JP2010082750A - Sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance sorting function relative to media generated with a crack and a chip. <P>SOLUTION: The multiple endless transferring belts 21 circumferentially going around by a drive motor 17 are provided with a constant pitch in a width direction. Between the adjacent transferring belts 21, a guide bar 24 is arranged along a movement direction of the transferring belt 21 in a fixed state, and clearances between the guide bar 24 and the transferring belts 21 are made to sorting grooves 25. The media m1, m2 are conveyed in the state that they are laid on the transferring belt 21 and the guide bar 24. Accordingly, on the midway of conveying, since speed difference is given to a portion where the media m1, m2 are supported, the media m1, m2 are conveyed while rotated. Accordingly, if an outer diameter is insufficient by the crack and the chip, the media m1, m2 are dropped off from the sorting groove 25 when they become such an attitude. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sorting apparatus.

Conventionally, Patent Document 1 described below is known as an apparatus for selecting and removing defective media in which cracks or chips have occurred from media after barrel polishing. This means that a plurality of endless urethane ropes are arranged in parallel and circulated to transfer the media, and the media that is less than the specified size is dropped through the gaps held between the ropes. Was transported downstream as it was and reused.
JP 62-140762 A

  However, even if, for example, a part of the media is cracked or chipped, if the normal dimension is satisfied in the other part, the medium is placed between adjacent ropes in this normal dimension part. Since the matching ropes are traveling at the same speed, there is a possibility that they will be conveyed as they are without changing the posture. In particular, problems have been pointed out that when the media is wet with water, the adhesion with the rope is high and the sorting function is lowered.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to enhance the sorting function.

  As means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is characterized in that the first trajectory arranged along the conveying direction of the sorting object and the first trajectory are based on the outer diameter of the sorting object. And a second track arranged in parallel through a sorting groove having a small groove width, and at least one of the first track and the second track is formed to be movable in the transport direction, and the first track And the second trajectory are characterized in that a speed difference is set with respect to the transfer direction of the sorting object.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, at least one of the first track and the second track is formed so that a cross-sectional shape becomes narrower toward a lower side. However, it has characteristics.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the first track has a belt driven by a drive mechanism, and the second track has a length direction of the belt. It is characterized in that it is a guide bar fixed in a state along.

  A fourth aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the invention, the upper surface of the first track is formed in a curved shape protruding upward.

  The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that, in the structure of claim 3 or claim 4, a core material is embedded in the first track.

<Invention of Claim 1>
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the sorting object is conveyed by the first track and the second track. During this time, if the sorting object is a non-defective product, the sorting object is transported downstream in a posture straddling between the first track and the second track. On the other hand, an object to be sorted, which is cracked or chipped and becomes smaller than the width of the sorting groove, falls as a defective product below the sorting groove and is judged as good or bad.

  By the way, even when the object to be sorted is smaller than the acceptable size, depending on the posture when it is installed between the first and second tracks, it may be conveyed while being stretched between adjacent conveying members. Can occur. That is, if the cracks / chips are partial, the normal dimension can be satisfied at the other part, and the two orbits can be straddled at the sufficient part.

  However, in claim 1, since the speed difference is set in the transfer direction between the adjacent first and second tracks, the sorting object transferred between these tracks is in the middle of conveyance. A rotational force acts. As a result, the object to be sorted rotates during conveyance, and there is a moment when the direction in which the outer dimension is reduced due to chipping, cracking, or the like coincides with the groove width direction of the sorting groove. At this time, the defective sorting object can be dropped from the sorting groove. Therefore, the quality determination function for the selection target object can be reliably improved.

<Invention of Claim 2>
According to the invention of claim 2, it is possible to ensure a wide side space on at least one side of the first and second tracks. For this reason, in the process in which the sorting object falls through the side of the track, it is not caught on the track, and the drop sorting can be performed smoothly.

<Invention of Claim 3>
According to the invention of claim 3, since one of the tracks is constituted by a belt and the other is constituted by a fixed guide bar, the movable structure of the sorting device is only required on one side of the belt side. The structure can be simplified.

<Invention of Claim 4>
According to the invention of claim 4, since the upper surface of the first track is formed in a curved shape protruding upward, it is easy to guide the selection object to the selection groove side.

<Invention of Claim 5>
According to the invention of claim 5, the rigidity is increased by the core material embedded inside, thereby making it difficult for the track to be bent, and avoiding the situation where the sorting object is accidentally dropped due to the bending. can do.

<Embodiment 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, after barrel polishing is finished, a non-reusable defective product that is reusable from the media m1 and m2 after being subjected to a sorting process with the workpiece to be polished and cracked or chipped. An example of an apparatus for sorting will be described. Therefore, the “selection object” of the present invention refers to the media m1 and m2 in this embodiment. The media m1 and m2 in the present embodiment are ceramic polishing stones formed into a spherical shape.

  In the following description, the term “front and rear” refers to the transfer direction of the media m1 and m2 (left and right in FIG. 1), and the “width direction” refers to the direction orthogonal to the transfer direction of the media m1 and m2 (in FIG. 1). Vertical direction).

  FIG. 1 shows a plan view of the entire sorting apparatus. The sorting apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a media input unit T, a sorting unit S that drops and sorts defective products from the media, a defective product discharge unit H, and a non-defective product collection unit K. .

  The input unit T includes a machine base 2 erected on the base 1, and an input box 3 for receiving the media m1 and m2 after the barrel polishing operation and flowing them out to the selection unit S is supported on the upper surface of the input unit T. ing. The input box 3 is formed in a box shape having an upper opening, and the upper surface can be opened and closed by a cover plate 4. In the charging box 3, the lower edge portion of the side wall surface on the sorting section S side is opened to open the media outlet 5, and the bottom of the charging box 3 is a lower part inclined downward toward the media outlet 5. The inclined surface 6 is formed over the entire width. Further, an upper inclined surface 7 formed with a reverse gradient from the upper side of the media outlet 5 to the lower inclined surface 6 extends over the entire width at a middle height position of the side wall facing the sorting portion S in the input box 3. It is provided, and the tip extends to a position where a predetermined gap is retained with the lower inclined surface 6. A vibration device 36 is attached to the lower surface of the input box 3, and the flow to the sorting unit S is facilitated by applying vibration to the media m <b> 1 and m <b> 2 input therein.

  In the sorting unit S, a pair of support blocks 8 are provided on the base 1 so as to face each other in the width direction (up and down direction shown in FIG. 1) and extend along the length direction (left and right direction shown in FIG. 1). It has been. A pair of conveyor supports 10 arranged in the width direction are provided near the end portions in the length direction of both the support blocks 8 via a shaft body 9 whose height can be adjusted. Swing arms 11 are arranged at both ends in the length direction of both conveyor supports 10. The lower ends of the swing arms 11 facing each other in the width direction are connected by a support shaft 13. The support shaft 13 penetrates the swing arm 11 through a bearing 37 and is supported by the conveyor support 10 through the bearing 12 so as to be rotatable. A long hole 14 is formed on the upper end side of each swing arm 11, and a long hole is formed in a corresponding portion on the conveyor frame 23 side, though not shown. Each swing arm 11 is connected to the conveyor frame 23 by a bolt or the like in which both long holes are communicated. As a result, the swing arm 11 can swing around the support shaft 13 and the height of the conveyor frame 23 can be adjusted.

  The upper ends of the swing arms 11 disposed on the rear side are connected by a drive shaft 16 via a bearing 15. One shaft end (right end in FIG. 3) of the drive shaft 16 is connected to the output shaft of the drive motor 17. Further, the upper ends of the swing arms 11 arranged on the front side are connected by a driven shaft 19 via a bearing (not shown).

  Further, a turnbuckle 20 is interposed between the upper end portion of each swing arm 11 and the support block 8 side. Each turnbuckle 20 can be adjusted in its entire length, and the standing angle of each swing arm 11 can be adjusted. By adjusting the standing angle of each swing arm 11, the front-rear distance between the drive shaft 16 and the driven shaft 19 is adjusted, so that the tension of all the transfer belts 21 stretched between them can be adjusted simultaneously. .

  A plurality of conveying pulleys 22 are arranged in parallel at the same pitch on each drive shaft 16, driven shaft 19, and both support shafts 13. In addition, a group of four conveying pulleys 22 corresponding to each axis is set, and a transfer belt 21 (first track) is hung at a uniform pitch in the width direction so that the media m1 and m2 can be conveyed.

  In this embodiment, each transfer belt 21 is made of rubber and is formed in an endless shape. Between the front end portion and the rear end portion in the length direction on the upper surface of the conveyor frame 23, a plurality of metal guide bars 24 (second track) are arranged in the front-rear direction (the transfer direction of the media m1 and m2). The transfer belts 21 are arranged so as to be sandwiched between them. As shown in FIG. 2, attachment pieces 38 are installed on the front end portion and the rear end portion of the conveyor frame 23 along the width direction. Holding brackets 39 are fixed to the front and rear attachment pieces 38 at a pitch corresponding to each guide bar 24. Each guide bar 24 is attached to the guide bar 24 while maintaining a constant distance from each other by holding brackets 39 corresponding to each other.

  The upper surface of each guide bar 24 forms a conveyance surface of the media m1 and m2 together with the upper surface side conveyance region in the adjacent transfer belt 21 (see FIG. 5). Therefore, the media m1 and m2 are transferred in a state of being bridged between the transfer belt 21 and the guide bar 24.

  More specifically, the guide bar 24 is formed in a prismatic shape, the upper surface thereof is formed by a flat surface, and the height position thereof is substantially the same as the height position of the upper surface side conveyance region of the transfer belt 21. It is. An equal groove width is held between the guide bar 24 and the transfer belt 21 located on both sides of the guide bar 24 in the width direction to form a selection groove 25 for selecting and dropping the defective medium m2. The groove width of the selection groove 25 is set equal to the quality determination reference value of the media m1 and m2, and is uniform over the entire length. For this purpose, if the transfer belt 21 is deformed such that it swings in the width direction in the middle of the length direction, it becomes impossible to accurately select the quality. As countermeasures, in the present embodiment, the following measures are taken.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the transfer belt 21 in the present embodiment is a V-shaped belt whose cross-sectional shape becomes narrower as it goes to the inner peripheral side. As the transfer belt 21, a round belt having a circular cross section can be used. However, the reason why the V-type belt is used instead of the round belt in the present embodiment is that the V-type belt is round. This is because the deformation in the width direction is less likely to occur in the middle of the length direction than the belt. Also. By using a V-shaped belt, the groove width gradually increases as the depth of the selection groove 25 increases, so that the situation where the media m1 and m2 are caught on the transfer belt 21 or the guide bar 24 during the fall is alleviated. This is because the effect of smoothing the sorting operation can be expected.

  The transfer belt 21 is formed in a curved shape such that the upper surface protrudes upward, and a cloth core material 26 is embedded near the surface layer of the curved portion. This also increases the bending rigidity of the transfer belt 21 and makes it difficult to deform as described above.

  Further, two idle shafts 27 are orthogonal to the transfer direction of the media m1 and m2 with a space in the front-rear direction below the upper surface side transfer region of each transfer belt 21 and in the middle of the length direction of the same region. It is erected along the direction. Both idle shafts 27 are supported from the conveyor frame 23 via a bracket (not shown) so as to be freely rotatable. Both idle shafts 27 are provided with a plurality of idle pulleys 28 corresponding to the respective transfer belts 21. By passing the V-groove of each pulley 28 at two positions in the middle of the length direction with respect to the transport area on the upper surface side of the transfer belt 21, the weight acting on the transfer belt 21 is supported and the wobbling deformation is caused in the width direction. The situation that occurs can be avoided.

  In the present embodiment, the upper surface of the conveyor frame 23 is covered with a pair of front and rear cover members 29 that can be opened and closed. On the other hand, on the lower surface side of the conveyor frame 23, a discharge portion H for discharging defective media is arranged.

  The discharge part H is provided with a pair of front and rear guide rods 30 and 31 below the conveyor frame 23. Both the front guide rod 30 and the rear guide rod 31 are formed with a width equal to substantially the entire width of the conveyor frame 23, and are formed so as to have downward gradients in opposite directions toward the center in the length direction. As a result, the defective medium m2 dropped on the front and rear guide rods 30 and 31 slides along the gradient of the guide rods 30 and 31, and is collected in the central discharge rod 32. The discharge rod 32 extends in a direction perpendicular to the transfer direction by the transfer belt 21 and is formed to have a length protruding to one side in the width direction of the conveyor frame 23 (downward in FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 4, the bottom surface of the discharge basket 32 gradually descends toward the outer side of the conveyor frame 23. A waste box 33 is provided on the outer end side of the discharge basket 32, and the defective medium m2 is dropped into the waste box 33 and collected.

  A non-defective media recovery unit K is disposed at the rear end of the conveyor frame 23 in the length direction. The collection unit K includes a collection basket 34 formed in a duct shape. The collection trough 34 is formed with a wide shape such that the end of the receiving side of the non-defective product conveyed by the transfer belt 21 opens over almost the entire width range of the conveyor frame 23, but as it goes rearward. The width is gradually narrowed, and the bottom surface of the same portion is gradually descending toward the rear. Then, the non-defective media discharged from here is stored in a collection box 35 installed below.

  The sorting apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. After the barrel polishing is completed, the workpiece, which is an object to be polished, and the media m1 and m2 are selected. The media m1 and m2 that have passed through this sorting step are loaded into the loading box 3 in the loading section T. The media m1 and m2 slide down the upper inclined surface 7 or the lower inclined surface 6 along the gradient, and flow out from the media outlet 5 to the sorting unit S.

  In the sorting unit S, each transfer belt 21 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 2 by driving the drive motor 17, so that the media m <b> 1 and m <b> 2 are conveyed backward by the rotation operation of the transfer belt 21. During this time, since the media m1 and m2 are spherical and the upper surface of the transfer belt 21 is curved upward, the media m1 and m2 roll toward the sorting groove 25 and guide adjacent to the transfer belt 21. It is conveyed in a state of being stretched between the bars 24. That is, since there is a speed difference between the portion of the media m1 and m2 that is supported by the transfer belt 21 and the portion that is supported by the guide bar 24, the media m1 and m2 rotate in a plan view shown in FIG. It will be transported while causing movement.

  Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, even if the defective medium m2 (the medium on the right side in the figure) is supported across the guide bar 24 and the transfer belt 21 at the beginning of conveyance, it is conveyed as described above. The posture is changed by the rotational action received in the middle. Then, in the initial posture of conveyance, even if the outer diameter is not insufficient due to cracking or chipping and the belt is stretched between the transfer belt 21 and the guide bar 24, the entire process of the sorting unit S is conveyed. In the meantime, there is a moment when the outer diameter is suspended in a posture that causes a shortage of the outer diameter. At that time, the defective medium m2 falls below the sorting groove 25. The fallen defective medium m2 is guided to the discharge rod 32 through the front guide rod 30 or the rear guide rod 31 or directly falls onto the discharge rod 32, and then to the waste box 33 along the inclination of the discharge rod 32. Collected for disposal.

  On the other hand, the non-defective media is accommodated in the collection box 35 through the collection basket 34 and prepared for the second barrel polishing.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the media m1 and m2 are supported by being supported between the transfer belt 21 that is a movable member and the guide bar 24 that is a fixed member. It is trying to grant. As a result, the media m1 and m2 are rotated to create a state in which the outer diameter is insufficient due to cracks and chipping, so that the media m1 and m2 can be reliably sorted.

  In addition, if the transfer belt 21 is a V-shaped belt, it is less likely to cause deformation in the width direction compared to the round belt. In the case of a round belt, the media m1 and m2 are caught in the sorting groove 25. In this case, the round belt may be deformed in the direction away from the guide bar 24 in the width direction to increase the groove width of the selection groove 25, and the subsequent media m1 and m2 including the non-defective media may be dropped at once. However, there is no such concern in this embodiment. Furthermore, since the transfer belt 21 has a V-shaped cross section, the sorting groove 25 has a groove width extending in the depth direction. This prevents the media from being caught in the course of dropping, and allows the sorting to be performed smoothly. It can be carried out. In the present embodiment, the core material 26 embedded in the transfer belt 21 is also effective in avoiding such a situation.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention, and further, within the scope not departing from the gist of the invention other than the following. Various modifications can be made.

  (1) The adjacent conveying means may be a conveying belt that can be driven around and both may set a speed difference. In that case, both conveying belts may be driven in the same direction, or may be driven in opposite directions.

  (2) In this embodiment, the side space is expanded in the width direction by making the belt V-shaped, but the width dimension on the lower side of the guide bar 24 is gradually narrowed. In addition, both the guide bar 24 and the belt may have such a cross-sectional shape.

  (3) In the present embodiment, the belt is made of rubber, but it may be made of urethane which is more excellent in wear resistance.

Top view of sorting device Same cross section Side sectional view of the sorting section Side sectional view of the discharge section Side cross-sectional view showing enlarged media conveyance status by transfer belt Same top view

Explanation of symbols

17 ... Drive motor (drive mechanism)
21 ... Transfer belt (first track)
24 ... Guide bar (second track)
26 ... Core material m1, m2 ... Media S ... Selection part

Claims (5)

A first trajectory arranged along the conveying direction of the sorting object;
The first track includes a second track arranged in parallel through a sorting groove having a groove width smaller than the outer diameter of the sorting object,
At least one of the first trajectory and the second trajectory is formed to be movable in the transport direction, and the first trajectory and the second trajectory have a speed with respect to the transfer direction of the sorting object. A sorting apparatus characterized in that a difference is set. 2. The sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first track and the second track is formed so that a cross-sectional shape becomes narrower toward a lower side. 2. The first track has a belt driven by a drive mechanism, and the second track is a guide bar fixed in a state along a length direction of the belt. Or the sorting apparatus of Claim 2. The sorting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an upper surface of the first track is formed in a curved shape protruding upward. The sorting apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein a core material is embedded in the first track.

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