the supply conveyor and the second conveyor a vertical passageway in which each piece is successively brought into vertical position and gripped by its two angles situated downstream in the direction of movement, by two clamps displaceable on a beam oriented transversely to the conveyors, a blowing ramp located on the conveyor side with respect to the plane vertical in which the piece of fabric is located and whose nozzles are directed towards the conveyor, a gripping part of the piece, for example in the form of a rule provided with suction means, located on the conveyor side and above this one, movable longitudinally Conveyor between an advanced position of gripping of the textile piece and a retracted position of deposition of the piece on the conveyor, is characterized in that it comprises, facing the gripping means of the piece, a fixed stop located on the same side the vertical plane of the workpiece that the supply conveyor, and against which the gripping means comes to bear during the opening phases of the clamps and transfer of the upper end of the workpiece on the gripping means.

Advantageously, the fixed stop is coated with a strip of elastic material, in the bearing zone of the gripping means. The piece of fabric is thus sandwiched between the gripping means and the mechanical stop which eliminates the risk of falling to the extent that this sandwich is held firmly during the transfer. The band of elastic material makes it possible to compensate geometrical defects and in particular of alignment between the gripping means and the stop. The part thus held can be transferred in good conditions and without distorting the correction of the orientation defects of the workpiece relative to the input means, previously performed by taking the corners of the workpiece by the clamps.

According to another characteristic of the invention, each gripper gripping an angle of the textile part, or the support of each gripper, is equipped with a deflector for deflecting the flow of air blown by the nozzles of the ramp disposed in the areas of the room near the corners thereof, to prevent these areas are subjected to the flow of air under pressure.

The baffles therefore prevent the areas near the corners of the room are returned or that the room wrinkles in these areas during the transfer on the output conveyor.

According to another characteristic of this device, insofar as it comprises a deflashing system disposed below the conveyor and which exerts a vacuum, it is equipped with means for preventing a piece from the supply conveyor. and arriving in the vertical passageway is sucked into the deflashing system.

According to one embodiment, this device comprises a tube supplied with pressurized air located on the same side of the vertical passageway as the supply conveyor, and facing the inlet of the wrinkle system having radial orifices distributed along the length of the tube and opening on the side where the part must be drawn, that is to say on the opposite side to the clipping system.

These means make it possible to move the part that falls vertically away from the deflashing system. The air flow exiting the tube creates a depression pulling the piece of fabric in the opposite direction to the deflashing means. In order to reinforce this deflection effect by accentuating the Venturi effect, and in order to avoid disturbing the behavior of the parts located downstream in the transfer cycle, a fixed deflector wall is arranged opposite the orifices provided in the tube .

• Figure 1 en est une vue de dessus ;
• figure 2 en est une vue de côté ;
• figure 3 est une vue de détail d'un poste d'engagement ;
• figure 4 est une vue de côté et à échelle agrandie du poste de transfert entre un premier convoyeur d'amenée et un second convoyeur ;
• figure 5 est une vue de face d'une extrémité du dispositif de transfert ;
• figure 6 est une vue en perspective d'une extrémité du dispositif de transfert ;
• figure 7 est une vue de côté similaire à figure 2 ;
• figure 8 est une vue de dessus du dispositif de transfert.

Anyway, the invention will be better understood from the description which follows, with reference to the attached schematic drawing showing, by way of non-limiting example, an embodiment of this industrial laundry machine.

• Figure 1 is a view from above;
• figure 2 is a side view;
• figure 3 is a detail view of a commitment station;
• figure 4 is a side view and on an enlarged scale of the transfer station between a first supply conveyor and a second conveyor;
• figure 5 is a front view of one end of the transfer device;
• figure 6 is a perspective view of one end of the transfer device;
• figure 7 is a side view similar to figure 2 ;
• figure 8 is a top view of the transfer device.

The device according to the invention is integrated in a laundry machine as described in the Figures 1 to 4 . In the following description, the same elements are designated by the same references as before.

As shown especially to Figures 4 to 7 , the device comprises a mechanical stop 32 disposed opposite the rule 12 forming gripping means of the piece of fabric. This stop 32 is located, with respect to the vertical passageway of the transfer device, on the same side as the supply conveyor 15. As a result, and as shown in FIG. figure 4 the piece of fabric, prior to the opening of the tongs 8, 10, is sandwiched between the ruler 12 and the stop 32 and held firmly during the transfer. To compensate for geometrical defects, and in particular the alignment between the rule 12 and the stop 32, a strip of flexible material 35, located at the point of contact with the rule, is glued over the entire length of the stop 32. tissue thus maintained can be transferred in good conditions and without distorting the correction of the orientation defects of the piece that has been performed previously by the capture of the corners by the clamps 8 and 10.

In order to avoid folding the corner zones disposed at the top of the piece of fabric, a deflector 33 is embedded on the clamp 8, and a symmetrical deflector 34 is embedded on the clamp 10. These deflectors allow to remove the applying the blowing from the tube 28 to the areas near the corners of the piece of fabric. These baffles 33 and 34 being embedded on the clamps 8 and 10 or on the support carriages thereof, it is thus avoided to apply blowing in the areas of the article near the corners, regardless of the size of the piece transferred.

The device shown in the drawing comprises a deflashing system 29 exerting a depression on the fabric when it is brought into the vertical space of the transfer device. The falling piece is moved away from the deflashing system 29 by a remote action means 30. This remote action means is, in the embodiment shown in the drawing, constituted by a tube 30 plugged at its ends, but having orifices oriented in the direction in which the piece is to be drawn. The tube has a supply of pressurized air. The spacing action of the deflashing system 29 is obtained by injecting, for the time necessary for this removal, air under pressure in the tube 30. This is a Venturi action. The orientation and the speed of the air jet create a vacuum which acts on the workpiece and attracts it in the opposite direction to the de-scrubbing system 29. The Venturi effect is reinforced by the presence of a wall 32 serving as a deflector which directs the air downwards and prevents it from disturbing the behavior of the pieces of fabric downstream in the operating cycle of the machine.

Claims (6)

1. A transfer device for an industrial washing machine used to extend in a flat manner a square or rectangular textile piece, such as a sheet, a mattress cover, a towel or the like, for the subsequent treatment of this piece between a feed conveyor belt (15) feeding the pieces and a second conveyor belt (13) on which the pieces are extended, the transfer means comprising between the feed conveyor belt (15) and the second conveyor belt (13) a vertical passage path in which each piece is successively placed in a vertical position and is gripped by its two corners located downstream to the movement direction, by means of two clamps (8, 10) which can move on a beam oriented transversely to the conveyor belts (15, 13), an air blowing ramp (18) located on the side of the conveyor belt (15) with respect to the vertical plane in which the piece of fabric is located and the nozzles of which are oriented towards the conveyor belt (13), gripping means (12) for gripping the piece, for example in the shape of a rule provided with suction means, located on the side of the conveyor belt (13) and above same, which can be moved longitudinally to the conveyor belt between an advanced position for gripping the textile piece and a retreated position for depositing the piece on the conveyor belt (13), characterized in that it comprises, in front of the gripping means (12) for gripping the piece, a fixed stop (32) located on the same side of the vertical plane of the piece as the feed conveyor belt (15), and against which the gripping means (12) are supported during the phases of opening the clamps (8, 10) and of transferring the high end of the piece on the gripping means (12).
2. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the fixed stop (32) is covered by a strip (35) made of elastic material in the area for supporting the gripping means (12).
3. A device according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that each clamp (8, 10) for pressing a corner of the textile piece, or the support of each clamp, is equipped with a deflector (33, 34) intended to divert the air flow blown through the nozzles of the ramp (28) arranged in the areas of the piece close to the corners thereof for the purpose of preventing that these areas are subjected to compressed air flow.
4. A device according to one of claims 1 to 3, comprising an dewrinkling system (29) arranged beneath the conveyor belt (13) and exerting a negative pressure, characterized in that it is equipped with means intended to prevent that a piece from the feed conveyor belt (15) and which reaches the vertical passage path is suctioned in the dewrinkling system.
5. A device according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a tube (30) fed with compressed air located on the same side of the vertical passage path as the feed conveyor belt (15), and comprising in front of the entrance of the dewrinkling system (29) radial holes distributed along the length of the tube (30) and opening into the side to which the piece must be drawn, i.e. on the side opposite the dewrinkling system (29).
6. A device according to claim 5, characterized in that a fixed wall (31) forming a deflector is arranged in front of the holes made in the tube.

Images