JP2001018929A - Accessory fitting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correctly fit an accessory to an accessory fitting part by picking up an image of a packaging container body positioned on a carrying means, calculating the information on the accessory fitting part based on the image data of the picked-up image, and fitting the accessory to the packaging container body based on the obtained information. SOLUTION: When a packaging container body 14 is carried on a conveyor 11 and reaches the image pick-up position S1, the image of a top wall 16 of the container body 14 is picked up by a camera 15. The image data of the picked-up image is transmitted to an image processing unit through a controller, and the image is processed based on the image data, and a cap fitting part recognizes a set breakage part. Then, the position of the breakage part and the inclination from the reference condition of the breakage part are calculated, a plurality of servo motors are driven based on the obtained information on the position and the inclination of the breakage part, a cap C is moved in the direction of the arrows X and Y, and rotated in the direction of the arrow R and positioned, and the cap C is fitted to the container body 14 at the fitting position S2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an accessory mounting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a packaging container manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a packaging container containing liquid food forms a packaging container body by molding a packaging material, and fills the packaging container body with a liquid food. And a cap applicator as an accessory attachment device for attaching a cap as an accessory to the packaging container body discharged from the filling machine.

The cap applicator is provided along a conveyor for transporting the packaging container body, and includes a picking device for holding the cap. The cap may be made of an adhesive, hot melt, or a heat seal. Or by using a sealing method such as an induction seal or an ultrasonic seal.

[0004] When a liquid food is poured from a packaging container, it is necessary to open the packaging container to form a spout. Therefore, in the packaging container body, for example, a punch hole (hole) is formed in advance on a paper base material constituting a packaging material, and both sides of the paper base material are coated with a resin film, and the punch hole portion is formed. The films are stuck together to form a thin prelaminate type break,
A perforation is formed in advance on the paper base material, a resin film is coated on both sides of the paper base material, and a perforated break is formed at the perforation.
Then, a cap mounting portion is set at these broken portions, and a cap is mounted on the cap mounting portion.

Further, the packaging container body is positioned on a conveyor so that the cap is correctly attached to the cap mounting portion.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional accessory mounting apparatus, the packaging container main body may be damaged due to a dimensional error of the packaging container main body or a processing error when forming a punch hole, a perforation or the like in the packaging material. Since the position of the broken portion on the top varies, even if the packaging container body is positioned on the conveyor, the cap cannot be accurately attached to the cap mounting portion.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional accessory mounting device and to provide an accessory mounting device capable of accurately mounting an accessory on an accessory mounting portion.

[0008]

For this purpose, in the accessory mounting apparatus according to the present invention, there is provided a transporting means for transporting a packaging container body provided with an accessory mounting portion, and positioning of the packaging container main body on the transporting means. And a photographing means for photographing an image of the packaging container main body positioned on the transporting means, an information calculating means for calculating information of an accessory mounting portion based on image data of the image, Mounting means for mounting accessories to the packaging container body based on information of the accessory mounting section.

In another accessory mounting device of the present invention,
Further, the information of the accessory mounting portion is a position of a break formed in the accessory mounting portion and an inclination of the break from a reference state.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In this case, a cap applicator as an accessory mounting device will be described.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a cap applicator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a conveyor as a transporting means for traveling in the direction of arrow A, and reference numeral 12 denotes a roller. A predetermined roller among the rollers 12 is used as a driving roller, and serves as a driving source (not shown). Connected to the drive motor. Therefore, by driving the driving motor, the roller 12 is rotated, and the conveyor 1 is rotated.
1 can be run.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a packaging container main body. The packaging container main body 14 is formed by molding a packaging material, and is filled in advance with a liquid food as a content (not shown) in a filling machine (not shown). You. The packaging material is composed of a paper base material and a resin film coated on both sides of the paper base material, and if necessary, an aluminum foil as a gas barrier layer between the paper base material and one of the films. H)
A layer is formed.

The packaging container body 14 discharged from the filling machine is conveyed by the conveyor 11,
A cap C as an accessory is mounted by a cap applicator arranged along the conveyor 11.
For this purpose, a photographing position S1 is set at a predetermined position in the traveling direction of the conveyor 11, and a mounting position S2 is set downstream of the photographing position S1 in the traveling direction of the conveyor 11.

The cap applicator is disposed above the conveyor 11 at the photographing position S1 to photograph an image of the packaging container body 14 positioned on the conveyor 11, for example, an image of the top wall 16. A camera 15 as a photographing means and a cap mounting portion (not shown) as an accessory mounting portion which is provided above the conveyor 11 at the mounting position S2, holds the cap C, and is set in advance on the top wall 16. It comprises a picking device (not shown) or the like as holding means for attaching the cap C.

The picking device is provided with a suction portion for holding the cap C, and the cap C is moved by an arrow X
A slide mechanism, an elevating mechanism, a rotating mechanism, and the like are provided for moving in the directions, the arrow Y direction and the arrow Z direction, and rotating in the arrow R direction about an axis extending in the vertical direction. Cap C held by the picking device
Is mounted on the packaging container body 14 by a heat sealing method. For this purpose, the cap C held by the picking device is heated from below by a heater (not shown) as a heating device, a predetermined portion is melted, and pressed against the cap mounting portion. The heater includes, for example, a micro gas bar having a plurality of fine nozzles, and a micro frame is formed by the fine nozzles. The cap C can be attached to the packaging container main body 14 by using an adhesive, hot melt, or the like, or by using a sealing method such as an induction seal or an ultrasonic seal. Further, a packaging container is constituted by the cap C and the packaging container body 14, and a mounting means is constituted by the picking device and the heater.

When a liquid food is poured out from a packaging container, it is necessary to open the packaging container to form a spout. Therefore, in the packaging container body 14, for example, a punch hole is previously formed in a paper base material constituting a packaging material, and both sides of the paper base material are covered with a resin film, and the film is formed in the punch hole portion. Are bonded to each other to form a thin-film prelaminate type break, or a perforation is formed in advance on a paper base, and both sides of the paper base are covered with a resin film, and the perforations are formed. Or a perforation-type fractured portion is formed on the substrate. Then, a cap mounting portion is set at these broken portions, and a cap C is mounted on the cap mounting portion.

In this embodiment, the cap C is attached to the packaging container body 14 previously filled with liquid food.
Is mounted, but it can also be mounted on the packaging container body 14 (preformed product) before the liquid food is filled.

Next, a control device of the cap applicator having the above-described configuration will be described.

FIG. 2 is a control circuit diagram of the cap applicator according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 21 is a controller for controlling the cap applicator, 22 is an I / O port, 23
Denotes an image processing device for processing an image of the packaging container body 14 (FIG. 1) photographed by the camera 15, for example, image data of an image of the top wall 16, 24 denotes a controller panel,
1 and 32 respectively indicate the cap C in the direction of the arrow X and the arrow Y
Reference numeral 33 denotes a stepping motor for rotating the cap C in the direction of arrow R. 25 and 26 are servo motors 3 respectively.
Servo motor controller for controlling 1 and 32, 27
Is a stepping motor controller for controlling the stepping motor 33, 28 and 29 are servo motor drivers for driving the servo motors 31 and 32, respectively, and 30 is a stepping motor driver for driving the stepping motor 33. The controller 21 is connected to the camera 15 and the controller panel 2 via the I / O port 22.
4. Connected to servo motor controllers 25, 26, stepping motor controller 27, etc. A pulse generator (not shown) is provided to generate a pulse for driving the stepping motor 33.

In the cap applicator having the above configuration, when the packaging container body 14 is conveyed on the conveyor 11 and sent to the photographing position S1, the camera 15 photographs the image of the top wall 16. At this time, the image data of the captured image of the top wall 16 is read by the controller 21 and sent to the image processing device 23. When the image data is sent, the image processing device 23 performs image processing based on the image data, and recognizes the broken portion where the cap mounting portion is set. Then, an information calculation unit (not shown) in the controller 21 calculates information on the cap mounting portion, for example, the position of the broken portion and the inclination of the broken portion from the reference state, and sends them to the controller 21.

Next, the controller 21 controls the servo motor controller 2 based on the position and inclination of the broken portion.
The servomotors 31 and 32 are driven via the servomotors 5 and 26 and the servomotor drivers 28 and 29 to move the cap C in the directions indicated by the arrows X and Y, and via the stepping motor controller 27 and the stepping motor driver 30. The stepping motor 33 is driven to rotate the cap C in the direction of the arrow R.

When photographing the top wall 16 with the camera 15 or heat-sealing the cap C with the picking device, it is necessary to stabilize the packaging container body 14 on the conveyor 11. Therefore, in order to position the packaging container body 14 at the photographing position S1 and the mounting position S2 on the conveyor 11, "L" is set.
A holder (not shown) having a U-shaped shape is provided, and the packaging container body 14 is brought into close contact with two reference surfaces of the holder,
I am trying to fix it. The holder is moved forward and backward by driving means (not shown), and takes a forward position for positioning the packaging container main body 14 on the conveyor 11 and a retreat position for retracting from the conveyor 11.

Next, a description will be given of a method of calculating information on the cap mounting portion.

FIG. 3 is a first diagram illustrating a method of calculating information of a cap mounting portion according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a second diagram illustrating a method of calculating information of a cap mounting portion according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a third diagram showing a method of calculating information on the cap mounting portion according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a fourth diagram illustrating a method of calculating information of a cap mounting portion according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a fifth diagram illustrating a method of calculating information of a cap mounting portion according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a sixth diagram illustrating a method for calculating information on a cap mounting portion according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the drawing, reference numeral 41 denotes an image of a broken portion,
The image 41 of the broken portion has a U-shape, and has two parallel straight portions 42 and 43 and each straight portion 4.
A connecting portion 44 connects one end of each of the linear portions 2 and 43. Detection ends 45 and 46 are formed at the other ends of the linear portions 42 and 43, respectively. The image processing device 23 (FIG. 2)
As shown in (2), it is determined whether or not the detection ends 45 and 46 can be detected in the two regions AR1 and AR2, and if the detection ends 45 and 46 can be detected, the information calculation means As shown in FIGS. 5 and 8, the position of the center point 47 between the detection ends 45 and 46 is calculated as the position of the break. The information calculation means calculates the inclination of the broken portion from the reference state based on the position of the point 47 and the positions of the detection ends 45 and 46.

Therefore, even if the position of the broken portion on the packaging container body 14 varies due to a dimensional error of the packaging container body 14 or a processing error when forming a broken portion in the packaging material, the cap mounting portion can be accurately positioned. Can be attached with a cap C. As a result, the maximum spout can be secured in a state where the cap C is mounted.

Further, since the size of the cap C can be reduced accordingly, the cost of the packaging container can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be variously modified based on the gist of the present invention, and they are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

[0031]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in the accessory mounting device, the transporting means for transporting the packaging container body in which the accessory mounting portion is set, and the packaging on the transporting means. A holder for positioning the container body, a photographing means for photographing an image of the packaging container body positioned on the transporting means, and information calculation for calculating information of an accessory mounting portion based on image data of the image Means for attaching accessories to the packaging container body based on the information of the accessory attachment portion.

In this case, the packaging container main body is positioned on the transporting means, an image of the packaging container main body positioned on the transporting means is photographed, and information on the accessory mounting portion is obtained based on image data of the photographed image. Is calculated.
The accessory is attached to the packaging container body based on the information of the accessory attachment portion.

Accordingly, even if the position of the broken portion on the packaging container body varies due to a dimensional error of the packaging container body or a processing error when forming the broken portion in the packaging material, the accessory mounting portion can be accurately positioned. Accessories can be attached. As a result, the maximum spout can be secured in a state where the accessory is attached. In addition, since the size of the accessory can be reduced accordingly, the cost of the packaging container can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a cap applicator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control circuit diagram of the cap applicator according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a first diagram illustrating a method for calculating information on a cap mounting portion according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a second diagram illustrating a method for calculating information on the cap mounting unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a third diagram illustrating a method of calculating information on the cap mounting unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a fourth diagram illustrating a method of calculating information on the cap mounting portion according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a fifth diagram illustrating a method for calculating information on the cap mounting unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sixth diagram illustrating a method for calculating information on the cap mounting unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Conveyor 14 Packaging Container Body 15 Camera 21 Controller 41 Image C Cap

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. (a) conveying means for conveying a packaging container main body in which an accessory attachment portion is set, and (b) a holder for positioning the packaging container main body on the conveying means.
(C) photographing means for photographing an image of the packaging container main body positioned on the transport means, (d) information calculating means for calculating information of an accessory mounting portion based on image data of the image, (e) A) mounting means for mounting an accessory to the packaging container body based on the information of the accessory mounting portion. 2. The accessory mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the information on the accessory mounting portion is a position of a broken portion formed in the accessory mounting portion and an inclination of the broken portion from a reference state.