JP2002167032A - Device and method of elevating transfer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To deliver articles in the correct position even a loading table receives the articles in the inclined condition by correcting the position of the articles on the loading table. SOLUTION: This device for receiving articles at an put-in position and for delivering the articles at a different height position by elevating a loading table is provided with a correcting means for correcting the position of the articles on the loading table.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an elevating and transferring apparatus and an elevating and transferring method, and more particularly to correcting the posture of an article.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an apparatus which receives articles on a mounting table such as an elevating conveyor, raises and lowers the articles, and pays out the articles so as to move the articles up and down. In such an apparatus, if an article is thrown into the mounting table in an inclined state, the article may be caught at the time of payout.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a basic object of the present invention to correct the posture of an article on a mounting table so that even if the mounting table receives an article in an inclined state, the article can be paid out in a correct posture. Items 1-3). An additional problem with the invention of claim 2 is that
It is to provide a simple configuration of the correction means.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for lifting and lowering a loading table, wherein an article received at a loading position is paid out at different heights by raising and lowering a loading table. A correcting means for correcting the posture is provided (claim 1).

Preferably, a conveyor is provided on the mounting table, and the posture is corrected by pressing the article against the stopper with the conveyor, using the correcting means as a stopper provided on the mounting table (claim 2). The stopper may be fixed or movable, and preferably has a low friction on the surface and easily slides the article.

[0006] The lifting and lowering transfer method of the present invention is a method of lifting and lowering a mounting table that has received an article at a loading position and discharging the article from the mounting table at different heights.
Correction means for correcting the posture of the article on the mounting table and during the elevating operation of the mounting table is provided to correct the posture of the article (claim 3).

[0007]

In the lifting and lowering transfer device of the present invention, a correcting means is provided to correct the posture of the article on the mounting table.
Even if an article is received by the mounting table in an inclined state, the posture can be corrected before dispensing. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the article from being caught at the time of dispensing (claim 1).

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a conveyor is provided on the mounting table, the articles are received and paid out by the conveyor, and the articles are pressed against the stoppers by the conveyor.
Correct the posture of the article. Therefore, the posture of the article can be corrected extremely easily.

In the lifting and lowering transfer method of the present invention, the articles are received on the mounting table, and the posture of the articles is corrected by the correcting means on the mounting table, and the goods are paid out. In addition, since the posture of the article is corrected during the lifting operation, the lifting and lowering of the article is not delayed for the correction of the posture (claim 3).

[0010]

1 and 2 show a first embodiment. In these figures, reference numeral 2 denotes an elevating / transferring device, and 4 denotes an elevating conveyor such as a roller conveyor or a belt conveyor. Reference numeral 9 denotes a stopper, which is provided on the elevating conveyor 4 and is a movable stopper in this embodiment. However, when the payout direction from the elevating conveyor 4 is only one direction, a fixed stopper may be used. It is preferable that the stopper 9 reduces the friction of the contact portion with the article so that the article easily slides on the contact portion with the stopper. For example, a roller for skidding is provided on the contact surface of the stopper 9 with the article. It is preferable to provide a plurality of the members or cover the contact surface with the article with a material having low friction such as Teflon (registered trademark) resin.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a charging conveyor, and reference numeral 11 denotes a stopper provided on the charging conveyor 10 for stopping the articles 18 until a timing at which the articles are carried into the elevating conveyor 4 comes. Discharge conveyors 12 and 13 are provided on both sides of the elevating conveyor 4, for example, and diverge articles in two directions, left and right in FIG. The delivery conveyors 12 and 13 may be provided only on one side of the elevating conveyor 4, or a plurality of delivery conveyors may be provided at different height levels.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a conveyor control unit, which is a lifting conveyor 4
The reference numeral 16 denotes an elevating controller, which controls the elevating conveyor 4 via an elevating motor 8. When the lifting conveyor 4 receives an article from the loading conveyor 10, the conveyor control unit 14 operates the lifting conveyor 4 at a high speed to draw in the article, the article advances to a predetermined position on the lifting conveyor 4, and When the completion of the reception is detected by an unillustrated photoelectric sensor or the like, the conveyor is temporarily stopped or decelerated. The elevating conveyor 4 then operates to press the article against the stopper 9 at a low speed.
The object is slid sideways to correct the posture. When the articles are pressed against the stopper 9, the lifting conveyor 4 is driven at a low speed, and the speed is lower for fragile articles than for durable articles. Further, the time for performing the posture correcting operation is long when correcting at a low speed, and is short when correcting at a relatively high speed with a durable article.

When the elevation control unit 16 detects that the article has advanced to a predetermined position on the elevation conveyor 4 by means of a photoelectric sensor (not shown) as described above, the elevation conveyor 4 pays out the elevation conveyor 4 and the conveyors 12 and 13 Raise and lower to the height. In this way, the lifting and lowering of the lifting conveyor 4 and the correction of the posture using the stopper 9 are performed simultaneously, thereby preventing an increase in cycle time. In the embodiment, the articles are conveyed from the bottom to the top by the elevating conveyor 4, but may be conveyed from the top to the bottom, and the elevating direction is arbitrary. Reference numerals 18 to 20 denote articles on the conveyors 10, 4, and 12.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show the correction of the posture of the article 19 on the lifting conveyor 4 and the lifting operation. When it is detected by an unillustrated photoelectric sensor or the like that the article 19 has been drawn into the elevating conveyor 4 from the charging conveyor 10 of FIG. 1 and has advanced to a predetermined position, the conveyor of the elevating conveyor 4 temporarily stops or decelerates, and The article 19 is advanced to the stopper 9 side. At this time, the speed at which the article 19 is pressed against the stopper 9 is limited to a speed at which the article 19 is not damaged.

As described above, the articles are moved up and down the conveyor 4.
When it is detected that the vehicle has moved forward to the above predetermined position, the lifting conveyor 4 starts moving up and down, and at the same time, the articles 1 are moved by the conveyor.
9 is advanced to the stopper 9 side at a low speed to correct the posture. In this manner, the posture correction and the lifting and lowering of the lifting conveyor 4 are simultaneously performed, and the correction operation is completed until the height of the payout conveyors 12 and 13 is reached. For example, the articles are transferred to the payout conveyor 13 on the right side in FIG. In the case of transfer, as shown in the figure, the stopper 9 is raised and the article 19 is paid out. When dispensing articles to the left dispensing conveyor 12, it is not necessary to raise the stopper 9.

[0016]

Embodiment 2 FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment. The principle of operation of this embodiment is the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 except that a plurality of elevating conveyors 32 are attached to the swivel unit 30 for elevating and correcting the posture of articles while turning. That is. In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 30 denotes a tower-shaped revolving section, around which, for example, three elevating conveyors 32 are attached so as to be able to move up and down. Then, the turning unit 30 turns, for example, clockwise, and at the same time, the lifting conveyor 32 moves up and down along the lifting guide 44. Reference numeral 34 denotes a stopper provided on the wall surface of the revolving portion 30, and is preferably made of a material having low friction to correct the posture of the article. For example, a row of rollers for side slipping or a surface of an elastic material such as rubber, gel, or foamed resin is provided. It is preferable to attach a low-friction plastic such as Teflon to the plastic.

Reference numeral 36 denotes an article, 40 denotes, for example, a lower feeding conveyor, and 42 and 43 denote upper payout conveyors.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a lifting guide for raising and lowering the lifting conveyor 32. The elevating conveyor 32 receives the articles 36 at a position facing the input conveyor 40. At this time, the elevating conveyor 32 receives the articles 36 while turning together with the revolving unit 30, so that the posture is easily inclined. Then, when the completion of the reception of the article is detected by a not-shown photoelectric switch or the like, the ascent / descent is started, and at the same time, the feed speed of the elevating conveyor 32 is reduced, and the article is driven at a low speed so as to press the article against the stopper 34, and the posture is changed. to correct. It is preferable that the posture correction speed is changed according to the type of the article and the like, and the speed at which the article comes into contact with the stopper 34 is made smaller than the speed at which the elevating conveyor 32 receives the article.

The raising and lowering conveyor 3 is rotated at the same time as the turning of the turning section 30.
2 rises to the upper layer, and when the posture correcting operation is performed for a predetermined time, the elevating conveyor 32 stops and stops the articles with respect to the conveyor. The straightening operation is performed at a low speed for a long time on a fragile article, and is performed at a relatively high speed for a short time on a strong article. Then, at a position in contact with one of the payout conveyors 42 and 43, the lifting conveyor 32 is driven in the payout direction to pay out the articles 36. Therefore, the posture of the article can be corrected on the elevating conveyor 32, and can be smoothly paid out to the payout conveyors 42 and 43.

Although the embodiment has been described with reference to a lifting and lowering transfer device combining a conveyor and a stopper, the present invention is not limited to a lifting and lowering transfer device using a conveyor. For example, a plurality of mounting tables are vertically circulated by a chain or the like, articles are put into the mounting tables from the input side conveyor, and the height level is changed by vertical circulation,
A lifting and lowering transfer device configured to pay out articles to a payout conveyor may be used. In this case, for example, a guide or the like may be provided on the mounting table so that the posture of the article can be guided, and the article may be corrected by pressing the article against the guide with a pusher or the like at the time of insertion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of a lifting and lowering transfer device according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show the operation of the elevating and transferring apparatus of the embodiment, wherein FIG. 2A shows a conveyor correcting operation, and FIG. 2B shows an elevating operation.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a lifting and lowering transfer device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Lifting / Transferring Device 4 Lifting Conveyor 6,7 Guide Rail 8 Lifting Motor 9,11 Stopper 10 Feeding Conveyor 12,13 Payout Conveyor 14 Conveyor Control Unit 16 Lifting Control Unit 18-20 Article 30 Swivel Unit 32 Lifting Conveyor 34 Stopper 36 Article 40 Input conveyor 42, 43 Discharge conveyor 44 Elevation guide

Claims (3)

[Claims] An apparatus for dispensing articles received at an input position at different heights by raising and lowering a mounting table, wherein a correcting means for correcting the attitude of the articles on the mounting table is provided. An elevating and lowering transfer device characterized by being provided. 2. A conveyor is provided on the mounting table,
2. The lifting and lowering and transferring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the posture is corrected by pressing an article against the stopper by a conveyor as a stopper provided on the mounting table with the correcting means. 3. A method of raising and lowering a mounting table receiving an article at a loading position and dispensing articles from the mounting table at different heights, wherein the mounting table is lifted and lowered on the mounting table. A lifting and lowering transfer method, wherein a correcting means for correcting the posture of an article during operation is provided to correct the posture of the article.