JP2010254436A - Attitude aligning device of box - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To align an attitude of a box of a different size, by easily printing and easily reading a bar code, while aligning the attitude of the box carried by a roller conveyor. <P>SOLUTION: An oblique roller conveyor 9b is connected to a carrier roller conveyor 9a. A guiding guide 40 for guiding by abutting on a first side surface (sa) being one side surface of the box (s) approached by the oblique roller conveyor 9b, is arranged on right-left one end sides of the oblique roller conveyor 9b. A guiding conveyor 42 for sending out the box (s) in the carrying direction by allowing a carrying surface to abut on a second side surface sb being the other side surface of the first side surface (sa) of the box (s), is arranged on the side opposed to the guiding guide 40. The guiding conveyor 42 can freely rotate on the side abutting on the box (s) around a driving vertical shaft 44. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a shipping facility that accommodates a shipment in a box and conveys the shipment with a conveyor.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a collection / shipment facility in which a shipment is accommodated in a box and conveyed by a roller conveyor.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-323919

  An operator sequentially places shipping boxes packed with shipments on a roller conveyor for shipping, but the transporting posture of the boxes varies for each box. In addition, when the roller conveyor conveys a long distance, the deviation of the box increases. Then, it becomes impossible to read the barcode printed on the box or the barcode attached to the box with the barcode reader.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it easy to perform printing or to read a barcode by aligning the postures of boxes conveyed by a roller conveyor. Another object is to align the postures of boxes of different sizes.

  The invention according to claim 1 connects an oblique roller conveyor (9b) that moves the box (s) toward the left and right sides in the conveying direction of the roller conveyor to the conveying roller conveyor (9a) that conveys the box (s), A guide guide (40) is provided on the left and right sides of the oblique roller conveyor (9b) to contact and guide the first side surface (sa) which is one side surface of the box (s) brought together by the oblique roller conveyor (9b). The guide conveyor (40) contacts the second side surface (sb), which is the other side surface of the first side surface (sa) of the box (s), on the side facing the guide guide (40), and sends out the box (s) in the transport direction. (42) is provided, and the guide conveyor (42) is configured to be a box posture alignment device characterized in that the side contacting the box (s) is configured to be rotatable around the drive vertical axis (44).

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roller wheel (45) that contacts the first side surface (sa) of the box (s) opposite to the position where the guide conveyor (42) contacts the second side surface (sb) of the box (s). The box attitude alignment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the guide conveyor (42) is brought into contact with the box (s) while the box (s) is moved toward the guide guide (40) and guided by the guide guide (40). Since the box (s) is sent in the conveying direction, the posture of the box (s) becomes constant, and it is possible to print on the box with an inkjet in a later process or to easily read the information on the barcode attached to the box with a barcode reader. Moreover, since the abutment side of the box (s) of the guide conveyor (42) can be moved, it is possible to deal with boxes having different left and right widths.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the rollers (45) support the feeding action of the guide conveyor (42) from the opposite side surface, the posture of the box (s) can be improved.

The figure which shows the rotating device seen from the front Top view of the load receiving conveyor and rotating device The figure explaining the structure which supports a receiving box with the rotating device seen from the plane Top view of rotating device The figure explaining rotation operation of the turntable seen from the plane Plan view of another embodiment of the rotating device The top view which shows the state which has mounted the stacked receiving box h on the pallet Side view showing a state where the stacked receiving boxes h are placed on a pallet Top view of posture alignment device Plan view of selection facility The figure explaining the state which corrugates the receiving box seen from the side. Side view of corrugating apparatus Front view of corrugated equipment Plan view of corrugating apparatus Side view of standby arm Front view of standby arm Top view of standby arm Diagram showing stacked receiving boxes Diagram showing correction of box position deviation

The present invention will be described on the basis of a fruit collection and shipping facility in which fruits such as peaches and strawberries brought by the producer are sorted and boxed for shipment.
An overview of the entire selection facility will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the producer brings the cargo receiving boxes h containing the produced fruits to the pallet storage area N1 of the receiving area N in a state of being stacked in a plurality of rows and in a plurality of rows on the pallet p. . In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a rectangular cargo receiving box h is stacked in a horizontally long posture and placed in a horizontally long position as shown in FIG. 7, and a cargo receiving box h2 is stacked and placed in a vertically long posture. Are placed side by side on the pallet p.

  Reference numeral 2 denotes a load receiving conveyor for transferring the load receiving boxes h in a stacked state. During the transfer of the load receiving conveyor 2 constituted by the roller conveyor 2a, the rotating device 3 changes the horizontal and vertical postures of the load receiving box h. Is provided. Further, in the subsequent process of the rotator 3, a stage loader 4 is provided for transferring the stacked receiving boxes h whose transport postures are fixed by the rotator 3 to each subsequent box or for each set number of stages. ing. The load receiving conveyor 2 is provided up to a fruit take-out section T where an operator takes out the fruit in the load receiving box h and transfers it to the sorting conveyor 5 of the sorting section M that sorts for each class.

  A determination device 6 such as a camera for determining the fruit grade or class is provided in the middle of the sorting conveyor 5, and in the subsequent process from the determination device 6, the take-out conveyor 7 for picking up fruits for each equal class is designated as the sorting conveyor 5. A plurality of them are provided in parallel in the intersecting direction, and the start end of the takeout conveyor 7 is provided in the vicinity of the sorting conveyor 5. And the boxing stand 8 for accommodating the fruit which the operator selected in the terminal part of the taking-out conveyor 7 in the shipping box s is provided.

  In the present embodiment, three sorting sections M each including a sorting conveyor 5, a take-out conveyor 7 and a boxing stand 8 are provided, and the cargo receiving conveyor 2 also branches halfway so that each sorting section M can receive goods. The box h is transported. Although not shown, the configuration of the selection unit M may be a free tray type fruit selection facility described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-55383, for example.

  A shipping conveyor 9 is provided for transporting the shipping boxes s packed in the boxing table 8. The shipping conveyor 9 is provided in parallel with the sorting conveyor 5 and passes below the take-out conveyor 7. The shipping conveyors 9 for each sorting unit M are joined together in the middle of transportation to form one conveyor, and the shipping terminal s of the shipping conveyor 9 is arranged with a uniform orientation of the shipping boxes s. A posture alignment device 10 is provided. In addition, a shipping line conveyor 11 that transports the shipping box s for each shipping destination is provided in a subsequent process of the posture changing device 10, and an inkjet device 12 that prints on the shipping box s at the transport start end of the shipping line conveyor 11. After that, the shipping line conveyor 11 branches to a plurality of lines toward the shipping site G.

Next, the configuration of the rotating device 3 will be described with reference to FIGS.
A circular rotary table 20 that rotates around the vertical axis 25 by the expansion / contraction operation of the expansion / contraction cylinder 21 that expands / contracts in the horizontal direction and that moves up and down by the table lifter 26 is provided in the middle of conveyance of the load receiving conveyor 2. A roller conveyor 22 is provided on the upper surface of the rotary table 20, and the roller conveyor 22 rotates together with the rotary table so that the attitude along the conveying direction of the cargo receiving conveyor 2 (see FIG. 2) or the attitude crossing the conveying direction (FIG. 4). Reference) is changed.

  Above the turntable 20, a stopper 23 for stopping the cargo receiving box h conveyed on the rotary table 20 and a holding arm 24 for holding the side surface of the stationary load receiving box h are provided. The stoppers 23 according to the present embodiment are provided on both the left and right sides in the conveying direction above the rotary table 20, and the posture in which the stopper plate 23 b enters the rotary table 20 by the rotary operation of the vertical rotary shaft 23 a is retracted from the rotary table 20. It is set as the structure changed to the attitude to do. The sandwiching arm 24 is configured to sandwich and release the cargo receiving box h by moving the sandwiching plate 24a by the telescopic cylinder 24b. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the left and right clamping arms 24 are provided at positions shifted forward and backward in the transport direction in plan view, so that the cargo receiving box h can be clamped in a stable posture.

  FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the rotating device 3. Of the roller conveyor 22, the roller conveyor 22 passing through the center of the table is divided into two, and roller conveyors 22a and 22b that rotate in opposite directions are provided.

Next, the structure of the stage separation apparatus 4 of the receiving box h is demonstrated based on FIGS. 11-17.
In the middle of conveyance of the load receiving conveyor 2, a step-variation conveyor 30 driven by a drive motor 31 different from the load receiving conveyor 2 is provided.

  A first clamping arm 32 and a second clamping arm 33 that clamp the side surface of the cargo receiving box h are provided above and below the corrugating conveyor 30. The sandwiching arms 32 and 33 are configured to sandwich and separate the box by 32a and 33a by the telescopic operation of the telescopic cylinder. Further, an elevating cylinder 34 is provided for raising and lowering the first clamping arm 32 and the second clamping arm 33 itself.

  In the load receiving conveyor 2 in the subsequent process of the stepped conveyor 30, a plurality of standby arms 35 that support the bottom surface of the load receiving box h from below the transfer surface of the load receiving conveyor 2 and lift it above the transfer surface are set at a set interval ( 35a-35d).

Next, the configuration of the posture alignment apparatus 10 will be described.
In the middle of the conveyance of the shipping conveyor 9 constituted by the conveyance roller conveyor 9a, there is provided an oblique roller conveyor portion 9b that is inclined obliquely toward the left and right sides in the conveyance direction, and the shipping box s is arranged in the right and left directions in the conveyance direction of the roller conveyor The structure is close to one side. A guide guide 40 that abuts on the first side surface sa on the left and right sides of the shipping box s is provided on the side where the shipping box s is approached. A guide roller conveyor portion 9c that linearly conveys is provided after the oblique roller conveyor portion 9b, and a guide conveyor 42 that rotates in the same direction as the conveying direction of the shipping conveyor 9 is provided on the side opposite to the guide guide 40. The guide conveyor 42 is configured to rotate freely around the vertical axis 44 by expansion and contraction of the telescopic cylinder 43. The guide conveyor 42 contacts the second side surface sb on the other left and right sides of the conveyor shipping box s, and guides the shipping box s. It is configured to extrude along the guide 40. Rollers 45 that abut the first side surface sa of the shipping box s and support the extrusion of the shipping box s are provided at positions facing the guide conveyor 42. The wheel 45 is positioned above the guide guide 40 and is configured to rotate freely.

  Reference numeral 48 denotes a bar code reader that reads information on a bar code (not shown) attached to the shipping box s. The bar code reader 48 reads the information in a state in which the posture is aligned with the guide conveyor 42 and the rollers 45. Reference numeral 46 denotes a shipping box presence / absence detection sensor that detects that the shipping box s has reached the conveyance terminal end of the shipping conveyor 9 by the guide roller conveyor unit 9c. Reference numeral 47 denotes a push-out arm that reads the detection information of the shipping box presence / absence detection sensor 46 with the shipping box s and pushes the shipping box s onto the shipping line conveyor 11. Reference numeral 49 denotes a stopper for waiting for conveyance to the conveyance terminal portion of the guide roller conveyor portion 9c.

Next, the flow of work from receipt to shipment of the fruit selection facility of the present embodiment will be described.
The producer accommodates the produced fruit in a cargo receiving box h, and brings the cargo receiving box h to the pallet storage area N1 of the cargo receiving area N in a state of being stacked on the pallet p. In the pallet storage area N1, the cargo receiving box transporting device (not shown) remains in a stacked state, and the cargo receiving box h is placed on the cargo receiving conveyor 2 that is constantly driven and conveyed. When passing through the rotating device 3, the stacked receiving box h <b> 2 that is transported in a vertically long posture with respect to the transport direction is transported as it is to the subsequent process by the roller conveyor 22 of the rotating device 3. The cargo receiving box h <b> 1 that is transported in a landscape orientation with respect to the transport direction is stopped by the stopper 23 on the rotating device 3. When the cargo receiving box h1 is stationary, the stopper 23 is retracted, while the holding arm 24 holds the cargo receiving box h1. Then, the rotary table 20 is lowered, and then rotated so that the conveying direction of the roller conveyor 22 intersects the conveying direction of the cargo receiving conveyor 2. Then, the rotary table 20 rises, and when the roller conveyor 22 comes into contact with the bottom surface of the load receiving box h1, the holding arm 24 is retracted, and the rotary table 20 is rotated, so that the horizontally long load receiving box h1 is in the vertical position. Be changed. Then, the roller conveyor 22 is driven to send out the cargo receiving box h1 to the cargo receiving conveyor 2.

  At this time, if the roller conveyor 22 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is used, the attitude of the cargo receiving box k can be prevented from being shifted by rotating the roller conveyors 22a and 22b in the reverse direction when rotating the rotary table. Is.

  When the load receiving box h in a stacked state conveyed by the load receiving conveyor 2 is supplied to the step load conveyor 30, the step load conveyor 30 transfers the load receiving box h to a predetermined position and stops. At this time, the load receiving box h conveyed next by the load receiving conveyor 2 that is always driven is brought into a state in which the stopper 36 rises and waits for the supply to the step-variable conveyor 30.

  The stacked box for receiving goods h on the stopped stage conveyor 30 is clamped by either the first clamping arm 32 or the second clamping arm 33 in a stage one level higher than the lowest stage. In the case of the present embodiment, boxes of different sizes are used because they handle two different types of crops (strawberry and peach). As shown in FIG. 12, the box j having a large number of stages and the box k having a small number of stages are sandwiched. In the case of the box j, the two stages are separated, and the first clamping arm 32 at the lower position is lowered. Then, the side of the third-stage box j is sandwiched, and the upper-stage box j is lifted by the lifting operation of the elevating cylinder 34. Then, the lower two-stage box j is driven by the stage-breaking conveyor 30 and conveyed to the load receiving conveyor 2, and the stage-breaking conveyor 30 is stopped again, and the box j being lifted is lowered onto the stage-breaking conveyor 30. Then, the first clamping arm 32 is separated from the sandwiching box j, and at that time, the third stage box j is sandwiched from the bottom, and thereafter all the boxes j are sequentially transported in two stages to the load receiving conveyor. Is repeated. Then, when all the boxes j are conveyed to the load receiving conveyor 2, the stopper 36 is retracted and the next stage of the load receiving box h in the stacked state is conveyed to the stepped dispersal conveyor 30, and the same process is repeated.

  In the case of the box k, the second holding arm 33 located at a high position clamps and lifts the second box k from the bottom, and conveys the lowermost box k to the load receiving conveyor 2 by the stepped-barrier conveyor 30, and thereafter Similarly, it conveys to the load receiving conveyor 2 one step at a time from the bottom.

  The load receiving box h which has been stepped by one step or two steps by the step-balancing device 4 is conveyed to the fruit take-out section T by the load receiving conveyor 2, and the worker takes out the fruit in the load-receiving box h at the fruit take-out section T. Fruits are placed on a free tray (not shown) that flows on the sorting conveyor 5.

  The free tray on which the fruit is placed is transported by the sorting conveyor 5, the grade or class is determined by the midway determination device 6, and is supplied and transported to the determined equal class take-out conveyor 7. Therefore, the worker accommodates the fruit in the shipping box s with the boxing table 8 and places the shipping box s on the shipping conveyor 9.

  The shipping box s transported by the transport roller conveyor 9a of the shipping conveyor 9 is brought toward the left and right sides in the transport direction of the rotor conveyor by the oblique conveyor section 9b, and comes into contact with the guide guide 40. Then, the shipping box s guided in the linear direction along the guide guide 40 by the guide conveyor unit 9 c from the oblique conveyor unit 9 b waits by the stopper 49. When the previous shipping box s is pushed out by the push-out arm 47, the stopper 49 is lowered, and the shipping box s is held between the guide conveyor 42 and the rolling wheels 45 while being conveyed by the guide conveyor 42 and the guide roller conveyor 9c. The shipping boxes s are transported toward the transport end position of the shipping conveyor 9 while the postures of the shipping boxes s are regularly aligned. When the shipping box presence / absence detection sensor 46 detects the presence of the shipping box s, the pushing arm 47 pushes the shipping box s onto the shipping line conveyor 11. Note that a barcode reader 45 reads the information of a barcode (not shown) attached to the shipping box s at the conveyance end portion of the shipping conveyor 9.

  Printing is performed by the inkjet device 12 based on the information read by the barcode reader 45 at the conveyance start end of the shipping line conveyor 11. And it is conveyed by the shipment line conveyor 11 to the line of an appropriate shipping destination suitably.

The guide conveyor 42 can handle any of the shipping boxes s1, s2, and s3 having different left and right widths by making the rotation angle freely.
As a way of using the guide conveyor 40, the shipping box s is pushed out by the guide conveyor 42 with the stopper 49 raised, the attitude of the shipping box s is aligned, the guide conveyor 42 is retracted, and then the stopper 49 is lowered. And it is good also as a structure conveyed to a conveyance termination | terminus part by the guide roller conveyor 9c along the guide guide 40. FIG.

  Further, when the shipping box s is transported every two stages as shown in FIG. 19, it can be used to correct the deviation between the upper and lower boxes. For example, when the guide conveyor 40 is in contact with the upper box and the lower box so as to stand by the stopper 49, the guide conveyor 40 and the rolling wheel 45 convey to both the upper box and the lower box. It is possible to align the front and rear positions and the left and right positions of the upper box and the lower box. Alternatively, an upper sensor 50 and a lower sensor 51 for detecting that there are upper and lower boxes are provided, and when the upper sensor 50 detects the shipping box s, the stopper 49 rises and comes into contact with the upper box. It is good also as a structure which the guide conveyor 40 rotates, contacts the upper shipping box s, pushes out the upper box, and aligns the upper stage and the lower stage (from FIG. 19 (a) to (b)). .

Next, a configuration in which the stacked receiving boxes h are sent from the upper stage to the next process in the stage separation apparatus 4 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 18, the stacked receiving boxes h are stacked in the order of the loading port A, the loading port B, the loading port C, and the loading port D by a set number of steps (four in this embodiment).

Normally, the steps are arranged in the order of A1 to D3, but in the present embodiment, a configuration in which the last D3 box is taken out in the order of the A1 box will be described.
The step of taking out the boxes in order from the D3 box, that is, the step separation so that the uppermost box in the stack is the top will be described.

  In the explanation of the operation of the stage breaker 4 described above, the lowest box k first transported to the load receiving conveyor 2 among the boxes k (or boxes j) in the stacked state by the stage breaker conveyor 30 is placed at the frontmost standby position. The arm 35a lifts and waits. Next, the second box k from the bottom is waited by the second standby arm 35b and the third box k by the standby arm 35c, respectively, the uppermost box k is first passed, and then the standby arm 35c. , 35b, and 35a are sequentially lowered, and the step separation can be performed in the order of the uppermost box k at the top and the lowermost box k at the end.

  With the configuration of the stage separation device 4 and the standby arm 35 (35a to 35d) of the present embodiment, it is possible to select and perform the stage separation with the lowermost box first and the stage separation with the uppermost box first. Become.

  Although the selection facility has been described in the present embodiment, it is also widely used for an article transport facility that accommodates and ships an object in a box.

s shipping box sa (box) first side surface sb (box) second side surface 9a transport roller conveyor 9b oblique roller conveyor 9c guide roller conveyor 40 roller 42 guide conveyor 44 drive longitudinal axis 45 wheel

Claims (2)

  An oblique roller conveyor (9b) that brings the box (s) toward the left and right sides in the conveying direction of the roller conveyor is connected to the conveying roller conveyor (9a) that conveys the box (s), and the left and right sides of the oblique roller conveyor (9b) are connected to each other. The guide guide (40) which contacts and guides the first side surface (sa) which is one side surface of the box (s) brought by the oblique roller conveyor (9b) is provided on the side, and is opposed to the guide guide (40). On the side, a guide conveyor (42) that abuts the second side surface (sb), which is the other side surface of the first side surface (sa) of the box (s), and sends the box (s) in the transport direction is provided. 42) An apparatus for aligning the posture of a box, characterized in that the side abutting on the box (s) is configured to be rotatable about the drive longitudinal axis (44).   The guide conveyor (42) is provided with a rolling wheel (45) that contacts the first side surface (sa) of the box (s) opposite to the position where the guide conveyor (42) contacts the second side surface (sb) of the box (s). The box posture alignment apparatus according to claim 1.

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