JP2000335732A - Accumulation and supply device for commodity - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an accumulation and supply device for commodities having a simplified mechanism for high-speed operation and superiority in general use without damaging the commodity. SOLUTION: An accumulation and supply device for commodities includes an expandable conveyor 2 for carrying the commodities P and dropping the commodities P at its terminal, receiving holders 62, 64 disposed vertically under the terminal of the expandable conveyor 2, having a plurality of pockets 72 for receiving the commodities P and capable of opening/closing these pockets 72 at a time and a tray conveyor 6 provided right under the lower stage receiving holder 64 for carrying trays T.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stacking / feeding apparatus for stacking a predetermined number of articles and supplying the stacked articles to a tray at one time.

[0002]

2. Related Background Art In general, an accumulation conveyor having a plurality of pocket groups is used for accumulation of articles. Each pocket group has a plurality of pockets corresponding to the number of articles to be accumulated, and the articles are sequentially received in each of the pockets and then transferred to the discharge position. Then, at the discharge position, the articles in each pocket in the pocket group are collectively discharged, that is, cut out by a pusher or the like, and supplied to the tray.

[0003]

When the articles are cut out at the discharge position, the pusher or the like is in direct contact with the articles, and thus cannot be applied to easily damaged articles. In addition, since the cutting of the articles is performed by a pusher or the like, the cutting is intermittent, and the speed of accumulation and supply cannot be increased. Further, a driving source for the pusher is required, and the cutout mechanism is complicated.

Further, when the number of articles to be accumulated is changed, each accumulation pocket group of the accumulation conveyor must be replaced, which makes the versatility poor. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object a mechanically simple, high speed and excellent versatility, and an accumulation of articles applicable to easily damaged articles. To provide a supply device.

[0005]

The above object is achieved by the present invention, and the integrated supply apparatus for articles according to the present invention (Claim 1).
Is provided at the end of the telescopic conveyor, which conveys the articles at predetermined intervals, and the end of which is provided at the end of the telescopic conveyor, and which guides the falling of the articles delivered from the end of the telescopic conveyor. A guide, a plurality of receiving holders which are provided vertically below the telescopic conveyor and are provided in a row in the transport direction and have a plurality of pockets capable of receiving articles, and all pockets are independently provided for each receiving holder. Opening and closing means for opening and closing all at once and dropping articles in pockets,
A tray conveyor extending below the lowest receiving holder and transporting and positioning a tray for articles below the lowest receiving holder.

According to the above-described integrated supply device, when the articles on the telescopic conveyor reach the end of the telescopic conveyor as they are transported, the articles are guided by the drop guide from this end and fall, and the upper stage located immediately below the telescopic conveyer. In the receiving holder, ie
It is received in that one pocket. Here, the end of the telescopic conveyor is sequentially positioned at a position corresponding to each pocket of the upper receiving holder due to the expansion and contraction, whereby the articles sequentially conveyed on the telescopic conveyor are distributed to the respective pockets of the receiving holder immediately below. As a result, the sheet is accumulated in the receiving holder.

[0007] When the accumulation of the articles in the upper receiving holder is completed, all the pockets of the receiving holder are opened at a time, and the articles in each pocket are placed in the lower receiving holder located thereunder, ie, Each falls into its corresponding pocket and is received. Thereafter, all pockets of the upper receiving holder are immediately closed, and accumulation of articles in the receiving holder is repeated.

If the lower receiving holder is the lowest one and the tray on the tray conveyor is positioned below the lower receiving holder, all the pockets of the lower receiving holder are opened at once. As a result, the articles in each of the pockets fall and are supplied collectively to the tray. Thereafter, all pockets of the lower receiving holder are immediately closed, and the apparatus stands by in preparation for an article falling from the upper receiving holder.

Preferably, each receiving holder comprises a pair of holder halves, and these holder halves are respectively arranged on both sides of a dividing line along the article conveying direction. In this case, the opening / closing means includes a contact / separation means for moving the pair of holder halves toward and away from each other about the dividing line for each receiving holder. Specifically, the contact / separation means can be realized by a rotation mechanism that rotates the pair of holder halves in directions opposite to each other about an axis parallel to the separation line.

In the case where the distance of falling articles is long between the lowest receiving holder and the tray on the tray conveyor, the falling supply of articles between the lowest receiving holder and the tray conveyor is performed. May be provided.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus for collecting and supplying articles has a horizontal telescopic conveyor 2. The telescopic conveyor 2 receives a substantially circular article at the start end from an article feeder (not shown), and conveys the received article P in a direction indicated by an arrow A at a certain interval. The telescopic conveyor 2 is provided with a rear end 4 that can expand and contract in the transport direction A of the article P, as described later. In FIG. 1, the direction of expansion and contraction of the telescopic conveyor 2 is indicated by a white arrow B.

A tray conveyor 6 is disposed below the telescopic conveyor 2, and the tray conveyor 6 extends horizontally at a terminal 4 side of the telescopic conveyor 2 in a direction orthogonal to the telescopic conveyor 2. At the start end of the tray conveyor 6, a tray feeder 8 is arranged. The tray feeder 8 can feed the trays T one by one onto the tray conveyor 6, and the trays T on the tray conveyor 6 are shown in FIG. 1 is conveyed intermittently in the middle arrow direction C.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of left and right tray receivers 10 are arranged between the tray conveyor 6 and the tray feeder 8, and these tray receivers 10 are shown in FIG. It is possible to advance and retreat in the white arrow directions D, respectively. Now, when the pair of tray receivers 10 are at the positions indicated by the solid lines, these tray receivers 10 can receive and hold the tray T paid out from the tray feeder 8. From this state, when the pair of tray receivers 10 are separated from each other as shown by a two-dot chain line, the tray T falls as shown by a white arrow E and is supplied onto the tray conveyor 6. Here, specifically, the tray conveyor 6 is a so-called bucket conveyor.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the tray T. In the case of this embodiment, the tray T has a large number of compartments S inside.
These partitions S are arranged in a matrix of two rows in the transport direction C of the tray T, and seven in each row. A discharge conveyor 12 extends from the end of the tray conveyor 6 in a direction orthogonal to the tray conveyor 6.
The discharge conveyor 12 receives the tray T on the tray conveyor 6, conveys the received tray T in the direction of arrow F in FIG. 1, and supplies it to the horizontal pillow packaging machine.

Referring to FIG. 4, a mechanism for transferring the tray T between the tray conveyor 6 and the discharge conveyor 12 is schematically shown. This transfer mechanism is composed of, for example, a discharge pusher 14 disposed immediately above the end of the tray conveyor 6 and a pair of left and right guide rails 16 disposed immediately above the start end of the discharge conveyor 12. When the tray T on the tray conveyor 6 reaches its end, the discharge pusher 14 advances from the retracted position shown by the solid line in FIG.
Is pushed out between the pair of guide rails 16. A part of the tray T is transferred onto the discharge conveyor 12 with the extrusion, and is conveyed on the discharge conveyor 12.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the telescopic conveyor 2 described above. However, the telescopic conveyor 2 shown in FIG. 5 is merely an example, and the telescopic conveyor of the present invention is limited to the structure shown in FIG. It is not something to be done. Telescopic conveyor 2 of FIG.
Has a fixed frame 18 at first. Fixed frame 1
Reference numeral 8 is supported by a frame base (not shown), and extends horizontally toward the tray conveyor 6. Fixed frame 18
A linear guide 20 is provided horizontally on one of the inner surfaces, and a movable frame 22 is slidably supported by the linear guide 20. A part of the movable frame 22 projects from the fixed frame 18 toward the tray conveyor 6,
And it is extendable and contractable while being guided by the linear guide 20 so as to protrude and retract from the fixed frame 18.

The base roller of the fixed frame 18 and the distal end of the movable frame 22 have belt rollers 24,
26 is rotatably mounted. A reversing roller 28 is rotatably mounted on the movable frame 22, while a plurality of guide rollers 3 are mounted on the fixed frame 18.
In addition to 0, 32, and 34, a driving drum 36 located between the guide rollers 32 and 34 is rotatably mounted. And, as shown, a conveyor belt 38 is attached to the rollers 24 to 34 and the driving drum 36 described above.
Is being wrapped around. The belt roller 26 defines the end 4 of the telescopic conveyor 2 described above.

Further, the driving drum 3 is
6, a servo motor 40 is provided near the driving drum 3
The drum shaft 6 and the output shaft of the servo motor 40 are mutually connected via gear pulleys 42 and 44 and a timing belt 46. When the servomotor 40 is driven, the drive drum 36 rotates, and the conveyor belt 38 travels in the transport direction A with this rotation.

Another servo motor 48 is attached to the base end of the fixed frame 18 via an attachment member 50, and the feed screw 5 is attached to the output shaft of the servo motor 48.
2 are connected via a coupling. The feed screw 52 extends horizontally toward the movable frame 22,
The distal end portion is threaded through a female screw member 54 fixed to the outer surface of the base end of the movable frame 22. Accordingly, when the feed screw 52 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions under the drive of the servo motor 48, the movable frame 22 slides while being guided by the linear guide 20 with this rotation. That is, the end 4 of the telescopic conveyor 2 expands and contracts.

A drop guide 56 is provided at the end 4 of the telescopic conveyor 2, that is, immediately before the belt roller 26. The drop guide 56 has an arc shape, and has a mounting member 58.
Is connected to the movable frame 22 via the. A predetermined interval allowing the passage of the article P is secured between the drop guide 56 and the belt roller 26, and the article P on the telescopic conveyor 2 reaches the end 4 and is sent out from the end 4 Then, the front end of the article P is guided by the drop guide 56 in the transport direction, and the article P is dropped with its front end downward. That is, when the article P passes through the drop guide 56, the transport posture thereof is changed from the horizontal posture on the telescopic conveyor 2 to the vertical posture.

An integrated unit 60 is arranged between the movable frame 22 of the telescopic conveyor 2 and the tray conveyor 6. The stacking unit 60 is composed of two upper and lower receiving holders 6.
2,64. These receiving holders 62, 64
Has the same configuration, only the upper receiving holder 62 located immediately below the movable frame 22 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, the receiving holder 6
2 has a pair of holder halves 66 which are symmetrical about the center line (divided line). Each of these holder halves 66 has a long box shape, and the surfaces facing each other are open, while the bottom wall is inclined downward toward the opening surface side. The inside of each holder half 66 is partitioned by a plurality of partitions 70 into seven vacancies arranged in the transport direction A of the telescopic conveyor 2. When the receiving holder 62 is in the state shown in the drawing, the space of one holder half 66 is filled with the other holder half 6.
6, forming a pocket 72 capable of receiving the article P. Therefore, the receiving holder 62
Are seven pockets 7 arranged in the transport direction A of the telescopic conveyor 2
2

A rotation shaft 74 is provided from the base end of each holder half 66.
Are horizontally protruded, and these rotating shafts 74 are rotatably supported by a support plate 76 as shown in FIG. 5, and penetrate through the support plate 76. The support plate 76 is erected from a base 78. A gear 80 is attached to each rotating shaft 74.
The gears 80 are engaged with each other as shown in FIG. Further, a rotation arm 82 is attached to one of the rotation shafts 74 at a protruding end thereof, and the rotation arm 82 is connected to a piston rod of an air cylinder 84. The base of the air cylinder 84 is pivotally attached to the support plate 76.

The expansion / contraction of the air cylinder 84 causes the rotation arm 82, that is, one of the rotation shafts 74 to rotate in the forward and reverse directions, and this rotation rotates the other rotation shaft 74 through the engagement of the gear 80. Simultaneously rotate in the opposite direction. Therefore, the holder halves 66 of the receiving holder 62 can rotate about the rotation shaft 74 in the directions approaching and separating from each other. When the holder halves 66 are pivoted downward from the state shown in FIG. 6, the holder halves 66 are separated from each other, and the bottom of each pocket 72 is opened.

The lower receiving holder 64 located below the receiving holder 62 can rotate the pair of holder halves 66 by a similar opening / closing mechanism. A supply guide 86 is provided between the lower receiving holder 64 and the tray conveyor 6 as necessary. The supply guide 86 is composed of a plurality of plate members 88 arranged in the longitudinal direction of the receiving holder 64, that is, in the arrangement direction of the pockets 72, and these plate members 88 are fixed to the base 78 via a mounting member 90. As is clear from FIG. 8, passages between the plate members 88 that allow the article P to pass are defined, and these passages are vertically aligned with respect to the pockets 72 of the receiving holders 62 and 64.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, between the telescopic conveyor 2 and the upper receiving holder 62, a pass sensor 92 composed of a transmissive photoelectric switch is arranged. An article P falling from the end 4 of the telescopic conveyor 2 is detected. Next, the operation of the above-described integrated supply device will be described with reference to FIGS.

Assuming that both the upper and lower receiving holders 62 and 64 are empty, the telescopic conveyor 2 is extended to the initial position, and the end 4 is positioned at an upper position corresponding to the leading pocket 72 of the receiving holder 62. In such a state, the article P conveyed on the telescopic conveyor 2
Arrives at the end 4, the article P is guided from the end 4 by the above-described drop guide 56 (see FIG. 5), falls, and is received in the leading pocket 72 of the upper receiving holder 62. Here, the drop of the article P from the telescopic conveyor 2 is detected by the passage sensor 92, and upon receiving this detection, the telescopic conveyor 2 has its end 4 at the interval between the pockets 72 in the receiving holder 62, that is, at one pitch. Shrunk by the minute. When the next article P falls from the telescopic conveyor 2 in this state, the article P is received in the next pocket 72 in the receiving holder 62 as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the telescopic conveyor 2 repeats the above-described contracting operation, thereby sequentially sorting and dropping the articles P to be conveyed into the respective pockets 72 of the upper receiving holder 62, and accumulating a predetermined number of the articles P in the receiving holder 62. be able to. As shown in FIG. 10, when the article P is received in all the pockets 72 of the upper receiving holder 62, the pair of holder halves 66 of the receiving holder 62
Are rotated in a direction away from each other as described above. As a result, all the pockets 72 are opened at a time, and the accumulated articles P simultaneously drop from the receiving holder 62 toward the lower receiving holder 64, and as shown in FIG. Pockets 72 to be received. Thereafter, the holder halves 66 of the receiving holder 62 are turned in the opposite direction to approach each other, and the upper receiving holder 62 is closed again. On the other hand, at the same time as the upper receiving holder 62 is opened, the telescopic conveyor 2 extends,
The terminal end 4 returns to the initial position described above.

When an empty tray T on the tray conveyor 6 is fed immediately below the lower receiving holder 64, and the front row of the partitioning room S in the tray T is positioned, this is a reaching sensor (not shown) on the tray conveyor 6 side. ). Following the detection by the arrival sensor,
The receiving holder 64 is opened, and the articles P in the accumulation state are dropped toward the tray T. At this time, the individual articles P falling are guided by the individual plate members 88 of the supply guide 86 described above, and as shown in FIG.
Is reliably supplied.

Even when the articles P are supplied to the tray T in this way, as shown in FIG. 12, the telescopic conveyor 2 drops the articles P into the pockets 72 of the upper receiving holder 62 sequentially. In the receiving holder 62,
The accumulation of the articles P has been resumed. Further, upon receiving the stacked articles P, the tray T is advanced on the tray conveyor 6 by a distance corresponding to the interval between the front and rear rows of the partitioning room S,
Next, the rear row of the partition S in the tray T is positioned immediately below the receiving holder 64.

That is, as is clear from FIG. 13, the articles P sequentially falling from the end 4 of the telescopic conveyor 2 are first accumulated in the upper receiving holder 62 and then opened by the opening operation of the receiving holder 62. It is temporarily held in the lower receiving holder 64, and is supplied to the tray T from the receiving holder 64. The above operation is repeated, and when the lower receiving holder 64 similarly receives the article P in each of the pockets 72, the receiving holder 64 is opened, so that the article P is also stored in the remaining empty partition chamber S of the tray T.
Is supplied.

Thereafter, the tray conveyor 6 conveys and positions the next empty tray T immediately below the lower receiving holder 64, and the supply of the articles P to the empty tray T is repeated in the same manner. According to the above-described collecting and feeding device, the articles P are sorted and dropped from the end 4 of the telescopic conveyor 2 to the respective pockets 72 of the upper receiving holder 62. Therefore, the collecting of the articles P in the receiving holder 62 is a simple mechanism. Can be realized.

Further, since the articles P are also used to transfer the articles P from the upper receiving holder 62 to the lower receiving holder 64 and to supply the articles P from the lower receiving holder 64 to the tray T. In addition, the step of directly pressing the accumulated articles P by a pusher or the like, that is, the step of cutting out the accumulated articles becomes unnecessary. Therefore, not only can the speed of supply of the articles P to the tray T be increased, but also the damage of the articles P can be prevented.

Further, since the stacking unit 60 includes the upper and lower receiving holders 62 and 64, the stacking of the articles P and the supply of the articles P to the tray T can be executed in parallel, and The integrated supply speed can be further increased. Even if the number of articles P to be accumulated is changed, in this case, it is possible to easily cope with the situation simply by replacing the upper and lower receiving holders 62 and 64 and changing the number of contraction operations of the telescopic conveyor 2. It is excellent in versatility.

On the other hand, trouble occurs in a process subsequent to the integrated supply device, and the above-described article supply device and the telescopic conveyor 2
Can stop driving the telescopic conveyor 2 after the articles P on the telescopic conveyor 2 have been collected in the receiving holders 62 and 64 even when the driving of the telescopic conveyor 2 is stopped. I will not leave. This facilitates restarting the operation of the integrated supply device.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the integrated unit 60 is not limited to the upper and lower two-stage receiving holders 62 and 64,
It may be composed of three or more receiving holders. Further, when each partition S of the tray T is inclined, each plate 88 of the supply guide 86 is also inclined only in accordance with the inclination to supply the articles P to the tray T. It can be done reliably. In this case, supply guide 8
It is preferable that the inclination angle of each of the plate members 88 can be changed collectively.

The supply guide 86 is not indispensable, and the supply guide 86 is unnecessary when the distance between the lowermost receiving holder and the tray T is short.

[0038]

As described above, according to the article accumulating / supplying apparatus of the present invention (claim 1), the articles can be accumulated and accumulated by a simple mechanism by combining the telescopic conveyor and the receiving holders in upper and lower stages. It can speed up the supply to the tray,
Even if there is a change in the number of stacked articles, it can be easily dealt with simply by replacing the receiving holder. Further, since a pusher or the like is not used for cutting out the stacked articles, the articles are not damaged.

If each receiving holder is a split type comprising a pair of holder halves (Claim 2), the pockets can be opened and closed by a simple mechanism that only allows the holder halves to come into contact with and separate from each other. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an integrated supply device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating supply of a tray from a tray supply device to a tray conveyor.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a tray.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining transfer of a tray between the end of the tray conveyor and a discharge conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a telescopic conveyor and an integrated unit.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a receiving holder.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an opening and closing mechanism of a receiving holder.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged schematic view showing an integrated unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a process of accumulating articles in an upper receiving holder.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state where the stacking of articles is completed by the upper receiving holder.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state where articles are dropped from an upper receiving holder to a lower receiving holder.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the stacked articles in the lower receiving holder are supplied to a tray.

FIG. 13 is a view for explaining a series of flows of articles supplied from a telescopic conveyor to a tray via upper and lower receiving holders.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Telescopic Conveyor 6 Tray Conveyor 8 Tray Feeder 12 Discharge Conveyor 56 Drop Guide 60 Stacking Unit 62 Upper Receiving Holder 64 Lower Receiving Holder 66 Holder Half 70 Partition 72 Pocket 74 Rotating Axis 80 Gear 82 Rotating Arm 84 Air Cylinder 88 Supply Guide T Tray

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F044 AA01 AB06 AB19 AB25 AB29 BA02 CD06 CF04 3F080 AA01 BA03 BF07 CE03 CG15 FB08

Claims (2)

[Claims] An article is conveyed at a predetermined interval, and the end of the article is provided at an end of the telescopic conveyor which can expand and contract in the conveying direction of the article. A drop guide for guiding; a plurality of receiving holders which are provided below the telescopic conveyor so as to be separated vertically and have a plurality of pockets arranged in the transport direction and capable of receiving the articles; and each of the receiving holders. Opening and closing means for independently opening and closing all pockets independently for each time, dropping articles in the pockets, extending below the lowest receiving holder, and transporting a tray of articles below the lowest receiving holder. And a tray conveyor for positioning the articles. 2. The receiving holder includes a pair of holder halves arranged on both sides of a dividing line along the transport direction, and the opening / closing unit includes a pair of holder halves for each receiving holder. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising contact / separation means for moving the separation line toward and away from each other about the division line.