JP2001341832A - Sorting method of sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a chute structure of a sorter capable of improving and the buffer function and the sorting efficiency accordingly by stacking works over an entire sliding surface of a chute unit. SOLUTION: This sorter 10 comprises a conveyor 11 for conveying the works W on a slat 21, a pushing shoe 22 moving along each slat 12, a branch chute 12 extending from a side of the conveyor 11, a branch guide rail 24 for guiding the pushing shoe 22, a switch 25 for branching the pushing shoe 22 to the branch guide rail 24, and a control unit 23 for controlling the operation timing of the switch 25. This sorter changes the carry-in position of the work W into the branch chute 12 by controlling the operation timing of the switch 25 by the control unit 23 so that the work W is not arranged in a shifted manner to one end side of the width direction of the branch chute 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for sorting a sorting apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, a sorting apparatus 50 for sorting a large number of conveyed articles W is known. The sorting device 50 includes a transport path 51 for transporting the unsorted articles W, and a chute 52 arranged to branch off from the transport path 51 and to receive the articles W in the sorting direction. As shown in FIG. 9, the chute section 52 is inclined at an appropriate angle from the transport path 51 side to the lower side. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the article W put into the chute 52 from the transport path 51 freely descends on the chute 52 and accumulates on the sliding surface 53 of the chute 52. From here, for example, Alternatively, it is taken out by an automatic taking out means.

[0003]

However, in the conventional sorting apparatus 50, the article W put into the chute 52 is
After being accumulated in a line along the side wall 54 on the far side in the transport direction of the chute 52, the next article W to be charged is
The object W that has stayed at the object W is hit, and the object W cannot be lowered. Then, although there is a space for storing the articles W on the sliding surface 53 of the chute portion 52, the chute is full and the sorting stops.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to increase the number of articles that can stay on the sliding surface of the chute,
An object of the present invention is to provide a sorting method for a sorting device capable of improving the buffer function and improving the sorting efficiency.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is directed to a plurality of slats formed in a substantially band shape arranged side by side in the width direction, and the slats are formed along the width direction. And a plurality of extrusion shoes movably provided along the longitudinal direction of each slat, and a branch extending in a direction intersecting from the side of the conveyor. A chute and each extrusion shoe are provided on the back side of each slat to move each extrusion shoe from one end side to the other end in the longitudinal direction of each slat and to guide each extrusion shoe toward the branch chute. A plurality of branch guide rails are provided at an end of each of the branch guide rails so as to branch each of the extrusion shoes into each of the branch guide rails. A plurality of switches, and a control unit for controlling the operation timing of each of the switches, and by moving each of the extrusion shoes along the longitudinal direction of each of the slats, the article by each of the extrusion shoes. In the sorting method of a sorting device that pushes the branch chute from above each of the slats, the operation timing of the switching device is set to prevent the articles from being offset on one end side in the width direction of the branch chute. It is characterized in that the position at which articles are carried into the branch chute is changed by control by the control unit.

According to such a sorting method of the sorting device, the articles can be retained over the entire sliding surface of the chute, so that the buffer function is improved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a sorting method for a sorting apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sorting apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sorting apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sorting sequence of the first embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order of the first embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order of the second embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the sorting order according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order according to a third embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a sorting device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

(First Embodiment) As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sorting apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of slats 21 formed in a substantially band shape arranged in parallel in the width direction. A conveyor 11 that conveys the articles W on each slat 21 by moving each slat 21 in the width direction, and a plurality of extrusion shoes 22 that are provided movably along the longitudinal direction of each slat 21. And a branch chute 12 extending in a direction intersecting from the side of the conveyor 11, and each extrusion shoe
22 is moved from one longitudinal end to the other longitudinal end of each slat 21, and each extrusion shoe is moved toward the branch chute 12.
A plurality of branch guide rails 24 provided on the back side of each slat 21 to guide 22 and at the end of each branch guide rail 24 to branch each extrusion shoe 22 to each branch guide rail 24. A plurality of switches 25 provided and a control unit 23 for controlling the operation timing of each switch 25 are provided, and by moving each extrusion shoe 22 along the longitudinal direction of each slat 21, each extrusion An article is pushed out from each slat 21 to the branch chute 12 by the shoe 22.

The chute section 12 is disposed substantially at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the transport path 11, and is inclined downward at an appropriate angle so that the input article W falls under its own weight. are doing. At both ends of the sliding surface 13 of the chute portion 12, holding walls 1 are provided to prevent the article W from falling off.
6, 17 are provided. The articles W put into the chute unit 12 fall freely along the slope on the sliding surface 13 and are sequentially accumulated from below as shown in FIG. The articles W stored in the chute unit 12 are taken out manually or automatically.

Such a sorting device 10 includes a branch chute 12
In order to prevent the articles W from being offset at one end in the width direction of the control unit 23, the operation timing of each switch 25 is controlled by the control unit 23.
The position at which the article W is carried into the branch chute 12 can be changed by the control. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the corresponding one of the switches 25 is such that the articles W are initially aligned in one row on one end side of the sliding surface 13, here on the right end side in FIG. 3. When the control unit 23 operates the switch 25, a predetermined number (4 in the first embodiment) is set.
Of the extrusion shoes 22), the extrusion shoe 22 on the downstream side in the article conveying direction (the direction of the arrow in the figure) is moved prior to the extrusion shoe 22 on the upstream side. Therefore, the article W is pressed by each extrusion shoe 22 arranged in a line along the branch guide rail 24,
It is thrown into the branch chute 12 by skew sorting.

Next, after it is detected that this column (the column indicated by the code in FIG. 3) is full, the control unit 23 switches each switch
Actuation of 25 simultaneously causes each extrusion shoe 22 to move synchronously along slat 21. Therefore, article W
Each extrusion shoe moves side by side along the article transport direction.
As shown in FIG. 4, the adjacent row on the branch chute 12 is pressed in a direction orthogonal to the article transport direction by the
Are fed by parallel sorting. That is,
.., Are input in the order of. As a result, the articles W can be accumulated on the entire sliding surface 13, so that the buffer function can be improved, and the sorting efficiency can be greatly increased.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment. In this embodiment, the articles W are alternately put into the first row and the second row. That is,
・ It is thrown in the order of. Also in this case, since the articles are accumulated over the entire sliding surface 13, the buffer function is improved, and the sorting efficiency can be improved.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment. In this embodiment, two articles W are successively put into the first and second rows. That is,
Are supplied in the order of... In this case, since two articles W can be successively put into the same position, control becomes easy.

(Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 7 shows a sorting apparatus 30 according to a fourth embodiment. The sorting device 30 is the same as the sorting device 10 except that the chute unit 12 is arranged obliquely with respect to the transport path 11, and the other components are the same. Also in the sorting device 30, by controlling the movement of the shoe 22 in the same manner as in the first to third embodiments, the articles W can be accumulated over the entire sliding surface 13 of the chute portion 12, whereby the buffer The function and the sorting efficiency can be improved.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since a large number of articles can be accumulated over the entire sliding surface of the chute, the buffer function can be improved, and the sorting efficiency can be greatly increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sorting apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sorting device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sorting order according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a sorting apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a top view showing a conventional sorting device.

9 is a view as viewed in the direction of the arrow A in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Goods 10,30 Sorting device 11 Conveyance path 12 Chute section 13 Running surface 21 Slat 22 Shoe 23 Control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A conveyor for conveying a plurality of articles on each slat by moving a plurality of slats formed in a substantially band shape along the width direction and moving each slat along the width direction. A plurality of extrusion shoes movably provided along the longitudinal direction of each slat,
A branch chute extending in a direction intersecting from the side of the conveyor, and moving each extrusion shoe from one longitudinal end to the other end of each slat, and guiding each extrusion shoe toward the branch chute. A plurality of branch guide rails provided on the back side of each slat, and a plurality of branch guide rails provided at the end of each branch guide rail in order to branch each extrusion shoe to each branch guide rail. A switch, and a control unit for controlling the operation timing of each of the switches, by moving each of the extrusion shoes along the longitudinal direction of each of the slats, the article by the respective extrusion shoes. In a sorting method of a sorting device that extrudes from each slat onto the branch chute, the article is placed on one end in the width direction of the branch chute. To prevent being arranged I, sorting method of sorting apparatus characterized by changing the loading position of the articles into the branch chute operation timing of the switching device by controlling by the control unit.