JP2009143700A - Article arranging and conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simple and compact article arranging and conveying device, arranging long articles in the desired direction. <P>SOLUTION: The article aligning and conveying device 100 has a vertically movable floor 20 which is provided with a floor surface 21 supporting one end having a small neck part and the other end having a large diameter part in the longitudinal direction of long articles 1 with flat members 22 having an L-shaped section in the view of the article conveying direction being erected from both sides thereof, and provided with an inclined surface for moving the long articles 1 on the downstream side along the article conveying direction on a stepped surface 22A of the L-shaped section of the flat members 22, and vertically moved, a fixed article throw-in unit 10 for positionally regulating the longitudinal direction of the long articles 1 in the direction orthogonal to the article conveying direction on the upstream side along the article conveying direction of the vertically movable floor 20, and a discharge chute 30 on the downstream side along the article conveying direction of the vertically movable floor 20. The discharge chute 30 discharges the long articles 1 with the large diameter side thereof in their longitudinal direction in a preceding manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an article aligning and conveying apparatus.

  Examples of the article aligning and conveying apparatus include a vibratory parts feeder (Patent Document 1), a rotary parts feeder (Patent Document 2), and a belt upright bottle aligning apparatus (Patent Document 3).

  The article aligning and conveying apparatus described in Patent Literature 1 includes a short cylindrical main body that receives a plurality of bar-shaped articles from an upper opening, and a filling hopper that includes a gate for opening and closing the lower opening of the main body, A drive unit that vibrates the filling hopper so that the respective rod-like articles supplied into the filling hopper stand up next to each other, and one end portion supplied into the filling hopper A partition member is provided in the main body for holding the rod-shaped article that is in contact with the upper surface of the gate in a state where the central axis of the rod-shaped article is raised within a range in which the central axis forms an angle of 45 ° or less with respect to the vertical direction. Is. Regardless of the length or filling amount of the rod-shaped article, the rod-shaped article can be erected cleanly in a state adjacent to each other in the filling hopper, and the container or the like can be filled in this aligned state.

  An article aligning and conveying apparatus described in Patent Literature 2 includes a turntable that can receive an article, a sensor that is disposed at a position where the attitude of the article placed on the turntable can be detected, and an output of the article. A control unit that determines a front / back posture and rotates the turntable to a preset stop position according to the front / back posture, a push-out unit that moves the article, and a receiving member that holds the article moved by the push-out unit It has.

The article aligning and conveying apparatus described in Patent Document 3 includes a bottle supply device, a bottle separating device that separates bottles one by one in a state of being aligned along a transfer line, and sends them in a horizontal direction, and from the inside of the input unit to the transfer unit outlet A bottle aligning device is provided that includes a transfer device including a plurality of belt conveyors extending horizontally in a row, and includes a bottle erecting device that aligns the direction of the bottle mouth during the bottle transfer and raises the bottle.
JP2001-261006 JP-A-9-104520 JP2000-355419

  Most of the conventional article aligning and conveying apparatuses as described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are arranged to stand up and align so that the center of gravity of the article is on the lower side. However, when the articles are vertically long, the number of articles that stood up stochastically decreases, so the success rate of alignment also decreases, and as a result, the processing capability may decrease. Further, if the surface on the center of gravity side of the article is pointed or rounded, it is difficult to make the surface on the center of gravity side downward, and alignment may be impossible. In addition, vibration-type and rotary-type parts feeders tend to be larger in apparatus size than the handled items. Therefore, a wide installation space is required, and in the case of mold change when the handling article is changed, the replacement parts are also large, and the burden on the operator is large.

  The article alignment / conveyance device described in Patent Document 3 is relatively compact and has a high alignment success rate. However, since the bottle stands up while being sandwiched between belts, the surface of the bottle is scratched by friction at that time, or the film is wound. In the case of a bottle, wrinkles may occur on the film. Further, in the case where the diameters of the bottom surface and the upper portion of the bottle are greatly different, the bottle comes off from the belt at the time of standing, and the conveying force is lost.

  An object of the present invention is to align vertically long articles in a desired direction by a simple and compact article aligning and conveying apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a sheet-like member having an L-shaped cross section as viewed in the article conveying direction, which supports each of one end portion having a narrow neck portion and the other end portion having a large diameter portion in the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article. A floor that is raised on both sides, and a vertically movable floor that moves up and down with an inclined surface that moves the article downstream along the article conveyance direction on the step surface of the L-shaped cross section of the planar member; The fixed article that aligns the direction of the article so that the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article is perpendicular to the article conveying direction upstream of the article moving direction of the vertical moving floor and restricts the position of the article in the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction. It has an input part, and has a discharge chute downstream along the article conveyance direction of the up and down moving floor, and the discharge chute is designed to discharge a vertically long article with the large diameter side in the longitudinal direction leading. .

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the fixed article input portion is provided with a centering member for a vertically long article.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the discharge chute further includes a direction regulating member that aligns the direction by restricting the position of the vertically long article.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the fixed article input portion including a plurality of centering members, the vertically movable floor including a plurality of planar members, and the discharge chute including a plurality of direction regulating members. It is made to have.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, an article supply device is disposed upstream of the fixed article input unit, and the article supply device moves each of the plurality of fixed floors in the transport direction. The moving floors are placed side by side along the side of the conveyance direction with respect to each fixed floor, and each moving floor is simultaneously placed above and below the floor of the fixed floor that is adjacent to each other. The article is supplied downstream by repeating the positioning operation.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the invention according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, further comprising a direction changing plate for raising the vertically long article downstream of the discharge chute.

  The invention of claim 7 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the vertically long article is a bottle.

(Claim 1)
(a) A vertically long article whose longitudinal position is regulated in a direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction by the fixed article throwing section is thrown between both side surface members of the up-and-down moving floor, and has a narrow neck portion in the longitudinal direction of the article. When each of the one end and the other end is supported by the inclined stepped surface of the L-shaped cross-sectional planar member, the vertically long article is discharged with the large diameter side in the longitudinal direction as the leading side in the process of ascending the vertical moving floor It is transferred to the chute and aligned, and discharged from the discharge chute in the aligned posture. Thereby, a vertically long article can be aligned in a desired direction by a simple and compact article aligning and conveying apparatus.

(Claim 2)
(b) Since the fixed article input portion includes the center-aligning member for the vertically long article, the position of the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article can be reliably regulated in the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction.

(Claim 3)
(c) Since the discharge chute includes a regulating member that aligns the direction by regulating the position of the vertically long article, the longitudinal direction of the vertically elongated article can be reliably arranged in a direction parallel to the article conveying direction.

(Claim 4)
(d) It has a fixed article input part provided with a plurality of centering members, a vertically movable floor provided with a plurality of planar members, and a discharge chute provided with a plurality of direction regulating members. Thereby, a plurality of vertically long articles can be aligned in parallel.

(Claim 5)
(e) The article supply device arranged upstream of the fixed article input unit juxtaposes each of the plurality of fixed beds along the conveyance direction, and places each of the plurality of movable beds on the side of the conveyance direction with respect to each fixed bed. The articles are supplied downstream by repeating the up-and-down operation of positioning each moving floor at the upper and lower positions with respect to the floor surface of the adjacent fixed floor at the same time. Therefore, regardless of the size and shape of the vertically long article and the carry-in posture, the article can be supplied to the fixed article input unit almost by a constant amount.

(Claim 6)
(f) The vertically long article discharged from the discharge chute is erected by colliding with the direction changing plate, and becomes an upright state.

(Claim 7)
(g) A bottle can be used as an article to be aligned.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the article aligning and conveying apparatus 100 includes a fixed article input unit 10, an up and down moving floor 20, and a discharge chute 30 in order from the upstream side in the article conveying direction.

  The article aligning and conveying apparatus 100 is a floor surface in which a planar member 22 that supports one end portion in the longitudinal direction having a narrow neck portion of the vertically long article 1 and the other end portion in the longitudinal direction having a large diameter portion is erected on both sides. A vertically moving floor 20 that moves up and down is provided. The floor surface 21 in which the planar member 22 having an L-shaped cross section formed by the step surface 22A and the width regulating portion 22B as viewed in the article conveyance direction stands on both sides is an inclined surface that moves the article 1 downstream in the article conveyance direction. It is provided on the step surface 22A of the member 22. The article aligning and conveying apparatus 100 includes a fixed article input unit 10 that regulates the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article 1 in the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction upstream of the article moving direction of the vertically moving floor 20. A discharge chute 30 is provided downstream in the transport direction, and the discharge chute 30 discharges the vertically long article 1 with one side in the longitudinal direction leading.

  The fixed article input unit 10 is provided on both sides of the inclined floor surface 11 with a centering member 12 that is in contact with both ends of the vertical article 1 and regulates the longitudinal direction of the vertical article 1 in the direction perpendicular to the article transport direction. Prepare to stand. The floor surface 11 has a downward slope of an angle α with respect to the horizontal in the article conveyance direction (FIG. 4), a preferable value of α is 5 to 50 degrees, and a more preferable value is 7 to 30 degrees. The centering member 12 has an upwardly convex triangular prism shape, for example, with a triangle having a top at the upper end as a cross section when viewed in the article conveyance direction, and the preferred value of the apex interval a1 of the triangular pillars of the both side centering member 12 is that of the vertically long article 1. It is 1.1 to 1.7 times the height h, and a suitable value for the bottom interval a2 of the triangular prisms of the both-side centering member 12 is 0.7 to 1.0 times the height h of the vertically long article 1 (FIG. 3). Other shapes of the centering member 12 may be a simple rectangular parallelepiped or a quadrangular prism having a trapezoidal cross section inclined like a triangular prism on the side in contact with the article 1, but the inclined protrusion 23 works well on the center of the article 1. For this purpose, it is preferable that the side in contact with the article 1 is inclined (not shown).

  The vertically movable floor 20 is provided with a planar member 22 that has an L-shaped cross section when viewed in the article conveyance direction, which supports each of the narrow neck portion and the large diameter portion of the other end of the vertically long article 1 fed from the fixed article throwing portion 10. The step surface 22A of the planar member 22 is provided with an inclined surface having a downward slope that is provided upright on both sides of the floor surface 21 and moves the article 1 downstream along the article conveyance direction, and an air cylinder, a servo motor, or a stepping step. A vertical drive unit 24 including a motor is provided. The vertical drive unit 24 includes a descending end (FIG. 1) that positions the floor surface 21 below the floor surface 11 of the fixed article input unit 10 and the floor surface 31 of the discharge chute 30, and the floor surface 21 as the floor of the fixed article input unit 10. The vertical moving floor 20 is moved up and down between the rising end (FIG. 2) positioned higher than the surface 11 and the floor surface 31 of the discharge chute 30. As will be described later, the vertically movable floor 20 supports the vertical article 1 in the process of ascending to support each of the narrow neck part and the large diameter part of the longitudinal article 1 on the inclined step surfaces 22A of the planar members 22 on both sides. The article 1 is transferred to the discharge chute 30 with the large diameter side in the longitudinal direction as the leading side. The stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22 faces the article conveyance direction and forms a downward slope of an angle β with respect to the horizontal (FIG. 4). A preferable value of β is 5 to 40 degrees, and a more preferable value is 7 to 25 degrees. The preferred value of the vertical wall interval b1 rising upward from the stepped surface 22A of the both side surface members 22 is preferably 1.1 to 1.3 times the total height h1 (FIG. 6) of the article 1. If b1 is smaller than this range, the bottle may be clogged between the planar members 22 on both sides. When b1 is larger than this range, the bottle neck does not ride on the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22. The step depth b2 of the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22 is preferably 0.5 to 1.5 times the neck height h2 (FIG. 6) of the article 1. If b2 is smaller than this range, the bottle neck may not get on the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22. If b2 is larger than this range, the shoulder portion of the bottle rides on the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22, and the large diameter bottom portion of the bottle does not face obliquely upward as will be described later. When the bottle outer diameter is d1 and the neck diameter is d2 (FIG. 6, when the bottle shape is not circular, d1 is the minimum diameter of the bottle outer diameter), the step height b3 of the step surface 22A of the planar member 22 is It is preferably 1.2 to 2.0 times (d1−d2) / 2. If b3 is smaller than this range, the shoulder portion of the bottle is in contact with the floor surface 21, and the large-diameter bottom portion of the bottle does not sufficiently face upward. If b3 is larger than this range, it is necessary to increase the up / down stroke of the up / down moving floor 20, and the moving time is wasted time, and the productivity is lowered. The step width b4 along the slope of the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22 is preferably 1.05 to 1.8 times d1. When b4 is smaller than this range, the bottle does not fall when the vertically moving floor 20 is lowered, and the neck does not get on the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22. If b4 is larger than this range, the apparatus size is unnecessarily increased. In the constraint condition b4, when the bottle shape is not circular, d1 is the maximum diameter of the bottle outer diameter when the bottle diameter is changing in the height direction. A preferable value of the installation interval b5 between the fixed article input unit 10 and the discharge chute 30 sandwiching the vertical moving floor 20 is 1.05 to 2.0 times d1.

  FIG. 8 shows a modification of the vertically moving floor 20. As shown in FIG. 8 (A), the vertically movable floor 20 includes a component part of the floor surface 21, a component part of the width regulating portion 22B (vertical wall) of the planar member 22, and a step surface 22A of the planar member 22. The constituent part may be formed as a separate member, which makes it easy to measure the dimension of b2 and facilitates processing. As shown in FIG. 8B, the vertical moving floor 20 is configured such that the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22 is formed of a round bar instead of a square bar, and is in contact with the article 1 by the curved surface of the stepped surface 22A. Also good. As shown in FIG. 8C, the vertically movable floor 20 is configured by a plate material in which the step surface 22A of the planar member 22 is separated from the constituent parts of the vertical wall so that the article 1 comes into contact with the narrow surface of the step surface 22A. Anyway. As shown in FIG. 8D, the vertically movable floor 20 is configured such that the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22 is formed of a triangular prism material, and the stepped surface 22A and the article 1 are in line contact with the ridgeline of the triangular prism. Also good.

  The discharge chute 30 may be a simple plate-like member, a gutter-like member, or the like (not shown). However, in order to further stabilize the conveyance of the article 1, both side portions of the vertically long article 1 transferred from the vertical moving floor 20 are used. The direction regulating member 32 for adjusting the direction and the position by restricting the position in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the article by aligning the longitudinal direction of the article 1 in the direction parallel to the article conveyance direction. It is good to have it standing up on both sides of the inclined floor 31. The floor surface 31 faces the article conveyance direction and has a downward slope of an angle δ with respect to the horizontal (FIG. 4). A preferable value of δ is 5 to 50 degrees, and a more preferable value is 7 to 30 degrees. As shown in FIG. 3, the direction regulating member 32 includes an article first regulating surface 32 </ b> A that faces the vertically moving floor 20 in the article conveying direction, and an article second regulating surface 32 </ b> B that expands upward on both sides of the floor surface 31. The entrance side of the article 1 transferred from the up and down moving floor 20 is provided with an intersection line part 32C of the article first regulating surface 32A and the article second regulating surface 32B. The direction regulating member 32 faces the article conveyance direction and forms an angle γ with respect to the horizontal (FIG. 4). A preferable value of γ is −20 to 30 degrees, and a more preferable value is −10 to 20 degrees. The gradient is an upward or downward gradient in the article conveyance direction. A positive value of γ is an upslope, and a negative value of γ is a downslope. The intersecting line part 32C of the article first restricting surface 32A and the article second restricting surface 32B is connected to a curved surface or intersects at a loose angle, with 0 ° being the sharpest angle and 180 ° being parallel. Is 120 to 175 degrees, whereby the direction of the article 1 transferred from the vertically moving floor 20 can be smoothly changed to a direction parallel to the article conveying direction (FIG. 3). A suitable value of the top interval c1 of the article second restriction surface 32B of the both-side restriction member 32 is 0.5 to 1.2 times the height h of the article 1, and the bottom interval c2 of the article second restriction surface 32B of the both-side restriction member 32. Is preferably 0.7 to 1.5 times the height h of the article 1 (FIG. 3). However, the direction regulating member 32 may be a simple square bar material or a round bar material.

  Hereinafter, the operation of transferring the article 1 from the vertically movable floor 20 to the discharge chute 30 with the specific large diameter side in the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article 1 as the leading side in the process of raising and lowering the vertically movable floor 20 will be described.

  The vertically movable floor 20 is provided with a planar member 22 having an L-shaped cross section on both sides of the floor surface 21. One narrow neck portion of the vertically long article 1 rides on the stepped surface 22A of one planar member 22, and the other large diameter bottom portion of the article 1 rides on the stepped surface 22A of the other planar member 22, and the large diameter of the vertically long article 1 is obtained. The bottom is diagonally upward (FIG. 7). When the vertically movable floor 20 rises, the large-diameter bottom portion that faces diagonally upward of the article 1 is first released from the discharge chute 30 that is a downstream structure, and rolls or slides toward the discharge chute 30, so that the article 1 has a large-diameter bottom section. Are aligned at the top and discharged. Since the article 1 has a large-diameter bottom at the top, it can be easily erected on the belt conveyor 40 by a direction changing plate 50 or the like described later.

  When it is difficult for the article 1 to be stably placed on the belt conveyor 40, the conveyor 40 is provided with a plurality of bowls and cups having shapes suitable for the article 1. The conveyor 40 may be intermittently operated (not shown) so that the wrinkles come to the optimum position where the article 1 can be put. Thereby, it becomes possible to align whatever the front side of the articles 1 is discharged (for example, even if they are pointed or rounded).

  It is assumed that the articles to be aligned (bottles) that can be aligned by the up and down moving floor 20 have d2 of 0.9 times or less, preferably 0.8 times or less of d1. If d2 exceeds this, even if the neck of the article 1 rides on the stepped surface 22A of the planar member 22, the angle at which the large diameter bottom of the bottle faces obliquely upward is too small, and it is difficult to discharge from the large diameter bottom of the bottle. become. When the bottle shape is not circular, d1 is the minimum diameter of the bottle outer diameter.

  In the vertically long articles 1 (bottles) of various shapes shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, all the articles 1 of (1) to (6) are aligned with the large diameter bottom side as the leading side as shown in FIG. Is granted. In the elliptical bottle of (2), regardless of which of the long diameter part and the short diameter part of the article 1 is on the step surface 22A of the planar member 22, the large diameter bottom part side is obliquely upward. In the flat bottle of (6), the flat surface of the article 1 is stabilized in the lateral state of the article 1 riding on the step surface 22A of the planar member 22.

Hereinafter, the alignment operation of the vertically long articles 1 by the article alignment and conveyance device 100 will be described (FIGS. 12 to 15).
(A) The vertically long article 1 is a bottle having a narrow neck at one end and a large-diameter bottom at the other end. A belt conveyor 40 is disposed downstream of the discharge chute 30 and is opposite to the discharge chute 30 in the belt conveyor 40. The example of the articles | goods alignment conveyance apparatus 100 which installed the direction change board 50 which stands the articles | goods 1 upright side.

(Alignment step 1) (FIG. 12A)
The thrown-in article 1 is brought near to the center on the floor surface 11 by the centering member 11 of the fixed article feeding part 10. The position of the article 1 is regulated so that the longitudinal direction is perpendicular to the article conveyance direction.

(Alignment process 2) (FIG. 12B)
The article 1 rolls or slides down on the floor surface 11 of the fixed article input unit 10 and falls on the vertically moving floor 20 between the fixed article input unit 10 and the discharge chute 30. The article 1 is held substantially at the center by both side surface members 22 of the up and down moving floor 20. The article 1 is maintained with its longitudinal direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction.

(Alignment step 3) (FIG. 13A)
The vertically moving floor 20 rises. In the article 1, each of the narrow neck portion at one end and the bottom portion at the other end has a stepped surface 22 </ b> A of the upper side surface member 22, and the large diameter bottom portion is in an upward state.

(Alignment step 4) (FIG. 13B)
When the vertically movable floor 20 further rises and the large-diameter bottom portion of the article 1 facing upward becomes higher than the uppermost end of the discharge chute 30, the article 1 has the bottom face at the top due to sliding or rolling on the vertically movable floor 20. Change the direction.

(Alignment step 5) (FIG. 14A)
When the vertically moving floor 20 continues to rise further, the article 1 changes its direction and falls on the floor surface 31 between the direction regulating members 32 on both sides of the discharge chute 30 with the bottom side of the article 1 as the leading side. . The articles 1 are sandwiched between the direction regulating members 32 on both sides of the discharge chute 30 and are aligned in a direction parallel to the article conveying direction with the bottom side as the leading side.

(Alignment step 6) (FIG. 14B)
The article 1 completely falls on the floor surface 31 between the direction regulating members 32 on both sides of the discharge chute 30, and the direction alignment with the bottom side as the leading side is completed.

(Alignment step 7) (FIG. 15A)
The article 1 slides down on the floor surface 31 of the discharge chute 30 and collides with the direction changing plate 50 located on the opposite side of the belt conveyor 40.

(Alignment step 8) (FIG. 15B)
The article 1 collides with the direction changing plate 50 and changes its direction to the vertical direction, and is in an aligned state in which the bottom surface thereof stands by on the belt conveyor 40. The belt conveyor 40 is continuously or intermittently operated to transfer the article 1 to the next process.

  As a result, the article 1 is not directly gripped, restrained, moved at high speed, and can be aligned by the action of rolling or sliding, so that the article 1 is not subjected to strong force or frictional force, and is damaged. There is no damage.

  The article aligning and conveying apparatus 100 can arrange an article supply apparatus such as a conveyor or a notch apparatus that can intermittently supply the articles 1 upstream of the fixed article input unit 10. As for the loading direction of the article 1 supplied to the fixed article loading unit 10 to the up and down moving floor 20, the longitudinal direction of the article 1 is perpendicular to the article conveying direction (perpendicular to the floor width b3 of the floor surface 21 of the up and down moving floor 20). Direction), the input of the article 1 from the fixed article input unit 10 to the up and down moving floor 20 is most stable (FIG. 16A). If the longitudinal direction of the article 1 deviates from the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction within about 50 degrees (FIGS. 16B and 16C), the article 1 is fixed when the up and down moving floor 20 is lowered. It is regulated by being sandwiched between the article input unit 10 and the discharge chute 30, and is corrected and stabilized so that the longitudinal direction of the article 1 is perpendicular to the article conveying direction.

  In the article aligning and conveying apparatus 100 of FIG. 17, the fixed article input unit 10 has three floor surfaces 11 partitioned by four centering members 12, and the vertical moving floor 20 has six planar members 22 ( Of the four central (L-shaped) planar members 22 sandwiched between the two L-shaped planar members 22 at both ends, two adjacent (L-shaped) planar members 22 are Three stepped surfaces 22A that are integrated back to back and have a reverse T-shaped cross section), and the discharge chute 30 is divided by four direction regulating members 32. As a result, the three vertical articles 1 can be arranged in parallel in three rows.

  In the article aligning and conveying apparatus 100 of FIG. 18, an article supply apparatus 200 similar to that described above for the vertically long article 1 is arranged upstream of the fixed article input unit 10.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the article supply device 200 sets the direction from one end side to the other end side of the gantry 211 as the article supply direction, and provides an inlet chute 212 on one end side thereof to increase the supply force on the back surface of the inlet chute 212. A vibrator 213 is provided.

  The article supply apparatus 200 supports a plurality of fixed floors 220 by a support member 214 provided on the gantry 211. The article supply device 200 is arranged so that each floor surface 221 of the plurality of fixed floors 220 is inclined downward (angle θ with respect to the horizontal: for example, 5 to 35 degrees) toward the downstream side in the supply direction. At this time, the floor surface 221 of each fixed floor 220 itself is a slope inclined so as to form a downward slope toward the downstream side in the supply direction. The fixed floor 220 may be equipped with a vibrator to increase the supply power.

  In the article supply apparatus 200, left and right side guide plates 216 are connected to an elevating drive device 215 supported by a gantry 211, and a slide portion 218 (not shown) fixed to a side guide plate 216 on a slide shaft 217 supported by the gantry 211. ) Is slidably fitted. Further, an impact relaxation damper (not shown) is interposed between the gantry 211 and the slide portion 218. The left and right side guide plates 216 are disposed on both sides of the entrance chute 212 and the fixed floor 220 in the width direction, and include a plurality of movable floors 230 therebetween. Each of the plurality of moving beds 230 is arranged adjacent to each fixed bed 220 on the side in the supply direction (in the present embodiment, on the side on the upstream side). As a result, the fixed bed 220 and the moving bed 230 are alternately arranged along the supply direction at a constant interval. The article supply device 200 repeats the raising / lowering operation of the side guide plate 216 and the moving floor 230 by the raising / lowering driving device 215 (the moving floor 230 is directly connected to the raising / lowering driving device 215, and the side guide plate 216 does not necessarily need to be raised or lowered. Absent). That is, the raising / lowering operation of positioning each moving floor 230 at the upper and lower positions with respect to the floor surface 221 of the fixed floor 220 to which the floor surfaces 231 are adjacent is repeated.

  The floor surface 231 of each moving floor 230 protrudes above the floor surface 221 of the fixed floor 220 at the upper level and immerses below the floor surface 221 of the fixed floor 220 at the lower level.

  The floor surfaces 231 of the respective movable floors 230 positioned at the upper side are arranged so as to face each other downstream in the supply direction so as to form a downward gradient (an angle θ with respect to the horizontal: for example, 5 to 35 degrees). At this time, the floor surface 231 of each moving floor 230 is a slope inclined by itself so as to form a downward slope toward the downstream side in the supply direction.

  Therefore, in the article supply apparatus 200, the fixed floor 220 and the moving floor 230 are alternately arranged adjacent to each other along the supply direction, and the floor surfaces 221 and 231 are inclined downward toward the downstream side in the supply direction. Regardless of the size and shape of the vertically long article 1 and the throwing posture, any vertically long article 1 is placed on the floor surface 221 of the fixed floor 220 and pushed up by the floor surface 231 of the moving floor 230. A certain amount can be discharged.

  In the article supply apparatus 200, the floor surfaces 221 of the plurality of fixed floors 220 are arranged so as to be horizontal toward the downstream side in the supply direction, or the individual floors of the plurality of movable floors 230. You may arrange | position so that the surface 231 may become horizontal toward the downstream of a supply direction mutually.

  Further, as a modification of this embodiment, the fixed article input unit 10 having a plurality of centering members 12 is installed in place of the fixed floor 220 in the intermediate process of the article supply device 200 arranged upstream of the fixed article input unit 10. Then, instead of the moving floor 230 adjacent to the downstream, the up and down moving floor 20 including the plurality of planar members 22 is installed. Such replacement installation is performed at one place or two or more places. Thereby, even in the intermediate process of the article supply apparatus 200, a part of the articles is regulated in position in the direction parallel to the article conveyance direction and conveyed, so that the arrangement of the vertically long articles 1 is further facilitated especially when a large amount of processing is required. (Not shown).

According to the present embodiment, the following operational effects can be obtained.
(a) The vertically long article 1 whose position in the longitudinal direction is regulated by the fixed article throwing unit 10 in the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction is thrown between both side surface members 22 of the up and down moving floor 20, and the longitudinal direction of the article When the one end portion having the narrow neck portion and the other end portion are supported by the inclined step surface 22A of the L-shaped cross-sectional surface member 22, the vertically long article 1 is moved in the longitudinal direction in the process of ascending and descending the movable bed 20 up and down. The large diameter side is transferred to the discharge chute 30 with the large diameter side as the leading side, and the discharge chute 30 is discharged in the aligned posture. Thereby, the vertically long article 1 can be aligned in a desired direction by the simple and compact article aligning and conveying apparatus 100.

  (b) Since the fixed article input unit 10 includes the centering member 12 of the vertically long article 1, the position of the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article 1 can be reliably regulated in the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction.

  (c) Since the discharge chute 30 includes the direction regulating member 32 that aligns the direction by regulating the position of the vertically long article 1, the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article 1 can be reliably regulated in the direction parallel to the article conveying direction.

  (d) It has the fixed article input part 10 provided with the some center alignment member 12, the up-and-down moving floor 20 provided with the some planar member 22, and the discharge chute | shoot 30 provided with the some direction control member 32. FIG. Thereby, a plurality of vertically long articles 1 can be aligned in parallel.

  (e) The article supply device 200 disposed upstream of the fixed article input unit 10 juxtaposes each of the plurality of fixed floors 220 along the conveyance direction, and places each of the plurality of movable floors 230 with respect to each fixed floor 220. Articles are supplied downstream by repeating the up-and-down operation of positioning the movable floor 230 at the upper and lower positions of the fixed floor 220 adjacent to the fixed floor 220 at the same time while being arranged adjacent to the side in the transport direction. . Therefore, regardless of the size and shape of the vertically long article 1 and the carry-in posture, the article can be supplied to the fixed article input unit 10 by a substantially constant amount.

  (f) The vertically long article 1 discharged from the discharge chute 30 is erected by colliding with the direction changing plate 50 and is in an upright state.

  (g) A bottle can be used as the article 1 to be aligned.

1A and 1B show a state in which the vertically moving floor of the article aligning and conveying apparatus is lowered, FIG. 1A is a perspective view, FIG. 1B is a plan view, and FIG. 1C is a side view. 2A and 2B show a state in which the up-and-down moving floor of the article aligning and conveying apparatus is raised, FIG. 2A is a perspective view, FIG. 2B is a plan view, and FIG. 2C is a side view. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing in detail the article aligning and conveying apparatus. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the article aligning and conveying apparatus in detail. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the up and down moving floor. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an article (bottle). FIG. 7 shows a rolling state of the article (bottle), (A) is a front view showing Example 1, and (B) is a front view showing Example 2. FIG. 8 shows a modified example of the vertically moving floor, (A) is a perspective view showing Modified Example 1, (B) is a perspective view showing Modified Example 2, and (C) is a perspective view showing Modified Example 3, (D) ) Is a perspective view showing a fourth modification. FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an example of a bottle. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a bottle. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a vertically moving floor and an article (bottle). 12A and 12B show the alignment operation of the article alignment / conveyance apparatus. FIG. 12A is a schematic diagram showing the alignment step 1 and FIG. 12B is a schematic diagram showing the alignment step 2. 13A and 13B show the alignment operation of the article alignment / conveyance device. FIG. 13A is a schematic diagram showing the alignment process 3, and FIG. 13B is a schematic diagram showing the alignment process 4. 14A and 14B show the alignment operation of the article alignment / conveyance device. FIG. 14A is a schematic diagram showing the alignment process 5, and FIG. 14B is a schematic diagram showing the alignment process 6. 15A and 15B show the alignment operation of the article alignment / conveyance apparatus. FIG. 15A is a schematic diagram showing the alignment process 7, and FIG. 15B is a schematic diagram showing the alignment process 8. FIGS. 16A and 16B are schematic views showing an article insertion posture, where FIG. 16A is a schematic diagram showing a posture without displacement, FIG. 16B is a schematic diagram showing a posture shifted by 30 degrees, and FIG. FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing a multiple-type article aligning and conveying apparatus. FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing an article alignment / conveyance apparatus provided with an article supply apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vertical article 10 Fixed article input part 11 Floor surface 12 Centering member 20 Vertical moving floor 21 Floor surface 22 Planar member 22A Inclination level | step difference surface 23 Inclination protrusion 30 Discharge chute 31 Floor surface 32 Direction control member 50 Direction change board 60 Hook 100 Article Aligning and Conveying Device 200 Article Supplying Device 220 Fixed Floor 221 Floor Surface 230 Moving Floor 231 Floor Surface

Claims (7)

A floor surface in which a sheet-like member having an L-shaped cross section as viewed in the article conveying direction is erected on both sides to support one end portion having a narrow neck portion in the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article and the other end portion having a large diameter portion. And an up-and-down moving floor that moves up and down with an inclined surface that moves the article downstream along the article conveyance direction on the step surface of the L-shaped cross section of the planar member,
The fixed article that aligns the direction of the article so that the longitudinal direction of the vertically long article is perpendicular to the article conveying direction upstream of the article moving direction of the vertical moving floor and restricts the position of the article in the direction perpendicular to the article conveying direction. Has an input part,
Downstream along the article transport direction of the vertical moving floor, has a discharge chute,
The discharge chute is an article aligning and conveying device that discharges a vertically long article with the large diameter side in the longitudinal direction leading.   The article aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fixed article input unit includes a centering member for a vertically long article.   The article aligning / conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge chute includes a direction regulating member that aligns a direction by restricting a position of the vertically long article.   The article aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a fixed article input unit including a plurality of centering members; a vertically movable floor including a plurality of planar members; and a discharge chute including a plurality of direction regulating members. An article supply device is disposed upstream of the fixed article input unit,
The article supply device juxtaposes each of the plurality of fixed beds along the conveying direction, and arranges each of the plurality of moving beds adjacent to the side of the conveying direction with respect to each fixed floor, The article aligning and conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein articles are supplied downstream by repeating an elevating operation that positions the upper and lower positions of a fixed floor adjacent to the floor surface.   The article aligning and conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a direction changing plate for erecting a vertically long article downstream of the discharge chute.   The article aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vertically long article is a bottle.

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