JP2009204527A - Apparatus of detecting shape of paper sheet, paper sheet processor, and method of detecting shape of paper sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a shape of a letter such as its thickness without contacting it. <P>SOLUTION: An apparatus of detecting the shape of a paper sheet includes: conveyance belts 21a, 21b carrying a letter P along a conveyance path 22 by holding the letter P therebetween; a pair of noncontact distance sensors 22a, 22b arranged at a prescribed interval through the conveyance path 22 and optically measuring the distances to both sides of the conveyed letter P by non-contact; and a calculation part detecting the shape of the letter P on the basis of the measurement values of the distance sensors 22a, 22b. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to, for example, a paper sheet shape detection apparatus, a paper sheet processing apparatus, and a paper sheet shape detection method that are applied to a mail processing apparatus to detect a shape such as the thickness of a mail.

  In the mail processing apparatus, the postal matter supplied from the supply unit is continuously taken out and conveyed, and after reading the sorting information, etc., it is sorted and accumulated in a number of sorting boxes based on the reading information. It has become.

  By the way, for example, the shape of the postal matter to be conveyed, such as the thickness, is not constant and has various thicknesses. However, when the thickness exceeds a predetermined thickness, for example, 6 mm or more, it is clogged in the conveyance path. There is a fear. For this reason, when the thickness of a mail piece is detected and is equal to or greater than a predetermined thickness, the mail piece is excluded.

As a thickness detection device for detecting the thickness of this mail piece, it is provided with a fixed roller and a movable roller that are arranged to face each other via a conveyance path, and by passing the mail piece between the fixed roller and the movable roller, It is known to detect the thickness of a mail piece by measuring the amount of displacement by displacing the movable roller according to the thickness of the mail piece (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-214805 A

  However, in the past, the movable roller was brought into contact with the mail piece, and the thickness was measured based on the amount of displacement. Therefore, the responsiveness to changes in the thickness of the mail piece was poor, the measurement accuracy was lowered, and the mail piece was fixed. In addition, there is a problem that clogging easily occurs because of contact with the movable roller.

  Further, since the mail is transported at a high speed, a buffer damper or the like for preventing the movable roller from suddenly jumping up is required, resulting in inconvenience that the size is increased and the cost is increased.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above circumstances, and its object is to detect the shape of a paper sheet so that the shape such as its thickness can be detected without contacting the paper sheet, An object of the present invention is to provide a paper sheet processing apparatus and a paper sheet shape detection apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that the paper to be transported is arranged with a transporting means for transporting paper sheets along the transporting path and a predetermined interval through the transporting path. First and second measuring means for optically measuring the distance between both surfaces of the leaf in a non-contact manner, and the shape of the paper sheet based on the measurement values of the first and second measuring means And a shape detecting means for detecting.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a supply means for supplying paper sheets, a transport means for transporting the paper sheets supplied by the supply means along the transport path, and a predetermined interval via the transport path. And the first and second measuring means for optically measuring the distance between both sides of the conveyed paper sheet, and the measurement of the first and second measuring means. It comprises a shape detecting means for detecting the shape of the paper sheet based on the value, and an excluding means for excluding paper sheets other than the predetermined shape based on the detection result of the shape detecting means.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the first and second measuring means and the first measuring means are transported along the transport path, and the first and second measuring means are arranged along the transport path. The distance between both sides of the conveyed paper sheet is measured optically in a non-contact manner, and the shape of the paper sheet is detected based on the measured value.

  According to the present invention, the shape of a paper sheet can be detected without contacting the paper sheet, the response to a change in the shape of the paper sheet is excellent, the measurement accuracy can be improved, and clogging can be prevented. In addition, a buffer damper or the like as in the prior art is not required, so that the size can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a mail processing apparatus as a paper sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a transport conveyor as a supply means for receiving and transporting a postal letter (hereinafter referred to as a letter) as a large number of sheets fed in a batch, and on the carry-out side of the transport conveyor 1, A hopper conveyor 2 is provided for receiving letters and transporting them upward. On the carry-out side of the hopper conveyor 2 is provided a thickness selecting section 3 that receives a letter dropped from the hopper conveyor 2 and selects its thickness. A take-out device 4 for taking out letters one by one is provided on the carry-out side of the thickness selecting section 3. The letter taken out from the take-out device 4 is conveyed along the conveyance path. Then, sequentially along the conveying direction of the letter, the width selecting unit 6, the hardness selecting unit 7, the shape detecting device 8 according to the present invention, the excluding unit 9 as the excluding means, the address reading unit 10, the switchback unit 11, the top and bottom A reversing unit 12, a stamping unit 13, a front / back reversing unit 14, a barcode reading unit 15, and a sorting and accumulating unit 16 are disposed.

  Letters that are put together on the conveyor 1 are sent out onto the hopper conveyor 2 as the conveyor 1 travels. This letter is conveyed upward by the travel of the hopper conveyor 2 and is put into the thickness selecting section 3. Letters input to the thickness selecting section 3 are sent out after the thickness is selected, and are taken out one by one by the take-out device 4. The taken letter is conveyed to the width selecting unit 6 to select the width, and then transferred to the hardness selecting unit 7 to select the hardness. The selected letter is sent to the thickness detector 8 to detect the thickness as will be described in detail later, and a letter exceeding a predetermined thickness is rejected by the rejecter 9. The letter that has not been rejected is sent to the address reading unit 10, where the address is read, and then conveyed to the stamping unit 13 via the switchback unit 11 and the upside down unit 12 for stamping. The stamped letter is sent to the bar code reading unit 15 via the front / back reversing unit 14 to read the bar code, and is then sorted and accumulated in the sorting and accumulating unit 16 based on the read information.

  FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the shape detection device 8 described above.

  The letter P is sandwiched between conveying belts 21a and 21b as conveying means in a standing state, and conveyed in the direction of the arrow along the conveying path 22. The shape detection device 8 includes a pair of non-contact distance sensors 22a and 22b as first and second measuring means disposed symmetrically with respect to the conveyance path 22, and the pair of non-contact type sensors. The distance sensors 22a and 22b are arranged at a predetermined interval L. As the non-contact type distance sensors 22a and 22b, for example, a reflective laser displacement sensor, a reflective infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like is used.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the pair of non-contact distance sensors 22a and 22b are connected to a calculation unit 25 as a shape detection unit via a data transmission circuit, and the calculation unit 25 serves as a control unit via the data transmission circuit. Connected to the control unit 26. The exclusion unit 9 is connected to the control unit 26 via a control circuit, and the exclusion unit 9 is based on the thickness of the letter calculated by the calculation unit 25, that is, whether or not the thickness is equal to or greater than the thickness specified in the specification. The exclusion operation is controlled by.

  Next, a method for detecting the thickness of the letter P will be described.

  When the letter P is nipped and conveyed by the conveying belts 21a and 21b and reaches the thickness detecting unit 8 in the standing state, the non-contact distance sensor 22a is arranged between the non-contact distance sensor 22a and one side of the letter P. The distance between the non-contact distance sensor 22b and the other side of the letter P is measured by the non-contact distance sensor 22b.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, when the measurement value measured by the non-contact type distance sensor 22a is X1, and the measurement value measured by the non-contact type distance sensor 22b is X2, the thickness T of the letter P Is calculated by the calculation means 25 according to the following equation.

T = L- (X1 + X2)
Thereby, the thickness is calculated without contacting the letter P, that is, in a non-contact state. The calculated thickness data of the letter P is transmitted to the control unit 26, and the control unit 26 controls the operation of the exclusion unit 9 based on this data. That is, when the thickness data is, for example, 6 mm or more, the letter P is excluded, and the letter P of other thickness is controlled to be conveyed without being excluded.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the distance between the distance sensors 22a and 22b and the both sides of the letter P is measured by the non-contact type distance sensors 22a and 22b, and based on the measured values. Since the thickness shape of the letter P is detected, the thickness shape can be detected without bringing the letter P into contact with the distance sensors 22a and 22b.

  Therefore, it is excellent in the responsiveness with respect to the thickness change of the letter P, can improve a measurement precision, and can prevent clogging. In addition, a buffer damper or the like as in the prior art is not required, so that the size can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another arrangement example of the distance sensors 22a and 22b.

  In the above arrangement example, the reflective distance sensors 22 a and 22 b are arranged one by one via the conveyance path 22, but in this arrangement example, the reflection type distance sensors 22 a and 22 b are respectively perpendicular to the conveyance path 22. A plurality of 22b are arranged.

  According to this coordination example, it is possible to measure the thickness of the wide area or the entire surface of the letter P being conveyed, and to measure the thickness deviation of the letter P.

  In the above arrangement example, the reflection type distance sensors 22a and 22b are arranged symmetrically so as to face each other via the conveyance path 22. However, the reflection type distance sensors 22a and 22b are not limited to this. The same effect can be obtained even if the non-opposing states are arranged.

  In each of the embodiments described above, the thickness of the letter P is measured. However, the present invention is not limited to this. By scanning the measurement light in the transport direction with respect to the letter P, the letter P can be measured. You may make it detect the shape along a conveyance direction.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, you may delete some components from all the components shown by embodiment mentioned above. Furthermore, you may combine the component covering different embodiment suitably.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The external appearance perspective view which shows the mail processing apparatus which is one embodiment of this invention generally. The top view which shows the non-contact-type distance sensor of FIG. The block diagram which shows the drive control system of the exclusion part of FIG. The figure which shows the thickness detection operation | movement of the letter by the non-contact-type distance sensor of FIG. The perspective view which shows the other example of arrangement | positioning of the non-contact-type distance sensor of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  P ... letter (paper sheets), 1 ... transport conveyor (supply means), 21a, 21b ... transport belt (transport means), 22 ... transport path, 22a, 22b ... non-contact distance sensor (first and second) Measuring means), 25... Calculating part (shape detecting means).

Claims (5)

Transport means for transporting paper sheets along the transport path;
First and second measuring means that are arranged at predetermined intervals through the conveyance path and measure the distance between both sides of the conveyed paper sheet in an optically non-contact manner;
A paper sheet shape detection device comprising: shape detection means for detecting the shape of the paper sheet based on the measurement values of the first and second measurement means. The distance between the first and second measuring means is L, the distance between one surface side of the paper sheet and the first measuring means is X1, the other surface side of the paper sheet and the second surface When the distance to the measuring means is X2,
3. The paper sheet shape detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shape detection unit calculates a thickness shape T of the paper sheet by an equation of T = L- (X1 + X2).   3. The paper sheet shape detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second measuring units are arranged along a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the paper sheet. Supply means for supplying paper sheets;
Conveying means for conveying the paper sheets supplied by the supplying means along the conveying path;
First and second measuring means that are arranged at predetermined intervals through the conveyance path and measure the distance between both sides of the conveyed paper sheet in an optically non-contact manner;
Shape detecting means for detecting the shape of the paper sheet based on the measurement values of the first and second measuring means;
A paper sheet processing apparatus comprising: a rejection unit that excludes paper sheets other than a predetermined shape based on a detection result of the shape detection unit. Transport paper sheets along the transport path,
The distance between the first and second measuring means and both sides of the conveyed paper sheet is optically non-contacted by the first and second measuring means arranged via the conveying path. Measure with
A shape detection method for a paper sheet, wherein the shape of the paper sheet is detected based on the measured value.

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