JP2005053662A - Direction changing device for article - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a direction changing device for an article capable of securely changing its direction during conveyance of the article by a roller conveyor. <P>SOLUTION: This device changes direction of the article W by 90° using the roller conveyor 1 on which a plurality of conveyance rollers 2 are rotatably arranged. An abutting member 21 abutting on the article conveyed on the conveyance roller is arranged on the halfway of the roller conveyor 1 and at a position close to one side part. The direction C of shaft axis of the conveyance roller in a predetermined scope including the abutting member is inclined in such a way that one end side is positioned forward more than the other end side where the abutting member is arranged. Rotation speed of a group 2B of orthogonal rollers for conveyance arranged in front of a group 2A of inclined rollers for conveyance arranged by inclining further and in the direction B of width crossing the direction A of conveyance orthogonally is made lower than rotation speed of the group of inclined rollers for conveyance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an article direction changing apparatus that can change the direction of an article conveyed on a roller conveyor by, for example, 90 °.

  In the middle of an article conveyance line, for example, in order to efficiently load the article into a warehouse or the like, a change in the direction may be required. For example, when an article is an elongated rectangular shape, it is usually conveyed so that its longitudinal direction coincides with the conveyance direction. However, the article is rotated 90 ° so that it is horizontally long as it is loaded into a warehouse. In some cases, such a change is required that the short direction coincides with the transport direction.

Conventionally, as a conveyor device that meets such a requirement, for example, there is one using a roller conveyor.
As shown in FIG. 8, in this conveyor apparatus, a large number of conveying rollers 51 are arranged in parallel along the conveying direction, and an abutting member 52 that can abut against the article W is conveyed on one side part of the conveying roller 51. It is provided so that it can be withdrawn from the surface.

That is, the contact member 52 is brought into contact with one end in the width direction of the article W conveyed by the conveyance roller 51, and the other end is moved forward as it is, thereby causing the article W to move at an angle of 90 °. Therefore, it was rotated to change its direction (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-310320 (see FIG. 2)

  According to the configuration of the conveyor device, by simply projecting the contact member 51 upward from the transport surface, stopping the shoulder on one end side of the article W being transported and continuing to move the other end side, The article W is merely rotated, and there is a problem that the article W cannot be reliably rotated by 90 °. More specifically, when the orientation of a rectangular article that has been conveyed in the longitudinal direction is changed in the short direction, the orientation of the article becomes unstable and cannot be reliably changed.

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the direction change apparatus of the goods which can change the direction reliably in the middle of conveying an article with a roller-type conveyor apparatus.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an article direction changing apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention uses a conveyor device in which a plurality of transfer rollers are rotatably arranged so that the direction of the article is 90 ° or substantially 90 °. ° A device to change,
In the middle of the conveyor device and at a position closer to one side, a contact member that can contact the article to be transferred on the transfer roller is arranged, and
The axial direction of the transfer roller in a predetermined range including the contact member is inclined so that the other end side is positioned forward relative to the one end side where the contact member is disposed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the article direction changing apparatus is configured such that the contact member in the direction changing apparatus according to the first aspect can be disposed on the transfer roller from above or from below.
The article direction changing apparatus according to claim 3 is a width direction orthogonal to the transfer direction in front of the first transfer roller group arranged at an inclination in the direction change apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The rotational speed of the arranged second transfer roller group is slower than that of the first transfer roller group.

  Furthermore, the article direction changing device according to claim 4 is a triangular gap between the first transfer roller group and the second transfer roller group in the direction changing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The length of the first transfer roller disposed in the portion is shortened according to the width of the triangular gap.

  According to the configuration of the direction changing device according to claim 1 or 2, the roller-type conveyor device is used to change the direction of the article to be conveyed, with the abutting member as the center of the one end side of the article. When the roller is pushed forward and changed by 90 ° or substantially 90 ° in the horizontal plane, the conveying roller is inclined so that the rotation outer peripheral side is located forward, so the direction of the article is reliably or substantially reliably Can be changed.

  According to the configuration of the direction changing device according to claim 3, the rotational speed of the second transfer roller group in the orthogonal direction provided on the lower side of the first transfer roller group arranged at an inclination is decreased. Therefore, even when the rotation angle of the article rotated by the abutting member is smaller than 90 ° or larger than 90 °, since the transfer speed of the article after being rotated is slow, in the portion where the rotation is slow A force for pushing from the rear to the front acts, and the movement is slowed at a portion where the rotation is fast, so that the article can be changed more reliably in a predetermined direction.

Embodiments of an article direction changing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.
[Embodiment]
The article direction changing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

This article direction changing device is for changing the direction of an article by 90 ° (or substantially 90 °) while the article is being conveyed (transferred) by a roller conveyor.
This article has, for example, a rectangular shape in plan view, and the longitudinal direction coincides with the transport direction when transported. The short direction of the article is referred to as the short direction.

First, the roller conveyor (conveyor apparatus) used in order to change the direction of articles | goods is demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, this roller conveyor 1 has a large number of conveying rollers (transfer rollers) 2 arranged side by side. Is inclined to a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction A, that is, the width direction B of the conveyor itself by a predetermined angle θ (for example, about 10 °) (inclination in a horizontal plane) 1A About the side part (conveyance direction front side), the roller axial center C is made into the orthogonal conveyor part 1B orthogonal to the conveyance direction A. As shown in FIG.

  The inclined conveyor 1A in the roller conveyor 1 includes a pair of left and right side plates 11 erected at the left and right positions of a support frame (not shown), and a width direction B perpendicular to the conveying direction A between the side plates 11 and 11. Are inclined at a predetermined angle θ and are arranged at predetermined intervals along the conveying direction and are supported on both side plates 11 and 11 rotatably by bearings (not shown). A roller (first transfer roller) 2A and drive wheels (not shown, for example, provided on one end side of the roller 2A corresponding to each of the conveying inclined rollers 2A and in contact with the lower surface of each conveying inclined roller 2A A friction roller is used) and a driven sprocket (not shown) connected to the rotating shaft of the drive wheel, and a plurality of sprockets arranged on one side plate 11 (11A) side A motor with a speed reducer (not shown) that rotates the drive chain 13 wound endlessly on the id sprocket 12 and the drive sprocket 14 provided on the support frame side and wound with the drive chain 13. ). By the way, a triangular gap portion S is formed at the front and rear ends of the inclined conveyor portion 1A. The length of each gap portion S is shortened so as to eliminate the non-supporting portion of the article as much as possible. Two conveying inclined rollers 2A ′ and a small-diameter conveying inclined roller 2A ″ are arranged. Of these, the rotation of the conveying inclined roller 2A ′ is the normal conveying inclined roller 2A. And a belt 15 wound between the conveying inclined rollers 2A ′ and 2A ′, respectively, by a driving force from the conveying inclined roller 2A. The roller 2A ″ is simply supported rotatably.

  Therefore, when the driving sprocket 14 and the driving chain 13 are driven by the electric motor, the driving wheel is rotated through the driven sprocket, and the conveying inclined roller 2A that is in contact with (slidably contacts with) the driving wheel is rotated. At the same time, the conveying inclined roller 2A ′ disposed in the gap portion S is rotated.

  Further, a contact member (also referred to as a direction changing member) 21 is provided on the lower side of the inclined conveyor portion 1A and on one side plate 11 (11A) at a position above the conveying inclined roller 2A. When viewed from the conveying inclined roller 2A, the roller shaft center (axial center direction) C is inclined so that the other end side is positioned forward from the one end side where the contact member 21 is disposed.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the contact member 21 includes a top plate portion 21b having a rectangular shape in plan view and a side plate 11 provided with a mounting plate portion 21a on one side, and an upper plate portion 21b. A front inclined plate portion 21c and a rear inclined plate portion 21d that are bent from the front and rear ends of the plate portion 21b to the lower side (front side) and the upper side (rear side), and both the inclined plate portions 21c and 21d. The side plate portion 21e is suspended from the upper plate portion 21b. The contact member 21 is attached to the side plate 11 by, for example, bolts 22 and nuts 23.

  Therefore, when the article W is transported in a state where the contact member 21 is provided on one of the side plates 11 (11A) on the transporting inclined roller 2A, the shoulder on one end side of the contact member 21 is first contacted with the contact member 21. Since the other end side is moved to one end side in the conveying direction and in the oblique direction (toward the abutting member side and forward), the imaginary line (A) to FIG. As shown in (d), the article W is rotated by approximately 90 °.

  Next, the orthogonal conveyor unit 1B in the roller conveyor 1 will be described. In the inclined conveyor unit 1A, the roller axis C is inclined, whereas in the orthogonal conveyor unit 1B, like a normal conveyor, The roller axis C ′ is arranged in the width direction B orthogonal to the conveying direction A, and basically the same configuration as that described in the inclined conveyor section 1A except that the conveying roller is inclined. It is.

  That is, the orthogonal conveyor section 1B is parallel to a pair of left and right side plates 31 erected at the left and right positions of a support frame (not shown), and a width direction B perpendicular to the conveying direction A between the side plates 31 and 31. In addition, a plurality of conveying orthogonal rollers (second transfer rollers) 2B which are arranged at predetermined intervals and are rotatably supported on both side plates 31 and 31 via bearings (not shown), and the respective conveying Corresponding to the orthogonal roller 2B for driving, provided on one end side thereof and in contact with the lower surface of each conveying orthogonal roller 2B (not shown, for example, a friction roller is used) and a rotating shaft portion of the driving wheel A driven sprocket (not shown) that is connected and a driving chain that is wound endlessly around a plurality of guide sprockets (not shown) arranged on the side plate 11 side. And a motor with a speed reducer (not shown) that is provided on the support frame side and rotates a driving sprocket (not shown) around which the driving chain (not shown) is wound. Has been.

  In this orthogonal conveyor section 1B, the motor is controlled so that the rotation speed of the conveying orthogonal roller 2B is slower than the rotation speed of the conveying inclined roller 2A in the inclined conveyor section 1A.

  Further, the length of the conveyors 1A and 1B is set on one side, that is, on one side plate 11 (11A) and 31 (31A) side, via attachment members 41 provided at predetermined intervals. A guide member 42 having a groove-shaped cross section for guiding the article W to be conveyed is provided. 3 and 5, for example, the guide member 42 is attached to the tip of a retracting adjustment bolt 44 whose adjustment position is adjustable via a nut 43 in a horizontal direction with respect to the mounting member 41, for example. It is attached.

Next, an article direction changing operation will be described.
In the inclined conveyor section 1A of the roller conveyor 1 according to the above configuration, the electric motor is driven so as to achieve a conveying speed suitable for conveying articles, and normal conveying is performed, while in the orthogonal conveyor section 1B, the inclined conveyor section 1B. The conveyance is performed at a speed slower than the conveyance speed in the section 1A.

  In this state, when the article W is conveyed to the inclined conveyor unit 1A, the article first moves onto the conveying inclined roller 2A, and the article is gradually guided to one side by the inclination of the roller axis C. It is guided (contacted with the guide member 42) and finally comes into contact with the contact member 21 arranged on one side.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the article W comes into contact with the contact member 21, the portion, that is, the shoulder on one end side stops at that position, but the other end as shown in (e) to (f). The side is moved as it is toward one side and forward by the conveying inclined roller 2A, and rotated 90 ° (or substantially 90 °) around its shoulder to change its direction.

  Then, the rotated article moves onto the conveying orthogonal roller 2B in the orthogonal conveyor section 1B, and the rotation speed of the conveying orthogonal roller (second transfer roller group) 2B is the conveying inclined roller ( (1st transfer roller group) Since it is made slower than 2A, even if the rotated article is rotated not at 90 °, but at a rotation angle smaller than 90 °, for example, the movement on one end side where the rotation is performed faster Is slowed and the other end side of which the rotation is delayed is pushed from the upper side, so that the direction is changed so that the short side of the article W coincides with the transport direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 (G) to 7 (R), even when the rotated article W rotates at a rotation angle larger than 90 °, the movement on the other end side, which is performed at a faster rotation, is delayed. At the same time, the one end side portion whose rotation is delayed is pushed from the upper side, and the posture is corrected so that the long side of the article is in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction.

  In this way, the direction of the article to be conveyed using the roller conveyor 1 is pushed 90 degrees (or substantially 90 degrees) in the horizontal plane by pushing the other end side forward with the abutting member 21 around the one end side of the article. °) When changing (rotating), the conveying roller 2 is tilted so that the outer circumferential side of the rotation is positioned forward, so that the direction of the article can be changed reliably, and further, When the rotation speed of the conveying orthogonal roller 2B in the orthogonal conveyor section 1B provided on the lower side is slowed down, the rotation angle of the article rotated by the contact member 21 is smaller than 90 ° or larger than 90 ° However, since the conveyance speed of the article after being rotated is slowed, a force that pushes forward from the rear acts on the part where the rotation is slow, and the movement is slowed on the part where the rotation is fast. Thus more reliably, it is possible to change the article in a predetermined direction.

  By the way, in the said embodiment, although the contact member 21 provided in 1 A of inclined conveyor parts was attached to the side plate 11, by raising / lowering this contact member from the upper direction or the downward direction of a conveyance surface, for example. Alternatively, it may be arranged on the conveying surface only when it is necessary to change the direction of the article by moving from the side or obliquely upward. In addition, when an abutting member is not arrange | positioned, 1 A of inclined conveyor parts will function as a width alignment conveyor of articles | goods.

It is a top view which shows schematic structure of the direction change apparatus of the article | item which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows schematic structure of the same direction change apparatus. FIG. 3 is a DD arrow view of FIG. 2. It is a perspective view of the contact member in the same direction change apparatus. It is the EE arrow line view of FIG. It is a top view explaining the direction change operation | movement of the articles | goods in the same direction change apparatus. It is a top view explaining the direction change operation | movement of the articles | goods in the same direction change apparatus. It is a top view explaining the direction change operation | movement of the articles | goods in a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Roller conveyor 1A Inclined conveyor part 1B Orthogonal conveyor part 2 Conveying roller 2A Conveying inclined roller 2B Conveying orthogonal roller 11 Side plate 21 Contact member 31 Side plate

Claims (4)

A device for changing the direction of an article by 90 ° or substantially 90 ° using a conveyor device in which a plurality of transfer rollers are rotatably arranged,
In the middle of the conveyor device and at a position closer to one side, a contact member that can contact the article to be transferred on the transfer roller is arranged, and
Changing the direction of the article characterized in that the axial direction of the transfer roller in a predetermined range including the contact member is inclined so that the other end side is located forward of the one end side where the contact member is disposed. apparatus.   2. The article direction changing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the contact member is configured to be arranged on the transfer roller from above or below.   The rotational speed of the second transfer roller group arranged on the lower side of the first transfer roller group arranged at an inclination and in the width direction orthogonal to the transfer direction is set to be higher than that of the first transfer roller group. The article direction changing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article direction changing apparatus is slow.   The length of the first transfer roller disposed in the triangular gap portion between the first transfer roller group and the second transfer roller group is shortened according to the width of the triangular gap. The direction changing apparatus for articles according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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