JP2010215303A - Aligning and conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an aligning and conveying device capable of further improving a bridge restraining effect when a conveyed article is aligned on a conveying path. <P>SOLUTION: This aligning and conveying device 10 for making conveyed articles A conveyed in plural rows onto a conveying path 18 into a single row comprises: a traveling guide 14 provided at one side edge 12a of a conveying path 11; a reverse-feeding conveyor 16 provided to one part of the traveling guide 14 and driven to a conveying upstream; and an edge aligning guide 18 provided diagonally toward a conveying downstream in a direction from the other side edge 12b to the one side edge 12a of the conveying path 11 in a position facing the reverse-feeding conveyer 16 in the other side edge 12b of the conveying path 11. The reverse feeding conveyor 16 is provided diagonally in a direction separate from the conveying path 11 from the conveying downstream to the conveying upstream. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an aligning and conveying apparatus that singularizes objects to be conveyed that are conveyed in a plurality of rows on a conveying path.

  Conventionally, various alignment apparatuses that convey objects to be conveyed randomly in multiple rows from the conveyance upstream side of the conveyance path to the conveyance downstream side while aligning them in a line in the middle of the conveyance path (for example, are disclosed) , See Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 below).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the alignment apparatus 100 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes guides 102 a and 102 b whose intervals are gradually narrowed in the conveyance direction on both sides of the conveyance path 101, and at least one of these guides. The (guide 102b) includes an endless chain 104 to which a plurality of rollers 103 are attached. By driving the endless chain 104 in the direction opposite to the transport direction (upstream side of the transport), the phenomenon (= bridge) of the transported object A clogging between the guides 102a and 102b can be suppressed and the bridge can be eliminated. It is illustrated.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the transport device 110 disclosed in Patent Document 2 forms a contact portion over one side wall 113 in the width decreasing section 112 in which the width decreases in the traveling direction of the transport path 111. An endless belt 114 is extended. In the transport device 110 as well, the endless belt 114 is driven in the direction opposite to the transport direction (upstream of transport), thereby suppressing the occurrence of bridging in the width decreasing section 112 and eliminating the bridge.

JP 2008-308272 A (FIG. 1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-94318 (FIG. 1)

  However, even in these conventional alignment devices 100 and the like, the effect of suppressing and eliminating the occurrence of bridges is not always sufficient. For example, according to the alignment apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 3, in the place where the bridge is about to occur, the object A that is in contact with the roller 103 of the endless chain 104 is directed in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction (upstream of conveyance). Acts to shift the object A to be conveyed upstream. However, as is clear from the figure, since a plurality of objects to be conveyed A are conveyed one after another from the upstream side of conveyance, even if it is attempted to shift the object A to the upstream side of conveyance by the roller 103, the subsequent objects to be conveyed It was difficult for the object A to block the way to go and to suppress the occurrence of bridging smoothly. This problem also applies to the transfer device 110 shown in FIG. 4. If it becomes difficult to smoothly suppress the occurrence of bridging, the problem of bridging immediately occurs. Further, this problem becomes more prominent when the conveyance speed of the object A to be conveyed, that is, the conveyance capability of the alignment apparatus 100 or the like is increased.

  Accordingly, in view of the above problems, the present inventor has conducted intensive studies to provide an aligning and conveying apparatus that can further improve the effect of suppressing the occurrence of bridges when aligning objects to be conveyed on the conveying path. It came to.

  That is, the present invention includes a travel guide provided at one side edge of the transport path, a reverse feed conveyor provided at a part of the travel guide and driven to the transport upstream side, and the other side of the transport path. A width-shifting guide provided obliquely toward the downstream side of conveyance in the direction from the other side edge of the conveyance path to the one side edge at a position facing the reverse feed conveyor at the edge, An aligning and conveying apparatus that singularly conveys objects to be conveyed in a plurality of rows, wherein the reverse conveyor is provided obliquely in a direction away from the conveying path from the conveying downstream side toward the conveying upstream side. It is characterized by that.

  In the aligning and conveying apparatus of the present invention, the width adjusting guide is provided with a buffer means for absorbing a force acting from the upstream side of conveyance.

  Further, in the aligned transport apparatus of the present invention, the transport path includes the main transport path on the one side edge side and the sub transport path on the other side edge side, and at least the sub transport path is the transported object. It is characterized by comprising a width-shifting conveyor for width-shifting objects toward the main transport path.

  According to the aligning and conveying apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, since the reverse conveyor is provided obliquely in the direction away from the conveyance path from the conveyance downstream side toward the conveyance upstream side, A space for shifting the conveyed product to the upstream side of the conveyance is secured. Therefore, when a bridge is generated on the transport path, this space can be secured to minimize the influence of the subsequent transported object and smoothly shift the transported object contacting the reverse conveyor to the upstream side of the transport. The generation suppressing effect can be further improved. Moreover, since the same effect is acquired even if it raises the conveyance speed of a to-be-conveyed object, the improvement of conveyance capability can also be aimed at.

  Moreover, according to the alignment conveyance apparatus which concerns on Claim 2 of this invention, the suppression effect of said bridge | bridging generation | occurrence | production can be improved further.

  In addition, according to the aligning and conveying apparatus of the third aspect of the present invention, the objects to be conveyed can be aligned to some extent without relying only on the width adjusting guide, and as a result, the effect of suppressing the occurrence of bridging can be further improved.

It is a schematic plan view of the conveyance path | route which applied the alignment conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic plan view of the alignment conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the conventional alignment apparatus. It is a schematic plan view which shows the conventional conveying apparatus.

  An embodiment of the aligning and conveying apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the embodiment described below, in the free tray type agricultural product sorting apparatus, the agricultural product placed on the tray (conveyed object A) is sorted, sorted, and emptied by a supply unit (not shown). However, the object to be transported in the aligning and transporting apparatus of the present invention is not particularly limited, and can be applied to any transport path.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the alignment transport apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is mainly provided on a transport path 11 that transports a plurality of articles A to be transported in a plurality of rows and one side edge 12 a of the transport path 11. At the position facing the reverse feed conveyor 16 on the other side edge 12b of the transport path 11, and the reverse feed conveyor 16 that is provided in a part of the travel guide 14 and is driven to the upstream side of the transport. The width adjusting guide 18 is provided obliquely toward the downstream side of the conveyance in the direction from the other side edge 12b of the conveyance path 11 to the one side edge 12a. In addition, the code | symbol C is the collection | recovery conveyor for supplying the tray (to-be-conveyed object A) emptied by the boxing part (not shown) in an agricultural product selection apparatus to the conveyance path 11, and the code | symbol R is the alignment conveyance apparatus of this embodiment. 10 is a return conveyor that is connected to the transport downstream side of the transport line 10 and transports the articles A to be transported in a single row by the alignment transport apparatus 10 to a supply unit (not shown).

  The transport path 11 according to the present embodiment includes a main transport path 20a on the side edge 12a side and a sub transport path 20b on the other side edge 12b side, and is transported on the transport paths 20a and 20b. The object A is configured to be freely transferred. Both the main conveyance path 20a and the sub conveyance path 20b are made of a known belt-driven roller conveyor. The main transport path 20a is configured such that a large number of rod-shaped transport rollers 22, 22... Are supported in parallel between a pair of frames W1, W2 extending in the transport direction of the transported object A. A drive belt (not shown) that is wound around a plurality of pulleys (not shown) that are pivotally supported on one frame W1 and driven by driving means (not shown) is provided below the transfer rollers 22. Are brought into contact with each other, the respective transport rollers 22 are rotationally driven all at once.

  One sub-transport path 20b has a large number of rod-shaped transport rollers 22, 22... Supported between the pair of frames W2, W3 in parallel with each other, and the end of each transport roller 22 on the frame W2 side. This is a width-adjusting conveyor that is arranged obliquely so that 22a is positioned upstream of the end 22b on the frame W3 side. A drive belt (not shown) that runs around a plurality of pulleys (not shown) that are pivotally supported by one frame W3 and is driven by a driving means (not shown) is provided below each of the transfer rollers 22. The contact rollers 22 cause the transport rollers 22 to be rotationally driven all at once.

  The travel guide 14 is provided along the transport direction on one side edge 12a of the transport path 11, that is, on the frame W1 side of the main transport path 20a. The object A to be transported along the main transport path 20a is transported along the travel guide 14 to the transport downstream side.

  A part of the traveling guide 14 is provided with a reverse conveyor 16 that is driven to the upstream side of conveyance. As shown in FIG. 2, the reverse conveyor 16 includes a pair of pulleys 30a and 30b installed along the conveyance direction on one side edge 12a of the conveyance path 11, that is, the frame W1 side in the main conveyance path 20a. And a flat belt 34 spanned between a pair of pulleys 30a and 30b. Then, the flat belt 34 is driven by the motor 32 so that the belt surface 34a facing the conveyance path 11 side of the flat belt 34 moves to the conveyance upstream side.

  Furthermore, the reverse feed conveyor 16 in the present embodiment is provided obliquely in a direction away from the transport path 11 from the transport downstream side toward the transport upstream side. More specifically, a belt surface 34a facing the conveyance path 11 side in the flat belt 34 constituting the reverse feed conveyor 16 is provided obliquely in a direction away from the conveyance path 11 from the conveyance downstream side toward the conveyance upstream side. It has been.

  A width adjusting guide 18 is provided at a position facing the reverse feed conveyor 16 on the other side edge 12b of the transport path 11 (on the frame W3 side in the sub transport path 20b). The width adjusting guide 18 is provided obliquely toward the downstream side of conveyance in the direction from the other side edge 12b of the conveyance path 11 to the one side edge 12a, and is to be conveyed A that is conveyed in the sub conveyance path 20b. Fulfills the function of joining the main transport path 20a. Further, the width adjusting guide 18 in the present embodiment is pivotally supported by a rotating pin 19 on one end 18 a side, and the other end 18 b side has a force from the upstream side of the conveyance acting on the width adjusting guide 18. Is provided with a buffer means 40 for absorbing water. That is, when a force from the upstream side of the conveyance acts on the width adjusting guide 18, the other end 18b side of the width adjusting guide 18 is rotated in the direction of the other side edge 12b of the conveying path 11 with the rotation pin 19 as an axis. By making it move, the force acting on the width adjusting guide 18 can be absorbed by the buffer means 40 provided on the other end 18b side.

  A description will be given of a single row of the objects A to be conveyed by the aligning and conveying apparatus 10 of the present embodiment configured as described above. The article A to be transported that is transported from the recovery conveyor C to the transport path 11 is first supplied to the sub-transport path 20b that is a width-adjusting conveyor. The transported object A transported on the sub transport path 20b is gradually reduced in width toward the main transport path 20a as it is transported to the transport downstream side, and the transported object A transferred to the main transport path 20a It is transported along one side edge 12a, that is, the traveling guide 14 provided on the frame W1 side in the main transport path 20a. In the main transport path 20a according to the present embodiment, width-shifting sections E each including a width-shifting conveyor configured in the same manner as the sub-transport path 20b are arranged at a predetermined interval. Accordingly, it is possible to more positively convey the object A to be conveyed along the main conveyance path 20a along the traveling guide 14.

  As described above, most of the objects A to be transported along the sub transport path 20b are made closer to the main transport path 20a and are made into a single row. However, the conveyed object A that is still conveyed on the auxiliary conveying path 20b even after reaching the downstream conveyance side by interfering with the conveyed object A conveyed on the main conveying path 20a finally contacts the width adjusting guide 18. Then, the width is forcibly shifted toward the main transport path 20a along the width guide 18.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the object A1 in contact with the width adjusting guide 18 is forcibly shifted toward the main conveying path 20a along the width adjusting guide 18, but at this time, the auxiliary conveying path 20b is moved. A bridge is generated by the transported object A1 and the transported object A2 transported through the main transport path 20a. If it does so, the to-be-conveyed object A2 pushed to the one edge 12a of the conveyance path 11 by the to-be-conveyed object A1 will contact with the belt surface 34a of the flat belt 34 in the reverse feed conveyor 16. FIG. Here, since the belt surface 34a facing the conveyance path 11 side is driven so as to move to the conveyance upstream side, the conveyed object A2 contacting the belt surface 34a is conveyed upstream due to friction with the belt surface 34a. Force acts in the direction of the side. Further, the reverse conveyor 16 according to the present embodiment, more specifically, in a direction in which the belt surface 34a of the flat belt 34 in the reverse conveyor 16 moves away from the conveyance path 11 from the conveyance downstream side toward the conveyance upstream side. Since it is provided obliquely, the article A2 to be conveyed is shifted obliquely toward the outside of the conveyance path 11 while being guided by the belt surface 34a.

  In other words, conventionally, only the force toward the upstream side of the transport acts on the transported object A2, and the direction in which the transported object A2 is shifted is parallel to the transport direction (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 3). 4), the subsequent transported object A obstructed the way to go, and the effect of suppressing the occurrence of bridges was insufficient. However, according to the aligning and conveying apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the belt surface 34a related to the reverse conveyor 16 is provided obliquely in a direction away from the conveying path 11 from the conveying downstream side toward the conveying upstream side. A space for shifting the transported object A2 contacting the surface 34a to the transport upstream side is secured, and a force can be applied to the transported object A2 in an obliquely outward direction. Therefore, when a bridge is generated between the transported object A1 and the transported object A2, even if the subsequent transported object A exists on the upstream side of the transported object A2, the space is secured and the subsequent force is applied depending on the direction of the force. Since the influence of the transported object A can be minimized, the transported object A2 contacting the belt surface 34a can be smoothly shifted to the outside of the transport path 11, and the effect of suppressing the occurrence of bridges can be further improved. can do.

  As described above, the aligning and conveying apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment has been described in detail. With respect to the reverse feed conveyor 16 according to the present embodiment, the belt surface 34a of the flat belt 34 in the reverse feed conveyor 16 is, as shown in FIG. 14 is more preferably located outside the conveyance path 11. For example, when the object A1 in contact with the width adjusting guide 18 is smoothly aligned to the main conveyance path 20a without interfering with the object A2 conveyed through the main conveyance path 20a, the object to be conveyed A2 is not pressed in the direction of the one side edge 12a by the conveyed object A1. Then, the conveyed object A2 is conveyed along the traveling guide 14 without coming into contact with the belt surface 34a located outside the conveying path 11 from the traveling guide 14, and therefore, the upstream side of the conveyed object A2 is conveyed. The power of will not work in vain. That is, there is no possibility of causing a decrease in the conveyance efficiency, and the life of the flat belt 34 can be extended as compared with a mode in which the belt surface 34a is always in contact with the conveyed object A.

  The aligned conveying apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention exemplified above should not be construed as substantially limiting the technical idea of the present invention. For example, the transport path 11 according to the present embodiment includes a main transport path 20a and a sub transport path 20b, and the sub transport path 20b is configured by a width-shifting conveyor, and the main transport path 20a is also configured by a width-shifting conveyor. A width adjusting section E is provided. With these configurations, the objects A to be conveyed that are conveyed in a plurality of rows on the conveyance path 11 can be aligned to some extent during conveyance without relying only on the width adjusting guide 18, thereby further improving the effect of suppressing the occurrence of bridges. In addition, the main transport path 20a transports the object A to be transported in parallel with the transport direction, so that the transport efficiency can be improved. However, the configuration of the transport path 11 is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the entire transport path 11 may be configured by a width-adjusting conveyor, or may be configured by transport rollers arranged in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction. The belt drive roller conveyor may be used.

  Further, the width adjusting guide 18 according to the present embodiment is configured to be rotatable about the rotation pin 19 on the one end 18a side, and includes a buffer means 40 on the other end 18b side. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, a bridge is generated by the transported object A1 that is width-shifted from the sub-transport path 20b and the transported object A2 that is transported along the main transport path 20a, so When a strong force from the upstream side of conveyance by the conveyed product A1 is applied, the width adjusting guide 18 rotates about the rotation pin 19 as an axis, and the force can be absorbed by the buffer means 40. For this reason, damage to the conveyed object A1 and the like can be prevented, and a slight space can be secured in the conveyance width direction by the rotation of the width adjusting guide 18, so that the effect of suppressing the occurrence of bridging is further enhanced by combination with the reverse feed conveyor 16. Can be improved. In addition, the aspect of the buffer means 40 is not specifically limited, Any of an air damper, a spring, etc. other than the oil damper shown in figure may be sufficient. Further, although the width adjusting guide 18 according to the present embodiment is configured to be rotatable about the rotation pin 19 as an axis, the whole width adjusting guide 18 may be operated in the front-rear direction. As described above, the present invention can be implemented with appropriate improvements, changes, or additions by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10: Alignment conveyance apparatus 12a: One side edge 12b: Other side edge 14: Traveling guide 16: Reverse feed conveyor 18: Width adjustment guide 20a: Main conveyance path 20b: Sub conveyance path 34: Flat belt 34a: Belt surface 40 : Buffering means A, A1, A2: Conveyed object

Claims (3)

A travel guide provided at one side edge of the transport path, a reverse feed conveyor provided at a part of the travel guide and driven upstream of the transport path, and the reverse feed conveyor at the other side edge of the transport path And a width adjusting guide provided obliquely toward the downstream side of conveyance in the direction from the other side edge of the conveyance path to the one side edge, and conveys the conveyance path in a plurality of rows. An aligned conveying device that singularizes the objects to be conveyed,
The aligning and conveying apparatus, wherein the reverse conveyor is provided obliquely in a direction away from the conveying path from a conveying downstream side toward a conveying upstream side.   The aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the width adjusting guide is provided with a buffer unit that absorbs a force acting from an upstream side of the conveying.   The transport path includes a main transport path on the one side edge side and a sub transport path on the other side edge side, and at least the sub transport path narrows the object to be transported toward the main transport path side. 3. The aligning / conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the aligning / conveying apparatus comprises a width-conveying conveyor.

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