JP2007176590A - Labeling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a labeling device which carries out movement of a suction plate by a single driving means, is reduced in parts count, and simple in structure. <P>SOLUTION: The labeling device is comprised of the suction plate 10 which is movable to a sucking location X for sucking a label L and a pasting location Y for pasting the label L to a commodity W. The labeling device detects whether the label L sucked by the suction plate 10 is non-defective or defective, and when a defective label is detected, the suction plate 10 is moved to a discarding location Z for discarding the defective label L. In this manner the single driving means carries out the movement of the suction plate 10 to the sucking location X, the pasting location Y, and the discarding location Z. The driving means is formed of an electric cylinder 20 which comprises a piston 22 for holding the suction plate 10 and reciprocatively movable to/from a cylinder 21, and can stop the piston 22 at a desired location. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a label affixing device that adsorbs a label with an adsorbing plate and affixes it to an article. In particular, it detects whether a label is good or defective, and when it detects a defect, releases the suction of the label related to the defect and discards it. It is related with the label sticking apparatus which can do.

Conventionally, as this type of label sticking device, one proposed by the applicant of the present application and published in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-104521 (Patent Document 1) is known.
As shown in FIG. 6, a label L is attached to an article W that is conveyed by a conveyor C along a predetermined conveyance direction. As the label L, an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag is attached. The RFID tag includes a loop-shaped communication antenna connected to a memory chip that stores various information. The labels L are temporarily attached to the belt-like mount D in order at equal intervals.

  This label sticking apparatus is provided with a suction plate 100 that is moved to a suction position X for sucking the label L and a sticking position Y for sticking the label L to the article W, and a support 102 that is rotatably provided on the machine base 1. An air cylinder device 101 that is supported and moves the suction plate 100 to the suction position X and the sticking position Y is provided. Further, whether the label L adsorbed on the adsorption plate 100 is good or bad is detected, and when the defect is detected, the support 102 is rotated, and the adsorption plate 100 that adsorbs the label L related to the defect is attached to the pasting position Y. There is another air cylinder device 103 that is moved to a discarding position Z for releasing and discarding the label L related to the defect. Whether the label is good or bad is detected by using a read / write device 104 that writes specific information to the memory chip of the RFID tag T via a communication antenna and rereads the written information.

According to this label sticking apparatus, the mount D on which the label L is temporarily attached is transported from the supply reel 105, and the label L is peeled off by the peeling plate 106 in this transporting process, and the peeled label L Is sucked by the suction plate 100 positioned at the suction position X. At the time of this adsorption, information is written to and read from the label L by the read / write device 104, and the quality of the label is judged.
When it is determined to be good, there is no abnormality, and as shown in FIG. 6A, the air cylinder device 101 advances at a predetermined timing, whereby the suction plate 100 is moved from the suction position X to the sticking position Y. The label L is attached to the article W by being positioned and brought into contact with the article W.

  On the other hand, when it is judged as defective, it is abnormal, and as shown in FIG. 6B, another air cylinder device 103 is driven to advance to rotate the support 102 to dispose the suction plate 100 from the suction position X. Move to Z. When the suction plate 100 reaches the disposal position Z, the suction of the label L is invalidated, and the label L determined to be defective is discarded in the disposal box 107.

JP-A-2005-104521

  By the way, in the conventional label sticking apparatus, in order to move the suction plate 100 to the disposal position Z, the support body 102 is provided rotatably on the machine base 1, and the suction plate 100 is further attached to the suction position X and the suction position X. In addition to the air cylinder device 101 that moves to the affixing position Y, another air cylinder device 103 for moving the support 102 is provided, so that the structure is complicated and the number of parts increases. There was a problem that.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a label affixing device in which the suction plate is moved by a single driving means, the number of parts is reduced, and the mechanism can be simplified. And

  In order to solve the above problems, the label sticking apparatus of the present invention includes a suction plate that moves to a suction position for sucking a label and a sticking position for sticking a label to an article, and the quality of the label sucked on the suction plate is good or bad. When a defect is detected, the suction plate that sucks the label related to the defect is moved from the suction position to a position different from the pasting position to a discard position for discarding the label related to the defect. In the label sticking apparatus, the suction plate is moved to the suction position, the sticking position, and the discarding position by one driving means.

According to this, when affixing the label to the article, the quality of the label is detected, and when it is good, the drive means moves the adsorption plate that adsorbs the label from the adsorption position to the application position, and the label is attached to the article. Affix to
On the other hand, when a defective label is detected, the suction plate that sucks the label is moved from the suction position to the discard position by the same driving means as described above, and the label is released from the suction and discarded.
In this case, the suction plate is moved to the suction position, the pasting position, and the discarding position by one driving means, so that the number of parts is reduced and the mechanism can be simplified.

And, if necessary, the drive means includes a piston that holds the suction plate and can move forward and backward from the cylinder, and is constituted by an electric cylinder that can stop the piston at a desired position.
Thereby, in the electric cylinder, since the piston can be stopped at a desired position, the suction plate can be moved and held in any one of the suction position, the pasting position and the discarding position by one electric cylinder, so the number of parts can be surely reduced, The mechanism can be simplified.

Then, if necessary, the suction position is set to the midway position of the piston, the sticking position is set to a position further advanced from the midway position of the piston, and the discard position is retracted from the midway position of the piston. The position is set.
Since the disposal position is set to the position where the piston is retracted from the suction position, it is easy to secure an installation space such as a disposal box for receiving the discarded label.

  In addition, the suction plate can be changed in direction so that the orientation of the suction surface of the suction plate at the discarding position is different from the orientation of the suction surface of the suction plate at the suction position, if necessary. And Since the direction of the suction plate is changed at the discarding position and the label is discarded, the degree of freedom in design increases, such as the setting of a disposal box or the like that receives the discarded label can be set to an optimum place.

In this case, if necessary, the suction plate is placed in the suction position where the suction surface is positioned in a direction orthogonal to the forward / backward direction of the piston and the fixed position in the sticking position, and the suction surface is in the forward / backward direction of the piston. A rotation mechanism is provided that is rotatably supported at two positions, which are different from the orthogonal position, and different positions at the discard position, and that rotates the suction plate to the fixed position and the two positions. The suction plate is changeable in direction by the movement.
A label can be discarded outside the piston's forward / backward movement path, and a waste box or the like that receives the discarded label can be easily installed.

  Furthermore, if necessary, the rotating mechanism includes a biasing means that biases the suction plate from the different position to a fixed position, and a biasing means that moves the suction plate from the suction position to the disposal position. The suction plate is pressed against the biasing force and rotated from the fixed position to a different position, and the suction plate is released when the suction plate moves from the discarding position to the suction position. And a pressing member for rotating the suction plate from the different position to a fixed position by the urging force of the means. Since the direction can be changed simply by pressing the suction plate with the pressing member, the mechanism can be simplified.

The label is a label provided with an RFID tag having a memory chip for storing various information and a communication antenna connected to the memory chip.
The RFID tag memory chip and antenna can be easily taken out separately and processed, which is extremely useful in waste disposal. Further, the defective RFID tag is not attached to the article.

According to the label sticking apparatus of the present invention, the suction plate is moved to the suction position, the sticking position, and the discarding position by one driving means, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the mechanism can be simplified. become. And the label which concerns on a defect can be discarded automatically, and discard efficiency is improved. In particular, in the case of a label provided with an RFID tag, a memory chip and an antenna of the RFID tag can be easily taken out separately and processed, and various effects are obtained such as being extremely useful for waste disposal.
Further, when the driving means is constituted by an electric cylinder, the number of parts can be surely reduced, the mechanism can be simplified, the size and weight can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

Hereinafter, based on an accompanying drawing, a label sticking device concerning an embodiment of the invention is explained in detail. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and demonstrated to the same thing as the above.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the label sticking device according to the embodiment of the present invention sticks a label L to an article W transported by a conveyor C in the course of transporting the article W. A label L to which an RFID tag having a memory chip for storing various information and a communication antenna connected to the memory chip is attached is attached. The labels L are temporarily attached to the belt-like mount D in order at equal intervals.

The label L sticking device according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a supply reel 2 that is provided on the machine base 1 and supplies a belt-like mount D to which the label L is temporarily attached to the board transport path. A peeling plate 3 is provided which peels the label L from the belt-like mount D and sends it to a take-up reel (not shown). The peeling plate 3 peels off the label L from the strip-shaped mount D by folding back the strip-shaped mount D that has been transported along the mount transport path at the tip.
Further, a printing mechanism 4 that performs required printing on the label L in the process of transporting the mount D is provided in front of the peeling plate 3. A sensor 5 for detecting the label L is provided in front of the printing mechanism 4 in order to detect the printing base point of the label L.

Moreover, the label L sticking device according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a rectangular plate-like suction plate 10 that is provided in the vicinity of the downstream side of the peeling plate 3 and sucks the label L. The suction plate 10 sucks the label L peeled off by the peeling plate 3 on the suction surface 10a. The suction plate 10 is provided with a plurality of small holes (not shown) for sucking air for sucking the surface of the label L.
The suction plate 10 is moved to a suction position X for sucking the label L and a sticking position Y for sticking the label L to the article W. As shown in FIG. 2, the suction plate 10 is of a type that sprays and affixes the label L to the article W by blowing air out of the small holes at the sticking position Y.

Moreover, in this label L sticking apparatus, the quality of the label L adsorbed to the adsorption plate 10 is detected, and when the defect is detected, the adsorption plate 10 that adsorbs the label L related to the defect is removed from the adsorption position X. To a discarding position Z for discarding the label L related to the defect. The good / bad detection of the label L is performed by detecting the good / bad of the RFID tag attached to the label L.
As shown in FIG. 1, detection of good / bad of the RFID tag attached to the label L is provided at a position along the movement path of the label L, and is specified via a communication antenna for the RFID chip memory chip. When the read / write device 11 reads the written information, the read / write device 11 compares the read information with the regular information stored in advance. Judge the defect. That is, when the written information is different from the read information, or when the written information cannot be read, it is determined as defective.

In the label L sticking apparatus according to the embodiment, the suction plate 10 is moved to the suction position X, the sticking position Y, and the discard position Z by a single driving means.
The driving means includes a piston 22 that holds the suction plate 10 and can move forward and backward from the cylinder 21, and includes an electric cylinder 20 that can stop the piston 22 at a desired position. The electric cylinder 20 is fixed to the machine base 1.
Then, by this electric cylinder 20, the suction position X is set to the midway position of the piston 22, the sticking position Y is set to a position further advanced from the midway position of the piston 22, and the disposal position Z is set from the midway position of the piston 22. Set to the retracted position.

As the electric cylinder 20, for example, an electric motor 20a for moving the piston 22 forward and backward provided on the other end side of the cylinder 21 opposite to the one end where the piston 22 enters and exits, and rotational movement of the electric motor 20a are used. A conversion mechanism (not shown) that converts the linear motion of the piston 22 is provided. The conversion mechanism includes a nut member (for example, constituted by a ball nut) that is rotated in the cylinder 21 by the electric motor 20a, and a screw shaft (for example, constituted by a ball screw) that constitutes the piston 22 and is screwed to the nut member. The nut member is rotated to move the screw shaft so as to expand and contract. The electric cylinder 20 can freely change the speed at which the piston 22 expands and contracts by adjusting the operation pulse interval with respect to the electric motor 20a. There are features that can.
Therefore, the suction body 10 can be accurately stopped at the suction position X, the pasting position Y, and the discard position Z as compared with the air cylinder, and the moving speed from the suction position X to the discard position Z and from the suction position X to the pasting position Y is achieved. Can be set freely.

Moreover, the label L sticking device according to the embodiment is configured so that the orientation of the suction surface 10a of the suction plate 10 at the disposal position Z is different from the orientation of the suction surface 10a of the suction plate 10 at the suction position X. The direction of can be changed direction.
Specifically, the suction plate 10 has a suction position 10a at which the suction surface 10a is positioned in a direction orthogonal to the advancing and retreating direction of the piston 22 of the electric cylinder 20, and the suction surface 10a. The discard position Z is located in a direction different from the direction orthogonal to the advancing / retreating direction of the piston 22 of the electric cylinder 20 (in the embodiment, the direction along the advancing / retreating direction of the piston 22 is different from the fixed position A by θ = 90 °). Is supported by the holding body 24 so as to be rotatable through a rotation shaft 23 at two positions with respect to the different position B. And the rotation mechanism 30 which rotates the adsorption | suction board 10 to 2 positions of the fixed position A and the different position B is provided, and the adsorption | suction board 10 is changeable by this movement.

  Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pair of shaft support portions 25 a and 25 a on which the rotation shaft 23 is laid and the shaft support portions 25 a and 25 a are connected to the back surface side of the suction plate 10. A U-shaped projecting member 25 having a continuous portion 25b is provided. On the other hand, the holding body 24 has a pair of bearing portions 24a, 24a facing the shaft support portions 25a, 25a of the projecting member 25 through which the rotating shaft 23 is inserted and supported, and the bearing portions 24a, 24a connected to each other, and the electric cylinder 20 And an attachment portion 24b to which the piston 22 is attached. Then, the position where the connecting portion 25b of the projecting member 25 abuts on the mounting portion 24b of the holding body 24 by the rotation (counterclockwise rotation Ra in FIG. 3) is set as the above-mentioned fixed position A. Yes. Further, the continuous portion 25b of the protruding member 25 is separated from the mounting portion 24b of the holding body 24 by rotation (rotation of the clockwise direction Rb in FIG. 3), and the suction surface 10a of the suction plate 10 is moved forward and backward. A position along the direction is set as a different position B. At the different position B, the angle θ with respect to the fixed position A of the suction surface 10a of the suction plate 10 is not limited to the above and may be set to an appropriate angle range.

  3 and 4, the rotating mechanism 30 includes a coil spring 31 as an urging unit that urges the suction plate 10 from a different position B to a fixed position A, and the suction plate 10 is thrown away from the suction position X. In the process of reaching the position Z, the suction plate 10 is pressed against the urging force of the coil spring 31 to rotate from the fixed position A to the different position B, and the suction plate 10 moves from the discard position Z to the suction position X. And a pressing member 32 for releasing the pressing of the suction plate 10 and rotating the suction plate 10 from the different position B to the fixed position A by the urging force of the coil spring 31.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the coil spring 31 is inserted into the rotating shaft 23, one end is locked to the suction plate 10, and the other end is locked to the holding body 24. 3 in the counterclockwise direction Ra). The pressing member 32 is formed in a cam plate shape having a cam surface that comes into contact with the protruding member 25, and is fixed to the machine base 1 in the vicinity of the suction position X of the suction plate 10. 3, it comes into contact with the protruding member 25 of the suction plate 10 at the front position of the disposal position Z, and the suction plate 10 is moved to the different position B side (clockwise direction Rb in FIG. 3) against the urging force of the coil spring 31. ) And when it reaches the disposal position Z, it is positioned and held at the different position B.

When the suction plate 10 is positioned at the discard position Z and is located at the different position B, air is blown out from the suction plate 10 and the label L is discarded. As shown in FIG. 1, the machine base 1 is provided with a disposal box 40 for receiving the discarded label L.
Various controls such as suction control of the suction plate 10 and operation control of the electric cylinder 20 are performed by a control unit (not shown).

Therefore, according to the label L sticking device according to this embodiment, the label L is stuck to the article W as follows. This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, the label L is conveyed from the supply reel 2 while being temporarily attached to the mount D, and when the sensor 5 detects the label L, the printing mechanism 4 performs the required printing on the label L (S11). .
Thereafter, when the label L is peeled off by the peeling plate 3, the suction plate 10 located at the suction position X sucks the label L (S12). Before this adsorption, specific information is written to the memory chip of the RFID tag T from the transmission / reception antenna of the reader / writer 11 via the communication antenna, and the written information is read again.

  Then, in the control unit, when the information written by the read / write device 11 is read, the read information is compared with the regular information stored in advance to determine whether it is good or bad (S13). That is, the written information and the read information are matched. On the other hand, when they do not match, that is, when the written information is different from the read information, or when the written information cannot be read, it is judged as defective.

  When it is determined to be good (NO in S13), since there is no abnormality, the piston 22 of the electric cylinder 20 advances and the suction plate 10 is positioned at the sticking position Y at a predetermined timing as shown in FIG. At the sticking position Y, air is blown from the suction plate 10, and the label L is stuck to the article W by this air force (S14). After the sticking, the suction plate 10 is returned to the suction position X again and stands by.

  On the other hand, when it is determined to be defective (YES in S13), it is abnormal, and therefore the piston 22 of the electric cylinder 20 is moved backward to move the suction plate 10 from the suction position X to the discard position Z. In this movement process, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the protruding member 25 of the suction plate 10 abuts against the pressing member 32 and resists the biasing force of the coil spring 31 from the fixed position A to the different position B side. When it is pressed and reaches the disposal position Z, it is positioned and held at the different position B.

  At the disposal position Z, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, air is blown out from the suction plate 10 and the label L is discarded into the disposal box 40. (S15). In this case, since the orientation of the suction surface 10a of the suction plate 10 is different from the orientation of the suction surface 10a of the suction plate 10 at the suction position X at the disposal position Z, the label 22 is located outside the forward / backward movement path of the piston 22. L can be thrown away. For this reason, the installation of the disposal box 40 or the like is set to an optimum place, and a situation in which a normal pasting operation of the piston 22 is hindered is prevented. Thereafter, the suction plate 10 returns to the suction position X again, and the processes from S11 to S13 are repeated until the good label L is again sucked by the suction plate 10.

  In this case, since the label L related to the defect is stocked in the disposal box 40, the memory chip and the antenna of the RFID tag T can be easily taken out and processed separately. Further, since the label L relating to the defect is moved to a position different from the suction position X, which is the discard position Z, is discarded, and the situation where it falls to the article W side or enters into other equipment is prevented, and is reliably discarded. Is done. Furthermore, since the electric cylinder 20 moves the suction plate 10 to the suction position X, the sticking position Y, and the discard position Z by one unit, the drive is reliable, the number of parts is reduced, and the mechanism is simplified. Will be able to.

In the above-described embodiment, the suction plate 10 is configured to be a type in which air is blown out and the label L is attached to the article W by air force. A type of attaching L or a type of attaching the label L by pressing the suction plate 10 itself may be appropriately changed.
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although it demonstrated that the bad label L was discarded to the disposal box 40, it is not limited to this, A plate-shaped waste board and a saucer which affix the defective label L may be sufficient, It can be changed appropriately.
Furthermore, although the RFID tag is attached as the label L in the above embodiment, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and a normal label L to which no RFID tag is attached may be used. In this case, for example, a bar code in which information is written is attached to the label L, the bar code information is read, and the quality is determined.

It is a figure which shows the label sticking apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the label sticking apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the rotation mechanism of the label sticking apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention with the operation | movement process (a) (b) (c) of a suction plate. It is a top view of the suction plate which shows the rotation mechanism of the label sticking apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement process of the label sticking apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the conventional label sticking apparatus, (a) is a front view, (b) is a side view.

Explanation of symbols

W Article C Conveyor L Label D Strip mount 1 Machine stand 2 Supply reel 3 Peeling plate 4 Printing mechanism 10 Adsorption plate 10a Adsorption surface 11 Read / write device X Adsorption position Y Adhesion position Z Disposal position 20 Electric cylinder (drive means)
20a Electric motor 21 Cylinder 22 Piston 23 Rotating shaft 24 Holding body 25 Projecting member 30 Rotating mechanism A Fixed position B Different position 31 Coil spring (biasing means)
32 Pressing member 40 Waste box

Claims (7)

A suction plate that moves to a suction position for sucking the label and a sticking position for sticking the label to the article is detected, and whether the label sucked to the suction plate is good or bad is detected. In the label sticking apparatus that moves the sucked suction plate from the suction position to a discard position for discarding the label related to the defect, which is different from the paste position,
A label sticking apparatus, wherein the suction plate is moved to the suction position, the sticking position, and the discarding position by one driving means.   2. The label sticking device according to claim 1, wherein the driving means comprises a piston that holds the suction plate and can move forward and backward from the cylinder, and can stop the piston at a desired position.   The suction position is set to the midway position of the piston, the sticking position is set to a position further advanced from the midway position of the piston, and the discard position is set to a position retracted from the midway position of the piston. The label affixing device according to claim 2, wherein   3. The suction plate according to claim 2, wherein the suction plate can be turned so that a direction of the suction surface of the suction plate at the discarding position is different from a direction of the suction surface of the suction plate at the suction position. 3. The label affixing device according to 3.   The suction plate has a different position from the fixed position at the suction position and the sticking position where the suction surface is positioned in a direction orthogonal to the forward / backward direction of the piston and the direction in which the suction surface is orthogonal to the forward / backward direction of the piston. And a rotation mechanism for rotating the suction plate to the two positions of the fixed position and the different position. The label sticking device according to claim 4, wherein the direction is changeable.   The rotating mechanism includes a biasing unit that biases the suction plate from the different position to a fixed position, and a biasing force of the biasing unit in a process from the suction position to the disposal position. The suction plate is pressed and rotated from the fixed position to the different position, and when the suction plate moves from the disposal position to the suction position, the suction plate is released and the suction force is applied by the biasing force of the biasing means. The label sticking device according to claim 4, further comprising a pressing member that rotates the plate from the different position to a fixed position.   7. The label according to claim 1, wherein the label is a label provided with an RFID tag having a memory chip for storing various information and a communication antenna connected to the memory chip. Labeling device.

Images