JP2007217085A - Guide device of carrying conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a guide device of a carrying conveyor capable of controlling the attitude of an article to be carried. <P>SOLUTION: In this guide device 1 of the carrying conveyor 40, a pair of guides 10L, 10R are oppositely disposed on both sides of the carrying conveyor 40. The guide device guides the article to be carried to the downstream side while bringing the article M on the carrying conveyor 40 into contact with the guides 10L, 10R on both sides, At least one of the pair of guides 10L, 10R is driven so that speeds of the pair of guides 10L, 10R are different from each other. Consequently, the attitude of the article M after the transportation can be controlled. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a guide device for a conveyer.

Conventionally, a conveyance conveyor guide device has been proposed in which guide belts are arranged to face both sides of the conveyance conveyor (Patent Document 1).
In the conventional conveying conveyor guide device, the speed of the pair of guide belts is set to coincide with the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor.
JP-A-6-219528 (page 4)

Here, for example, when the planar shape of the object to be transported is a unique shape such as a triangle, if the transported object is transported in a unified posture by controlling the posture of the object to be transported, the label is attached downstream. Advantages such as improved accuracy and smooth packaging process occur. Therefore, it is important to control the posture of the conveyed object.
However, the conventional conveyance conveyor guide device cannot control the posture of the object to be conveyed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a transport conveyor guide device capable of controlling the posture of a transported object.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, a pair of guides are opposedly arranged on both sides of the conveyor, and the object to be conveyed on the conveyor is guided downstream while contacting the guides on both sides. A conveying conveyor guide device configured to drive at least one of the pair of guides and control the posture of the object to be conveyed after conveyance by the speeds of the pair of guides being different from each other. It is possible to do it.

  According to the present invention, the attitude of the object to be conveyed can be controlled by conveying the object to be conveyed along the guide having the lower speed due to the speed difference between the pair of guides.

In the present invention, it is preferable that each of the pair of guides includes a guide belt that is rotationally driven.
According to this aspect, the pair of guide belts are operated at a constant speed and conveyed in the posture before entering the guide device, or the product is prevented from being damaged by giving a slight speed difference. Can be used.

In the present invention, it is preferable that a motor for rotationally driving the guide belt is provided for each guide belt, and the rotational speeds of the pair of guide belts are set to different speeds.
According to this aspect, the speed control of the guide belt is facilitated by providing a motor for each guide belt.

  In the present invention, the speed of the pair of guide belts may be set to different speeds by stopping one of the guide belts.

In the present invention, it is preferable that each of the motors is disposed below the guide belt.
According to this aspect, the motor and the guide belt can be easily attached and detached. Therefore, various guide belts can be exchanged and used depending on the object to be conveyed. Further, cleaning with the guide belt removed is facilitated.

In the present invention, the guide belt is preferably provided so as to be movable in the width direction.
According to this aspect, the posture of the conveyed object can be controlled by adjusting the distance between the pair of guide belts according to the size and shape of the conveyed object.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In addition, in order to make description easy to understand, in the following description, the object to be transported is illustrated as an object to be transported such as cheese having a substantially triangular planar shape.

overall structure:
As shown in FIG. 1, between the upstream conveyor 2 and the downstream conveyor 3, an attitude control conveyor 4 that controls the attitude of the conveyed object M is provided. The attitude control conveyor 4 includes a transfer conveyor 40 and a pair of guide devices 1 and 1.

  The guide devices 1 and 1 include guide belts 10L and 10R, respectively. The pair of guide belts 10L and 10R are disposed along a plane orthogonal to the transport conveyor 40, are opposed to each other, and are rotationally driven by a driving device described later. The attitude control conveyor 4 guides the object M on the conveyor 40 to the downstream conveyor 3 while making contact with the guide belts 10L and 10R on both sides.

  The inlet side 100 of each guide belt 10L, 10R has a shape that expands in a tapered shape toward the upstream. Note that the posture control units 101 between the inlet side 100 and the outlet side 102 of the guide belts 10L and 10R are parallel to each other.

Attitude control of conveyed object M:
The guide device 1 controls the posture of the conveyed object M by controlling the speed of the pair of guide belts 10L and 10R.
For example, the speed of the left guide belt 10L located on the left side when viewed from the transport direction X in FIG. 1 is made slower than the right guide belt 10R, so that one side surface of the transported object M is the belt surface of the left guide belt 10L. It is conveyed along. Accordingly, by passing the conveyed object M in various postures through the guide device 1, one side surface of the conveyed object M is conveyed to the downstream conveyor 3 in a predetermined attitude along the left guide belt 10L.
In this case, the speeds of the right guide belt 10R and the transport conveyor 40 are set to approximately the same speed.

  On the other hand, by moving the pair of guide belts 10L and 10R at the same speed, the object to be conveyed M can be conveyed in the posture before entering the guide device 1. That is, when the posture of the conveyed object M is not controlled, the speeds of the guide belts 10L and 10R are set to substantially the same speed, and the speeds of the guide belts 10L and 10R and the transport conveyor 40 are also substantially equal to each other. Is set.

  Thus, by controlling the speed of the pair of guide belts 10L and 10R, the posture of the conveyed object M can be freely controlled.

  Here, the speed difference between the guide belts 10L and 10R can be set by various methods. For example, one guide belt 10R (10L) may be rotated at approximately the same speed as the conveyor 40 and the other guide belt 10L (10R) may be stopped. You may let them.

Equipment configuration:
Next, details of the device configuration of the guide device 1 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the guide devices 1 and 1 are provided on both sides in the width direction W of the transport conveyor 40. The guide belts 10L and 10R are suspended through a suspension part 13a, and the guide belts 10L and 10R and the suspension part 13a constitute a belt unit 13u indicated by a halftone dot. The belt unit 13u is detachably fixed on a drive transmission unit 13 provided on the support base 12. Therefore, the guide belts 10L and 10R are disposed so as to be suspended from above at both ends in the width direction W of the transport conveyor 40 via the drive transmission unit 13 and the suspension unit 13a.

  Side belt drive motors 11 (FIG. 3) are provided on the support base 12 below the conveyor 40, respectively. The rotation of the drive motor 11 is transmitted to the guide belt 10L (10R) via the transmission means 10 indicated by a broken line in FIG.

  The transmission means 10 is provided with a one-way clutch that allows the guide belts 10L and 10R to rotate in the rotation direction and prevents rotation in the direction opposite to the rotation direction. When the conveyed object M rotates between the guide belts 10L and 10R, etc., the one-way clutch causes one of the guide belts to rotate faster than the driving speed of the guide belt received from the drive motor 11, and damages the conveyed object M. It can be transported smoothly without any problems.

Slide mechanism:
The drive transmission unit 13 in FIG. 2A is provided to be slidable in the width direction W with respect to the support base 12. A guide rod 16 is fixed along the width direction W in the support base 12. A slider 14 indicated by oblique lines is attached to the guide rod 16 so as to be slidable along the guide rod 16. A drive transmission unit 13 is fixed to the upper part of the slider 14, and the drive transmission unit 13 is set to be slidable in the width direction W with respect to the support base 12 according to the slide of the slider 14.

  On the outside of the slider 14 in the width direction W, a coiled spring 15 in a compressed state is wound around the guide rod 16, and the pair of drive transmission unit 13 and the belt unit 13 u are wound by the spring 15. These are biased so as to be close to each other at the positions indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

The guide belts 10L and 10R are located at a position indicated by a two-dot chain line by a biasing force of the spring 15 in a normal state. On the other hand, when a load is applied to the guide belt 10L (10R) by the contact of the conveyed object M, the spring 15 is compressed as shown by the solid line in FIG. 2A, and the drive transmission unit 13 and the belt unit 13u are mutually connected. It is moved toward the direction of separation (outward).
As described above, the guide belts 10L and 10R are moved outward by the contact of the conveyed object M, so that an excessive force can be prevented from being applied to the conveyed object M, and the guide belts 10L and 10R are It can be made to contact appropriately according to the size of the conveyed object M.

Width adjustment mechanism:
The pair of support bases 12 and 12 are supported by slide bases 19 and 19, respectively. The slide base 19 is supported so as to be slidable in the width direction W with respect to a frame (not shown). A width adjusting shaft 17 is provided between the slide bases 19 and 19. At both ends of the width adjusting shaft 17, for example, male screws 17b made of trapezoidal screws are formed. On the other hand, both the slide bases 19 and 19 are formed with female screws 19b. As shown by broken lines, the male screws 17b of the width adjusting shaft 17 are screwed into the female screws 19b of the slide base 19, respectively. . The left and right male screws 17b and female screws 19b are formed with left and right screws.
Therefore, when the width adjusting shaft 17 is rotated, the pair of guide devices 1 and 1 together with the pair of slide bases 19 are moved in the width direction W according to the width W2 of the conveyed object M in FIG. It is possible to set the distance W1 between 10L and 10R.

The distance W1 between the guide belts 10L and 10R is substantially the same as the width W2 of the article to be conveyed M shown in FIG. It is preferable to set the width slightly smaller than the width W2 of the object M.
In addition, between the drive transmission parts 13 and 13 of FIG.2 (b), the auxiliary rod 18 which the said drive transmission parts 13 and 13 slide penetrates.

  As described above, the distance adjustment rod 17 can set the distance W1 between the guide belts 10L and 10R to an optimum distance according to the size and shape of the conveyed object M. Further, even when the transport conveyor 40 is replaced and the length of the transport conveyor 40 in the width direction W changes, the position of the guide belts 10L and 10R can be changed by moving the guide devices 1 and 1 with the width adjusting rod 17. It can be set and moved to the optimal position.

Attaching / detaching the belt unit 13u:
As shown in FIGS. 2B and 3B, the suspension portion 13a of the belt unit 13u is detachably provided to the drive transmission portion 13. As shown by a broken line in FIG. 2B, the belt unit 13u and the transmission means 10 of the drive transmission unit 13 can be vertically separated via a coupling 13c, whereby the belt unit 13u is placed below the drive transmission unit 13. It can be attached and detached.

  As described above, the drive motor 11 is disposed below the transport conveyor 40 and the belt unit 13u including the guide belts 10L and 10R is provided above the transport conveyor 40, so that the belt unit 13u can be easily attached and detached. Therefore, various guide belts 10L and 10R can be exchanged and used according to the conveyed object M. Further, the belt unit 13u is removed from the drive transmission unit 13 and washed with water, for example, so that cleaning becomes easy.

  In the above-described embodiment, the pair of guide belts 10L and 10R is provided, but a side plate may be provided instead of one guide belt. In such a case, the side plate can provide the same effect as when one of the guide belts is stopped.

  Further, a camera may be provided upstream of the attitude control conveyor 4, and the rotational speed and speed difference of the guide belts 10L and 10R may be controlled according to the size and attitude of the conveyed object M imaged by the camera. Further, the rotation speed may be controlled by reading a value stored in advance in the storage unit for each size and posture of the conveyed object M.

Labeling machine:
By the way, a label sticking machine may be provided upstream or downstream of the attitude control conveyor 4. The label affixing machine applies the label affixed by pressing the label issued from the label printing device against the transported object M by the affixing part 51 provided at the lower end of the affixing arm 50 shown in FIG. Do.

  A spring is used for the arm portion 52 of the sticking arm 50. When a label is affixed to the oblique part of the conveyed object M, the spring of the arm part is bent and the affixing part 51 escapes as shown by the solid line from the initial position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Thus, the transfer can be smoothly performed without damaging the conveyed object M.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, a plurality of the pasting arms 50 are provided. When the cross section in the width direction W is the object to be transported M, the sticking arm 50 is attached to the oblique part of the object to be transported M so that the sticking arm can be attached to the central part in the width direction W. The length of 50 is short, and the length of the sticking arms 50 at both ends is long.

The sticking arm 50 is attached to the tip of the sticking machine arm. The lowering speed of the pasting machine arm may be changed according to the type of the conveyed object M. Moreover, you may change the downward stroke of a sticking machine arm according to the height of the to-be-conveyed object M. FIG.
Furthermore, when two sticking machines are provided, the lowering strokes of the first and second sticking arms may be different so that different labels can be attached to the same product at different heights. Good.

Speed of the conveyor 40 and the guide belt 10:
By the way, in the conventional attitude control conveyor, since the driving speed of the conveyance conveyor 40 and the guide belt 10 is constant, the attitude control of the conveyance object M is limited depending on the shape of the conveyance object (product) M and the packaging form. was there.
Therefore, in the example described below, the driving speed of the conveyor 40 and / or the guide belt 10 is variable, and the driving speed is changed according to the shape and packaging state of the object to be conveyed. The attitude of the conveyed object M can be controlled. A method for changing the driving speeds of the conveyor 40 and the guide belt 10 will be exemplified below.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, by increasing the driving speed of the guide belt 10 higher than the driving speed (conveying speed) of the conveying conveyor 40, the conveyed object M is moved along the guide belt 10. May be aligned.
Further, as shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D, the guide belt 10 may be aligned by rotating in the reverse direction. Further, only the guide belt 10 may be temporarily stopped and aligned.
As described above, since the speed can be switched according to the state of the transported object M (the shape of the product or the packaging state), the types of transportable objects M that can be transported are widened and the transported objects M are aligned. Accuracy can be improved.
In addition, according to the to-be-conveyed object M, the merchandise information in which the shape and packaging state of the to-be-conveyed object M are memorize | stored and the drive speed of the said conveyance conveyor 40 and the guide belt 10 are matched mutually, and memorize | store in advance. The driving speed may be automatically switched.

  The present invention can be applied to a guide device for a conveyor.

It is a schematic plan view which shows how to use the guide apparatus of the conveyance conveyor concerning one Example of this invention. (A) is a schematic front view from the upstream of an attitude | position control conveyor, (b) is a schematic front view of the state which removed the belt unit. (A) is a schematic side view of a posture control conveyor, (b) is a schematic side view of the state which removed the belt unit. (A) is a schematic perspective view which shows a sticking arm, (b) is a schematic bottom view which shows arrangement | positioning of a sticking arm. It is a schematic plan view which shows the method of the alignment by another example.

Explanation of symbols

1: Guide device 10L, 10R: Guide belt 11: Drive motor 40: Conveyor M: Object to be conveyed W: Width direction

Claims (6)

A guide device for a transport conveyor in which a pair of guides are arranged opposite to each other on both sides of the transport conveyor, and the object to be transported on the transport conveyor is guided downstream while contacting the guides on both sides,
A conveyance conveyor guide device configured to drive at least one of the pair of guides and to control the posture of the object to be conveyed after conveyance by causing the pair of guides to have different speeds.   2. The conveying conveyor guide device according to claim 1, wherein each of the pair of guides includes a guide belt that is rotationally driven.   3. The conveying conveyor guide device according to claim 2, wherein a motor that rotationally drives the guide belt is provided for each guide belt, and the pair of guide belts have different rotational speeds.   4. The conveyance conveyor guide device according to claim 3, wherein the speed of the pair of guide belts is set to be different from each other by stopping one of the guide belts.   5. The guide device for a conveyor according to claim 3, wherein each of the motors is disposed below the guide belt.   6. The guide device for a conveyor according to claim 2, wherein the guide belt is provided so as to be movable in the width direction.

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