JP2003165621A - Picking device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely perform a picking even if an article is vertically connected with a hot melt adhesive since windup forces acting on articles 22a to 22d vary according to the rotation of picking rollers 8. <P>SOLUTION: The picking rollers 8 having rotating shafts 12 eccentric from the centers of roller bodies 10 are fitted to the tips of the heads 4 of this picking device 2. In the picking rollers 8, the windup forces acting on the articles vary along the circumferential direction thereof. Also the picking rollers can be divided into a plurality of roller pieces along the axial direction thereof to vary the phase of eccentricity between the roller pieces. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for picking a picking roller between upper and lower articles.
For example, the present invention relates to a device for picking articles stacked in a plurality of layers for each layer of the articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A group of articles stacked on a pallet,
A device for picking layers one by one is known. In such an apparatus, a picking roller is provided at the front end in the traveling direction, and the picking roller is pushed into the upper part of the boundary between the layers of the article with a predetermined propulsive force. The picking roller is rotating in the direction of picking up and picking up the article, and the frictional force caused by pushing in the picking roller causes
Pick an item. In order to prevent the load from collapsing during transportation, articles are often fixed vertically with a hot melt adhesive or the like. So to pick an article,
It is necessary to peel off the adhesive.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A basic object of the present invention is to ensure that an article can be picked even if it is fixed with a hot melt adhesive (claims 1 to 1).
3). An additional object of the invention of claim 2 is to provide a specific configuration therefor. An additional object of the invention of claim 3 is to make picking of articles more reliable.

[0004]

According to the picking apparatus of the present invention, a picking roller is inserted between upper and lower articles to wind the article onto the picking roller and pick the article. It is characterized by comprising a roller that changes along the direction (claim 1). The type of the picking device is preferably, for example, a device that picks the items on the pallet layer by layer, but may be a device that picks the items such as a truck bed one by one.

The roller whose winding force changes along the circumferential direction is, for example, an eccentric roller in which the center of the rotating shaft is eccentric from the center of the roller, or a roller whose cross section in the circumferential direction deviates from a perfect circle has an elliptical shape. , A roller having unevenness on the surface along the circumferential direction, a roller having a different coefficient of friction on the roller surface along the circumferential direction, and the like. Since the winding force exerted on the article from the picking roller changes in units of one rotation (one rotation of the roller), the phase of the winding force is represented by a phase having a period of 2π per rotation of the roller.

Preferably, the picking roller is an eccentric roller whose center of rotation is eccentric from the center of the picking roller (claim 2). Further preferably, the picking roller is divided into a plurality of roller pieces along the axial direction, and the phase of the winding force exerted on the article is made different between the roller pieces (claim 3).

[0007]

According to the present invention, the winding force exerted on the article by the picking roller is changed along the circumferential direction of the roller. When the picking roller is brought into contact with the article with a constant hoisting force, if the article does not wind up, slippage occurs between the article and the picking roller, and thereafter, the article picks up even if the picking roller and the article continue to contact. It gets harder. However, in this invention, since the hoisting force changes along the circumferential direction, even if the article does not wind up at the peak of the first hoisting force, the article winds up at the next peak, etc. Even if is fixed up and down, the article can be reliably picked.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the picking roller is composed of an eccentric roller whose center of rotation is eccentric from the center of the roller. Due to the phase of the eccentricity, the winding force applied from the picking roller to the article periodically changes, and the article can be reliably picked by utilizing this change.

In the invention of claim 3, the picking roller is composed of a plurality of roller pieces, and the phase of the winding force is changed between the roller pieces. For this reason, the winding force applied to the article changes more complicatedly than when the phases of the roller pieces are aligned because the phases of the plurality of roller pieces are different. You can pick.

[0010]

Embodiments FIGS. 1 to 9 show an embodiment and its modification.
The first embodiment is shown in FIGS. 2 is a picking device for picking articles from a pallet layer by layer, 4 is a head on the tip side, and 6 is a conveyor. A picking roller 8 is provided at the tip of the head 4, 10 is a roller body made of a material having a large friction coefficient such as rubber, and 12 is a rotation shaft thereof.

As shown in FIG. 2, the roller body 10 and the rotary shaft 12 are both eccentric rollers in which the outer shape is a perfect circle, but the center of the rotary shaft 12 is eccentric from the center of the roller body 10. Reference numeral 13 denotes a contact range (interference range) of the roller body 10. Returning to FIG. 1, 14 is a succeeding roller, and the number thereof is, for example, about 1 to 3. The axial direction of the rotary shaft 12 is simply referred to as the axial direction. Reference numeral 16 denotes a drive motor which drives the picking roller 8 and the succeeding roller 14 by winding transmission such as belt transmission and chain transmission, and the rotation directions of the rollers 8 and 14 are clockwise in the drawing. Again 20
Is the connection between the head 4 and the conveyor 6.

In this application, the picking roller is assumed to advance from the right side to the left side in the drawing, and the direction of advancement may be referred to as the entry direction. The forward direction is parallel to the frame direction of the conveyor 6. When referring to the front end / rear end with respect to the picking roller, the advancing direction side (article group 20 side) is called the front end, and the conveyor 6 side opposite to this is called the rear end.
Further, when simply referred to as the axial direction, the direction of the rotary shaft 12 of the picking roller is referred to. This axial direction may be tilted obliquely from the direction perpendicular to the forward direction, as shown in FIGS.

The article group 20 is palletized on, for example, a pallet (not shown), and has a plurality of article layers in the vertical direction, and each layer is stacked so that a plurality of articles appear in the front direction and the depth direction. Has been. Article 2 of Figure 1
2a to d are articles in the front row, for example, here, there are four articles per layer in one row, and the picking roller 8 is attached to the article group 2
One row of articles 22a-d is rolled up, then the next row is rolled up, while advancing to 0
Pick the article layer by layer. Reference numeral 24 denotes a hot melt position, in which the upper and lower articles are temporarily fixed at this position by a hot melt adhesive to prevent the load from collapsing during transportation. Picking an article requires stripping the hot melt adhesive to separate the top and bottom articles. Therefore, the force required to wind up the article is more than the total of the force to peel off the hot melt adhesive, the force to support the weight of the article, and the force to overcome the frictional force from the articles not wound by the surrounding articles. Become.

The operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described. Since the rotary shaft 12 of the picking roller 8 is eccentric, the winding force acting on the article changes depending on the strength. Like the conventional example, when trying to wind up the article with a constant winding force,
If the article does not roll up, slippage occurs between the article and the picking roller, and even if the picking roller is pressed against the article, picking is difficult. If the picking roller is advanced as it is, the article may be damaged in an extreme case.

On the other hand, in the embodiment, since the winding force applied to the article changes, if the hot melt adhesive cannot be peeled off and the article cannot be lifted up to the peak of the winding force, the winding force is increased next. Is increased,
Try to peel off the hot melt adhesive again and roll it up. Here, when the winding force increases again, the picking roller 8 can wind up the article in a state where there is no slippage with the article. For this reason, the probability of successfully peeling off the hot melt adhesive and winding up the article increases,
The article can be reliably picked at any timing while the picking roller 8 is rotated a plurality of times, for example.

[0016]

[Division of Eccentric Roller] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the roller body of the picking roller 35 is divided into a plurality of roller pieces 36. The center of the roller piece 36 is eccentric from the center of the rotary shaft 12, and 34 is a new head, which is otherwise the same as the embodiment of FIGS. If the roller piece 36 is divided into a plurality of pieces, only the worn roller piece can be replaced. This is particularly effective when the axial direction of the picking roller is slanted from the direction orthogonal to the forward direction (entry direction) as shown in FIG. In the case of FIG. 5, since the roller pieces that are closer to the front in the approach direction start to contact the article group, the roller pieces that are closer to the front than the approach direction are more easily worn than the other roller pieces. It would be convenient if they could be replaced. Next, when a plurality of roller pieces 36 are provided and one article is brought into contact with the plurality of roller pieces 36, the plurality of roller pieces 36 come into contact with each other, so that one cycle (one rotation of the picking roller) occurs. The winding force changes more complicatedly than in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the article can be picked more reliably. The roller piece 36 is preferably made of rubber or the like having a large friction, as in the roller body 10 of FIG.

[0017]

[Change in eccentricity phase and diagonal rotation axis] Plural roller pieces 36
Is provided to change the eccentric phase for each roller piece 36,
Moreover, FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which the axial direction of the rotation axis of the picking roller 38 is inclined from the direction perpendicular to the forward direction. The embodiment of FIG. 4 is otherwise similar to the embodiment of FIG.
In FIG. 4, the eccentric phase of the roller piece 36 is changed by 90 °, for example, and a plurality of roller pieces 36 having different eccentric phases are in contact with one article, so that the winding force applied to the article changes in a complicated manner. Therefore, there is a peak of the winding force many times during one rotation of the picking roller 38, and the hot melt adhesive or the like can be peeled off at any of the peaks of the winding force to wind the article.

FIG. 5 shows the picking roller 39 in which the axial direction of the picking roller 38 shown in FIG. L is the working width of the picking roller viewed in a direction perpendicular to the approach direction. Angle θ
Is, for example, 0.5 ° or more, preferably 1 ° or more, and the angle θ is, for example, 30 ° or less, preferably 10 ° or less,
The angle is more preferably 5 ° or less, and most preferably 2.5 ° or less. The most preferable range of the angle θ is 1 ° or more and 2.5 °.
It is the following. The length L of the picking roller in the direction perpendicular to the forward direction is 1200 mm, for example. Then, the distance (L · tan θ) that the picking roller shifts diagonally is 0.5 °.
10 mm in case of 1 °, 20 mm in case of 1 °, 50 mm in case of 2.5 °, about 200 mm at 10 °, about 70 at 30 °
It will be 0 mm. When palletizing by aligning a plurality of articles within a range of about 1000 mm,
The variation of the front position of each article is less than ± several mm.

When the inclination θ is 0.5 °, the position of the picking roller along the advancing direction is 1 at the front end side and the rear end side.
Since the difference is about 0 mm, this is about twice the variation of the front position for each article, and as a general rule, the picking roller contacts only the front of one article at the same time, but in exceptional cases, it may contact the front of two articles at the same time. It will be. Slope θ
When the angle is 1 ° or more, the shift between the front end side and the rear end side of the picking roller is about 20 mm, and only one article is in contact with the front at the same time, and only one article is in contact with the front at the same time. Can be rolled up.

When the inclination θ is increased, the driving of the picking roller 8 becomes complicated, and the first article 2 in the rear row of FIG.
Simultaneous contact with 5a and the last article 22d in the front row may occur. Further, when the inclination θ is increased, the picked article is inclined so as to be parallel to the picking roller, so that a post-process for correcting the posture of the article is required. The inclination of 10 ° or less is to prevent the articles in the front row and the articles of the rear row from being rolled up at the same time. If the inclination is 5 ° or less, the picking roller 8 can be easily driven by the winding transmission. At 2.5 ° or less, it is possible to easily wind and transmit without having to guide the belt or chain on the way.

When the axial direction of the picking roller is tilted from the direction perpendicular to the entering direction, one row of articles can be individually wound up. For example, in the case of FIG. 4, after winding up the article 22a, rolling up the article 22b, and then the article 22c.
And so on. Then, the propulsive force applied to the picking roller is brought into contact with the front surface of the picking roller and intensively applied to one article being rolled up, so that picking can be reliably performed with a small propulsive force. In this case, even if the propulsive force is applied to only one article, the strength can be set so as not to damage the article.
It is possible to surely prevent the damage of the article at the time of winding. Since the propulsive force can be reduced, the rigidity of the rotary shaft 12 can be reduced, and accordingly, the rotary shaft can be made smaller in diameter to facilitate picking.

[0022]

[Modification of Picking Roller] FIG. 6 shows a modification of the picking roller. The reason why the eccentric picking roller is used is that the winding force applied to the article is varied. Therefore, an elliptical roller piece 42 may be used as in the picking roller 40 of FIG. 6 (A).
The chain line indicates the contact area of the roller piece 42. Moreover, FIG. 6 (B)
A plurality of friction bands may be provided around the roller piece 46 like the picking roller piece 44 of FIG. The friction band 48 is parallel to the direction of the rotary shaft 12 here, but may be provided spirally with respect to the direction of the rotary shaft 12. Further friction band 4
8 is made of rubber or the like having a large friction coefficient,
Is made of plastic with a smaller friction coefficient,
Changes in frictional force applied to the article may be emphasized.

[0023]

[Rolling Force Pattern] FIG. 7 shows a winding force pattern when an eccentric picking roller is used. Assuming that the picking roller's forward position relative to the article is constant, with conventional round rollers, the subsequent rolling force is constant once the roller begins to contact the article. On the other hand, in the case of an eccentric picking roller, the phase of the eccentricity of the roller piece, the phase of the elliptical roller piece of FIG. 6 (A), or the presence or absence of contact with the friction band 48 of FIG. 6 (B), etc. Causes the winding force to change.

When the picking roller is pressed against the article with the winding force kept constant, when the article cannot be wound up, the article is deformed by the picking roller and the picking roller slips on the article surface, making the winding difficult. Become. On the other hand, if the hoisting force fluctuates as shown in FIG. 9, even if the hoisting force cannot be hoisted at the first hoisting force peak, the hoisting force can be hoisted at the next hoisting force peak. Therefore, if a picking roller having a non-uniform winding force applied to the article along the circumferential direction is used, the article can be easily picked.

[0025]

[Overall structure of the picking device] Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 show the picking device as a whole.
In addition to the head 34 and the conveyor 6 shown in FIG.
0, the traveling mechanism portion 54 travels on the traveling rail 52 to reciprocate, and the outer conveyor 56 on the right side of FIG.
To unload the picked goods layer by layer. Instead of unloading on the conveyor 56, palletizing may be performed on another pallet or the like.

In the picking device shown in FIG. 9, a self-propelled section 60 and a lift gate 62 are provided, and the head 34 and the conveyor 6 are raised and lowered by the lift gate 62.
To move to a position suitable for picking. A mechanism for moving the head 34 and the conveyor 6 in the forward direction is provided with respect to the elevating gate 62, and the head 34 is advanced toward the article group 20 side for picking. Reference numeral 64 denotes an external conveyor that carries out picked articles for each layer from the conveyor 64.

In the picking device of FIGS. 8 and 9, picking rollers 38 and 39 (FIGS. 4 and 5) whose axial direction is oblique to the direction perpendicular to the entering direction may be used.
The eccentric phase of 6 may be different between the roller pieces (FIG. 4). Further, the picking roller 8 of FIG. 1 which has an axial direction perpendicular to the approach direction and uses one roller body 10, the picking rollers 40 and 44 of FIGS. 6A and 6B, and the like may be used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of a picking device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an eccentric picking roller.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an embodiment in which the picking roller is divided into a plurality of roller pieces along the axial direction.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an embodiment in which the picking roller is divided into a plurality of roller pieces along the axial direction and the eccentric phases are made different between the roller pieces.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an axial inclination θ of the picking roller with respect to the approach direction.

FIG. 6 shows a modified example of a roller piece used for a picking roller, (A) is a cross-sectional view of an elliptical roller piece, and (B) is a cross-sectional view of a roller piece with a friction band attached to its side surface.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing a hoisting force of an article by an eccentric picking roller.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of the picking device.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a self-propelled picking device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 picking device 4 heads 6 conveyor 8 picking rollers 10 Roller body 12 rotation axes 14 Subsequent roller 13 contact range 16 Drive motor 18 Connection 20 articles 22a-d articles 24 Hot melt position 34 heads 35,38 Picking roller 36 Roller piece 40,44 picking rollers 42,46 Roller pieces 48 friction bands 50 conveyor 52 Running rail 54 Traveling mechanism 56 conveyor 60 self-propelled unit 62 lift gate 64 conveyor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A device in which a picking roller is inserted between upper and lower articles to wind up the article on the picking roller and pick the roller, wherein the winding force exerted on the picking roller changes along the circumferential direction. A picking device comprising: 2. The picking device according to claim 1, wherein the picking roller is an eccentric roller whose center of rotation is eccentric from the center of the picking roller. 3. The picking roller is divided into a plurality of roller pieces along the axial direction, and the phase of the winding force exerted on the article is different between the roller pieces. Or 2 picking devices.