JP2005131005A - Cloth supply method and apparatus, and cloth folding apparatus using the apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cloth supply apparatus capable of supplying cloths to a fixed position and obtaining high-quality products (folded and piled-up towels) even when a processing speed is increased. <P>SOLUTION: In a cloth supply method, the shift of the feeding position of the cloths is detected by the sensed result of a sensor disposed orthogonally to the carrying direction of the cloths and the cloths are moved in left and right directions so as to be matched with a reference point on the basis of the detected result. The cloth supply apparatus is composed of a support frame moved forwards and backwards along the carrying direction of the cloths, a cloth holding part movable in a direction orthogonal to the carrying direction of the cloths on the support frame, the sensor for detecting the shift of a cloth piece held by the cloth holding part, and a driving part for moving the cloth holding part holding the cloths to the reference point on the basis of the detected result of the sensor. The size of the cloths is discriminated on the basis of the detected result of the sensor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for supplying fabric cloth in a cloth folding machine for automatically folding a plurality of rectangular cloths (hereinafter simply referred to as “clothes”) such as towels. The present invention relates to a cloth supply method and apparatus, and a cloth folding apparatus using the apparatus, which can supply the cloth supplied to the section to a certain position and can determine the size of the supplied cloth.

  At laundry factories, towels such as towels are washed, dewatered and dried in large quantities, then folded in the longitudinal direction from the stretched state to about four folds, and an appropriate number of the folded cloths are stacked one by one. The product is shipped in the state of a laminated body.

  By the way, as a cloth folding machine for automatically folding cloth such as a towel, there has been a conventional one. This conventional cloth folding machine has a conveying conveyor for conveying cloths in a stretched state, a folding device for folding the cloths in four at the terminal end of the conveying conveyor, and folding cloths folded in four in place. Is known that includes a dropping device for sequentially dropping downwards and a carry-out conveyor for sequentially moving a laminated body in which a predetermined number of folding cloths are laminated one pitch at a time.

  However, in the conventional cloth folding machine, when the cloth is placed on the transport conveyor start end, the operator must place the front edge of the cloth directly on the traveling conveyor. There were various problems.

Therefore, a cloth holding portion that is installed so as to be able to advance and retreat in the cloth conveying direction at a position close to the upper surface of the starting end of the conveying conveyor and that can detachably hold the front edge of the cloth, and conveys the cloth holding section. A cloth / cloth supply device provided with an advancing / retreating drive device for advancing / retreating in the conveying direction of the conveyor is provided to solve the above problems (Patent Document 1).
JP-A-9-255137

  However, in the newly provided cloth and cloth supply device, the position of the end is determined and the input is made in accordance with the position of the end in order to improve the quality at the time of stacking. Processing speed does not increase. In addition, when the processing speed is increased, the input becomes rough and the quality of the stack deteriorates.

  Then, this invention makes it a subject to provide the cloth supply apparatus which can obtain a high-quality product (folded and stacked towel) even if it supplies cloth to a fixed position and processing speed is raised.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the cloth supply method invention according to claim 1 detects the bias of the cloth input position based on a detection result of a sensor arranged orthogonal to the cloth conveyance direction, and detects the detection. The cloth supply method according to claim 2 is characterized in that the cloth is moved in the left-right direction to match the reference point based on the result, and the cloth supply method according to claim 2 determines the size of the cloth based on the detection result of the sensor. It is characterized by that.

  The invention of the cloth supply device according to claim 3 includes a support frame that moves forward and backward along the cloth conveying direction, and a cloth holding portion that is movable on the support frame in a direction perpendicular to the cloth conveying direction. And a sensor for detecting the bias of the cloth piece held by the cloth holding part, and a driving part for moving the cloth holding part holding the cloth based on the detection result of the sensor to a reference point. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cloth supply device according to the first aspect, wherein the size of the cloth is determined based on a detection result of the sensor.

  The invention of the cloth supply device according to claim 5 is supported by a support frame capable of moving back and forth in the cloth conveying direction, an advancing / retreating drive device for moving the support frame back and forth, and a support frame movable in the lateral direction. In a cloth supply device including a cloth holding portion for cloth and a left-right motion drive device that moves the cloth holding portion in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the cloth, a plurality of sensors are provided in front of the cloth supply side. A plurality of sensors are arranged side by side, and based on the detection results of the cloths by the plurality of sensors, the left-right motion driving device is operated and the size of the cloths is determined.

  The invention of the cloth folding device according to claim 6 includes a support frame that moves forward and backward along the cloth conveying direction, and a cloth holding portion that is movable on the support frame in a direction perpendicular to the cloth conveying direction. A sensor for detecting the deviation of the cloth piece held by the cloth holding part and the size of the cloth, and a driving part for moving the cloth holding part holding the cloth to the reference point based on the detection result of the sensor A cloth supply device comprising: a folding device that folds the cloth that has been sent in a position aligned by the cloth supply device; and a cloth that is mixed in size and sent by the folding device. It is characterized by comprising a stacking device that stacks by size according to the detection result of the sensor.

The cloth supply device of the present invention has the following effects.
(1) Since the alignment of the cloth is automatically performed, it is necessary for the operator to input the cloth with an approximate register, so that the speed of the cloth input can be increased.
(2) Since cloth can be put into the exact position (width direction) of a folding machine, cloth can be folded and stacked accurately.
(3) Since the size of the cloth can be discriminated, it can be used even when the large and small cloths are mixed.
Furthermore, since the cloth folding device of the present invention can speed up the loading of the cloth and can automatically determine the size of the cloth, the cloth can be stacked according to the size of the cloth.

  A support frame capable of moving back and forth in the cloth conveying direction with respect to the cloth folding device, an advancing / retreating drive device for moving the support frame back and forth, and a cloth cloth supported on the support frame so as to be movable in the lateral direction. In a cloth supply device comprising a holding portion and a left-right motion drive device that moves the cloth holding portion in a direction perpendicular to the cloth conveyance direction, a plurality of sensors are arranged in parallel in front of the cloth supply side. Based on the detection results of the cloths by a plurality of sensors, the left-right drive device is operated and the size of the cloths is determined.

  The cloth supply apparatus according to the present embodiment can fold a relatively small rectangular cloth such as a towel in a folded state, and can automatically and sequentially take out a suitable number of the folded cloths. It is suitable for a cloth folding device and a cloth folding machine that automatically selects two types of towels (for example, face towel and bath towel) of different sizes and stacks them in different positions.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the cloth supply device includes a support frame, a cloth holding unit that is movably supported by the support frame and that can detachably hold a front edge of the cloth, and the cloth. It is composed of a left-right drive device that moves the holding portion on the support frame in the left-right direction, and an advance / retreat drive device that moves the support frame back and forth in the transport direction.

《Support frame》
The support frame 2 is stretched between the side frame 3 that can be moved back and forth along the rail 1 that is attached to the machine frame 41 of the device to be applied (for example, a cloth folding device), and the side frames 3 and 3. 6 and a rail 4 that supports the left and right movements.

《Cloth holding part》
The cloth holding unit 6 is a relatively thin box-shaped mounting unit 7 having a rectangular shape that is long in the width direction of the transfer conveyor 42 of the application target device and having a hollow inside, and air inside the mounting unit 7 to the outside. And a suction fan 8 for discharging. The front half of the mounting portion 7 is considerably thinner than the thickness of the latter half. The upper surface plate 9 in the front half of the mounting portion 7 is inclined downward toward the front side, and the tip of the front half of the mounting portion 7 is made thin, for example, about 15 mm. The upper surface plate 9 in the front half of the placement portion 7 is provided with intake holes 10 made up of a number of small holes, and the upper surface of the front half of the placement portion 7 attracts and holds the front edge of the cloth. can do.
In addition, two suction fans 8 and 8 are attached to the rear half of the mounting portion 7 at a predetermined interval. In the cloth holding portion 6, when each suction fan 8, 8 is operated, air in the placement portion is removed so that air is sucked into the placement portion 7 from a large number of intake holes 10. It has become. The cloth adsorbing force by the cloth holding unit 6 can hold and hold the cloth, and the tension force generated when the cloth hanging part comes into contact with the start end of the conveyor 42 as will be described later. It is set to such an extent that the edge part is easily peeled off from the air intake surface of the cloth holding part.

《Left-and-right drive unit》
The cloth holding part is supported so as to be movable along a pair of rails 4 and 4 constituting the support frame 2, and includes a motor 12 disposed on the cloth holding part 6 and a rack 13 attached to the support frame. The pinion 14 attached to the motor shaft is moved left and right in parallel with the front edge of the transport conveyor 42.
The cloth holding unit 6 can advance and retreat in a position separated from the upper surface of the start end portion of the transport conveyor 42 by, for example, about 5 to 10 mm in parallel to the running surface near the start end portion of the transport conveyor 42. It has become.
In the present embodiment, which treats face towels and bath towels, the width of the cloth holding portion is about 730 mm in consideration of workability and product dimensions, and the stroke of the left and right movement of the cloth holding portion is set. Set to 85 mm.
In addition, it is preferable to make the space | interval between the lower surface of the cloth holding | maintenance part 6 and the upper surface of the conveyance conveyor 42 as small as possible to such an extent that the stretched cloth can be passed.

  In this embodiment, the entire cloth holding part 6 is moved left and right, but the holding part is fixed and the perforated plate or the conveyor belt is moved left and right along the upper surface of the placing part. Also good.

"sensor"
The front plate of the machine frame 41 is provided with sensors S2 and S3 and sensors S4 and S5 symmetrically with respect to the center line in order to determine the size of the thrown-in cloth and to detect the loading position. . In this embodiment, the distance between the sensors S2 and S5 at both ends is set to about 620 mm, and the distance between the middle sensor S3 and sensor S4 is set to about 300 mm.
In the present embodiment, the sensor mounting portion 5 is formed on the front plate of the machine casing 41. However, a sensor mounting plate on which the sensor is mounted may be mounted on the front plate of the machine casing 41.

  In the figure, S1 is provided in the cloth holding section 6, senses that the cloth is supplied to the placement section 7, and moves to the left and right for driving the cloth holding section 6 in the left-right direction and the forward / backward drive apparatus. In the present embodiment, the cloth holding unit 6 is provided with sensors S6 and S8 for detecting the lateral movement left and right limit positions of the cloth holding unit 6 and the support frame 2. A sensor S7 for detecting the center of the cloth supply unit 6 relative to the support frame 2 by detecting the mirror M is provided.

《Determination of cloth size》
The sensor group can determine the size of the cloth, and can control the subsequent folding operation, discrimination and stacking operation. Of the sensor groups in the array, only the sensor S3 or S4 is used. If cloth is detected, sensor S3 and sensor S4 detect cloth, sensor S2 and sensor S3 detect cloth, and sensor S4 and sensor S5 detect cloth When sensor S2, sensor S3 and sensor S4 sense cloth, sensor S3, sensor S4 and sensor S5 sense cloth, and sensor S2, sensor S3, sensor S4 and sensor S5 are cloth. If it is detected, it is judged as a large cloth (see Table 1).

《Advance and retreat drive device》
In this embodiment, the advancing / retreating drive device 15 employs a telescopic cylinder 16. This forward / backward drive device is configured to drive the cloth holding portion forward and backward within a range of, for example, about 600 mm between the standby position on the near side and the backward position. When the cloth holding portion is in the standby position, the front end portion of the cloth holding portion protrudes to the front side by, for example, about 200 to 300 mm from the starting end portion of the transport conveyor 42, while the cloth holding portion 6 is When in the retracted position, the front end portion of the cloth holding portion 6 is positioned behind the start end portion of the transport conveyor 42 by, for example, about 400 to 300 mm.

In this embodiment, the advancing / retreating drive device 15 advances and retracts the cloth holding unit 6 at a speed that is about twice the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor 42 (about 60 m / min). The advancing / retreating drive device 15 is a sensor S1 that detects when the front edge of the cloth is placed on the upper surface of the front half of the placing section 7 with the cloth holding section 6 positioned at the standby position. Is reduced by the signal from, and after the cloth holding part has been retracted to the retracted position through the intermediate retracted position, it is immediately expanded by a signal from a sensor (for example, a limit switch (not shown)) that detects the retracted position, It operates to advance the cloth holding part to the original standby position.
In this embodiment, the reduction-side start of the advancing / retreating drive device is performed by a signal from a sensor that detects when the cloth front edge is placed on the front half of the placement portion. However, you may make it start to the reduction side by the foot switch by an operator.

<Operation of cloth supply device>
The cloth supply apparatus of this embodiment operates as follows. At the start of operation, the cloth holding unit 6 stands by at the standby position on the front side, the conveyor 42 is continuously running, and the suction fan 8 of the cloth holding unit 6 is continuously operated. From this state, when the front edge of the cloth is placed on the front half of the placement section 7 of the cloth holding section 6, the front edge of the cloth is placed on the placement section 7 by being sucked from the intake holes 10. It is adsorbed on the first half. At that time, the sensor S1 detects that the cloth leading edge has been placed on the placing portion.

  At the same time, the sensor S2 ~ S4 judges whether the towel width is large or small, and if the towel is judged small, the sensor S4 detects one side of the cloth by rotating the motor forward or reverse Until the cloth holding part is moved along the rail until it is not detected in the case of judgments 1, 2, and 4 in Table 1, and if the judged towel is large, one side of the cloth is The cloth holding portion is moved laterally along the rail until S5 senses (until no sense is detected in cases 6 and 7 in Table 1).

Next, the advance / retreat driving device 15 is contracted by the detection signal, and when the front edge of the cloth holding unit 6 moves backward from the start end of the transport conveyor 42, the hanging part of the cloth is the start end of the transport conveyor 42. The upper part of the cloth holding part is in contact with the upper part (the frictional force is generated), but at this time, the retreating speed of the cloth holding part is significantly faster than the traveling speed of the conveying conveyor 42. Tension is generated between the contact portion and the contact portion. At this time, the frictional force due to the contact with the leading end of the conveyor is greater than the suction force on the cloth leading edge, and the cloth leading edge is automatically pulled from the suction portion of the cloth holding part 6 by the tension applied to the cloth. Will come off.
Then, the cloth leading edge part peeled off from the cloth holding part 6 falls on the transport conveyor 42, and the entire cloth is fed back on the transport conveyor 42. The advancing / retreating drive device 15 is operated so that the cloth holding portion 6 is moved back to the retracted position, and then the cloth holding portion 6 is immediately moved forward to return to the original standby position.

  The present embodiment is an example in which the cloth supply apparatus of the first embodiment is applied to a cloth folding apparatus. For example, a rectangular cloth having a relatively small area such as a towel is folded in a four-fold state, and the folded cloth. Cloth that can be taken out automatically in a state where an appropriate number of sheets are stacked, and in addition, two types of towels (for example, face towels and bath towels) of different sizes can be automatically selected and stacked at different positions. It relates to a folding machine.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the cloth folding machine of the present embodiment has left and right side plates having guide means for the cloth supply device on the inside, a machine frame having a front plate forming a sensor mounting portion, and a space between the side plates. A conveyor that is installed in a state of running parallel to the side plate, a cloth supply device that includes a cloth holding unit for supplying cloth to the start end of the transfer conveyor, and a supply on the start of the transfer conveyor A stretching device for stretching the hanging portion of the cloth, a folding device for folding the cloth into four at the terminal end of the conveyor, and a stacking device for stacking the cloth according to size.

《Expanding device》
Immediately below the starting end of the transport conveyor 42, there is provided a stretching device 20 for stretching the hanging portion of the cloth held on the front half of the placing section 7 of the cloth holding section 6 vertically and horizontally. Yes. The expansion device 20 includes a vertical expansion suction box 21 having an opening immediately below the starting end of the transport conveyor 42, and a suction fan 22 that sucks the air in the expansion suction box 21 downward. Yes. The opening of the expansion suction box 21 is at a position spaced downward from the starting end of the transport conveyor 42 by, for example, about 300 mm.

《Expansion device operation》
The expansion device 20 operates as follows. That is, in the stretcher 20, the damper 24 is released by the cylinder 23 and a suction force is generated in the stretch suction portion, and the cloth holding portion 6 holding the cloth leading edge is retracted. Is rotating at a high speed, and when the cloth holding portion 6 is moved backward and the cloth hanging portion comes into contact with the feeding roll 25, the peripheral speed of the feeding roll 25 is several times faster than the retreating speed of the cloth holding portion 6. Therefore, the cloth hanging part is fed into the stretching suction box 21 by the frictional force between the cloth hanging part and the feeding roll 25, and the cloth hanging part fed into the stretching suction box 21. Is flipped back and forth and stretched up and down and left and right. Therefore, when such a stretching apparatus is used, when the fabric is supplied onto the starting end portion of the transport conveyor 42, an operation of manually stretching the fabric hanging portion is not required.

<Conveyor>
The conveyor 42 uses a plurality of narrow belts arranged in parallel at small intervals. In this embodiment, a conveyor belt having a length of about 1600 to 1700 mm and a width of about 800 to 900 mm is used. For example, the motor can continuously run at a speed of about 30 m / min. The length and width of this conveyor can be changed freely, and the conveyor

《Folding and stacking parts》
The folding section includes a conveyor 42, a motor 43 for driving the conveyor 42, sensors S7 and S8 disposed above the conveyor 42 at a predetermined interval, and a sensor S9 disposed above the end of the conveyor 42. A feeding conveyor 44 disposed below the conveyor 42 and fed to the stacking portion of the cloth folded by the conveyor, and a folding plate 45 for feeding the cloth between the conveyor and the feeding conveyor, The cylinder 46 is configured to move the folding plate 45 back and forth, and the fixing plate 47 that holds the front end of the cloth.
The feeding conveyor 44 is rotated in the direction opposite to the conveying conveyor 42 by a driving motor 43 of the conveying conveyor 42.

  In addition, the stacking unit faces the lower surface of the conveyor 42, and is a first unit that can swing between a position where the cloth folded four times in cooperation with the conveyor and a position where the cloth is dropped are dropped. The plate 48, the second plate 49, the cylinders 50, 51 for swinging the plates 48, 49, the sensor S10 provided above the first plate 48, and the four being conveyed based on the signal from the sensor S10 A presser plate 52 that presses the folded fabric against the first plate 48, a cylinder 53 that operates the presser plate, a stopper 54 provided at the end of the transport path of the four-folded fabric, and the fabric on the stopper 54 A cylinder 51 that operates at the same time as it hits or operates based on a signal from a sensor S11 provided above the second plate 49, and a cloth that is determined to be large under the first plate 48 The first to stack and carry out A delivery conveyor 55; a second delivery conveyor 56 which is provided below the second plate 49 and stacks and conveys fabrics determined to be small; a drive motor 57 for the first delivery conveyor 55; And a drive motor 58 for the second carry-out conveyor 56 disposed in the rollers of the carry-out conveyor 56.

<Operation of folding and stacking parts>
The cloth fed into the cloth folding apparatus 40 by the cloth supply apparatus according to the first embodiment is conveyed toward the folding section by the conveyance conveyor 42 that travels at a constant speed by the motor 43. It passes under the sensors S7 and S8 during the conveyance, and the total length of the cloth is measured from the time sensed by the sensor S7 or S8.
Further, since the leading end of the conveyed fabric hangs down from the leading end of the conveyor 42, the sensor S9 detects the start of the sag and sees the timing after the detection of the sensor S9 (if the length of 1/4 of the fabric hangs down). ), The folding plate 45 operated by the cylinder 46 moves to the right and presses the front end 1/4 of the cloth into the fixed plate 47. Next, the remaining 2/4 of the total length hangs down from 1/4 of the pressed cloth. At the same time, the folding plate 45 moves to the left, pushes the article between the conveyor 42 and the feeding conveyor 44, and conveys the cloth in the folded state by both conveyors in the direction of the stack (left direction in the drawing). Let

When the four-folded cloth sent to the stacking portion is large, the sensor S10 senses it, and the cylinder 53 is actuated by seeing the timing after the detection, and the presser plate 52 is rotated downward to be folded in four. The cloth is pressed against the first plate 48 and stopped. At the same time, the cylinder 50 is actuated to release the first plate 48, and the four-fold cloth is dropped onto the stopped first carry-out conveyor 55, and the four-fold cloth sent to the stacking section Is small, the cloth folded in four passes on the first plate 48 as it is, hits the stopper 54 and stops. At the same time, the cylinder 51 is operated to release the second plate 49, and the cloth folded in four is dropped onto the second carry-out conveyor 56 that is stopped.
Then, when the four-fold cloths that are continuously fed are separated and stacked on the carry-out conveyor by a specified number, the carry-out conveyor is moved by the drive motor by a specified amount, and the subsequent four-fold cloth is stacked. Secure.
In the above embodiment, the sensor S10 senses that the fabric is large and operates the dropping device. However, based on the fabric size determination signal by the sensors S2 to S5 provided in the fabric supply device. Thus, the cloth folding device 40 and the dropping device may be operated.

It is the top view to which the principal part of the cloth supply apparatus was expanded. It is the side view to which the principal part of the cloth supply apparatus was expanded. It is a front view of the principal part of a cloth supply apparatus. It is a whole side view of a cloth folding device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rail 2 Support frame 3 Side frame 4 Rail 5 Sensor attachment part 6 Cloth holding part 7 Placement part 8 Suction fan 9 Top plate 10 Intake hole 11 Left-right motion drive device 12 Motor 13 Rack 14 Pinion 15 Advance / retreat drive device 16 Cylinder 20 Stretch device 21 Suction box 22 Suction fan 23 Cylinder 24 Damper 25 Feed roll 40 Cloth folding device 41 Machine frame 42 Transport conveyor 43 Transport conveyor drive motor 44 Feed conveyor 45 Folding plate 46 Folding plate driving cylinder 47 Fixed Plate 48 First plate 49 Second plate 50 First plate driving cylinder 51 Second plate driving cylinder 52 Press plate 53 Press plate driving cylinder 54 Stopper 55 First carry-out conveyor 56 Second Unloading conveyor 57 First unloading conveyor drive motor 58 Second unloading conveyor Rotating motor
S1 ~ S8 Sensors provided in the cloth supply device
S7 ~ S11 Sensors installed in the cloth folding device
M mirror

Claims (6)

  Cloth supply that detects the bias of the cloth input position based on the detection result of the sensor arranged perpendicular to the cloth conveyance direction, and moves the cloth in the horizontal direction to match the reference point based on the detection result Method.   2. The cloth supply method according to claim 1, wherein the size of the cloth is determined based on a detection result of the sensor.   A support frame that moves forward and backward along the cloth conveyance direction, a cloth holding portion that is movable on the support frame in a direction perpendicular to the cloth conveyance direction, and a piece of cloth held by the cloth holding portion A cloth supply device comprising: a sensor for detecting a bias of the cloth; and a drive section for moving a cloth holding section holding the cloth based on a detection result of the sensor to a reference point.   The cloth supply device according to claim 3, wherein the cloth size is determined based on a detection result of the sensor.   A support frame capable of moving back and forth in the cloth conveying direction, an advancing / retreating drive device for moving the support frame back and forth, a cloth holding portion of the cloth supported on the support frame so as to be movable in the lateral direction, and the cloth In a cloth supply device that includes a left-right drive device that moves the holding portion in a direction orthogonal to the cloth conveyance direction, a plurality of sensors are arranged in front of the cloth supply side, A cloth supply device that operates the left-right drive device based on a detection result and determines the size of the cloth. A support frame that moves forward and backward along the cloth conveyance direction, a cloth holding portion that is movable on the support frame in a direction perpendicular to the cloth conveyance direction, and a piece of cloth held by the cloth holding portion A cloth supply device comprising: a sensor for detecting the bias of the cloth and the size of the cloth; and a driving section for moving the cloth holding section holding the cloth to a reference point based on the detection result of the sensor; and the cloth Folding device that folds the cloth sent in position by the supply device into four, and the mixed cloth sent by the folding device are stacked according to the size based on the detection result of the sensor A cloth folding device comprising a stacking device.

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