JP2010189112A - Article stacker and article stacking method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article stacker and an article stacking method for improving recovery working efficiency with a capability of making a plurality of articles collectively taken up on a recovery-work conveying surface. <P>SOLUTION: The articles supplied o a belt conveying surface for placement thereon are conveyed by an endless belt 1 from a supply position to a recovery position. Air pressure is applied to the supplied articles placed on a movable table 2 located on the belt conveying surface at the end thereof, so that the articles are supplied to the belt conveying surface. Then, the belt conveyer surface is moved in fixed displacement to the recovery position by a distance shorter than an article length aligned on a conveying direction. Furthermore, a given number of articles are sequentially supplied and the movement of the conveying surface in fixed displacement is repeatedly executed. This causes the articles to be partially polymerized in placement so that the adjacent articles are partially polymerized with each other so that polymerized article groups are moved to the recovery position and gathered up in a stacking state for collectively recovering capability. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an article stacker apparatus and an article stacker method that are used for a collection operation in which a predetermined number of article groups are collected together.

  An example of this type of article is a mop cleaning tool for rental items. The mop cleaning tool has a mop in which a large number of pile yarns are planted on the surface of the base fabric. When the rental period elapses, the mop cleaning tool is collected by the rental provider and is cleaned and repackaged for lending again.

Mop cleaning is performed at a treatment facility by washing or applying a chemical to the pile surface, and then sent to the packaging process. In the packaging process, for example, the mop bagging is performed using the automatic bag making apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. The packaged mops packaged in the packaging process are collected, accommodated in a transport case, and carried out.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-310107

  In the mop cleaning step, an automated line can be configured by distributing individual mops by conveyor conveyance from a process such as cleaning to a packaging process. On the other hand, in the recovery process for housing the case, since the automation of the storage device is costly, the manual operation for collecting the packaged mop is performed. However, conventionally, there has been a problem that the collection work efficiency is not improved because the operator picks up the packed mops on the conveyor line at regular intervals and picks them up one by one and stores them in the transport case.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an article stacker apparatus and an article stacker method that can improve the collection work efficiency by picking up and collecting a plurality of articles on the collection work conveyance surface. It is.

  The present invention has been made in order to achieve the above-mentioned problems, and a first embodiment of the present invention includes a transport device that transports an article placed and placed on a transport surface from a load position to a collection position, An article loading device for loading one article at a time onto the conveyance surface, and a movement for moving the conveyance surface to the collection position by a distance shorter than the length of the article along the conveyance direction when one article is loaded onto the conveyance surface A predetermined number of articles, and the predetermined number of articles are sequentially placed to repeat the sizing movement of the conveying surface, and the predetermined number of articles are partially overlapped so that a part of adjacent articles are superposed on each other. The article stacker device is configured to move the polymerized article group to the collection position side so that the polymerized article group can be collected in a stacked state.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the article input device includes a placing table on which the article is placed, and a delivery mechanism that sends the article from the placing table toward the transport surface. The article stacker device that drives the delivery mechanism to deliver and put the article on the mounting table onto the conveyance surface when the conveyance surface is moved in a fixed size.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the delivery mechanism is an article stacker device including an air nozzle that feeds the article on the mounting table by applying air pressure.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, when the mounting table is movably disposed with respect to the transport surface and air is ejected from the air nozzle, the mounting table is separated from the transport surface. The article stacker device is moved to the designated position.

  A fifth aspect of the present invention is the article stacker device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the conveying surface is arranged to be inclined in the conveying sectional direction with one end side along the longitudinal direction raised. It is.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the article stacker device according to the fifth aspect, wherein an article fall prevention plate is arranged along the longitudinal direction at a lower end portion of the transport surface.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to sixth aspects, the bag-sealing sealing device includes a cleaning tool in which the article is stored in a storage bag, and is disposed in a front stage of the article input device; An article stacker device comprising: a transfer device for transferring the article, which has been sealed with the bag for the accommodation bag by the bagging seal device, onto the mounting table.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined number of articles are loaded one by one on the conveying surface, and the conveying surface is moved to the collection position side by a distance shorter than the article length along the conveying direction. The predetermined number of articles are partially superposed so that part of adjacent articles are superposed on each other, and the superposed article group is placed on the collection position side. This is an article stacker method in which the group of polymerized articles can be recovered in a laminated state.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the eighth aspect, the article includes a cleaning tool in which the article is stored in a storage bag, and the article is sequentially placed on the transport surface while performing bagging and sealing of the storage bag. An article stacker method in which 2 to 10 articles are partially polymerized and collected.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the articles are loaded one by one on the conveying surface by the article loading device, and the collecting surface is collected by a distance shorter than the length of the article along the conveying direction by the movement control device. Move the sizing to the position side, sequentially put a predetermined number of articles, repeat the sizing movement of the conveying surface, and partially superpose the predetermined number of articles so that some of the adjacent articles overlap each other Then, the polymerized article group is moved to the collection position side, and the polymerized article group can be collected in a stacked state, so that a plurality of articles can be picked up and collected, and the collected articles are sequentially fed. It is possible to improve the efficiency of collecting articles at the collection work place. The present invention can be applied not only to the above-mentioned mop cleaning tool but also to an article that can be carried by holding a plurality, and can also be applied to a non-wrapping article as well as a packaging article.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the article input device includes a mounting table on which the article is mounted, and a delivery mechanism that sends the article from the mounting table toward the conveying surface. When the sizing movement is performed, the delivery mechanism is driven to feed and put the article on the mounting table onto the transport surface, so that the article is once placed on the mounting table and then directed toward the transport surface. The partial stacking arrangement can be reliably performed and the recovery operation can be appropriately performed without sequentially disturbing the stacked state of the polymerized article group while sequentially feeding a predetermined number of articles.

  Article delivery may be performed using a robot arm that grips the article in the delivery mechanism, but according to the third aspect of the present invention, the air ejected from the air nozzle is blown onto the article on the mounting table, Since the article on the mounting table is sent out and put on the transport surface by the air pressure, even a flexible article can be smoothly sent out toward the transport surface.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the mounting table is movably disposed with respect to the transport surface, and when the air nozzle is ejected, the mounting table is moved to a position separated from the transport surface. Therefore, by placing the mounting table above the transport surface and moving the mounting table to a position away from the transport surface when sending the article, an article input position is secured on the transport surface, and the transport is performed. Articles can be loaded at the shortest distance to the surface. Therefore, the delivery mechanism that can reliably perform the partial overlapping arrangement can be configured in a compact manner simply by arranging the mounting table movably with respect to the transport surface.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the conveying surface is arranged so as to be inclined in the conveying sectional direction with the one end side along the longitudinal direction raised, so that the operator bends forward toward the conveying surface side. It is not necessary to collect in a cramped posture, and the collection work of picking up the superposed article group from the transport surface can be performed smoothly.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the article fall prevention plate is disposed along the longitudinal direction at the lower end of the transport surface, the operator can place the superposed article group on the fall prevention plate. It is possible to arrange them along the lines, and the collective collection work can be performed more smoothly.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the article that has been sealed with the bag by the bagging seal device is transferred onto the mounting table by the transfer device, the bagging article is placed on the mounting table. It can be sent to a collection work place where collective collection is possible via, and it is possible to improve the article conveyance efficiency.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, one article is put into the conveyance surface one by one, and the conveyance surface is moved to the collection position side by a distance shorter than the article length along the conveyance direction, and a predetermined number The articles are sequentially placed and the sizing movement of the conveying surface is repeated, and the predetermined number of articles are partially superposed so that a part of the adjacent articles are superposed on each other, and the superposed article group is recovered. Since the group of polymerized articles can be collected in a stacked state by being moved to the position side, a plurality of articles can be picked up and collected at a time, and the collection work efficiency can be improved.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the cleaning tool is sequentially put into the transport surface while performing bagging and sealing of the cleaning tool such as a mop and towel, and 2 to 10 cleaning tools are part of the part. Since it collects and collects and collects collectively, it collects by the collective collection compared to the conventional work that the operator picks up one by one while flowing the cleaning tool on the transport surface at a constant interval. Work efficiency can be greatly improved.

It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the bagging mop stacker apparatus based on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the said stacker apparatus. It is a top view of the stacker device. It is a control block diagram of the stacker device. It is a flowchart which shows the stacker control process of the said stacker apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the stacker control operation | movement of the said stacker apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a stacker device for bagging mops of a mop cleaning tool and a stacker method using the same according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The stacker device according to the present embodiment is installed in a collection work place that performs bagging and sealing of mops that have been cleaned and accommodates them in a transport case.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a stacker device according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a side view showing a side configuration of the stacker device, and FIG. 3 shows a top configuration of the stacker device. It is a top view.

  The stacker mechanism of this stacker device loads an endless belt (conveyor conveyor device) 1 that conveys from the loaded item loading position to the collection position on the conveying surface, and one article (bag filling mop) on the belt conveying surface. It consists of an article input movable plate 2. In FIG. 1, an article input position is set on the right end side of the conveyance surface, and an article collection position is set on the left end side.

  A conveyance belt 3 for feeding articles from the side of the conveyance surface is disposed at the article input position. A seal device 4 that seals the mop accommodation bag is disposed on the start end side of the transport belt 3. By putting the treated mop into the sealing device 4, the bag A is automatically made, and the article A in which the bag containing the mop B is sealed is carried out to the starting end side of the conveying belt 3.

  The article loading movable plate 2 has a shape bent in a substantially L shape, and is fixed to the support arm 5 at the side surface so that the inclined upper surface faces the upper right end of the transport surface. The support arm portion 5 is connected to a slide shaft portion 6 extending in the belt longitudinal direction of the endless belt 1 so as to be movable in the belt longitudinal direction. The slide shaft portion 6 constitutes a slide mechanism of an air cylinder (not shown), and the support arm portion 5 is reversibly slid in the belt longitudinal direction so that the movable plate 2 can be moved forward and backward. The upper surface of the movable plate 2 is a flat surface that is inclined downward toward the article insertion position and is about 30% smaller than the external shape of the article.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the endless belt 1 is installed in mounting portions 8 and 9 having different heights on the front and rear support legs 7, and is inclined by about 20 ° so that one end side of the conveying surface becomes higher toward the conveying belt 3 side. Has been placed. The conveyor belt 3 is collected on the installation table 11. The length of the leg portion 12 of the installation base 11 is adjusted so that the belt surface of the conveyor belt 3 is almost the same height as the upper end edge of the movable plate 2. An article fall prevention plate 16 is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the belt at the lower end of the belt conveying surface of the endless belt 1. The fall prevention plate 16 is formed with a thickness of two articles at the right end loading position of the endless belt 1 and with a thickness of four at the left end collection position.

  The inclined upper surface of the movable plate 2 is parallel to the conveyance surface of the endless belt 1 by supporting and fixing the movable plate 2 by the support arm 5 so that the article A fed from the conveyance belt 3 is easily slipped down to the conveyance surface. The product placement table is formed with an inclination. The upper space around the movable plate 2, that is, the right end side of the transport surface is covered with an acrylic transparent cover body 13 for protecting the moving mechanism of the support arm portion 5 and for safety of work. The cover body 13 is fixedly arranged on a bone frame 14 screwed to the support leg 7.

  The support arm portion 5 is provided with an air nozzle mechanism for ejecting air for sliding the article from the inclined upper surface of the movable plate 2. A connector portion 10 connected to an air pipe of an air supply device (not shown) is attached to the support arm portion 5. As shown in FIG. 3, an air supply pipe 20 that communicates with the air pipe via the connector part 10 is installed in the support arm part 5 so that the injection nozzle port 21 faces the surface of the inclined upper surface of the movable plate 2. Is installed at the upper end of the support arm 5. The ejection nozzle port 21 is disposed in the direction in which air pressure is applied in the belt longitudinal direction. When the article A is received, the inclined upper surface of the movable plate 2 has a size to be placed in an area exceeding half of the article shape.

  FIG. 4 shows a stacker control device according to this embodiment. The stacker control device includes a computer device 100 configured by a microprocessor, a ROM 101 storing a stacker control program, and a working memory 102. The computer device 100 receives a seal completion signal (article carry-out signal) from the control unit 103 of the seal device 4. The computer device 100 outputs a drive control signal to the drive control unit 104 of the conveyor belt 3, outputs an open / close signal of the air supply valve 105 carried by the air supply device, and further drives the endless belt 1. A drive control signal is output to.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of the stacker control operation by the stacker control device. FIG. 6 schematically shows the stacker control operation. Hereinafter, the stacker control operation will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 3, 5, and 6.
When the mop B of the contents to be packed is sent to the sealing device 4 through the feed conveyor belt 15, automatic packaging and sealing are performed by the sealing device 4. The sealed article A is carried out from the sealing device 4 to the conveying belt 3 side. At this time, a seal completion signal (article carry-out signal) is output from the control unit 103 of the sealing device 4 (step ST1), and the feed driving operation of the conveyor belt 3 is executed for a predetermined time (step ST2).

  The movable platform 2 is initially disposed at an article input position above the right end portion of the endless belt 1 in order to receive and place articles from the conveyor belt 3. When the article A is fed through the conveyor belt 3, it is once placed on the inclined upper surface of the movable base 2, and the lower end of the article protrudes to the fall prevention plate 16 side by its own weight as shown by A1 in FIG. When the article A is delivered, the support arm portion 5 moves along the slide shaft portion 6, and the movable base 2 moves backward from the endless belt 1 in the belt longitudinal direction and away from the conveying surface (step ST3). Further, at the same time, the air supply device is actuated, and jet air is sent out from the jet nozzle port 21 to apply air pressure in the belt longitudinal direction to the placed article A1 on the inclined upper surface (step ST4).

  Due to the air pressurizing action and the backward shift operation of the movable base 2, the loaded article A1 slides down from the movable base 2 in the longitudinal direction of the belt, as shown in FIG. Drops to the side and completes loading on the transfer surface. When one article is thrown into the transport surface, as shown in FIG. 6 (6B), the endless belt 1 is moved to the collection end side by a predetermined size (step ST5), and the input article A2 on the transport surface is moved a predetermined distance. Move. This moving distance is shorter than the article length along the belt conveyance direction, for example, about 1/3 of the article length. A3 indicates an article position where the input article A2 is shifted by a fixed size. When the sizing shift is performed, 1 is added to the stacker count value memory of the RAM 102 (step ST6). The stacker count value corresponds to the number of stackers in the superposed article group.

  Subsequently, when a new article is input, the air pressurization and the backward shift operation of the movable base 2 are executed. Thereby, as shown in (6C) of FIG. 6, a part of the previous fixed-size shift article A3 is superposed on the new input article A2 and partially superposed. By sequentially loading the articles and repeating the partial polymerization arrangement three times, as shown in (6D) of FIG. 6, four polymer articles (M1 to M4) are deposited on the conveying surface in a partially polymerized state. To do.

In the present embodiment, the number of stackers is set so as to collect four polymerization article groups at once. Therefore, when the stacker count value becomes 4 (step ST7), the superposed article group (M1 to M4) is transported to the collection position (step ST8). As shown in (6E) of FIG. 6, when the superposed article group (M1 to M4) that has been stacked like a shogi is conveyed to the collection position at the left end of the belt, the operator 17 is sandwiched between both hands and simplified. It can be lifted up and collected at once. At this time, the group of superposed articles can be brought into contact with each other along the fall prevention plate 16 and aligned, and the collective collection operation can be performed smoothly. The group of superposed articles collected and taken out can be loaded and stored in a stacked state 19 in a transport case 18 disposed near the worker 17. By repeating the sequential introduction of articles, partial polymerization arrangement, and collection / conveyance of a group of polymerized articles, collective collection can be repeated, and the collection work efficiency can be significantly improved. Therefore, the recovery efficiency at the end of the processing facility is improved, the processing efficiency in the entire processing facility is increased, and the processing capability of the entire processing facility can be improved. In addition, if the robot hand which consists of a pair of collection | recovery plates which operate | move similarly to a manual operation is driven and the superposition | polymerization article group is clamped, batch collection can be automated.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and includes various modifications and design changes within the technical scope without departing from the technical idea of the present invention. Needless to say.

  According to the present invention, an article stacker device and / or an article stacker method capable of improving the collection work efficiency by enabling collective collection of stacked polymer articles even if the articles are easily folded such as mops and towels. Can be provided.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endless belt 2 Movable plate 3 Conveyor belt 4 Sealing device 5 Support arm part 6 Slide shaft part 7 Support leg 8 Attachment part 9 Attachment part 10 Connector part 11 Installation stand 12 Leg part 13 Cover body 14 Bone frame 15 Feed conveyance belt 16 Dropping Prevention plate 17 Worker 18 Transport case 19 Stacked state 20 Air supply pipe 21 Injection nozzle port 100 Computer device 101 ROM
102 working memory 103 control unit 104 drive control unit 105 air supply valve A article A1 article A2 article A3 article B mop M1 article M2 article M3 article M4 article

Claims (9)

A transport device that transports articles placed and placed on the transport surface from the loading position to the collection position, an article input device that loads articles one by one on the transport surface, and a transport when one article is loaded on the transport surface A movement control device that moves the conveying surface to the collection position side by a distance shorter than the length of the article along the direction, and repeatedly throws a predetermined number of articles to repeat the moving movement of the conveying surface, The predetermined number of articles are partially polymerized so that a part of adjacent articles are polymerized with each other, the polymerized article group is moved to the collection position side, and the polymerized article group can be collected in a stacked state. Article stacker device characterized by that. The article input device includes a placing table on which the article is placed, and a sending mechanism that sends the article from the placing table toward the conveying surface. The article stacker device according to claim 1, wherein the article stacker device is driven to feed and throw the article on the mounting table onto the transport surface. 3. The article stacker device according to claim 2, wherein the delivery mechanism includes an air nozzle that feeds the article on the mounting table with air pressure. The article stacker device according to claim 3, wherein when the mounting table is movably disposed with respect to the transport surface and air is ejected from the air nozzle, the mounting table is moved to a position separated from the transport surface. The article stacker device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the transport surface is arranged so as to be inclined in the transport cross-sectional direction with one end side along the longitudinal direction raised. The article stacker device according to claim 5, wherein an article fall prevention plate is disposed along the longitudinal direction at a lower end of the conveyance surface. The above-mentioned article comprising a cleaning tool in which the article is stored in a storage bag, the bagging sealing device disposed in the front stage of the article input device, and the bagging seal of the storage bag by the bagging sealing device The article stacker device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a transfer device that transfers the table to a table. The articles are loaded one by one on the conveying surface, and the conveying surface is moved to the collection position side by a distance shorter than the length of the article along the conveying direction, and a predetermined number of articles are sequentially loaded to Repeat the fixed-size movement, place a part of the predetermined number of articles so that a part of adjacent articles superpose each other, move the group of polymerized articles to the collection position side, An article stacker method characterized in that it can be collected in a laminated state. The article comprises a cleaning tool housed in a storage bag, and the article is sequentially put into the transport surface while performing bagging and sealing of the storage bag, and 2 to 10 parts of the article are partially polymerized. The article stacker method according to claim 8, wherein the article stacker is recovered.

Images