JP2008068904A - Integrated apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an integrated apparatus which transfers an item to a posture alteration means keeping the posture of the item stably regardless of the size of the item by changing the length of a transfer means according to the size of the item. <P>SOLUTION: The integrated apparatus is provided with: a transfer means 10 for transferring an item M in the first direction X in a horizontal posture; a posture alteration means 20 for changing the posture of the item M to be in an erected posture with its side faces positioned in the vertical direction and the first direction X; and an alignment means 40 for gathering and aligning the item M superimposed in the second direction directly crossing the first direction X. The transfer means 10 is extensible in the first direction X, and according to the length of the item M to be transferred in the first direction X the means 10 extends or shrinks for changing the space length between the means 10 and the means 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a stacking apparatus for aligning articles containing contents.

Generally, bag-shaped articles are shipped after being boxed at a factory. Prior to the boxing, a plurality of bag-like articles are aligned back to back. Such a stacking apparatus for packing is well known (Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP-A-5-262304 (abstract) JP-A-2005-119723 (abstract)

  The present applicant has invented a posture changing means in which a plurality of delivery tables are provided on a rotating support plate and has already filed applications (Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2005-181479 and 2006-194325). The posture changing means changes the posture of the article by rotating the article supplied from the conveyor together with the delivery table.

  The position of the tip in the transport direction of the conveyor is set so that the article does not come into contact with the conveyor when the article is completely transferred on the delivery table.

  On the other hand, there are various sizes of articles. When the position of the tip of the conveyor is set in accordance with a large-sized article, the distance of the space between the conveyor and the delivery table increases when the small-sized article is conveyed from the conveyor to the delivery table.

  Therefore, the posture of the article is disturbed during the conveyance of the article. Moreover, there is a risk that the contents of the bag may be damaged as the posture is disturbed. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the conveying ability of the article may be lowered, and the cycle time may be increased.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to pass the posture of the article to the posture changing means without being unstable regardless of the size of the article by changing the length of the conveying means according to the size of the article. It is possible to provide an integrated device that can be transferred to the posture changing means without damaging the contents and with a predetermined cycle time.

  In order to achieve the above object, the stacking apparatus of the present invention generates stacks of aligned articles while conveying a plurality of articles containing contents in a bag having a pair of side surfaces and a bottom portion connected to the side surfaces. An apparatus for conveying the article in a first direction in a horizontal posture in which one side of the article is supported from below by a conveying surface; and receiving the article in the horizontal posture from the conveying means; A posture changing means for changing the posture of the article to a standing posture along the first direction and the vertical direction, and the article having the changed posture are overlapped in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. And an aligning unit that collects the side surfaces in an aligned state in which the side surfaces are in contact with each other, and the conveying unit is extendable in the first direction, and the first direction of the article to be conveyed Depending on the length of Characterized in that said conveying means is capable of changing the distance of the space between the expansion and the conveying means and said attitude changing means.

According to the present invention, by changing the length of the conveying unit according to the size of the article, the posture of the article can be passed to the attitude changing unit without being unstable regardless of the size of the article. At the same time, it can be passed to the posture changing means without damaging the contents and with a predetermined cycle time.
Note that “conveying means expands / contracts” means that the conveying means is composed of two or more conveyors and the range in which the two conveyors wrap is changed, in addition to the length of the conveyor itself constituting the conveying means expands and contracts. In this case, the length of the conveying means is expanded and contracted.

In the present invention, when the length of the article is short, the conveying means expands and the tip of the conveying means approaches the posture changing means, and when the length of the article is long, It is preferable that the conveying unit contracts and the leading end of the conveying unit is separated from the posture changing unit.
According to this aspect, in the case of a short article, the spatial distance becomes small, so that the delivery operation of the article from the conveying means to the posture changing means is stabilized.
On the other hand, in the case of a long article, since the spatial distance is large, the article and the conveying means do not interfere when changing the attitude of the article transferred to the attitude changing means.

In this invention, it is preferable that the position of the front-end | tip of the said conveyance means can be changed according to the size of the said bag.
According to this aspect, since the position of the tip of the conveying means can be changed according to the bag size, the size signal from the upstream packaging machine or the main control device can be output without detecting the length of the article. By receiving it, it is possible to stabilize the operation.

In the present invention, the conveying means includes an endless conveyor belt, a first moving roller that is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt and disposed on the downstream end side in the first direction, and an inner portion of the conveyor belt. A first fixed roller that is in contact with the peripheral surface and disposed on the downstream end side in the first direction, and is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the conveyor belt and is disposed between the first moving roller and the first fixed roller. It is preferable that a second moving roller and a second fixed roller disposed in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt and disposed on the upstream end side in the first direction are provided.
According to this aspect, when the second moving roller is displaced toward the upstream side, the first moving roller is also displaced toward the upstream side. On the other hand, when the second moving roller is displaced toward the downstream side, the first moving roller is also displaced toward the downstream side. Thereby, a conveyance means expands and contracts.
In this case, the surface of the conveyor belt that conveys the article is continuous, and a large step or the like does not occur, so that the article is smoothly conveyed.

In the present invention, the posture changing means includes a support plate that rotates about a first axis extending along the first direction, and a second axis that is parallel to the first axis on the support plate. It is preferable to include a plurality of delivery tables that are rotatable and receive the article in the horizontal posture and rotate around the second axis to change the posture of the article to the standing posture.
According to this aspect, the posture can be changed while changing the transport direction.

In the present invention, the aligning means includes a support surface that supports the bottom of the article, a partition plate that contacts a side surface of a leading article in the article row to be aligned, and a rear end article in the aligned article row. It is preferable to provide a back plate that contacts the side surface.
According to such an aspect, it is possible to align the article between the partition plate and the back plate.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the conveying means is in an extended state when an article is transferred to the delivery table and is in a contracted state when the posture is changed.
According to this aspect, there is no possibility of interference between the article and the conveying means when the article transferred to the attitude changing means changes its attitude.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the following description, as an article, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, the contents are contained in a bag having a pair of side surfaces Ms and a bottom portion Mb connected to the side surface Ms. The article M made of chips or the like will be described as an example. In the present invention, the bottom portion Mb is a portion that is connected to the pair of side surfaces, and is a portion that is supported by the transfer surface during transfer in a standing posture.

1 to 12 show a first embodiment.
Boxing system:
First, a boxing system using the stacking apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 shows a boxing system.
As shown in FIG. 1, the boxing system includes a stacking device 1, an article row conveying device 2, and a boxing device 3. The stacking apparatus 1 includes a transport device (an example of transport means) 10, a delivery device (an example of posture changing means) 20, and an alignment device (an example of alignment means) 40.

As shown in FIG. 2, the articles M conveyed in the horizontal posture by the conveying device 10 are changed in posture from the horizontal posture to the standing posture by the delivery device 20, and the alignment device 40 aligns the side surfaces Ms with each other. It becomes the article row ML gathered in the state.
Thereafter, the article row ML is pushed up in the vertical upward direction Z <b> 1 by the article row conveying device 2, and then conveyed to the shutter 62 in the first direction X. After the conveyance, the shutter 62 is opened, and the article row ML is placed on the lift platform 63 in the raised state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1 and then stacked, and the lift platform 63 descends in the vertical downward direction Z2. The box B is packed by a box pusher 64, for example, a cardboard box B.

Next, the configuration and operation of each device in the boxing system will be described.
Transport device 10:
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the transport device 10 includes a loading conveyor 11 and an extendable conveyor 30. The article M transferred from the upstream to the input conveyor 11 is transferred from the input conveyor 11 onto the telescopic conveyor 30. As shown in FIG. 2, the article M has a horizontal posture in which one side surface Ms of the article M is supported from below by the feeding surfaces 11 s and 30 s of the input conveyor 11 and the telescopic conveyor 30 in the first direction X. To be transported.

Delivery mechanism 20:
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the delivery mechanism 20 is arranged on the downstream side of the telescopic conveyor 30 and is transported downstream from the upstream telescopic conveyor 30 along the first direction X. The articles M are received and the bags are sequentially arranged in a standing posture at a predetermined position on the downstream side. As shown in FIG. 7, the delivery mechanism 20 includes a support plate 21, four delivery tables 22, a rotating shaft 23, and a suction device 70 (see FIG. 8).

The support plate 21 is a substantially circular plate that is rotatably supported by the rotary shaft 23 and is provided along a plane orthogonal to the first direction X on the downstream side of the telescopic conveyor 30 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. It has been. The support plate 21 is rotated around the first axis L <b> 1 around the rotation shaft 23.
The four delivery tables 22 are respectively arranged on the same circle with respect to the surface of the substantially circular support plate 21 on the downstream side of the transfer device 10, and are placed on a mounting surface 22 d formed in a comb shape. Respectively. The detailed configuration and operation of the delivery table 22 will be described in detail later.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the rotation shaft 23 is provided at the center portion of the substantially circular support plate 21 and becomes the center of the rotation trajectory of the four delivery tables 22. The rotating shaft 23 moves the four delivery tables 22 with an acceleration larger than the gravitational acceleration g.

  The suction device 70 is disposed in the vicinity of the position P1 in the rotation trajectory of the four delivery tables 22 and is placed on the delivery table 22 in contact with a second opening 22c of the delivery table 22 described later. The article M is sucked. The configuration of the suction device 70 will also be described in detail later.

Delivery table 22:
The delivery table 22 includes a rotation shaft 22a that supports each delivery table 22 in a rotatable state, and a first opening 22b that opens on a surface other than the comb-like portion of the placement surface 22d of the article M (FIG. 3 ( b), FIG. 4 (b)), a second opening 22c that opens to the opposite side of the placement surface 22d of the article M, a placement surface 22d of the article M, and first and second openings 22b, And a chamber portion 22e for communicating between the two portions 22c.

Each rotating shaft 22 a is a rotating shaft for switching the posture of the delivery table 22, and is attached to the support plate 21. The rotation shafts 22a are set so as to be rotatable around a second axis L2 parallel to the first axis L1 in FIG. The delivery table 22 rotates around the rotation shaft 22a to switch the posture of the article M received from the transport device 10 (FIG. 2) from a horizontal posture to a standing posture.
As shown in FIGS. 3B and 4B, the first opening 22b is formed on the placement surface 22d of the article M corresponding to the portion of the metal plate excluding the comb-like portion in the delivery table 22. In addition, the article M is sucked against the placement surface 22d by the negative pressure generated in the internal space S (FIG. 8) in the chamber portion 22e.

  The second opening 22c shown in FIG. 8 is configured by a plurality of circular holes formed at the tip of the chamber portion 22e on the back surface side of the delivery table 22. The second opening portion 22c is a suction device 70, which will be described later, at the position P1 when the delivery table 22 rotates along the rotation path around the rotation axis 23 while itself rotates around the rotation axis 22a. It contacts the elastic member 72. At this time, in the suction device 70 in contact with the second opening 22c, since air is sucked by a vacuum pump (not shown), the internal space S formed in the chamber 22e through the second opening 22c. The negative pressure for sucking the article M placed on the delivery table 22 can be generated.

  The placement surface 22d is a surface that comes into contact with the article M carried in from the transport device 10 (FIG. 2), and is formed with the first opening 22b described above.

Operation of the delivery table 22:
The delivery table 22 rotates about the rotation shaft 23 as the support plate 21 rotates. At the position P1 shown in FIG. 8, the longitudinal direction of the article M conveyed from the upstream conveying device 10 is the same. An article M in a horizontal posture that is substantially horizontal is received (see FIG. 2). At this time, the received article M is held in a state of being sucked against the placement surface 22 d of the delivery table 22 by the suction device 70.

  Next, the support plate 21 rotates about 90 ° in the rotation direction d around the rotation shaft 23, and the delivery table 22 moves from the position P1 to the position P2. During the movement to the position P2, the delivery table 22 rotates and moves in the rotation direction e by about 90 ° so that the article M is in a standing posture around the rotation shaft 22a. Then, after the article M is placed in a standing posture at the predetermined position Q in the transport mechanism 40 shown in FIG. 7, the delivery table 22 rotates in the direction of the arrow e around the rotation shaft 23 so as not to contact the article M. While moving upwards, it moves. At this time, one of the buckets 41 and 42 (described in detail later) is stopped at the predetermined position Q, and the article M is received and aligned in the standing posture.

Further, the delivery table 22 is moved about 90 ° from the position P2 shown in FIG. 8 while the support plate 21 is rotated about 90 ° in the rotation direction d around the rotation shaft 23 and moved to the position P3. It rotates around the rotation shaft 22a in the rotation direction e. Similarly, the delivery table 22 moves from the position P3 through the position P4 to the position P1 again.
The four delivery tables 22 arranged on the side surface of the support plate 21 sequentially perform such operations, thereby delivering a plurality of articles M to a predetermined position Q in a standing posture to form a bundle of articles M. be able to.

Suction device 70:
As described above, the suction device 70 is a device for sucking the article M placed on the delivery table 22 against the delivery table 22, and includes a main body 71 and an elastic member 72.

The main body 71 is connected to a vacuum pump via an air pipe (not shown), and a negative pressure is formed in the internal space by the vacuum pump.
The elastic member 72 has an opening substantially the same size as the second opening 22c of the delivery table 22, and the second opening 22c of the delivery table 22 at the position P1 where the delivery table 22 receives the article M from the transport device 10. It arrange | positions so that it may become substantially parallel to the tangent direction of the rotation track | orbit of the delivery stand 22 so that it may contact | abut.
The elastic member 72 may be a resin product such as a rubber product or urethane foam.

Transport mechanism 40:
As shown in FIGS. 7, 9, and 10, the transport mechanism 40 includes a plurality of buckets 41, 42, partition plates 43a, 43b, back plates 44a, 44b, and drive motors M1 to M3. Then, the articles M conveyed in the standing posture from the upstream delivery mechanism 20 to the predetermined position Q in FIG. 7 are sequentially received and conveyed by a predetermined number toward the downstream position R.

  In FIG. 10, one bucket 41 and 42 is provided on each of the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport mechanism 40, and between the sprockets s 1 and s 1 rotating around the rotary shafts 45 and 46, s 2 and s 2. It runs in a loop along a chain that is wound between them. Then, the buckets 41 and 42 in FIG. 7 convey the article row ML composed of a bundle of a plurality of articles M placed thereon from a predetermined position P on the upstream side to a position R on the downstream side. The buckets 41 and 42 are configured by combining a plurality of bottom plates 41a and 42a, respectively. The bottom plates 41a and 42a constitute a support surface that supports the bottom Mb of the article M.

  The partition plates 43a and 43b are respectively attached to the bottom plates 41a and 42a arranged on the most downstream side (leading side) among the plurality of bottom plates 41a and 42a. The partition plates 43a and 43b hold the first article M of the article row ML delivered from the delivery table 22 in an upright position, while holding the plurality of articles M delivered thereafter to the buckets 41 and 42. Can be aligned on top. Moreover, the partition plates 43a and 43b are independently driven via sprockets s1 and s2 by drive motors M1 and M2 (FIG. 9) described later. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the partition plates 43 a and 43 b have comb-like surfaces that come into contact with the article M, and can be separated from the comb-like portions of the delivery table 22 described above so as not to contact each other. It is configured.

  The back plates 44a and 44b in FIG. 7 are members that support the article row ML placed on the buckets 41 and 42 from the rear, and are provided for each of the partition plates 43a and 43b. Yes. The back plates 44a and 44b are driven by a drive motor M3 (FIG. 9), which is a common drive source, and are attached to positions facing each other in the moving loop. Thus, even when the number of the predetermined number of articles M to be boxed is changed by driving the back plates 44a and 44b by a drive source different from the partition plates 43a and 43b, the partition plates 43a and 43b. The article row ML can be sandwiched between the two and the article row ML can be conveyed to the discharge position R in a stable state. Note that the back plates 44a and 44b have a comb-toothed surface that contacts the article M, and can be separated from the comb-like portion of the delivery table 22 described above so as not to contact each other. Is the same as that of the partition plates 43a and 43b.

The sprockets s1 to s3 in FIG. 9 are respectively disposed at both end portions of the transport mechanism 40 and have the same diameter. Thereby, the partition plate 43a, the partition plate 43b, and the back plates 44a and 44b can be moved at the same speed at the same rotational speed.
In the present embodiment, as described above, the partition plate 43a, the partition plate 43b, and the back plates 44a and 44b are configured to be driven independently of each other by the drive motor M1 that drives the partition plate 43a. The first loop is formed by the drive motor M2 that drives the partition plate 43b, and the second loop is formed by the drive motor M3 that drives the back plates 44a and 44b.

As a result, the conveyance mechanism 40 greatly conveys the article between the partition plate 43a and the back plate 44a and between the partition plate 43b and the back plate 44b by sandwiching the article row ML. Transport in a stable state becomes possible.
Here, the method for transporting the article row ML by the transport mechanism 40 will be described in detail with reference to one bucket 41 side as an example. The other bucket 42 is also transported in the same manner as described below.

  That is, when the article M is conveyed from the upstream delivery table 22, the bucket 41 standing by at the predetermined position Q to which the article M of FIG. 7 is delivered rises with the partition plate 43a. Receive in a posture and hold the standing posture. Then, the bucket 41 moves downstream by a predetermined distance corresponding to the thickness d1 (FIG. 7) of the bag of the article M, and as shown in FIG. A plurality of articles M are received in a state where they are arranged rearward. At this time, the back plate 44a stands by on the downstream side of a predetermined position Q (see FIG. 12) for receiving the article M. The partition plate 43b corresponding to the downstream bucket 42 stands by immediately downstream of the back plate 44a. Eventually, as shown in FIG. 11B, when the number of delivered article rows ML reaches a predetermined number, as shown in FIG. 11C, the article row ML is placed between the partition plate 43a and the back plate 44a. 11, the sheet is transported along the second direction Y to the downstream position R (see FIG. 12) as shown in FIG. 11 (d). At this time, as shown in FIG. 11 (b), the partition plate 43b waiting on the downstream side in the second direction Y of the back plate 44a quickly moves to the downstream side of the back plate 44a, and next The batch of articles M is received from the delivery table 22.

Article row transport device 2:
The article rows ML aligned for each predetermined number of bags by the alignment device 40 shown in FIG. 12 are pushed onto the lifter 52 by the first pusher 51. As shown in FIG. 2, the article row ML on the lifter 52 is lifted vertically upward Z <b> 1, and then pushed out in the first direction X by the second pusher 54, so that the article row conveying device 2 shown in FIG. It is conveyed on the surface 65.

Thereafter, the lifting pusher 61 shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 pushes the article row ML in the first direction X. Here, guide plates 80 are provided on both sides in the second direction (width direction) Y of the conveying surface 65 of the article row conveying apparatus 2 shown in FIG. At this time, by holding the bar 91 (FIG. 2) linearly extending in the second direction Y in an upright state, the article row ML whose side surface Ms is guided by the guide plate 80 moves up and down the rear end portion. Pushed by the pusher 61 to contact the bar 91 (FIG. 2), the articles M are aligned in a row.
After the alignment, the bar 91 (FIG. 2) falls and the article row ML is conveyed onto the shutter 62.

After the transport, the shutter 62 is opened, and the article row ML is placed on the lift platform 63 in the lifted state indicated by the two-dot chain line, and then the lift platform 63 is lowered to the vertically lower Z2. On the other hand, the box B arranged so that the opening Bu is placed sideways is set. After the article rows ML are stacked on the elevator table 63, the elevator table 63 descends to a position where the level of the article row ML is substantially the same as the lower opening Bu of the box B. After the lowering, the article row ML is pushed out into the box B by the boxing pusher 64 and is boxed.
The box B that has been packed is rotated so that the opening Bu is on the top.

Next, the main part of the present invention will be described.
Loading conveyor 11:
As shown in FIG. 3A, the input conveyor 11 includes an endless conveyor belt 11b that is stretched between a pair of pulleys 13 provided on the upstream side and the downstream side. The pulley 13 on the upstream side is rotationally driven by the first drive motor 11 </ b> M, so that the article M on the transport surface 11 </ b> S of the input conveyor 11 is transported to the telescopic conveyor 30.

Telescopic conveyor 30:
The telescopic conveyor 30 includes a first moving roller 32, a first fixed roller 34, a second moving roller 33, a pair of second fixed rollers 35 and 36, and an endless conveyor belt 31 spanned between the rollers 32 to 36. It has.

The first moving roller 32 is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 31 and is disposed on the downstream end side in the first direction X.
The first fixed roller 34 is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 31 and is disposed on the downstream end side in the first direction X.
The second moving roller 33 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 31 and is disposed between the first moving roller 32 and the first fixed roller 34. The second fixed rollers 35 and 36 are in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 31 and are arranged on the upstream end side in the first direction X.
The second fixed rollers 35 and 36 are in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 31 and are arranged on the upstream end side in the first direction X.

  Between the second fixed roller 36 and the first moving roller 32, the conveyor belt 31 constitutes a conveyance surface 30s for conveying the article M. The second fixed roller 36 is rotationally driven by the second conveyor motor 30 </ b> M, so that the article M on the transport surface 30 s transported from the input conveyor 11 is transported onto the delivery table 22 of the delivery device 20.

Telescopic mechanism of telescopic conveyor 30:
Here, when a large article M as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B is conveyed, the article M may come into contact with the telescopic conveyor 30 when the delivery table 22 delivers the article M to the alignment device 40. There is. Therefore, in the case of carrying the large article M, the telescopic conveyor 30 moves the first moving roller 32, which is the downstream end of the telescopic conveyor 30, to the upstream side, thereby FIG. Transition from the extended state shown in b) to the contracted state shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B avoids contact with the article M.

Hereinafter, the extension mechanism of the extension conveyor 30 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, the first and second moving rollers 32 and 33 are rotatably attached to a slider 38 set so as to be slidable with respect to the guide rod 39. ing. The guide rod 39 is provided substantially in parallel with the first direction X, and the slider 38 is slidably movable in the first direction X along the guide rod 39. A cylinder rod 37 a of an air cylinder 37 is fixed to the slider 38, and the slider 38 is moved in the first direction X by the air cylinder 37.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the slider 38 is moved toward the delivery device 20 by the air cylinder 37, the first and second moving rollers 32 and 33 are moved toward the delivery device 20, and the first movement is performed. The distance between the roller 32 and the second fixed roller 36 is increased, and the telescopic conveyor 30 is extended. In this extended state, a small article M is delivered.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when the slider 38 is moved away from the delivery device 20, the distance between the first moving roller 32 and the second fixed roller 36 is reduced, and the telescopic conveyor 30 is contracted. In this contracted state, a large article M is delivered.

  The article M is delivered to the delivery table 22 so as to be thrown from the telescopic conveyor 30 toward the delivery table 22 by being conveyed at a high speed on the conveyance surface 30s. Therefore, even if the space between the telescopic conveyor 30 and the delivery table 22 is free, the article M can be conveyed onto the delivery table 22.

  Thus, the length of the telescopic conveyor 30 changes according to the size of the article M, so that the posture of the article M is delivered to the delivery device 20 without being unstable regardless of the size of the article M. Can do. Further, the contents of the article M can be delivered to the delivery device 20 with a predetermined cycle time without damaging the contents.

The expansion and contraction of the telescopic conveyor 30 is automatically performed when the type of the article M is changed (set-up change) based on the information on the size of the article M or the bag set in the controller provided upstream. Also good.
In the above-described first embodiment, the telescopic conveyor 30 is expanded and contracted in two stages of the size of the article M. For example, by providing a stopper or the like to expand and contract in three or more stages, articles of a plurality of types of sizes are provided. You may make it respond | correspond to M.

  Further, the telescopic conveyor 30 may be expanded and contracted every time the article M is delivered. That is, the telescopic conveyor 30 may be controlled to be in an extended state when the article M is delivered to the delivery table 22 of the delivery device 20 and to be in a contracted state when the posture of the article M is changed by the delivery table 22.

FIG. 13 shows a second embodiment.
As shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, in the second embodiment, the length of the stretchable conveyor 30 is constant, and the stretchable conveyor 30 moves in the first direction X according to the size of the article M. Is done.
As shown in FIG. 13A, when the size of the article M is small, the telescopic conveyor 30 is moved so as to approach the delivery device 20. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 13B, when the size of the article M is large, the upstream side of the telescopic conveyor 30 is moved below the input conveyor 11 so that the telescopic conveyor 30 moves away from the delivery / delivery device 20. Moved.
Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same or corresponding portions, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In addition, you may perform the movement of the said elastic conveyor 30 using the motor (not shown) provided in 30 A of moving apparatuses. In such a case, the position of the telescopic conveyor 30 may be controlled using a stepping motor or a pulse motor as the motor. That is, as shown in FIG. 13C, a motor rotation angle storage unit is provided. In the rotation angle storage unit, the count number of the encoder, that is, the rotation angle of the motor is preset and stored in accordance with the size of the article M. The count number may be read from the storage unit according to the size of the article M, and the position of the telescopic conveyor 30 may be controlled based on the count number.

As described above, the preferred embodiments have been described with reference to the drawings. However, those skilled in the art will readily understand various changes and modifications within the obvious scope by looking at the present specification.
For example, in the telescopic conveyor of the first embodiment, the telescopic conveyor is expanded and contracted using an air cylinder. However, the telescopic conveyor may be expanded and contracted using a motor instead of the air cylinder, or manually for each product size. The telescopic conveyor may be expanded and contracted.
Accordingly, such changes and modifications are to be construed as within the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims.

It is a schematic side view which shows the boxing system concerning Example 1 of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the collection | stacking and boxing process of articles | goods. It is a schematic side view which shows a conveying apparatus. It is a schematic side view which shows a conveying apparatus. It is a schematic perspective view which shows a telescopic conveyor and a delivery apparatus. It is a schematic perspective view which shows a telescopic conveyor and a delivery apparatus. It is a schematic front view which shows an integration | stacking apparatus. It is a schematic front view which shows a delivery apparatus. It is a schematic plan view which shows an alignment apparatus. It is a schematic front view which shows an alignment apparatus. It is an operation | movement figure which shows the integration | stacking method of articles | goods. It is a schematic plan view which shows a conveying apparatus and a stacking apparatus. FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are schematic side views showing the transport device and the delivery device according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 13C is a table showing the contents stored in the rotation angle storage unit of the motor.

Explanation of symbols

1: Stacking device 10: Conveying device (an example of conveying means)
20: Delivery device (an example of posture changing means)
22: delivery table 31: conveyor belt 32: first moving roller 33: second moving roller 34: first fixed roller 35, 36: second fixed roller 40: alignment device (an example of alignment means)
41a, 42a: bottom plate (support surface)
43a, 43b: Partition plates 44a, 44b: Back plate L1: First axis L2: Second axis M: Article ML: Article row X: First direction Y: Second direction Z: Vertical direction

Claims (7)

A stacking device that generates an array of aligned articles while conveying a plurality of articles containing contents in a bag having a pair of side surfaces and a bottom portion connected to the side surfaces,
Conveying means for conveying the article in a first direction in a horizontal posture in which one side surface of the article is supported from below by a conveying surface;
Attitude changing means for receiving the article in the horizontal attitude from the conveying means, and changing the attitude of the article to a standing attitude along the first direction and the vertical direction;
An alignment means for collecting the articles whose postures are changed in a state of being stacked in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and collecting the articles so that the side surfaces are in contact with each other;
The transport means can be expanded and contracted in the first direction, and the transport means expands and contracts according to the length of the article to be transported in the first direction, and a space between the transport means and the posture changing means. An integrated device that can change the distance. In Claim 1, when the length of the article is short, the conveying means expands and the tip of the conveying means approaches the posture changing means,
The stacking apparatus in which, when the length of the article is long, the transport unit contracts and the leading end of the transport unit is separated from the posture changing unit.   3. The stacking apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the position of the tip of the transport means can be changed according to the size of the bag. The conveying means according to claim 1, 2 or 3,
An endless conveyor belt,
A first moving roller in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt and disposed on the downstream end side in the first direction;
A first fixed roller in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt and disposed on the downstream end side in the first direction;
A second moving roller in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the conveyor belt and disposed between the first moving roller and the first fixed roller;
And a second fixing roller disposed on the upstream end side in the first direction in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the conveyor belt. In claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, the posture changing means is
A support plate that rotates about a first axis extending along the first direction;
The article can be rotated about a second axis parallel to the first axis on the support plate, and the article is received in the horizontal posture and rotated around the second axis to change the posture of the article to the standing posture. An integrated device comprising a plurality of delivery tables to be changed. The alignment means according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein
A support surface for supporting the bottom of the article;
A partition plate in contact with the side of the first article in the article row to be aligned;
A stacking device comprising: a back plate contacting a side surface of an article at a rear end of the aligned article row.   6. The stacking apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the conveying unit is in an extended state when an article is transferred to the delivery table, and is in a contracted state when the posture is changed.

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