JP2001002240A - Bottle transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely suck bottles having various bottom indenting amount in vacuum, by vertically movably mounting a suction cup in a transferring device comprising a bottle table placed on the circumference of a turn table for supporting a bottle bottom, and mounting the suction cup for sucking the bottle bottom in vacuum, on the bottle table. SOLUTION: A bottle 1 is supplied to a bottle table 14 of a transfer device 6 through an inlet star wheel from a conveyor. A suction cup 17 is raised by the action of a cylindrical cam 22 and a cam follower 21, and a bottle bottom is sucked in vacuum by the suction cup 17. The bottle 1 is placed on the bottle table 14, and transferred onto a circumferential path while sucked in vacuum by the suction cup 17, and the whole periphery of the bottle body part is picked up by a CCD camera during the transferring. When the bottles having various indenting amount of bottle bottom are handled, a height adjustment handle 26 is rotated forwardly/backwardly to rotate each threaded rod 23, and a cylindrical cam 22 is raised, Whereby a projecting height from the bottle table 14, of the suction cup 17 is adjusted to suck the bottle in vacuum.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for sucking a bottom surface of a bottle and supporting the bottle on a bottle base to transfer the bottle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an apparatus for transferring a bottle in order to image the entire circumference of the body of the bottle, a bottom of the bottle is supported by a bottle table arranged on a rotary table on a circumference, and a suction cup provided on the bottle table is used. In some cases, the bottle bottom is vacuumed to press the bottle against the bottle base, and the bottle base is moved while rotating with a belt. The center of the bottom of the bottle is usually several mm below the outer circumference, the tip of the suction cup protrudes several mm from the bottle stand, and the height of the suction cup is fixed. The bottle is transferred to the bottle stand so that the outer periphery drops from a position several mm higher than the bottle stand, and is suctioned under vacuum and transferred to the bottle stand.

[0003]

The conventional suction cup is
Since the protruding height from the bottle stand is several millimeters in order to correspond to a normal bottle, there is a problem that a bottle with a large dent at the bottom of the bottle cannot be suctioned by vacuum. On the other hand, if the height at which the suction cup protrudes from the bottle stand is increased, there is a problem that the bottle becomes unstable when transferring to the bottle stand.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a bottle transfer apparatus capable of vacuum-suctioning bottles having different dents at the bottom of the bottle.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a bottle base supporting a bottle bottom is arranged on a rotating table on a circumference, and the bottle bottom is suctioned by vacuum and pressed against the bottle base. In a bottle transfer apparatus in which a cup is provided in a bottle base, a suction cup is vertically movable and vertically moved by a cam follower and a cylindrical cam to adjust the height of the cylindrical cam. . According to the present invention, since the suction cup can be moved up and down by adjusting the height of the cylindrical cam, the protrusion height of the suction cup from the bottle stand can be adjusted to an optimum state. Therefore, the bottles having different dents at the bottom of the bottle can be reliably sucked in vacuum, and the bottle does not become unstable when it is transferred to the bottle stand.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a bottle transferring apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of a bottle transfer device. In FIG. 1, a bottle 1 to be inspected is supplied to an inlet starwheel 3 by a conveyor 2, and the bottle 1 is transferred to a bottle transfer device 6 as a main rotor by the inlet starwheel 3. Bottle 1
While the bottle is being transferred on the circumference by the bottle transfer device 6, the entire circumference of the body is imaged by the CCD camera. Thereafter, the bottle 1 is transferred from the bottle transfer device 6 to the outlet starwheel 3.
0 and is returned to the conveyor 2 by the exit starwheel 30.

A guide 4 is provided along the outer periphery of the inlet star wheel 3 and a receiving plate 5 for supporting the bottle bottom.
(Indicated by hatching in FIG. 1). Therefore, the bottle 1 is transported to the bottle transfer device 6 while being supported by the inlet starwheel 3, the guide 4 and the receiving plate 5. Further, the bottle transfer device 6 includes a bottle stand rotating belt 7 along the outer peripheral portion. The bottle rotating belt 7 is supported by a driving pulley 8 and a plurality of driven pulleys 9, and the bottle rotating belt 7 runs by driving the driving pulley 8.

A bottle supporting belt 32 supported by a plurality of pulleys 31 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the outlet starwheel 30.
0 and the belt 32 to be conveyed.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the bottle transfer device. As shown in FIG. 2, the bottle transfer device 6 includes a main shaft 12 supported by a frame 10 via upper and lower bearings 11A and 11B,
The rotary table 13 includes a rotary table 13 fixed to an upper end portion of the main shaft 12 and a plurality of bottle stands 14 installed on the rotary table 13 at equal intervals on a circumference. Each bottle stand 14 is rotatably supported on the turntable 13 via a bearing 15. Each bottle stand 14 has a pulley 16 at the lower end, and the pulley 16 is engaged with the belt 7 so that the bottle stand 14 rotates. A suction cup 17 is arranged at the center of the bottle stand 14. A rotary joint 18 is fixed to the lower end of the suction cup 17, and the suction cup 17 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown) via the rotary joint 18.

The bottle stand 14 and the suction cup 17 are key 1
The suction cup 17 is connected to the bottle stand 14 and is vertically movable with respect to the bottle stand 14. The suction cup 17 is provided with a lifting table 20 at a lower portion. The suction cup 17 moves up and down integrally with the lifting table 20, but is rotatable with respect to the lifting table 20. The elevating table 20 is guided by a guide bar 33 when moving up and down. A cam follower 21 is fixed to a lower end of the lift 20.

On the other hand, below each cam follower 21, a cylindrical cam 22 with which each cam follower 21 slides is arranged. The cylindrical cam 22 is screwed to a plurality of screw rods 23, and each screw rod 23 is rotatably supported by the frame 10 via a bearing 24. A sprocket 25 is fixed to the lower end of each screw bar 23. On the other hand, a height adjustment handle 26 is provided on the outer peripheral side of the cylindrical cam 22. The handle 26 is connected to the frame 1 via a bearing 24.
It is rotatably supported at zero.

A sprocket 27 fixed to the lower end of the handle 26 and a sprocket 25 fixed to the lower end of each screw bar 23 are connected via a chain 28.
Therefore, when the handle 26 is rotated in the forward or reverse direction, each screw bar 23 is rotated, and the cylindrical cam 22 is moved up and down by the screw mechanism. The elevator 20 and the rotary table 13
A compression coil spring 29 is interposed between the cam follower 21 and the cam follower 21 fixed to the elevating table 20 by the urging force of the compression coil spring 29 to be pressed against the cylindrical cam 22.

Next, the operation of the bottle transfer device configured as described above will be described. The bottles 1 are supplied from a conveyor 2 via an inlet starwheel 3 to a bottle stand 14 of a bottle transfer device 6. At this time, the cylindrical cam 22 and the cam follower 2
1, the suction cup 17 is raised, and the bottle 1 is vacuum-suctioned at the bottle bottom by the suction cup 17. And bottle 1
Is placed on the bottle stand 14 and transferred on a circumferential path in a state where the suction cup 17 sucks the vacuum. During this transfer, the bottle 1 rotates by the rotation of the bottle stand 14 and the suction cup 17, and the entire circumference of the body of the bottle 1 is imaged by the CCD camera.

The vacuum suction of the suction cup 17 is interrupted immediately before being delivered to the outlet starwheel 30, and thereafter,
The bottle 1 is delivered to the outlet starwheel 30. The bottle 1 transferred to the outlet starwheel 30 is returned to the conveyor 2 by the outlet starwheel 30, and then conveyed to the next process by the conveyor 2.

There are various types of bottles 1 having different dents at the bottom of the bottle. Therefore, in the present invention, by rotating the height adjustment handle 26 in the forward or reverse direction, each screw rod 23 is rotated, and the cylindrical cam 22 is moved up and down by the screw mechanism. Accordingly, the height of the suction cup 17 protruding from the bottle base 14 can be adjusted to an optimum state, so that various kinds of bottles having different dent amounts at the bottom of the bottle can be suctioned under vacuum.

FIG. 3 shows the cylindrical cam 22 and the suction cup 17.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the bottle bottom of the bottle 1 and FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the cam top surface 22 a of the cylindrical cam 22 has, as shown by a solid line, a difference between when the bottle has a small dent at the bottom and when the bottle has a large dent at the bottom. Change the height. As a result, as shown by the two-dot chain lines L1 and L2, the height at which the suction cup 17 projects from the bottle base top surface 14a can be adjusted. In addition, in FIG. 3, h has shown the lift of a cam.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the suction cup can be moved up and down and the protrusion height from the bottle stand can be adjusted, it is possible to vacuum suction the bottles having different dents at the bottom of the bottle. Further, at the time of transfer to the bottle stand, the difference in height between the bottle bottom and the bottle stand can be reduced, so that the bottle is stabilized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a bottle transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the bottle transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a relationship between a cylindrical cam, a suction cup, and a bottle bottom of a bottle according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bottle 2 Conveyor 3 Inlet starwheel 4 Guide 5 Receiving plate 6 Transfer device 7 Bottle stand rotation belt 8 Drive pulley 9 Follower pulley 10 Frame 11A, 11B, 15, 24 Bearing 12 Main shaft 13 Rotary table 14 Bottle stand 14a Bottle stand Surface 16, 31 Pulley 17 Suction cup 17a Key groove 18 Rotary joint 19 Key 20 Lifting table 21 Cam follower 22 Cylindrical cam 22a Cam top surface 23 Screw rod 25, 27 Sprocket 26 Height adjusting handle 28 Chain 29 Compression coil spring 30 Exit star Wheel 32 Bottle support belt 33 Guide rod

Claims (1)

[Claims] An apparatus for transferring bottles, comprising: a bottle base supporting a bottle bottom disposed on a rotary table on a circumference of a rotating table; and a suction cup for vacuum-suctioning the bottle bottom and pressing the bottle bottom against the bottle base. A bottle transfer device characterized in that a cup can be moved up and down and moved up and down by a cam follower and a cylindrical cam to adjust the height of the cylindrical cam.