JP2000255748A - Alignment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize even a small clearance of an alignment device body for carrying articles by storing an occupied state of the articles in the alignment device body in a storage means, confirming the presence of a total clearance of a prescribed value or more in a prescribed range adjacent to a programmed article loading position, and permitting the loading of the articles from a junction. SOLUTION: When articles are loaded on load conveyers 16-20 and reach a junction 21, the articles are detected by photoelectric sensors P1-Pn and stopped. Conveyer data is so generated as to set data 0 at the origin point of an alignment conveyer and moved toward an exit side at the same speed as a conveyer 4. With the presence of an article in the junction 21, a signal reception part receives signals of the photoelectric sensors P1-Pn and a loading demand storage part stores the number of the junction having the loading demand via a load permission part. The load permission part finds the total of clearances in a prescribed range in the upstream side from the programmed loading position in loading the articles from the applicable junction 21, and when the total length is more than the prescribed value, it gives the loading permission to the junction 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an aligning apparatus, and more particularly, to an improvement in a control of input of articles into an aligning apparatus to enhance a transfer capability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An aligning apparatus is for aligning articles input from a plurality of junctions, for example, in a line, and is used for aligning and sending out many articles at a distribution center or the like. In a conventional aligning apparatus, a gap between articles in an aligning apparatus main body is detected, and when the gap is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the input of an article from a junction is permitted. For example, if a sensor that measures the length of an article is provided at the junction, if there is a gap longer than the length of the article, loading is allowed.If the length of the article is not measured at the junction, the gap is slightly larger than the average article length. When there is, it is permitted to be input.
In any case, a gap smaller than a predetermined value cannot be used for charging articles, and a large number of small gaps remain in the aligning apparatus main body, resulting in reduced transport efficiency.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A basic object of the present invention is to improve the transfer efficiency by making it possible to use a small gap in the alignment device main body for transferring an article. An additional object of the invention of claim 2 is to use an article sensor for detecting the arrival of an article also for measuring the article length, and to more accurately grasp the occupation state of the article in the alignment apparatus body based on the article sensor. As a result, the object is to further improve the transport efficiency.
An additional problem with the invention of claim 3 is that the downstream junction of the plurality of junctions is disadvantageously treated and articles from the downstream junction are accumulated for a long time without being put into the main body of the aligning apparatus. It is to prevent that.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a storage device for storing articles occupied by articles in an alignment apparatus main body in an apparatus in which articles are fed into a main body of the alignment apparatus for aligning and conveying the articles from a plurality of junctions. Means, and a loading permitting means for permitting the loading of the article based on the storage of the storing means, confirming that the total gap in a predetermined range near the expected loading position of the article is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. (Claim 1). Preferably, an article sensor for detecting the arrival of the article is provided at the junction, the article length is determined by the article sensor, and the occupancy status of the article in the storage means according to the determined article length at the time of article input. Is provided. More preferably, a means is provided for stopping the supply of the articles from the junction upstream of the junction when the standby time of the article at the junction satisfies a predetermined condition (claim 3).

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the occupancy of the article in the main body of the aligning device is stored in the storage means, and a total gap equal to or greater than a predetermined value is present in a predetermined range near the expected position of the article. Check whether or not. The predetermined range here means, for example, a range in which articles can be aligned while being pressed against each other. Specifically, a predetermined length that satisfies this condition, or the presence of two or three adjacent gaps Range. As the total gap equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the total value of the gaps existing within the predetermined range is used. If the total gap is equal to or greater than the article length or a fixed value corresponding to the article length, the entry of articles from the junction is permitted. For this reason, even when articles cannot be put in one gap, articles can be put in using a plurality of gaps, and the transfer efficiency in the alignment apparatus main body is significantly improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the arrival of an article is detected by providing an article sensor at the junction. As the sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, an ultraviolet sensor, an ordinary photoelectric sensor, or the like may be used as long as it can detect the presence of an article at the junction. Then, when the input of the article is permitted, the article length is obtained by the article sensor. Since the junction is constituted by a conveyor or the like, if the article sensor detects the time until the article is no longer detected while the conveyor is operating, the article length can be obtained. If the occupation state of the articles stored in the storage means is corrected so as to be newly occupied by the article length before and after the introduction of the articles based on the obtained article length, the occupation state of the aligning apparatus main body can be accurately determined. Can be stored. If the occupation status of the alignment device main body is accurately stored, it is possible to more accurately permit the introduction of articles, and as a result, it is possible to improve the transport efficiency.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the standby time of the article at the junction is detected to check whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied. When the predetermined condition is satisfied, the junction where the article is waiting is checked. The introduction of articles from the junction on the upstream side is stopped. As the predetermined condition, for example, a standby time or a product of the standby time and the number of articles waiting at the junction is used. The stop time is, for example, the time required for loading one article, or until the photoelectric sensor at the junction where the article stands by does not detect the article continuously for a predetermined time. In this manner, it is possible to prevent the article from being unable to be supplied from the downstream junction for a long time, and to treat both the upstream junction and the downstream junction equally. If all the junctions can be handled equally, as a result, the ability to feed the articles into the alignment apparatus main body increases, and it is possible to prevent a large number of articles from accumulating in the downstream junction.

[0008]

1 to 7 show an embodiment and modifications thereof, and FIG. 1 shows a structure of an aligning device 2 of the embodiment. In FIG.
Reference numeral 4 denotes an alignment conveyor, which comprises a number of alignment conveyor units 6 arranged in series. Each alignment conveyor unit 6 includes a pair of skew conveyors 8 and 10. The skew conveyors 8 and 10 are in contact with each other at the center, and convey the articles so as to push the articles diagonally forward toward the center. For this reason, the article conveyed by the skew conveyor 8 and the article conveyed by the skew conveyor 10 are both brought to the center part which is the boundary between the conveyors 8 and 10, and the articles come into contact with each other here. While lining up in one row. And the junctions 16, 18,
20 to the skewed conveyor 8 on the far side
The conveying speed of the skew conveyor 10 on the side closer to 6 to 20 is made different from that of the skew conveyor 10, for example, slightly higher than the skew conveyor 10. Then, when an article comes into contact at the boundary between the skew conveyors 8 and 10, the article on the skew conveyor 8 side is conveyed first,
The articles on the side of the skew conveyor 10 enter the gap behind the articles, and the articles are arranged in a line and conveyed to the exit conveyor 12. Reference numeral 14 denotes a recirculation conveyor, which is an exit of the alignment conveyor 4 serving as an alignment apparatus main body, for collecting articles that could not be aligned in one row, and resupplying them to the entrance of the alignment conveyor 4.

Although the specific alignment conveyor 4 is shown here, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is sufficient if the articles can be aligned in one or two rows. In order to align the articles, the speed of the skew conveyor 8 was set to be higher than the speed of the skew conveyor 10, but among the many alignment conveyor units 6, the transport speed of the downstream unit was changed to the upstream speed. Even if the transport speed of the unit is slightly higher, the articles can be similarly arranged in one line. In addition, the skew conveyor 8 and the skew conveyor 10 have different conveyance directions with respect to the longitudinal direction of these conveyors.
The angle between the transport direction and the longitudinal direction of the conveyor may be increased, and the angle between the transport direction and the longitudinal direction of the conveyor may be reduced in the skew conveyor 10. In this way, the force for pushing the articles to the boundary between the conveyors 8 and 10 by the skew conveyor 8 increases, and the force for pushing the articles to the boundaries by the skew conveyor 10 decreases. As a result, the articles conveyed from the skew conveyor 8 can be prioritized, and the articles from the skew conveyor 10 can be aligned in the gap therebetween.

A plurality of input conveyors 1 are arranged on the alignment conveyor 4.
6, 18 and 20 are connected, 21 is each feeding conveyor 16 ~
It is a junction from 20 to the alignment conveyor 4. Then, the articles 22 are conveyed to the input conveyors 16 to 20 by a stacker crane or a forklift of an automatic warehouse, enter the alignment conveyor 4 from the junction 21, and send out the aligned ones from the exit conveyor 12 in a state of being aligned, The articles that could not be aligned are returned to the uppermost stream of the alignment conveyor 4 by the reflux conveyor 14. The recirculation conveyor 14 may not be provided.

The junction 21, that is, the charging conveyors 16 to 20
Photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn are provided in a predetermined range from the alignment conveyor 4 at the tip end of the device, and photoelectric sensors Px to Pz are similarly provided on the outlet conveyor 12 and the recirculation conveyor 14 for monitoring articles. An infrared sensor, an ultraviolet sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like may be used instead of the photoelectric sensor.
For example, a device that detects that light, ultrasonic waves, and the like are blocked and cannot reach the receiving side is used. In the embodiment, the installation position of the photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn is near the tip of the merging port 21. When the articles 22 are detected by the photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn, the conveyor is stopped at the merging port 21 and the articles are stopped there. Let it. Then, when the permission to insert into the alignment conveyor 4 is obtained, the conveyor is operated to insert the articles 22 into the alignment conveyor 4. After the operation of the conveyor starts, the photoelectric sensor P
The time until 1 to Pn no longer detects the article 22 corresponds to the length of the article 22, and the length of the article 22 is obtained from this time. In FIG. 1, the mounting position of the photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn is changed slightly upstream of the junction 21 and the conveyor is stopped after the article 22 has passed through the photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn, and waits for a permission to insert. You may do it. Such a case is also included in the concept of providing the photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn at the junction 21. However, it is difficult to stop the article 22 by aligning the leading end of the article 22 immediately upstream of the alignment conveyor 4, and the article loading position The accuracy of is reduced.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the control unit of the alignment device.
Reference numeral 24 denotes a signal receiving unit that receives signals from the respective photoelectric sensors P1 to Pz, and reference numeral 26 denotes an input permitting unit that permits input of articles to the alignment conveyor 4 to the merging port 21 where articles are waiting. Based on this, the conveyor at the junction 21 operates,
The corresponding photoelectric sensor measures the length of the article and sends the article to the alignment device 4. Reference numeral 28 denotes a conveyor data storage unit which stores the occupation state of articles in the sorting conveyor 4, and reference numeral 30 denotes an input request storage unit. 21
It is stored as a request for inputting each article. The input request is
When the input permitting section 26 permits the input of the article, the article is deleted.

FIG. 3 shows the conveyor data stored in the conveyor data storage unit 28. The sorting conveyor 4 is arranged in a range from the origin of the sorting conveyor on the most upstream side to the exit to the exit conveyor 12, for example, every predetermined length. Each of the sections is stored with the presence or absence of an article as 0 or 1 for each part. Here, 0 indicates that there is no article and it is empty,
1 indicates that the article is present and occupied. Then, the conveyor data is generated as data 0 at the origin of the alignment conveyor, moves from the upstream side to the downstream side in FIG. 1 in synchronization with the operation of the alignment conveyor 4, and is deleted at the exit. The conveyor data may be any data as long as it stores the occupation status of articles in the sorting conveyor 4, and the form of the data is arbitrary.
In place of the above data, the position of each article and its length may be stored.

FIGS. 4 to 6 show the meaning of the total gap within a predetermined range. FIG. 4 shows the total gap within a range of a length (constant length) of, for example, about several times the average article length. Is shown. In the case of FIG. 4, when an article having an article length corresponding to, for example, a 2-bit length (two units of the gap) is inserted, the data of the 2-bit gap is changed to 1 (occupied) at the input point and on the upstream side thereof.

FIG. 5 shows the calculation of the total length of two or three adjacent gaps. In the case of FIG.
Since the total gap of two adjacent gaps is obtained, the gap at the right end in FIG. 5 is not considered as the total gap. In the case of this example, since an article having a length of, for example, 3 bits is inserted, the data of the gap of 3 bits is changed to 1 after the insertion.

What is important in FIGS. 4 and 5 is whether the total gap is long enough to accommodate the article to be put in. With such a length, even when these gaps are apart, the articles are aligned in a line by the action of arranging the articles in the alignment conveyor 4, so that the articles can be put in. For this reason, a small gap that could not be used conventionally can be used, and the transport efficiency is improved.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, all gaps within a predetermined range are treated equally, and gaps outside the predetermined range are completely ignored. However, at the boundary portion inside and outside the predetermined range, for example, the gap addition ratio may be set to 50% or the like. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the weight of the gap addition ratio is taken into consideration and the weights are set to 0 (outside the range), 0.5 (boundary of the range), and 1 (inside the range).

FIG. 7 shows an operation algorithm of the embodiment.
When the articles 22 are loaded into the loading conveyors 16 to 20 and conveyed to the junction 21, they are detected by the photoelectric sensors P1 to Pn and stopped here. On the other hand, the conveyor data in FIG. 3 is generated as data 0 at the origin of the aligned conveyor, and moves toward the exit side at the same rate as the conveyor 4. When an article is present at the junction 21, the signal receiving unit 24 receives signals from the photoelectric sensors P1 to P3, and the input permitting unit 26
The number of the junction where the input request is present is stored in the input request storage unit 30 via.

The loading permitting section 26 calculates the total length of the gap within a predetermined range upstream from the scheduled loading position when the articles are loaded from the corresponding junction 21. If the total length is equal to or more than a predetermined value, the permission for charging is given to the corresponding junction 21, the conveyor operates, and the articles are sent out to the alignment conveyor 4. At this time, using the photoelectric sensor, the length of the article is obtained from the time until the article has passed, and the conveyor data for the article length is changed to the presence of the article.

The input request storage unit 30 stores the time from when the article 22 reaches the position of the photoelectric sensor. When this time exceeds a predetermined value, it is determined that there is an article to be preferentially input, and the input of the article is stopped for a predetermined time at a merging port upstream therefrom. Here, the predetermined time is, for example, a fixed time required for loading one article. Alternatively, considering that there is a high possibility that a large number of articles are accumulated in the corresponding junction 21, the time until the photoelectric sensor at the junction does not continuously detect an article for a predetermined time may be used. . This corresponds to prohibiting the introduction of the articles on the upstream side until the articles accumulated in the junction 21 are completely wiped out. And if you do this,
All of the input conveyors 16 to 20 can be handled fairly, and articles do not accumulate on the downstream conveyor.
If all the conveyors are treated equally, as a result, the ability to feed articles to the alignment conveyor 4 increases, and the transport efficiency also increases.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall structure of an alignment apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an input control unit for the alignment device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of conveyor data in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing calculation of a gap in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing calculation of a gap in a modified example.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing calculation of a gap in another modification.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control algorithm according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Alignment device 4 Alignment conveyor 6 Alignment conveyor unit 8,10 Skew conveyor 12 Outlet conveyor 14 Reflux conveyor 16,18,20 Input conveyor 21 Confluence 22 Article 24 Signal reception unit 26 Input permission unit 28 Conveyor data storage unit 30 Input request Storage unit P1 to Pz photoelectric sensor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F027 AA01 CA01 DA04 DA15 EA01 FA12 FA17 3F070 AA06 BA07 BA10 BC03 BC07 BD07 BD08 BD09 BD10 BG01 EA24 FA06 3F081 AA01 BD02 BD11 BD14 BD24 BF16 CC12 EA09 EA10 EA12 FB08

Claims (3)

[Claims] A storage device for storing an occupation state of the article in the main body of the aligning apparatus in an apparatus for feeding articles from a plurality of junctions into the main body for aligning and conveying the articles; A loading permission means for confirming, based on the storage of the storage means, that a total gap in a predetermined range near the expected loading position of the article is equal to or more than a predetermined value, and permitting the loading of the article; The alignment device. 2. An article sensor for detecting arrival of an article is provided at a junction, and an article length is determined by the article sensor.
2. The alignment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for correcting an occupation state of the article in the storage means according to the obtained article length at the time of article entry. 3. A means for stopping the supply of articles from a junction upstream of the junction when the standby time of the articles at the junction meets a predetermined condition. 3. The alignment device of claim 1 or 2, wherein