JP2009166994A - Conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveyor which can be easily and quickly cleaned and washed, which has less potential for mixing foreign matters in a bucket during carriage, and whose input height position can be relatively easily changed. <P>SOLUTION: The conveyor comprises a ball screw arranged along a carrying passage for carried objects, and one bucket 2 connected to the nut of the ball screw for carrying the carried objects. A guide groove 81 having a turn guide groove is provided in the carrying passage. A guide roller 22 is provided on the bucket 2 for rolling in the guide groove 81. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a conveyor for carrying a transported object such as tea leaves in a transported object holding member such as a bucket.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a bucket conveyor has been used when transporting an object to be transported to a location with a height difference. This is formed by rotatably attaching a plurality of buckets to an endless belt or chain (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Such a bucket conveyor has the following problems.
A plurality of relatively small buckets are attached to an endless belt or chain, and a mechanism for moving the bucket by driving the belt or the like is employed, so the number of parts is large and the structure is complicated. Further, there is a problem that old objects to be transported, dust, and the like adhering to the bucket, belt, chain, and the like located at the upper side fall into the lower bucket and are mixed. Such a problem is particularly problematic when the conveyor is used for conveying food.
In addition, it is basically impossible to change the height of the conveyor when the target device is changed.

Japanese Patent No. 3963552 JP 2006-111394 A

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above-mentioned conventional problems, has a small number of parts, has a simple structure, has a low possibility of foreign matters entering the bucket during conveyance, and compares changes in the input height position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor that can be easily performed.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention of claim 1 supports a transported object holding member that holds a transported object, and the transported object holding member rotatably. A support means; a moving means for moving the transported object holding member along the transport path together with the support means; a guide roller rotatably provided on the transported object holding member; and the guide roller rolling. It is a conveyor provided with the rotation guide part which was provided in the guide part and curved in the arc shape in the predetermined direction.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the conveyor according to the first aspect, the conveyed object holding member is provided with a slider that moves while being guided by a conveyance rail provided along the conveyance path. It is.

  A third aspect of the invention is the conveyor according to the second aspect, wherein the transport speed of the transported object holding member is slow before the rotation guide portion.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the conveyor according to the third aspect, when the conveyance speed is slowed down, a detection sensor for detecting that the conveyed object holding member is positioned in front of the rotation guide portion is provided. It is the conveyor characterized by this.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the guide portion to which the guide roller moves meanders in the middle of conveyance.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the conveyor according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the support means removably supports the transported object holding member.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the conveyor according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the moving means is a ball screw comprising a screw shaft disposed along the conveying path and a nut screwed onto the screw shaft. And a rotating means for rotating the screw shaft.

  The invention according to claim 8 is the conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein there is only one object holding member.

In the conveyor of the present invention, the number of members can be reduced and the structure can be simplified. Therefore, cleaning and washing can be performed easily and quickly, and the manufacturing cost at the time of manufacturing can be reduced.
There is little risk of foreign matter entering the transported object holding member during transport, which is extremely excellent in food hygiene.
In addition, with the change of the machine to be input, the change of the input height position can be performed relatively easily.

A conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a conveyor, which includes a bucket 2 as a transported object holding member into which a transported object is placed, and a main body 3 that transports the bucket 2. As a specific example of use of the conveyor 1, it is used to feed a transported object such as tea leaves into a charging hopper at the top of the tea leaf bagging machine.

Hereinafter, each member will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 2, the bucket 2 has an opening at the top, has a trapezoidal shape with a shorter lower side when viewed from the front, and a support hole 21 for connecting to the main body 3 is provided at the bottom. A guide roller 22 is rotatably provided on the upper back side.

Next, the main body 3 forming the conveyance path will be described.
The main body 3 has a prismatic shape as a whole, a pair of conveying rails 4 erected opposite to each other, and a slider 5 that is locked so as to be sandwiched between the conveying rails 4 and is slidable in the vertical direction. The drive motor 7 that rotationally drives the screw shaft 61 of the ball screw, the guide plate 8 that is stretched on the front surface of the transport rail 4, and the support base 16 that is provided on the bottom portion that supports the whole are the main members.

  On the support stand 16, two conveying rails 4 having a U-shaped cross section are erected on the left and right sides. The transport rail 4 is tilted about 10 degrees to the left from the vertical in FIG. A guide plate 8 is provided on the front surface of the two transport rails 4, a back plate 17 is provided on the back surface, and a top plate 18 is provided on the upper end. A guide groove 81 is provided in the guide plate 8 so as to pass substantially through the center. The end side (upper side) of the guide groove 81 is bent in an arc shape on the input side, and this is a rotation guide groove 82 as a rotation guide portion for rotating the bucket 2.

A screw shaft 61 is rotatably supported by a bearing so as to pass through substantially the center of the main body 3, and a nut 62 is screwed onto the screw shaft 61. A ball screw is configured by the screw shaft 61 and the nut 62. The slider 5 is connected to the nut 62.
The slider 5 has support shafts 53 on the upper and lower sides of the left and right side surfaces, and large-diameter guide rollers 51 are rotatably provided on the support shafts 53, respectively. Further, a small-diameter guide roller 52 is also rotatably provided at the tip of the support shaft 53.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a bucket support shaft 54 is erected on the front surface of the slider 5, and the bucket 2 is rotatably supported by the support hole 21, and is prevented from coming off by a ring-shaped clamp 9. Is done. The clamp 9 has a clamp lever 9a. By rotating the clamp lever 9a, the diameter of the clamp 9 can be freely changed. If the clamp 9 is removed from the support hole 21, the bucket 2 can be attached to and detached from the support hole 21.
The support shaft 54 and the support hole 21 constitute a support means.

The inside of the support base 16 is hollow, and a drive motor 7 for rotating the screw shaft 61 is provided inside. As the drive motor 7, an inverter-controlled variable speed drive motor capable of forward and reverse rotation is used as an example. As shown in FIG. 5, the motor shaft 71 of the drive motor 7 is connected to the screw shaft 61 via the coupling 11.
The drive motor 7 having the motor shaft 71 constitutes a rotating means. Further, the rotating means and the ball screw constitute moving means.

An operation box 15 is provided on the outer surface of the main body 3. A detection sensor 12 that detects that the slider 5 is positioned in front of the rotation guide groove 82 is provided in front of the rotation guide groove 82 of the guide groove 81 in the main body 3. A control signal is output to the drive motor 7 by the detection signal of the detection sensor 12, and the conveying speed of the bucket 2 is reduced.
As the detection sensor 12, a light transmission type or light reflection type infrared sensor is used as an example. Of course, a non-contact type sensor such as a photoelectric tube sensor or a magnet sensor, or a contact type sensor such as a lever switch may be used. In addition to detecting the slider 5 as the detection object, the bucket 2 may be directly detected.

  Further, a termination limit switch 14 and a start limit switch 13 for stopping the movement of the slider 5 at the end are provided on the transport rail 4. The drive motor 7 is temporarily stopped by the detection of the slider 5 by the end limit switch 14, and the slider 5 and the bucket 2 are lowered by reverse rotation after a few seconds by timer control. The drive motor 7 is stopped by detecting the slider 5 by the start end limit switch 13.

The conveyor 1 is configured as described above as an example, and this operation mode will be described below.
First, the object to be conveyed is filled in the bucket 2, and then the start operation is performed by the operation switch of the operation box 15. Then, the screw shaft 61 is rotated by the drive motor 7 and the nut 62 rises, thereby raising the bucket 2 connected thereto (see FIGS. 6A and 6B).

When the bucket 2 reaches the rotation guide groove 82 before the guide groove 81, the slider 5 is detected by the detection sensor 12. The detection signal is used to control the rotational speed of the drive motor 7 so that the bucket 2 slowly rises (see FIG. 6C). As shown in FIG. 7D, when the guide roller 22 of the bucket 2 starts to move in the rotation guide groove 82 of the guide groove 81, the bucket 2 is moved around the bucket support shaft 54 on the input side of the object to be conveyed. To turn.
When the bucket 2 rotates about 90 degrees, the slider 5 comes into contact with the end limit switch 14 and the drive motor 7 is temporarily stopped. At this time, the object to be transported in the bucket 2 is dropped, but since the bucket 2 is slowly rotated, even a powdered material or the like having a low specific gravity is not scattered.

  After a few seconds by the timer control, the drive motor 7 is reversely rotated, and the bucket 2 is rotated 90 degrees to return to the posture position with the opening at the top, and thereafter descends at a high speed as shown in FIG. 7 (e). Go. When the bucket 2 returns to the starting point, the slider 5 comes into contact with the start limit switch 13 and the drive motor 7 is stopped. Then, the next object to be conveyed is again filled in the bucket 2, and the above operation is repeated.

  When cleaning the bucket 2, the clamp lever 9 a is rotated to loosen and remove the clamp 9, and the bucket 2 is detached from the bucket support shaft 54. Since no tools are required for this removal, the removal can be performed very quickly.

Next, a case where the input height of the conveyor 1 is changed by replacing the input target device will be described.
For example, when lowering the insertion height, the guide plate 8 is partially cut away, and the rotation guide groove 82 of the guide groove 81 is positioned at the insertion height. Further, the installation height of the end limit switch 14 and the detection sensor 12 is changed in accordance with the height of the rotation guide groove 82. In this way, it is possible to easily change the input height of the conveyor 1.
Since the length of the screw shaft 61 cannot be changed except for replacement, if the input height is expected to be changed, the length of the screw shaft 61 is given a margin in advance. It is necessary to keep it.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and the present invention can be changed even if there is a design change without departing from the gist of the present invention. included.
For example, in order to level the powdered material to be conveyed, to level the material to be conveyed consisting of a plurality of liquids, or to mix them in the middle of conveyance, a rotation guide groove is provided in the middle of the guide part, The bucket 2 may be configured to swing.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, a travel groove 86 through which the bucket support shaft 54 that supports the bucket 2 passes is separately provided, and a plurality of rotation guide grooves 82 that are bent in an arc shape by meandering the guide groove 84 in the middle are provided. It is what. The guide groove 84 is not formed by providing a hole in the guide plate 8 but is formed by extending a guide rail 83 on the guide plate 8.
In order to achieve the same purpose, as shown in FIG. 9, the guide groove 85 through which the guide roller 22 and the bucket support shaft 54 pass is meandered, and a rotation guide groove 82 is provided. The screw shaft 61 and members connected to the slider 5 and the drive motor 7 may be slid in the horizontal direction of the drawing by a rack and pinion mechanism or the like so that the shaft 54 moves.

The conveyor 1 according to the present invention does not necessarily convey the conveyed product in the height direction, but can also be implemented to convey in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 10, for example.
In the above embodiment, the bucket is shown as the transported object holding member, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a container such as a basket, a mounting table, etc. may be used, depending on the form, size, etc. of the transported object. It is possible to change freely. In other words, any shape may be used as long as the conveyed object can be held in a state that does not spill or shift while the conveyed object is being conveyed. In this case, the structure which does not provide the special holding means to hold a to-be-conveyed object in a to-be-conveyed object holding member may be sufficient.
Further, the moving means may be any means other than a ball screw, for example, a member that can support the object holding member such as a chain and a sprocket so that it can move along the conveying path. The rotation means is not limited to the drive motor 7 having the motor shaft 71 described above, and any configuration may be used as long as the screw shaft is rotated including manual operation.

  According to the conveyor of the present invention, since the object to be conveyed can be conveyed in a clean state at all times, it is suitable for conveying food raw materials and drugs in addition to general plastic raw materials and the like. Can be used in the field.

It is a perspective view of the conveyor which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a front view of the conveyor which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view which expands and shows the slider periphery. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the latching structure of a bucket. It is explanatory drawing which shows schematically the power transmission mechanism from a drive motor to a ball screw. It is explanatory drawing which shows the first half of the operation | movement aspect of the conveyor which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the second half of the operation | movement aspect of the conveyor which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows other embodiment which provides a running groove and a guide rail and rocks a bucket in the middle of conveyance. It is explanatory drawing which shows other embodiment which slides a ball screw to the side according to the shape of a guide groove, and rock | fluctuates a bucket in the middle of conveyance. It is a front view which shows other embodiment modified so that a conveyed product might be conveyed in a horizontal direction.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor 2 Bucket 21 Support hole 22 Guide roller 3 Main body 4 Conveying rail 5 Slider 51 Large diameter guide roller 52 Small diameter guide roller 53 Support shaft 54 Bucket support shaft 61 Screw shaft 62 Nut 7 Drive motor 71 Motor shaft
8 Guide plate 81 Guide groove 82 Rotation guide groove 83 Guide rail 84, 85 Guide groove 86 Traveling groove 9 Clamp 9a Clamp lever 12 Detection sensor 13 Start limit switch 14 End limit switch 15 Operation box 16 Support base 17 Back plate 18 Top plate

Claims (8)

  A transported object holding member that holds the transported object, a support unit that rotatably supports the transported object holding member, and a moving unit that moves the transported object holding member along the transport path together with the support unit. And a guide roller rotatably provided on the transported object holding member, and a rotation guide portion provided in a guide portion on which the guide roller rolls and bent in an arc shape in a predetermined direction. Conveyor featured.   The conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the transported object holding member is provided with a slider that moves while being guided by a transport rail provided along the transport path.   The conveyor according to claim 2, wherein the transport speed of the transported object holding member is reduced before the rotation guide portion.   4. The conveyor according to claim 3, wherein the conveyance speed is lowered by providing a detection sensor for detecting that the conveyed object holding member is positioned in front of the rotation guide portion.   5. The conveyor according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of rotation guide portions are provided in the middle of the guide portion.   6. The conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the support means removably supports the object holding member.   The conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the moving means includes a screw shaft disposed along the conveyance path, a ball screw including a nut screwed to the screw shaft, and a screw shaft. And a rotating means for moving the conveyor.   The conveyor according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein there is only one object holding member.

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