JP2007314260A - Article transfer device, article transfer system, and article transfer method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article transfer device, an article transfer system, and an article transfer method capable of simplifying a facility system for performing the heat treatment of an article such as a retort pouch and an infusion bag, miniaturizing an installation space and enhancing the heat treatment quality. <P>SOLUTION: There are provided a tray drawing type casing 30 for heat treatment in which trays 20 are accommodated in upper and lower stages in a freely take-in/take-out manner at a predetermined stroke, and an article transfer device F1 having the unloading function of conveying a heat-treated article 3b from the tray 20 for the tray 20 to be drawn out of the casing 30 and the loading function of loading a not-heat treated article 3a in the tray 20 returned to the casing 30 which is added to the tray get-in/get-out side of the casing 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an article transfer apparatus, an article transfer system, and an apparatus that can be applied to a heat treatment facility that places a plurality of articles such as packages to be heat-treated for the purpose of sterilization on a tray and performs heat treatment in a batch manner. The present invention relates to an article transfer method in a system.

  Retort pouches filled with food, retort foods with food sealed in a hard plastic container, and medical retort packages such as infusion bags are treated with steam and hot water in a heat treatment kettle of a high-pressure kettle (retort). It is heat-treated and sterilized and sterilized. For example, a plurality of retort pouches are placed vertically and horizontally on a flat tray (loading), and are loaded into a heat treatment tank of a product sterilization / product sterilization facility together with the tray for heat treatment. As the tray, a rectangular bottom plate having many holes through which steam or hot water passes is used. A plurality of trays in which a plurality of retort pouches are arranged and held are stacked on a transport cart with a holding vehicle and transported to a heat treatment pot, and the plurality of stacked trays are carried into the heat treatment pot. When the heat treatment of the retort pouch is finished in batch mode, the stacking tray is taken out from the heat treatment pot. The plurality of stacked trays are separated one by one, the heat-treated retort pouches are unloaded from the trays, and are transported to the subsequent shipping line.

  FIG. 15 shows a schematic example of a batch type product sterilization / product sterilization facility. FIG. 15A is a plan view of product sterilization / product sterilization equipment, and FIG. 15B is a side view of a transport cart in which a plurality of trays are stacked.

  The product sterilization / product sterilization equipment shown in FIG. 15 (A) includes tray stacker unstacker P1, tray stacker stacker P2 and tray transport line arranged at both ends of linear tray transport line L. Two kinds of article transfer devices Q1 and Q2 arranged at two locations L, and an article carry-out conveyor R1 and an article carry-in conveyor R2 installed at the end of the article carry-in / load line orthogonal to the tray conveyance line L are provided. Various conveyors (no code) are provided between these various apparatuses and facilities. A transport cart 4 shown in FIG. 15B is a hand-drawn cart. A plurality of trays 2 are stacked on the transport cart 4 and run on the floor by the hand of an operator 5. A plurality of retort pouches (hereinafter referred to as articles as necessary) 3 are loaded in each of a plurality of trays 2 to be stacked in a line in the vertical and horizontal directions. The plurality of articles 3 on the tray 2 are unheated articles before heat treatment, or heat treated articles that have been heat treated. Hereinafter, the unheated article is referred to as 3a, and the heat-treated article is referred to as 3b as necessary. In the tray 2, a hole through which heat treatment steam passes is formed in a rectangular flat bottom plate, and a frame plate is erected integrally with the periphery of the bottom plate (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  A chain line in FIG. 15A indicates the heat treatment pot 1. The stacking tray 2 taken out from the heat treatment pot 1 is placed on the transport cart 4 and carried to the front of the unstacker P1. The unstacker P1 takes out the stacking tray 2 one by one from the upper stage (stacking). The single tray 2 taken out is an actual tray that holds a plurality of heat-treated articles 3b. The actual tray 2 is horizontally conveyed downstream by a conveyor on the tray conveyance line L one by one, and is carried into the article transfer device Q1. The article transfer device Q1 is an article unloading apparatus that takes out the heat-treated article 3b held on the carried-in actual tray 2. The article transfer device Q1 transfers the heat-treated article 3b unloaded from the tray 2 to a conveyor adjacent to the article transfer device Q1. The conveyer transfers the transferred heat-treated article 3b to the article carry-out conveyor R1. The article transfer device Q1 is a device (for example, a patent) that pushes up a protruding pin from a hole formed in the bottom plate of the tray, lifts a plurality of articles from the tray, transfers the articles to the conveyor, and transfers them to the article carry-out conveyor R1. Reference 2), or an apparatus for transferring a plurality of articles onto an adjacent conveyor by turning the tray upside down is applied. The article carry-out conveyor R1 carries out the heat-treated articles 3b one by one to the shipping line. The heat-treated article 3b carried out to the shipping line is shipped after necessary processing such as drying and packing.

The tray 2 that has been emptied after the predetermined number of heat-treated articles 3b are taken out by the article transfer device Q1 is transported downstream through the tray transport line L to the article transfer device Q2 connected to the article carry-in conveyor R2. Be transported. The article transfer device Q2 is a loading device that aligns and transfers unheated articles 3a that are carried one by one from the article carry-in conveyor R2 onto the empty tray 2. As the article transfer device Q2, a device (for example, see Patent Document 3) that drops the article 3a onto the tray 2 using an extendable conveyor is applied. The tray 2 on which a predetermined number of unheated articles 3a are transferred by the article transfer device Q2 is transferred to the subsequent stacker P2 one by one as an actual tray. The stacker P2 stacks the loaded actual trays 2 one by one on the transport cart 4. When the stacking of the predetermined number of trays is completed, the worker 5 pushes the transport cart 4 and carries it to the heat treatment pot 1. In the heat treatment pot 1, a plurality of pots are juxtaposed, and the stacking tray is carried together with a predetermined number of unheated articles to the heat treatment pot 1 that has been cooled down after operation, and heat treatment for sterilization and sterilization is performed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-068141 (FIG. 12) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-206367 (FIG. 1) JP 2000-335732 A (FIG. 8)

  A batch-type product sterilization / product sterilization facility as shown in FIG. 15 can perform heat treatment in a sanitary and safe manner without touching an article to be heat treated such as a retort pouch. However, an unstacker that stacks the actual trays holding the articles stacked on the transport cart one by one, a transfer device (article unloader) that transfers a plurality of heat-treated articles from the actual tray to the conveyor, The product is sterilized with a combination of various independent devices and equipment, such as a transfer device (article loader) for transferring unheated articles to an empty tray and a stacker for stacking actual trays holding unheated articles. The entire product sterilization facility was complicated and large, and there was a problem that the installation space was large. In addition, the above-mentioned various independent devices and facilities make it difficult to reduce the cost of the entire product sterilization and product sterilization facilities, and it is difficult to appropriately respond to changes in the type of each item, thereby improving the compatibility of various items. There was a problem.

  Also, as the installation space for product sterilization and product sterilization facilities increases, the amount of movement of trays and articles increases, and there is a high probability that the articles will be displaced due to vibrations that occur during the movement of the articles. The probability that the peripheral parts of adjacent articles overlap each other increases. In particular, when an article is dropped onto a tray from the conveyor tip and loaded, the article is likely to be displaced on the tray even if the impact at the time of dropping is small. Such misalignment of articles is conspicuous in articles that are soft and easily deformed, such as retort pouches and infusion bags. For example, in a retort pouch, a thermocompression bonding piece between two packaging materials (resin film, etc.) protruding from the outer periphery of a food filling portion is thin and easy to be bent, and the retort pouch is conveyed by this joining piece. In addition, since it is difficult to accurately position on the tray, there is a high probability that the adjacent retort pouches on the tray will be greatly displaced. When food filling portions of adjacent retort pouches on the tray before heat treatment partially overlap each other, there is a high possibility that the overlapped portion is short of heat treatment, making it difficult to manage the heat treatment quality of the retort pouch.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an article transfer device and an article transfer system effective for simplifying equipment for heat-treating a plurality of articles such as a retort pouch, reducing installation space, and improving heat treatment quality. There is to do.

  The article transfer device of the present invention that achieves the above object has a wave-like bottom surface in which a plurality of convex portions and concave portions are alternately continuous, and is substantially horizontal capable of holding an article to be heat-treated on the convex portion of the bottom surface. A corrugated tray, a conveyor placed above the tray so as to be relatively movable in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the tray, and connected to the tray, connected to the leading end of the conveyor, from the leading end of the conveyor An article delivery guide member having a guide slope extending in a downward slope and a comb-like tooth tip portion inserted into a recess in the bottom surface of the tray so as to be relatively movable in a substantially horizontal direction. The article is moved between the tray and the conveyor by moving the conveyor and the guide member in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the tray in a state where the tooth tip portion is inserted into the recess on the bottom surface of the tray and moving the article to the guide slope of the guide member. of Perform only pass.

  In the case of the article transfer device, an auxiliary roller for assisting the movement of the article can be provided on the guide slope of the guide member.

  Here, the guide slope of the guide member is a slope on which the article easily slides and moves. However, depending on the type and size of the article, the sliding property on the guide slope may not be stable. In such a case, if an auxiliary roller is provided at one or a plurality of locations on the guide slope, and the upper outer periphery of the roller is slightly protruded from the guide slope, the auxiliary roller assists in slipping of the article and stabilizes the slipperiness.

  Further, in the case of the article transfer device, the guide and the guide member are reciprocally moved in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the tray in a state in which the tooth tip portion of the guide member is inserted into the recess on the bottom surface of the tray, and the guide member is The heat-treated article on the tray is moved to the conveyor at the time of relative forward movement from the side toward the rear end side, and the unheat-treated article previously carried into the conveyor at the time of relative backward movement from the rear end side of the tray to the front end side. Articles can be moved from the conveyor onto the tray.

  Here, the corrugated bottom surface of the corrugated tray has a corrugated convex portion and a valley-shaped concave portion having a predetermined length alternately formed into a corrugated surface, or a plurality of point-shaped convex portions on a flat bottom surface. It is formed in a grid-like arrangement, and valley-shaped concave portions are formed between adjacent convex portion rows to form a wave surface. A corrugated plate can be used for the bottom plate of the tray, and the corrugated top surface can be a corrugated bottom surface. The article to be heat-treated is a size and shape in which a single product is placed and held on a plurality of convex portions on the bottom of the corrugated tray, and is a regular and flexible packaging product such as a retort pouch or infusion bag. Other non-packaging foods and medicines can be applied. The number of articles held on a single tray may be a single article as long as it is a large article, in addition to a plurality of articles that are heat-treated batchwise. As the conveyor, an extendable belt conveyor having front and rear ends is effective. A guide member is fixedly or detachably connected to the tip of the conveyor.

  The tooth tip portion of the guide member is removably inserted into the plurality of concave portions on the bottom surface of the tray. The conveyor and the guide member are reciprocally moved relative to the tray in a substantially horizontal direction in a state where the tooth tip portion is inserted into the concave portion on the bottom surface of the tray. This reciprocal relative movement can be a relative movement in which one of the conveyor and the guide member and the tray are fixed and the other is moved, and a relative movement in which both are moved toward and away from each other. By this relative movement, when the tooth tip portion of the guide member is relatively advanced in the recess on the bottom surface of the tray, the article placed on the convex portion on the bottom surface of the tray moves from the tooth tip portion of the guide member to the guide slope of the base portion. Unloading is performed by scooping and transporting to the conveyor. In the reverse relative movement, loading is performed by transferring a plurality of articles to the guide member by the conveyor so that the articles slide on the guide slope of the guide member and are transferred onto the convex portion of the bottom surface of the tray. Is called. In this way, the article transfer between the tray and the conveyor is performed by sliding the article on the guide slope of the guide member, so that the article transfer between the tray and the conveyor is always performed smoothly. In addition, the article does not receive a large external force when the article is transferred, and damage and misalignment of the article can be reduced and suppressed.

  The article transfer system of the present invention that achieves the above object includes a tray that holds an article to be heat-treated, and a tray pull-out type that holds a plurality of trays vertically and horizontally so that they can be taken in and out with a constant stroke in a substantially horizontal front and rear direction. The heat-treated article on the tray is unloaded to a predetermined article carry-out line and placed back into the casing. An article transfer device for loading an unheated article from a predetermined article carry-in line to the tray is provided.

  The article transfer device in the above system can have a structure including the corrugated tray, the conveyor, and the guide member.

  Alternatively, the article transfer device in the system adsorbs the heat-treated article on the tray pulled out from the casing and transfers it to the article carry-out line, and sucks the unheated article in the article carry-in line from the casing. A structure including a suction pad that is transferred onto the drawn tray and a pad driving device that moves the suction pad between the housing, the article carry-out line, and the article carry-in line can be provided.

  Here, the tray drawer type housing is a rectangular box-shaped rack or basket having an open front surface. The front surface of the housing opens, and the tray is inserted and removed through this opening. The tray may be a rectangular flat plate or corrugated plate whose bottom plate for holding the article is substantially horizontal. The housing has both side plates opposed in parallel, and has grooves or rails on the inner surfaces of the both side plates so as to slidably support both side ends of the tray at predetermined intervals. The trays are pulled out from the casing one by one with a fixed stroke in order and put back into the casing with the same fixed stroke. The drawer of the tray from the housing and the insertion / removal of the drawn tray can be automatically performed by an automatic tray loading / unloading device disposed in the article transfer device provided in the housing. This tray loading / unloading device can also be provided on the facility side that supports the casing. The tray loading / unloading device can be a device that reciprocally moves the drawer claw that is removably engaged with the front end of the tray accommodated in the housing in a fixed stroke. Pull out the tray from the case with a fixed stroke, transfer the article on the tray to the article transfer device, and move the tray back into the case to transfer the article from the article transfer device to the tray. By loading, articles can be delivered with good workability with less time waste. In addition, the article transfer apparatus provided on the front side of the housing opening repeatedly performs both the unloading and loading operations on the tray. In other words, the unloader and the loader are performed by one device and facility, so that the installation space of the entire facility can be reduced, and the amount of movement of the tray and the article can be greatly reduced. It becomes easy to suppress the position shift due to the movement.

  The article transfer system includes a lifting device that moves one of the housing and the article transfer device up and down relative to the other, and each time the housing and the article transfer device are intermittently moved relative to each other by the lifting device. In addition, the trays can be loaded and unloaded one by one with respect to the casing, and the articles transferred to the tray can be unloaded with the heat-treated articles and loaded with the unheat-treated articles.

  In this case, in the article transfer device provided with the conveyor and the guide member, the unheated article on the tray is unloaded while pulling out one tray from the casing, and the unloading is finished when the fixed stroke is drawn, Next, the unheated article is loaded onto the tray while the empty tray is put back into the housing, and the loading can be terminated when the fixed stroke is put back. Further, in the article transfer apparatus using the suction pad, the heat-treated article on the tray is unloaded at the time when one tray is pulled out from the housing with a constant stroke, and then the tray which is in an empty state An unheated article can be loaded on top and the tray can be placed back into the housing for a fixed stroke. Regardless of the use of any of these different types of article transfer devices, a series of unloading and loading operations can be performed continuously in a short time when the trays are loaded and unloaded one by one with respect to the housing. As a result, unloading and loading workability is further improved. In addition, each article before unloading and after loading is held on the tray in the casing and protected by the casing, and the article is damaged or moved when the casing or tray is moved. The possibility of shifting is reduced.

  Further, the article transfer system includes a lifting device that vertically moves one of the housing and the article transfer device relative to the other, and the housing and the article transfer device are intermittently relatively moved by the lifting device. Each time a plurality of trays are pulled out one by one, the articles that have been heat-treated are unloaded from the trays to be pulled out by the article transfer device, and then the casing and the articles are transferred by the lifting device. The device is intermittently relatively moved in the direction opposite to the moving direction when the tray is pulled out, and each time the relative movement is performed, the trays drawn first from the housing are put back into the housing one by one. An unheat-treated article can be loaded by the transfer device.

  In this case, the plurality of trays stored in the upper and lower multi-stages in the casing are sequentially pulled out one by one from the bottom one, and the heat-treated article on the tray is unloaded each time one sheet is pulled out. When a plurality of trays stored in the housing are pulled out and unloading of each tray is completed, all of the trays pulled out from the housing become empty trays without articles. At this stage, one sheet is sequentially returned from the uppermost tray among the plurality of pulled out trays, and the unheat-treated article is loaded onto the tray at this time. If unloading is continuously performed a plurality of times on a plurality of trays of the housing in this manner, and then loading is performed continuously a plurality of times, unloading and loading workability is further improved. In addition, each article before unloading and after loading is held on the tray in the casing and protected by the casing, and the article is damaged or moved when the casing or tray is moved. The possibility of shifting is reduced.

  Further, in the article transfer system of the present invention, a pair of article transfer devices can be arranged with different height positions for one housing. In this case, each time a plurality of trays of the casing are sequentially pulled out one by one by one of the first article transfer apparatuses of the pair of article transfer apparatuses, the articles that have been heat-treated are unloaded from the trays to be pulled out. In the other second article transfer device, the plurality of trays that are pulled out of the casing by the first article transfer device and unloaded are sequentially put back into the casing one by one. Each time, the unheated article can be loaded onto the tray to be put back.

  The pair of article transfer devices here are of the same type, and it is desirable to be able to unload and load articles in a space-saving manner. In practice, the article transfer device using the above-described corrugated tray, conveyor and guide member Is applicable. Loading operation with respect to a tray in which the second article transfer device has already been withdrawn from the casing while the first article transfer apparatus is simultaneously proceeding with an operation of unloading with respect to one tray withdrawn from the casing. Therefore, the upper and lower arrangement pitch of the trays accommodated in the housing is set to a size that allows the second article transfer device to enter the space between the upper and lower trays with a margin. Since two trays are simultaneously unloaded and loaded for a plurality of trays in one casing, the unloading and loading of all trays in one casing is consequently increased in a short time. Done efficiently.

  According to the article transfer device of the present invention, the article held on the convex portion on the bottom surface of the corrugated tray is unloaded on the conveyor so as to be scooped by the guide slope of the guide member at the front end of the conveyor. Since the article is loaded on the tray by sliding on the guide slope of the guide member, the delivery of the article between the tray and the conveyor is always performed smoothly, and there is no fear that the article is damaged or greatly displaced during delivery.

  In addition, according to the article transfer system of the present invention, the movement stroke of the tray when it is taken in and out of the housing can be as small as the entire length of the tray, and in a small space where the tray is taken in and out. Since an article transfer device having both unloading and loading functions may be provided, the installation space of the entire article transfer system can be reduced and the equipment cost can be reduced. Furthermore, the amount of movement of the article when the article is transferred can be reduced by reducing the installation space, and the positional deviation and damage of the article accompanying the movement of the article can be reduced. In particular, the retort pouch is soft and easily deformed, and is easily displaced during movement, but the amount of movement is reduced, and even if the retort pouch is slightly deformed, it is easy to move it smoothly. There is an excellent effect that the positional shift and overlap of the retort pouch can be reduced, and the quality of the heat treatment can be improved.

In addition, an article transfer from the tray to the article transfer device (unloading) and an article transfer from the article transfer device to the tray (loading) by a series of operations of pulling out the tray from the housing with a fixed stroke and putting it back in. Both operations can be performed in succession, and the workability of article delivery can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  The article transfer system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is applied to a product sterilization / product sterilization facility similar to that shown in FIG. 1A is a plan view of the article transfer system, and FIG. 1B is a partial front view. 2 (A) and 2 (B) show a case 30 filled with an actual tray 20 holding an article 3, a carriage 6 on which the case 30 is placed, and a worker who moves the carriage 6 on the floor by hand. 5 is shown.

  The trays 20 are accommodated in a rectangular box-shaped housing 30 so that the trays 20 can be taken in and out in multiple stages. On each tray 20, a plurality of articles 3 are placed in vertical and horizontal alignment. The article 3 is the retort pouch described in FIG. The housing 30 is a tray drawer type cage rack that supports a plurality of trays 20 so that they can be taken in and out at a fixed stroke. The tray 20 pulled out at a fixed stroke is prevented from being pulled out of the housing 30 by a stopper (not shown). Note that when necessary for cleaning or replacement, the stopper is appropriately released so that the tray 20 can be removed from the housing 30.

  In FIG. 1, S1 to S3 are work stations installed in the case conveyance line L1, and K1 to K4 are work stations installed in the article carry-out line L3 and the article carry-in line L2. A conveyor for transferring the casing 30 to the work stations S1 and S3 at both ends of the casing transport line L1, and a lifting device that holds the casing 30 and moves it up and down intermittently at the work station S2 at the center of the line. 70 is installed. The article transfer device F1 is installed in the work station K1 on the front side of the housing 30 supported by the lifting device 70. Three consecutive work stations K2 to S4 are arranged on a straight line, and the work station K2 at the center of the line is connected to the work station K1 of the article transfer apparatus F1. An article carry-out conveyor 41 and an article carry-in conveyor 42 that convey a plurality of articles 3 in a row are connected to the work stations K3 and K4 at both ends of the line.

  1 will be described the overall work flow of the system. The housing 30 that stores the heat-treated article and is placed on the carriage 6 is carried to the front of the work station S1 and transferred to the work station S1. A plurality of trays 20 are accommodated in the upper and lower multi-stages in the housing 30, and heat-treated articles 3 b are held on the respective trays 20. The housing 30 of the work station S1 is transferred to the next work station S2 and set on the lifting device 70. As will be described later, the lifting device 70 raises the housing 30 intermittently at an upper and lower arrangement pitch of the trays 20 housed in the housing 30. At each intermittent rise, one tray 20 is pulled out from the housing 30 toward the work station K1 with a fixed stroke, and a plurality of heat-treated articles 3b on the tray 20 are unloaded by the article transfer device F1. To do. The unloaded heat-treated article 3b is conveyed to the subsequent work station K2, the conveyance direction is changed by 90 ° at the work station K2, the work station K3 is moved, and is carried into the article carry-out conveyor 41. The article carry-out conveyor 41 conveys the carried-in heat-treated articles 3b in a row and transfers them to a downstream shipping line.

  While all the articles 3a are unloaded from the tray 20 pulled out to the work station K1, a plurality of unheated articles 3a are conveyed from the article carry-in conveyor 42 to the work station K2 via the work station K4. The conveyance direction is changed by 90 ° and carried into the article transfer device F1 of the work station K1. A plurality of unheat-treated articles 3b of the article transfer apparatus F1 are loaded on an empty tray 20 without articles drawn out from the casing 30, and the tray 20 is put back into the casing 30. When the above-described unloading and loading are performed one by one on the plurality of trays 20 of the housing 30 and the housing 30 is filled with the unheated article 3b, the housing 30 is removed from the lifting device 70. Then, it is transferred to the next work station S3 and transferred to an empty cart 6 waiting in front of the work station S3. The worker 5 pushes the cart 6 to carry the housing 30 to a heat treatment pot (not shown), and carries it into the heat treatment pot together with the tray and articles filled with the case 30.

  Specific examples of the tray 20 are shown in FIGS. The tray 20 is a corrugated tray that integrally includes a rectangular bottom plate 20a and side plates 20b that are bent on both sides of the bottom plate 20a. The bottom plate 20a is a corrugated plate, and the upper surface thereof is a corrugated bottom surface 23 in which convex portions 21 and concave portions 22 are alternately continued. The convex portion 21 extends linearly and the concave portion 22 extends linearly in a direction orthogonal to the wave direction of the bottom surface 23. The tray 20 is taken in and out of the housing 30 in the length direction that is the extending direction of the convex portions 21 and the concave portions 22. The article 3 is placed on a plurality of convex portions 21 in which individual articles are continuous. A number of holes 25 are formed in the bottom of the recess 22. The hole 25 is a hole through which steam, hot water, and the like pass during heat treatment. The article 3 shown in FIG. 4 is a flexible retort pouch, and has a rectangular food filling portion 3-1 filled with food and a joining piece portion 3-2 between packaging materials projecting from the outer periphery thereof. A plurality of articles 3 are placed on a single tray 20 so as to be aligned so that the joining piece portions 3-2 do not overlap each other, and are held so as not to slip and shift.

  Specific examples of the housing 30 are shown in FIGS. The article 3 shown in the right half of the tray 20 in FIG. 6 is a retort pouch, and the article shown in the left half is a retort container in which a plastic container is filled with food and sealed. FIG. 6 illustrates a retort container as an article to be heat-treated. Normally, one kind of article is held on a single tray 20 in a state where the article is placed in each row. A single tray 20 shown in FIG. 6 holds retort pouches in a 6 × 6 vertical and horizontal arrangement.

A plurality of drawer rails 31 are fixed to the inner surfaces of the opposite side plates 30a and 30b of the housing 30 in multiple upper and lower stages. The arrangement pitch of adjacent upper and lower tiers of each drawer rail 31 is the same, and both sides of one tray 20 on the pair of left and right drawer rails 31 and 31 at the same height position on both side plates 30a and 30b are front and rear. Holds slidable in the direction. In FIG. 5, one tray 20 is pulled out from the front opening 32 of the housing 30 with a constant stroke. When the tray 20 is pulled out by a fixed stroke between each drawer rail 31 and the tray 20, a drawer lock and a stopper for restricting further drawers are installed. The casing 30 is a heat treatment bowl in which both trays and articles are put into and out of the heat treatment pot. The top plate and bottom plate of the casing 30 have a cross structure, a lattice structure, etc. through which steam and hot water can easily flow. The housing 30 includes wheels 33 at the corners of the lower surface. By using this wheel 33, the carrying-in and carrying-out of the housing | casing 30 with respect to the trolley | bogie 6 are safely performed by a light work. In addition, rail members 34 are fixed to both sides of the lower surface of the housing 30. The rail member 34 is placed on the roller conveyor 35 installed in the work station S1 and the work station S3 in FIG. 1A, and the movement of the housing conveyance line L1 of the housing 30 is smoothly performed by the roller conveyor 35. FIG. 6 shows how the lowermost tray 20 in the housing 30 is pulled out by a pair of left and right drawer claws 65. The drawer pawl 65 is provided in a tray loading / unloading device 60 of the article transfer device F1 described later, and appropriately locks the front end portion of the tray 20.
In addition, 58 shown by FIG. 5 is an article | item press belt, and lightly presses the article | item 3 which moves the guide member 51 mentioned later, and suppresses position shift. The presser belt 58 is selectively used according to the type of the article 3.

  The lifting device 70 of the work station S2 will be described with reference to FIG. 7 to 9, the specific structure and operation example of the article transfer device F1 will be described, and the conveyor structure of the continuous work stations K1 and K2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  1B includes a vertical fixing unit 71, a drive source unit 72 installed on the fixing unit 71, and a lift unit 73 installed on the front surface of the fixing unit 71 so as to be movable up and down. The drive source unit 72 is a unit of a motor and a reduction gear, and intermittently moves the lift unit 73 up and down. The lift unit 73 supports one housing 30 from below and moves it up and down. The lift part 73 shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 (B) rises to the uppermost position, and the lowermost tray 20 in the housing 30 is at the same height position as the article transfer device F1 installed at a predetermined height. is there. The lift part 73 moves up and down between the solid line position and the chain line position in FIG. 1B, and when lowered to the chain line position, the uppermost tray 20 in the housing 30 becomes the height of the article transfer device F1.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the article transfer device F <b> 1 includes a horizontal conveyor 50 having front and rear ends, a guide member 51 fixed to the front end portion (front end portion) of the conveyor 50, and a tray loading / unloading device 60. . The conveyor 50 is a belt conveyor in which a front end portion and a rear end portion are stretched by a pulley 52, and a rear end portion is connected to the belt conveyor 53 of the work station K2.

  The guide member 51 has a base portion 51a having a guide slope 55 extending downward from the front end portion of the conveyor on the upper surface, and a comb-like tooth tip portion 51b integrally formed at the front end portion of the base portion 51a. An auxiliary roller 56 is provided on the guide slope 55. The auxiliary roller 56 assists the movement of the article 3 that moves while sliding on the guide slope 55 in the tilt direction, and is arranged side by side in a direction orthogonal to the tilt direction of the guide slope 55. The auxiliary roller 56 is installed so that its outer peripheral upper end protrudes slightly from the guide slope 55. As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the tooth tip 51b of the guide member 51 is comb teeth inserted into the plurality of recesses 22 of the tray 20 so as to be relatively movable in the tray insertion / removal direction in a substantially horizontal direction. is there. The upper surface of the tooth tip portion 51 b is a slope obtained by extending the guide slope 55.

  The tray loading / unloading device 60 is an automatic type, a slider 61 that moves back and forth in a direction parallel to the tray loading / unloading direction directly below the conveyor 50 and the guide member 51, and a drive source (not shown) that reciprocates the slider 61 with a constant stroke. And a drawer arm 62 connected to the slider 61. The drawer pawl 65 described with reference to FIG. 6 is movably fixed to the tip of the drawer arm 62. In a region where the slider 61 and the drawer arm 62 move back and forth, a guide roller 63 that holds the tray 20 drawn out from the housing 30 substantially horizontally is installed.

  The belt conveyor 53 connected to the rear end of the conveyor 50 has a plurality of thin belt conveyors 53 'as shown in FIG. 10 arranged in parallel at equal intervals. Thin roller conveyors 54 are installed between the plurality of thin belt conveyors 53 '. The two types of belt conveyors 53 and roller conveyors 54 are raised and lowered with respect to each other. In FIG. 10, the roller conveyor 54 is arranged at the height of the article carry-out line L3 and the article carry-in line L2 having the same height, and a plurality of thin belt conveyors 53 ′ move up and down simultaneously between the plurality of roller conveyors 54. It floats up and down with respect to the roller conveyor 54. The belt conveyor 53 reciprocates in the tray pulling direction, and the roller conveyor 54 is driven to rotate in one direction orthogonal to the tray pulling direction to transfer articles.

  Next, unloading of the heat-treated article 3b by the article transfer device F1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C, and loading of the unheated article 3a with reference to FIGS. 8A to 8C. explain.

  The housing 30 filled with the heat-treated article 3b is set in the lifting device 70, the lowermost tray 20 in the housing 30 is positioned at the height of the article transfer device F1, and unloading to the lowermost tray 20 is performed. Is started. FIG. 7A shows the case where the tray 20 that is two steps up from the lowest level is positioned at the height of the article transfer device F1 and the second unloading is started. Since unloading is performed in the same manner for the second time, the second unloading will be described.

  When the second tray 20 from the lowest level is positioned at the height of the article transfer device F1, the tooth tip 51b of the guide member 51 approaches the front end of the tray 20, and the conveyor is set to a height higher than the tray 20. 50 is located. In this state, the slider 61 of the tray pulling device 60 moves forward by a fixed stroke, and the pulling claw 65 locks the front end of the tray 20. The slider 61 moves back as it is, and the second tray 20 is pulled out from the housing 30 by the pull-out claw 65. By pulling out one tray 20, as shown in FIG. 9 (A), the tooth tip 51b of the guide member 51 is inserted into the recess 22 at the front end of the tray, and the tooth tip 51b passes through the recess 22 as it is. Relative movement to the rear end of the tray without contact. When the tray 20 is slightly pulled out, as shown in FIG. 7 (B), the heat treatment article 3b in the foremost row on the tray reaches the guide member 51 and is crawled up to the guide slope 55 so that the guide slope 55 is It slides up and reaches the auxiliary roller 56 as shown in FIG. The article 3 b is assisted by the auxiliary roller 56 to move up, and further moves to reach the conveyor 50. The conveyor 50 is driven rightward in FIG. 7, and when the article 3b reaches the tip of the conveyor by moving on the guide slope 55, the article 3b is placed on the conveyor 50, as shown in FIG. The conveyor 50 transfers the article 3b to the downstream side as it is. The unloading of the heat-treated articles 3b from the tray 20 to the conveyor 50 is continuously performed from the front row of articles 3b on the tray to the back row of articles. There is a predetermined drop between the tray 20 and the conveyor 50, and the article 3b can be unloaded with the external impact force minimized by sliding the heat-treated article 3b on the guide slope 55 with this drop. By using the guide slope 55, the article movement of the head is smoothly performed, and there is little possibility of displacement during the movement. For this reason, even if the article 3b is a retort pouch that is flexible and easily deformed, unloading can be performed while suppressing deformation and displacement. As shown in FIG. 7C, when the second tray 20 is pulled out and stopped, all the heat-treated articles 3b on the second tray 20 are unloaded onto the conveyor 50. .

  The heat-treated article 3b unloaded onto the conveyor 50 is continuously transferred to the subsequent belt conveyor 53. At this time, the belt conveyor 53 is in a position lifted from the roller conveyor 54 as shown in FIG. 10B, and this position is at the same height as the conveyor 50, and the heat-treated article 3b is transferred from the conveyor 50 to the belt conveyor. 53 is smoothly transferred onto the surface. This belt conveyor 53 is in the work station K2 shown in FIG. When all the heat-treated articles 3b unloaded from one tray 20 are transferred to the belt conveyor 53 of the work station K2, as shown in FIG. 10C, the belt conveyor 53 stops and the roller conveyor is stopped. Sedimented from 54, the heat-treated article 3b is placed on the roller conveyor 54. The roller conveyor 54 rotates to the right in FIG. 10C and transfers the heat-treated article 3b to the work station K3. The articles 3b transferred to the work station K3 are transferred to the article carry-out conveyor 41 in order from the front row, and are carried out to the shipping line.

  In parallel with the above unloading operation, the unheated article 3a is loaded from the article carrying conveyor 42 to the work station K4. As shown in FIG. 10D, the unheated article 3a loaded on the work station K4 is transferred to the roller conveyor 54 of the work station K2 so as to be replaced with the heat-treated goods 3b. When a predetermined number of unheated articles 3a are transferred to the roller conveyor 54, the roller conveyor 54 stops rotating, and the belt conveyor 53 rises to the position shown in FIG. 10B to hold the unheated articles 3a. The belt conveyor 53 is driven to load a predetermined number of unheated articles 3a held on the conveyor 50 of the article transfer device F1. This loading state is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8A shows a case where the unheat-treated article 3a is loaded onto the second-stage tray 20 drawn out from the housing 30. FIG. In the state of FIG. 8A, the conveyor 50 transfers the unheat-treated article 3 a to the tip, and sends the article 3 a in the front row to the guide slope 55 of the guide member 51. In parallel with this conveyor operation, the tray loading / unloading device 60 moves the slider 61 forward to put the second tray 20 back into the housing 30. As shown in FIG. 8 (B), the unheat-treated article 3a in the foremost row that has moved the guide member 51 at the beginning of the insertion and return of the tray 20 is placed on the tray 20 to be inserted and moved together with the tray 20. The front row is loaded. Such loading is sequentially performed in order from the front row of articles 3a to the next row of articles 3a. FIG. 8C shows a state in which the second tray 20 is inserted back into the housing 30 to the home position, and the loading of a predetermined number of unheated articles 3a on one tray 20 is completed.

  When unloading and loading are continuously performed on the second tray 20, and the loading is completed, the casing 30 is lowered by one pitch by the lifting device 70, and the third tray 20 is moved to the article transfer device F1. Move to height. The unloading and loading for the third tray 20 is the same as that for the second tray. 7 and 8 show the case of unloading and loading from the second-stage tray 20, and the article on the first-stage tray 20 shown in the figure is an unheated article 3a. Unloading and loading are sequentially performed up to the uppermost tray 20 of the housing 30. When the trays 20 are taken in and out of the housing 30 one by one, a series of unloading and loading operations are continuously performed in a short time, and the workability of the series of unloading and loading is further improved. . Further, the articles 3 a and 3 b before unloading and after loading are held on the tray 20 in the housing 30 and are in a protected state. When all the unheated articles 3a are filled in the casing 30, the casing 30 is removed from the lifting device 70 and sent to the next work station S3. In the elevating device 70, another housing 30 filled with the heat-treated article 3b is carried from the work station S1 and set.

  The article transfer device F1 described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 moves forward and backward relative to a single tray 20 to continuously perform unloading and loading. The same unloading and loading can be performed by moving the article transfer device F1 side forward and backward relative to the fixed tray. For example, when the tray 20 is stored in the housing 30 and the article transfer device F1 is moved back and forth relative to the tray 20, unloading similar to that described with reference to FIGS. And can be loaded. In this case, the article transfer device F1 does not require a tray loading / unloading device for loading / unloading the tray 20 with respect to the housing 30. Such unloading and loading correspond to the present invention of claims 1 to 3.

  Next, an unloading and loading article transfer method shown in FIGS. 11A to 11C will be described.

  11A to 11C, when the plurality of trays 20 are pulled out from the housing 30 one by one, the heat treatment article 3a is unloaded, and when all the trays 20 are pulled out and unloading is completed, Is to load the unheated article 3a each time a plurality of drawn trays 20 are put back into the housing 30 one by one. FIG. 11A shows the case where the unloading of the lowermost tray 20 has been completed and the second tray 20 has been unloaded. When the unloading of the heat-treated articles 3a is sequentially performed on the trays 20 from the third stage to the uppermost stage in this way, all the trays 20 are pulled out from the housing 30 as shown in FIG. State is maintained. When unloading of the uppermost tray 20 is completed in the article transfer device F1, the drive of the article transfer device F1 is switched to loading, and the unheated article 3a is loaded onto the uppermost tray 20. FIG. 11C shows a state where loading is performed on the second tray 20.

  In the case of FIG. 11, the plurality of trays 20 of one housing 30 are sequentially pulled out one by one, and the heat-treated articles 3b are sequentially unloaded. Therefore, during this time, the work station K2 uses the unloaded heat-treated articles 3b as articles. The operation of transferring to the carry-out conveyor 41 is repeated, and the article carry-in conveyor 42 is stopped. On the contrary, the work station K2 loads the unheated articles 3a from the article carry-in conveyor 42 while the plurality of trays 20 drawn out from the housing 30 are sequentially put back one by one and the unheated articles 3a are sequentially loaded. The receiving operation is repeated, and the article carry-out conveyor 41 is stopped.

  Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 illustrates an article transfer system and an article transfer method using a pair of article transfer apparatuses F1 and F2 for one casing 30.

  The pair of article transfer apparatuses F1 and F2 are referred to as a first article transfer apparatus F1 and a second article transfer apparatus F2. The first article transfer device F1 is the same as that described in FIG. 1, and the second article transfer device F2 is also the same. The article transfer devices F1 and F2 are arranged with two different heights in the upper and lower stages according to the arrangement pitch of the trays 20 in the housing 30. In FIG. 12, the first article transfer device F1 is arranged on the upper stage, the second article transfer apparatus F2 is arranged on the lower stage, and the tray 20 is pulled out from the housing 30 one by one by the first article transfer apparatus F2. On the other hand, the unheated article 3b is unloaded exclusively, and the unheat treated article 3a is exclusively loaded onto the tray 20 put back into the housing 30 by the second article transfer device F2.

  FIG. 12A shows the second stage transfer device F2 immediately before unloading the heat-treated article 3b while pulling out the third tray 20 in the housing 30 by the first article transfer device F1. The state immediately before loading the unheat-treated article 3a onto the eye tray 20 is shown. At this time, the second-stage tray 20 is previously pulled out of the housing 30 by the unloading of the first article transfer device F1. In the state of FIG. 12 (A), unloading and loading are performed by the pair of article transfer devices F1 and F2, respectively, as shown in FIG. 11 (B). In this case, the heat-treated article 3b is unloaded while the third-stage tray 20 is pulled out from the casing 30, and the unheat-treated article 3a is loaded while the second-stage tray 20 is put back into the casing 30. . Next, as shown in FIG. 12C, the first article transfer device F1 is relatively moved to the unloading position with respect to the fourth tray 20, and the second article transfer device F2 is moved to the housing 30. Is moved relative to the loading position with respect to the tray 20 drawn out from.

In the case of FIG. 12, since the first article transfer device F1 dedicated to unloading and the second article transfer device F2 dedicated to loading operate simultaneously, the processing capabilities of unloading and loading are the same as in FIG. This is doubled compared to the case of FIG.

  Next, the article transfer system of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 will be described.

  A feature of the system shown in FIG. 1 that is different from the system shown in FIG. 1 is an article transfer device F3. The article transfer device F3 includes a suction pad 80 that collectively sucks all of the plurality of heat-treated articles 3b on a single tray 20 drawn from the casing 30, and the suction pad 80 that is connected to the casing 30 and an article carry-out line. L3, and a pad drive device 81 that moves between the article carry-in line L2.

  When one tray 20 is pulled out from the housing 30 with a fixed stroke and stopped at the work station K1, the suction pad 80 that has been waiting at the work station K1 is lowered, and all of the plurality of heat treatments on the pulled-out tray 20 have been completed. The articles 3b are sucked together. As it is, the suction pad 80 is lifted together with the heat-treated article 3b sucked and unloaded from the tray 20. The heat-treated article 3b unloaded by the suction pad 80 is moved to the work station K3. The suction pad 80 is lowered together with the heat-treated article 3b at the work station K3 and transferred to the conveyor of the work station K3. The plurality of heat-treated articles 3b transferred are sequentially transferred to the article carry-out conveyor 41 from the front row, and are carried out to the shipping line. The suction pad 80 from which the article 3b is detached at the work station K3 is raised and moved to the work station K4. During this time, the constant unheated article 3a is moved from the article carrying conveyor 42 to the work station K4, and the suction pad 80 is lowered to suck the constant unheated article 3a. The suction pad 80 is raised and moved to the work station K1, and the unheat-treated article 3a is loaded onto the tray 20 drawn from the housing 30.

  In the case of the system shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 as well, by unloading and unloading one tray 20 from the housing 30 once, unloading of the heat treated article 3b and loading of the unheated article 3a can be performed in a short time. Is called. In the case of this system, the tray 20 is not limited to a corrugated tray using a corrugated plate as a bottom plate, and can be applied.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the arrangement pitch of trays in a tray drawer type housing can be set appropriately according to the thickness and height of the articles, and the height of the trays can be adjusted in the housing to accommodate multiple types of articles. It is also possible to install.

(A) is a top view which shows the outline | summary of the goods transfer system which concerns on this invention, (B) is a partial front view. (A) and (B) are the side views of the housing | casing conveyance trolley | bogie in the FIG. 1 system. (A) is a top view of the tray used for FIG. 1 system, (B) is the front view. FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of an article placement portion of the tray of FIG. 3. 1 is a side view showing an outline of a housing used in the system. It is a front view of the housing | casing of FIG. FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged side view for explaining unloading of articles from a tray in the system of FIG. 1, (A) is before unloading, (B) is during unloading, and (C) is a side view after unloading. . FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged side view for explaining loading of articles onto a tray in the system of FIG. 1, (A) is before loading, (B) is during loading, and (C) is a side view after loading. 7A is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the lower portion of the guide slope in FIG. 7B, FIG. 7B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the middle portion of the guide slope, and FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the conveyor structure in the work station K2 in the FIG. 1 system, (A) is a top view, (B)-(C) is a front view which shows each conveyor operation | movement. 1A and 1B are schematic side views of a case and an article transfer device for explaining another method of conveying an article by the system, in which FIG. 1A is an initial stage of unloading, FIG. 1B is a loading start time, and FIG. FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a case and an article transfer device for explaining another article conveying method of the present invention, where (A) is before unloading and loading, (B) is during both unloading and loading operations, and (C). FIG. 4 is a side view before the next unloading and loading. It is a top view which shows the outline | summary of other embodiment of the goods transfer system which concerns on this invention. FIG. 13 is a partial front view of the system. (A) is a top view which shows the outline | summary of the conventional goods transfer system, (B) is a side view of the conveyance trolley which stacked the tray.

Explanation of symbols

3 article, retort pouch 3a unheated article 3b heat treated article 5 worker 6 cart 20 tray 21 convex part 22 concave part 23 bottom face 25 hole 30 casing 41 article carrying conveyor 42 article carrying conveyor 50 conveyor 51 guide member 51a base 51b tooth tip Section 53 Belt conveyor 54 Roller conveyor 55 Guide slope 56 Auxiliary roller 60 Tray loading / unloading device 61 Slider 65 Drawer claw 70 Lifting device 73 Lifting unit 80 Suction pad 81 Pad drive device F1 Article transfer device, first article transfer device F1 Second Article transfer device F3 Article transfer device

Claims (11)

A substantially horizontal corrugated tray having a wave-shaped bottom surface in which a plurality of convex portions and concave portions are alternately continuous, and capable of holding an article to be heat-treated on the convex portion;
A conveyor that is relatively movable in a substantially horizontal direction relative to the tray above the tray, and conveys the article to and from the tray;
A guide slope connected to the front end of the conveyor and extending downwardly from the front end of the conveyor, and a comb-like tooth tip inserted into a recess on the bottom surface of the tray so as to be relatively movable in a substantially horizontal direction. An article delivery guide member,
The tray and the conveyor are moved by moving the conveyor and the guide member in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the tray in a state where the tooth tip portion is inserted into the concave portion of the bottom surface of the tray and moving the article to the guide slope. An article transfer device characterized in that an article is transferred between the two.   The article transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an auxiliary roller for assisting movement of the article is arranged on the guide slope. A substantially horizontal corrugated tray having a wavy bottom surface in which a plurality of convex portions and concave portions are alternately continuous, and holding an article to be heat-treated on the convex portion, and a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the tray above the tray A conveyor that transfers the article to and from the tray, a guide slope that is connected to the tip of the conveyor and extends downward from the conveyor tip, and a bottom surface of the tray. In an article transfer apparatus comprising an article delivery guide member having a comb-like tooth tip portion that is inserted into a recess so as to be relatively movable in a substantially horizontal direction.
The conveyor and the guide member are reciprocally moved relative to the tray in a substantially horizontal direction with the tooth tip portion inserted into the recess in the bottom surface of the tray, and the guide member moves from the front end side to the rear end side of the tray. The heat-treated article on the tray is moved to the conveyor at the time of relative forward movement, and the unheat-treated article carried into the conveyor at the time of relative backward movement from the rear end side to the front end side of the tray is conveyed to the conveyor. An article transfer method, wherein the article is moved onto a tray. A tray for holding an object to be heat-treated;
A tray pull-out type housing that holds the plurality of trays in a multi-stage, and is held in a substantially horizontal front-rear direction with a fixed stroke.
A tray that is arranged on the tray insertion / removal side of the casing, unloads the heat-treated articles on the tray to a predetermined article carry-out line with respect to the tray drawn out from the casing, and is a tray that is inserted back into the casing On the other hand, an article transfer device for loading an unheated article from a predetermined article carry-in line;
An article transfer system comprising: Each of the plurality of trays of the housing is a corrugated tray having a wavy bottom surface in which a plurality of convex portions and concave portions are alternately continuous in a direction orthogonal to the tray loading / unloading direction of the housing,
The article transfer device is connected to a conveyor for delivering the article to and from a tray that is taken in and out of the casing, and a front end portion on the casing side of the conveyor, and is inclined downward from the front end portion of the conveyor. 5. An article delivery guide member having a guide slope extending in a step and a comb tooth tip portion inserted into a concave portion of the bottom surface of the tray so as to be relatively movable in the tray insertion / removal direction. The article transfer system according to the description.   The article transfer device sucks the heat-treated article on the tray pulled out from the casing and transfers it to the article carry-out line, and sucks the unheat-treated article in the article carry-in line to suck the casing. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a suction pad that is transferred onto a tray pulled out from the body, and a pad driving device that moves the suction pad between the housing, the article carry-out line, and the article carry-in line. Goods transfer system.   The article transfer system according to claim 4, wherein the article is a retort pouch. A tray for holding an article to be heat-treated, a tray pull-out type casing that holds the plurality of trays in a vertical and multi-stage manner, and can be inserted and removed with a constant stroke in a substantially horizontal front-rear direction, and is provided on the tray insertion / removal side of the casing And unloading the heat-treated articles on the tray to a predetermined article carry-out line with respect to the tray pulled out from the casing, and unloading from the predetermined article carry-in line with respect to the tray put back into the casing. In an article transfer system comprising an article transfer device for loading an article for heat treatment, and an elevating device for intermittently moving one of the casing and the article transfer device up and down relative to the other,
Each time the casing and the article transfer device are intermittently moved relative to each other by the elevating device, the tray is loaded and unloaded one by one with respect to the casing, and the article transfer device is loaded into and removed from the tray. An article transfer method comprising: unloading the heat-treated article and loading the unheat-treated article. A tray for holding an article to be heat-treated, a tray pull-out type casing that holds the plurality of trays in a vertical and multi-stage manner, and can be inserted and removed with a constant stroke in a substantially horizontal front-rear direction, and is provided on the tray insertion / removal side of the casing And unloading the heat-treated articles on the tray to a predetermined article carry-out line with respect to the tray pulled out from the casing, and unloading from the predetermined article carry-in line with respect to the tray put back into the casing. In an article transfer system comprising an article transfer device for loading an article for heat treatment, and an elevating device for intermittently moving one of the casing and the article transfer device up and down relative to the other,
Each time the casing and the article transfer device are intermittently moved relative to each other by the lifting device, the plurality of trays of the casing are sequentially pulled out one by one, and the article transfer device is used to pull out the tray from the tray. The unheated article is unloaded, and then the casing and the article transfer device are intermittently moved relative to each other in the direction opposite to the movement direction when the tray is pulled out by the lifting device. An article transfer method characterized in that trays previously drawn from the casing are put back into the casing one by one, and the unheated article is loaded by the article transfer apparatus onto the trays to be put back. . A tray for holding an article to be heat-treated, a tray pull-out type casing that holds the plurality of trays in a vertical and multi-stage manner, and can be inserted and removed with a constant stroke in a substantially horizontal front-rear direction, and is provided on the tray insertion / removal side of the casing And unloading the heat-treated articles on the tray to a predetermined article carry-out line with respect to the tray pulled out from the casing, and unloading from the predetermined article carry-in line with respect to the tray put back into the casing. In an article transfer system comprising an article transfer device for loading an article for heat treatment, and an elevating device for intermittently moving one of the casing and the article transfer device up and down relative to the other,
A pair of the article transfer devices with respect to the housing are arranged with different height positions,
In each of the first article transfer devices of the pair of article transfer devices, each time a plurality of trays of the casing are sequentially pulled out one by one, unloading of the heat-treated articles is performed on the drawn trays, Simultaneously with this unloading, in the other second article transfer device, a plurality of trays pulled out of the casing and unloaded by the first article transfer device are sequentially put into the casing one by one. An article transfer method, wherein the unheated article is loaded onto a tray that is put back in each time it is returned.   The article transfer method according to claim 8, wherein the article is a retort pouch.

Images