JP2001118047A - Counting device for folded sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To count various folded sheets extremely accurately. SOLUTION: The counting device for folded sheet is equipped with a holder 3 which stack and holds a plurality of folded sheets 1 vertically positioning their folding edges 2 upward, a laser distance measuring mechanism 4 which is arranged above the holder 3 and irradiates the top surface of the folded sheets 1 held by the holder 3 with a laser beam and detects its reflected light to measure the distance of the top surface of the stacked folded sheets 1, and a driving mechanism 5 which moves the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 so that the folded sheets 1 are scanned with the laser beam from the laser distance measuring instrument 4 in the stacking direction. The driving mechanism 5 moves the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 to scan the folded sheets 1 with the laser beam in the stacking direction. The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 discriminates the borders of the folded sheets 1 according to the distance to the upper edge of the folded sheets 1 to count the folded sheets 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a counting device for counting the number of folded sheets such as instruction manuals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An instruction manual is packed together with a product.
The instruction manual is almost always put into the box by an automatic machine, but it is important to put it without fail. To make sure, we count the number before putting it in the box. This is because if the instruction manual is left after being put in the box, it cannot be determined whether the instruction manual was not put in all the boxes or whether the number of the instruction manual was too large. For this reason, the number of stacked instruction manuals is manually counted before placing in a box.

[0003] It is often necessary to count the number of laminated sheets, such as paper, as well as instruction manuals. There is a disadvantage in that counting the number of stacked sheets manually is very troublesome. To eliminate this drawback,
Devices for counting the number of cardboard sheets have been developed. (JP-A-9-16742)

The apparatus described in this publication stacks cardboard vertically and counts the number of sheets by irradiating a laser beam to the stacking surface. In order to clarify the boundaries of the cardboard, air is sprayed on the stacking surface. The injected air lifts the cardboard to define the boundaries.

[0005]

In order for an apparatus that injects air to the stacking surface of cardboard to accurately count, it is necessary for the ejected air to accurately separate the cardboard. However, it is extremely difficult to stably separate all the thick papers at the same distance from the thick paper that is floated by blowing air to the boundary.
In particular, as the sheet material becomes thinner, it becomes more difficult to separate accurately. The reason is that a thin sheet material is easily adhered, and because it is thin and light, it is deformed by air and becomes unstable. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to reliably separate and accurately count a sheet material or the like in which a thin sheet is folded small.

The present inventor has prototyped a counting device for counting the number of stacked folded sheets without jetting air. In this counting device, in order to more accurately count a large number of folded sheets, the folded sheets 1 are vertically stacked in a horizontal position and held by a holder 3 as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. A laser beam for counting the number of the folded sheets 1 was irradiated upward from below, and the laser beam was scanned in the stacking direction. The holder 3 has a through-hole 10 at a portion to be irradiated with the laser beam, so that the laser beam is directly applied to the lower surface of the folded sheet 1. The laser beam is reflected on the lower surface of the folded sheet 1 having irregularities. The distance from the reflected light to the lower surface of the folded sheet 1 was measured, and the number was counted from the unevenness on the lower surface of the stacked folded sheets 1.

This counting device was able to accurately count a specific folded sheet. However, there is a drawback that all the folded sheets cannot be counted accurately. The reason is that the lower surface of the folded sheets stacked under their own weight is deformed, which causes a counting error.

[0008] The present invention has been developed for the purpose of further solving this drawback. It is an important object of the present invention to provide a counting device capable of counting various folded sheets very accurately.

[0009]

According to the folding sheet counting apparatus of the present invention, a holder 3 for stacking a plurality of folded sheets 1 in a vertical position with a folded edge 2 positioned upward and holding the folded sheets 1 from both sides. And irradiating the upper surface of the folded sheet 1 held by the holder 3 with a laser beam, detecting reflected light, and measuring the distance of the upper surface of the stacked folded sheets 1 And a drive mechanism 5 for moving the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 so that the laser beam of the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 scans the folding sheet 1 in the stacking direction. The driving mechanism 5 moves the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 to scan the folding sheet 1 in the stacking direction with a laser beam. The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 measures the distance to the upper edge of the folded sheet 1 to identify the boundary of the folded sheet 1, and counts the number of the folded sheets 1 from the border.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a folding sheet counting apparatus comprising: a holder for stacking a plurality of folding sheets in a vertical position with folded edges positioned upward, and holding the folded sheets from both sides; A laser that is disposed above the holder 3 and irradiates a laser beam to the upper surface of the folded sheet 1 held by the holder 3 and detects reflected light to measure the distance between the upper surfaces of the stacked folded sheets 1. The apparatus includes a distance measuring mechanism 4 and a driving mechanism 5 for moving the holder 3 so that the laser beam of the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 scans the folded sheet 1 in the stacking direction. The driving mechanism 5
The holder 3 is moved, and the folding sheet 1 is scanned in the stacking direction by a laser beam. The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 measures the distance to the upper edge of the folding sheet 1 to identify the boundary of the folding sheet 1 and from the boundary, the folding sheet 1
Is counted.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below exemplifies a folding sheet counting device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the present invention does not specify the counting device as follows.

Further, in this specification, in order to make it easy to understand the claims, the numbers corresponding to the members shown in the embodiments will be referred to as “claims” and “ In the column of “means”. However, the members described in the claims are not limited to the members of the embodiments.

The folding sheet counting device shown in FIG.
A holder 3 for stacking a plurality of folded sheets 1 in a vertical position with the folded edge 2 positioned above and holding them from both sides, and a holder 3 arranged above the holder 3
A laser distance measuring mechanism 4 for irradiating a laser beam on the upper surface of the folded sheet 1 held by the above and detecting the reflected light to measure the distance of the upper surface of the stacked folded sheet 1
And a driving mechanism 5 for moving the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 so that the laser beam of the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 scans the folding sheet 1 in the stacking direction.

In this counting device, the driving mechanism 5 moves the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 and scans the folded sheet 1 in the stacking direction with a laser beam.
Measures the distance to the upper edge of the folded sheet 1, identifies the boundary of the folded sheet 1, and counts the number of sheets.

The holder 3 is provided with a suction plate 6 for holding both sides of the folded sheets 1 stacked vertically in a vertical position, and a horizontal base 7 for placing the folded sheets 1 thereon.
And The suction plate 6 has a holding surface in contact with the folding sheet 1 as a plane parallel to the surface of the folding sheet 1. Further, the suction plate 6 can hold the folded sheets 1 having different numbers of layers, and can move the folded sheets 1 horizontally in the stacking direction so that the folded sheets 1 having different thicknesses can be held in a stacked state. ,
It is connected to the horizontal base 7 via a stopper (not shown) that can stop at the moved position. When the folding sheet 1 is set, the suction plate 6 can be moved in the horizontal direction by hand. Further, a mechanism that stops the folding sheet 1 with a cylinder or an elastic body while lightly pressing the folding sheet 1 may be employed.

The suction plate 6 holds the stacked folded sheets 1 in a state of being slightly pressed. In this state, the number of the folded sheets 1 held by the holder 3 can be accurately counted because a concave portion is accurately formed at the boundary.

The horizontal base 7 is disposed below the suction plate 6 in a horizontal posture. The horizontal base 7 in the figure is connected to a vertical mechanism 8 and is moved up and down while maintaining a horizontal posture. The vertical mechanism 8 is an electric cylinder controlled by the control circuit 9. The horizontal table 7 that can be moved up and down can adjust the distance between the upper surface of the folding sheet 1 placed thereon and the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 to an optimum distance, and can count the number of sheets more accurately. The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 is used for the folding sheet 1
This is because a laser beam focused on a small spot can be irradiated on the upper surface of the substrate.

The upper and lower relative positions of the horizontal table 7 and the suction plate 6 are such that the upper end of the folded sheet 1 to be held is projected above the suction plate 6 as shown in the figure. The holder 3 having this structure includes a laser distance measuring mechanism 4
Thus, the number of the folded sheets 1 can be counted more accurately. This is because the folded sheets 1 stacked on the left and right sides in FIG. 2 can be accurately counted. If the upper surfaces of the suction plate 6 and the folding sheet 1 are on the same plane, it becomes difficult to identify the boundary between the folding sheet 1 and the suction plate 6, and a counting error is likely to occur on both sides where the sheets are stacked.

As shown in FIG. 3, contrary to FIG. 2, by disposing the upper edge of the suction plate 6 above the upper surface of the fold sheet 1, the fold sheets 1 on both the left and right sides in FIG. Can be confirmed accurately. Folding sheet 1
Is significantly different from the upper and lower positions of the upper edge of the suction plate 6 and the upper edge of the suction plate 6. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the structure in which the upper edge of the suction plate 6 is disposed lower than the upper surface of the folding sheet 1 is different from the structure in which the suction plate 6 is higher than the folding sheet 1 as shown in FIG. Can be counted more accurately. This is because the folded sheets 1 located on both sides do not come into close contact with the suction plate 6, so that the folded sheets 1 can be accurately confirmed.

The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 irradiates the focused laser beam to the upper surface of the folding sheet 1 and receives the laser beam reflected by the upper surface of the folding sheet 1. The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 and the folding sheet 1 Measure the distance to the top surface. The laser distance measurement mechanism 4 includes, for example, LK-030 and LK-2, which are commercially available high-precision type displacement sensors manufactured by Keyence Corporation.
000 can be used.

The laser distance measuring mechanism 4 scans the upper surface of the folding sheet 1 with a laser beam in the laminating direction, and identifies the uneven shape of the upper surface of the folding sheet 1 as shown in FIG. The uneven shape is input to the control circuit 9. The control circuit 9 has a built-in arithmetic circuit, detects the lowest position and the peak position from the input irregularities, and counts the number of sheets. The arithmetic circuit counts the state where the lowest position is on both sides of the peak position as one folded sheet 1 and adds the number to be the number of stacked sheets. The folded sheet 1 is set on the holder 3 with the folded edge 2 positioned upward. Therefore, one fold sheet 1 is preferably stacked such that the lowest position is formed on both sides of one peak position. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the holder 3 is folded back on both upper and lower surfaces of the folding sheet 1.
Can also be set to In this state, the folding sheet 1 laminated on the holder 3 has two peaks with one sheet. Therefore, the counting device that stacks the folded sheets 1 in this state counts the two peaks as one folded sheet 1.

In the folding sheet counting apparatus of the above embodiment, the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 is moved by the driving mechanism 5 in the stacking direction of the folding sheets 1. However, in the folding sheet counting device of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the holder 3 is moved by the driving mechanism 5 to move the stacked folding sheets 1 relative to the laser distance measuring mechanism 4. You can also. This counting device also scans the folded sheet 1 in the stacking direction with a laser beam, and the laser distance measuring mechanism 4 measures the distance to the upper edge of the folded sheet 1 to identify the boundary of the folded sheet 1 and count the number of sheets. it can.

[0023]

The folding sheet counting device of the present invention is
There is a feature that various folding sheets can be counted very accurately. That is, the counting device of the present invention stacks a plurality of folded sheets in a vertical position with the folded edge positioned upward and holds them with a holder, and a laser distance measuring mechanism, which holds the folded sheets. The upper surface is irradiated with a laser beam, and the reflected light is detected to measure the distance of the upper surface of the folded sheet.Furthermore, the laser distance measuring mechanism or the holder is moved by the drive mechanism, and the folded sheet is laminated with the laser beam in the stacking direction. This is because the number of folded sheets is counted from the boundaries of the folded sheets identified by the laser distance measurement mechanism. Since this counting device measures the number of stacked folded sheets at the upper end, there is a feature that various kinds of folded sheets can be counted very accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a folded sheet counting device prototyped by the present inventors.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a folding sheet counting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a folding sheet counting device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the uneven shape of the upper surface of the folding sheet identified by the laser distance measuring mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which a folded sheet is folded back and stacked on both upper and lower surfaces.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a folding sheet counting device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Folded sheet 2 ... Folding edge 3 ... Holder 4 ... Laser distance measuring mechanism 5 ... Drive mechanism 6 ... Suction plate 7 ... Horizontal base 8 ... Vertical mechanism 9 ... Control circuit 10 ... Through-hole

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A holder (3) for stacking a plurality of folded sheets (1) in a vertical position with their folded edges (2) positioned above and holding them from both sides, and an upper part of the holder (3). Folded sheet that is arranged in and held by the holder (3)
A laser distance measuring mechanism (4) and a laser distance measuring mechanism (4) that irradiate a laser beam to the upper surface of (1), detect reflected light, and measure the distance of the upper surface of the laminated folding sheet (1) A driving mechanism (5) for moving the laser distance measuring mechanism (4) so that the laser beam scans the folding sheet (1) in the laminating direction, and the driving mechanism (5) replaces the laser distance measuring mechanism (4). Move it,
The folding sheet (1) is scanned in the stacking direction with a laser beam, and the laser distance measurement mechanism (4) measures the distance to the upper edge of the folding sheet (1) to identify the boundary of the folding sheet (1), and from the boundary, A folding sheet counting device configured to count the number of folding sheets (1). 2. A suction plate (6) in which a holder (3) holds both sides of a stacked folding sheet (1), and a horizontal table on which the folding sheet (1) held by the suction plate (6) is placed. (7) The upper surface of the folding sheet (1) is projected upward from the suction plate (6) with the folding sheet (1) being placed on the horizontal table (7). Folding sheet counting device. 3. A holder (3) for holding a plurality of folded sheets (1) from both sides by stacking them in a vertical position with the folded edge (2) positioned above, and an upper part of the holder (3). Folded sheet that is arranged in and held by the holder (3)
A laser distance measuring mechanism (4) and a laser distance measuring mechanism (4) that irradiate a laser beam to the upper surface of (1), detect reflected light, and measure the distance of the upper surface of the laminated folding sheet (1) Drive mechanism (5) that moves the holder (3) so that the laser beam scans the folding sheet (1) in the stacking direction
The drive mechanism (5) moves the holder (3), scans the fold sheet (1) in the stacking direction with a laser beam, and the laser distance measurement mechanism (4) moves the holder to the upper edge of the fold sheet (1). A folding sheet counting device for measuring a distance to identify a boundary of the folding sheet (1) and counting the number of the folding sheets (1) from the boundary. 4. A holder (3) holding a suction plate (6) holding both sides of a stacked folding sheet (1), and a horizontal table on which the folding sheet (1) held by the suction plate (6) is placed. The method according to claim 3, further comprising (7), wherein the upper end of the folding sheet (1) is projected upward from the suction plate (6) in a state where the folding sheet (1) is placed on the horizontal table (7). Folding sheet counting device.