JP2011011832A - Article transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article transfer device using a transfer means having a plurality of holding means for holding and transferring bottles from a first conveyor which carries the bottles stored in carriers in an aligned condition, to a second conveyor while resupplying bottles stocked in a stock part when the bottles fall off the first conveyor.SOLUTION: When using a detecting means 18 for detecting that the bottle 4 falls off the first conveyor 6, the article transfer device specifies the holding means holding the bottle 4 at the fall-off position, out of the plurality of holding means. After moving the transfer means 20 to the stock part 12 and using the specified holding means for holding the bottle 4, it uses the other holding means for holding the bottles 4 being stopped at a bottle take-out position T on the first conveyor 6. Then, the bottles 4 held by all holding means are inserted into a case 8 on the second conveyor 10.

Description

  In the present invention, articles conveyed in a state of being aligned by a conveyor are held by transfer means having a plurality of holding means, inserted into a case on another conveyor, or transferred to another conveyor as it is. The present invention relates to an article transfer device.

  Article transfer device used for transferring articles continuously conveyed by the supply conveyor to another conveyor, or holding a plurality of articles on the supply conveyor simultaneously by holding means and inserting them into the case. Various types have been conventionally known.

  In such an article transfer device, if there is a defect in the articles that have been continuously conveyed by the article supply conveyor, the articles may be missing on another conveyor on which the articles are transferred, or a gap may be formed in the case. Cause inconvenience. Therefore, conventionally, detection means for detecting missing articles is provided (for example, see Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3).

  Patent Document 1 describes an endless track conveyor device that intermittently circulates a plurality of transport housings that store pipe yarns at predetermined pitch intervals from the pipe yarn stacking unit to the pipe yarn stacking unit via the pipe yarn aligning unit. Has been. This endless track conveyor device is equipped with a detection mechanism that investigates whether or not the pipe yarn is loaded on the tube transport casing. When the tube thread is not loaded on the transport casing due to an accident, the detection mechanism detects this. It detects and stops the drive of a conveyor apparatus, and it is made to replenish a pipe yarn to a tubeless yarn conveyance box.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, after the kites are aligned on the kite conveyor, the kite conveyor is stopped, the grip head is lowered by the grip head lifting device, and then the kite is lifted by the grip head lifting device. A boxing machine is described in which, after lateral movement by a grip head moving device, the bag is lowered by a grip head lifting device to pack a basket into an empty box. This boxing machine is provided with a device for inspecting the absence of wrinkles. In this inspection device, when the grip head holding the heel is lowered and the heel is boxed in a box, the height of the grip head at the lowermost end of the drop is more than the position where the bottom of the heel hits the bottom of the box. It is set at a position lowered by millimeters, so that the gripper lacking the heel is hung as it is because it has failed to grasp the heel, and the absence of the heel is detected by blocking the light from the light source of the photoelectric sensor. In this boxing machine, when the control unit receives a signal indicating the absence of the container from the photoelectric sensor, the boxing machine is stopped or stored in the storage circuit, and the box without the bag is discharged to the box box conveyor in the subsequent process. It is like that.

  Patent Document 3 describes a device that detects a final shortage when a desired number is taken out from a cylindrical article that is stacked and aligned, and is moved and packaged. In this apparatus, when the conveying means conveys the cylindrical articles in an aligned state, the moving means adsorbs the cylindrical articles integrated and arranged on the conveying means by the adsorption block and moves them into the carton. This movement is repeated a predetermined number of times, so that one package is boxed. The moving means is provided with the same number of sensing pins as the plurality of suction blocks. When even one cylindrical article held on the suction block is insufficient, the sensing pin shields the light between the light projector and the light receiver, and senses that the number of cylindrical articles is insufficient. When the light receiver senses that the number is insufficient, the control means stores the signal, and when the packaging for one package is completed, the package is removed.

Japanese Patent Publication No.49-34062 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-205940 Japanese Patent No. 2719392

  In the invention of Patent Document 1, when the detection mechanism detects that the tube yarn held in the transport casing of the endless track conveyor device is missing, the drive of the conveyor device is stopped and the tube yarn is manually operated. To replenish. Thus, in the configuration in which the conveyor device is stopped and replenished manually, there is a problem that replenishment work takes time and efficiency is poor.

  In addition, in the invention described in Patent Document 2, when any of the baskets held by the plurality of grippers is missing, the boxing machine is stopped by the signal from the photoelectric sensor for detecting this, or the box packing is performed. Later, he tries to discharge the box that lacks the bag. In this way, stopping the device during operation, or discharging a box with missing items after packing has had the problem that the efficiency of work is poor,

  In the invention described in Patent Document 3, when the cylindrical article is held by the suction block and the lack of the number of cylindrical articles is detected, the control means stores the signal and the package at the end of packing Is trying to eliminate. The invention of the cited document 3 also has a problem that production efficiency is poor because it is eliminated after packing.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. When an article is missing on the first conveyor, the article is missing without being stopped and transferred to the second conveyor. An object of the present invention is to provide an article transfer device that can perform an efficient transfer operation by replenishing articles.

  The present invention includes a first conveyor that conveys articles in an aligned state, a second conveyor that conveys articles transferred from the first conveyor, and a plurality of holding means. In an article transfer apparatus comprising transfer means for transferring an article to a conveyor, and a control means for controlling the operation of the transfer means, detection means for detecting a lack of an article conveyed by the first conveyor; When the article conveyed by the first conveyor is missing, the identification means for identifying the holding means corresponding to the missing article among the plurality of holding means, and the stock unit for stocking the replenishment article are provided. In addition, the holding means corresponding to the missing portion is specified, the articles in the stock section are held by the specified holding means, and the articles on the first conveyor are held by the other holding means. The one in which the features.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the first conveyor conveys a carrier containing articles.

  Further, according to a third aspect of the invention, the first conveyor includes a screw that engages with the carrier to be conveyed, and the specifying unit is a holding unit that corresponds to the missing article from the detection result of the detection unit and the number of rotations of the screw. It is characterized by specifying.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the second conveyor is a case conveyor for conveying a case for accommodating an article, and the article is accommodated in the case by a transfer means and conveyed. .

  When the article conveyed in the aligned state by the first conveyor is taken out by the transfer means having a plurality of holding means and transferred onto the second conveyor, the article on the first conveyor is missing. When this is detected, the article is replenished from the stock section by the holding means, so that the transfer operation can be performed efficiently without stopping the conveyor or the like.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of the article transfer device. Example 1 FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the transfer means provided in the article transfer device.

  An apparatus for holding articles by a transfer means having a plurality of holding means and transferring them to the second conveyor from the first conveyor for transferring the articles in an aligned state, and is continuously transferred on the first conveyor. A detecting means for detecting the absence when the article is missing, and a holding means corresponding to the missing article among the plurality of holding means, that is, if the article is not missing, the article should be held. A holding means specified by the specifying means when the article on the first conveyor is missing, provided with a specifying means for specifying the holding means and a stock section for stocking articles for replenishing the missing articles Therefore, it is possible to hold the articles in the stock section and to hold the articles on the first conveyor by holding means other than the specified holding means. , There is no need to exclude the case after filling the article, to achieve the purpose of performing an efficient transfer operation.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. This article transfer device is arranged in parallel with the first conveyor (article supply conveyor 6) that continuously conveys the articles 4 accommodated one by one in the carrier 2 in a row, and the article supply conveyor 6. Replenishment when the second conveyor (case conveyor 10) that transports the case 8 into which the removed article 4 is inserted and when the article 4 on the article supply conveyor 6 is missing (when the empty carrier 2 is transported). A stock section 12 that stocks the articles 4 to be stocked, and an industrial robot 14 that takes the articles 4 from the article supply conveyor 6 and inserts them into the case 8 on the case conveyor 10. Note that transfer means having a plurality of holding means is attached to the robot 14, and the configuration of the transfer means will be described later.

  The article supply conveyor 6 accommodates articles (in this embodiment, flat containers 4) one by one in one carrier 2, and continuously from the direction of arrow A in FIG. Transport to. On the article supply conveyor 6, a screw 16 is provided in parallel with the article supply conveyor 6 on the side of the take-out position T (the side opposite to the side where the robot 14 is installed) where the container 14 is taken out by the robot 14. Is arranged. The screws 16 are rotated intermittently, and are engaged with the carrier 2 and rotated to feed forward one by one, and after a predetermined number of feeds, temporarily stop. In this embodiment, the robot 14 holds eight containers 4 at a time and inserts them into the case 8 on the case conveyor 10, and the screw 16 rotates eight times so that eight containers are provided. 4 is sent to the take-out position T and then paused. While the screw 16 is stopped, the robot 14 holds the container 4. When the containers 4 are taken out from the eight carriers 2, the screw 16 is rotated again, and the empty carrier 2 from which the containers 4 have been taken out is sent out from the container take-out position T, and the next eight carriers 4 containing the containers 4 are taken out. Feed to container take-out position T.

  Immediately before the container take-out position T of the article supply conveyor 6 (when the eight carriers 2 are stopped at the container take-out position T by the screw 16, the next carrier 2 (the carrier indicated by reference numeral 2A in FIG. 1) is stopped. Detection means (sensor) 18 for detecting the presence or absence of the container 4 in the carrier 2 is provided. In this embodiment, a light projecting / receiving sensor is used as the detecting means 18. When the container 4 is held in the carrier 2, the light from the light projector 18 a is blocked by the container 4, and the container 4 is in the carrier 2. When it is missing, the presence or absence of the container 4 can be detected by the light receiver 18b receiving the light from the projector 18a.

  The case conveyor 10 intermittently conveys the empty case 8 from the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1 and stops it at the container insertion position P (position adjacent to the container take-out position T of the article supply conveyor 6). In this embodiment, eight containers 4 are inserted into the case 8 in three rows, and when the three insertion operations by the robot 14 are completed, the case 14 moves forward by one pitch, and the next empty The case 8 is sent to the container insertion position P.

  A stock section 12 is provided in front of the article supply conveyor 6 when viewed from the robot 14 side, that is, between the article supply conveyor 6 and the robot 14 in parallel with the article supply conveyor 6. In this embodiment, eight carriers 2 can be arranged in a line. The carrier 2 of the stock unit 12 is also arranged in a state of contacting each other in the same direction as the carrier 4 on the article supply conveyor 6 (the containers 4 to be accommodated are in the same direction). Note that the number of carriers 2 in the container 4 stocked in the stock unit 12 is not limited to eight and can be set as appropriate.

  The industrial robot 14 is provided with transfer means 20 for taking out the container 4 from the carrier 2 stopped at the article take-out position T of the article supply conveyor 6 and inserting it into the case 8 on the case conveyor 10. The transfer means 20 includes eight holding means (grippers 24) attached to the head 22 in a line at equal intervals (see FIG. 2). Each gripper 24 includes a pair of grip members 24 a and 24 b that open and close, and each gripper 24 can open and close independently to grip the container 4. The eight grippers 24 attached to the head 22 can be expanded or contracted. When opened, the distance between the grippers 24 is equal to the distance between the containers 4 accommodated in the carrier 2. When the interval is shortened (the state shown in FIG. 2), the containers 4 held by the grippers 24 come into contact with each other and can be inserted into the case 8.

  The operation of the transfer means 20 having the eight grippers 24 is controlled by the control means 26. When the detection means 18 detects that the container 4 that should be accommodated in the carrier 2 is missing, this signal is input to the control means 26, and the specifying means 28 provided in the control means 26 It is specified which of the eight grippers 24 is missing the container 4 corresponding to the gripper 24. As will be described later, the control unit 26 controls the operation of the transfer unit 20 in accordance with the determination of the specifying unit 28.

  The operation of the container transfer device according to the above configuration will be described. Before starting the operation of the container transfer device, eight empty carriers 2 are set in the stock unit 12 manually. The carrier 2 of the stock unit 12 is set in the same direction as the carrier 2 containing the container 4 conveyed by the article supply conveyor 6, that is, the container 4 accommodated in the carrier 2 faces the same direction.

  The operation of the article supply conveyor 6 and the case conveyor 10 is started from this state. Carriers 2 each containing one container 4 are continuously conveyed from the direction of arrow A in a state where they are in contact with each other by article supply conveyor 6. Each container 4 is accommodated in the carrier 2 and faces in the same direction. Detection means 18 for detecting the presence or absence of the container 4 is provided immediately before the container take-out position T, and detects whether or not the container 4 is accommodated in the carrier 2. After passing through the position of the detection means 18, each carrier 2 engages with the groove of the screw 16 and advances as the screw 16 rotates. The screw 16 advances one carrier 2 by one pitch by one rotation and rotates eight times to feed the eight carriers 4 into the container takeout position T and stop. The control means 26 monitors the operation of the screw 16, and the eight rotations of the screw 16 are defined as one cycle, and the number of cycles is counted for each rotation from the start of rotation. When eight counts are made by eight rotations, one cycle is completed and the screw 16 stops. When the eight containers 4 containing the carrier 2 stop at the container take-out position T, the robot 14 operates to move the head 22 of the mounting means 20 to above the container take-out position T. The head 22 in which the eight grippers 24 are arranged in a row is lowered toward the eight containers 4 arranged in the container take-out position T on the article supply conveyor 6 so as to correspond to the positions of the containers 4. The grip members 24 a and 24 b of the gripper 24 are closed to hold the container 4 accommodated in the carrier 2.

  At the start of operation, the container 4 initially held by the eight grippers 24 of the transfer means 20 is moved to the stock section 12 where eight empty carriers 2 are arranged and inserted into the carrier 2. To do. As will be described later, the containers 4 of the stock unit 12 are consumed in order when the containers 4 conveyed on the article supply conveyor 6 are missing, so when all the containers 4 are taken out, At that time, the eight containers 4 are replenished into the carrier 2 of the stock section 12 again. In this embodiment, the containers 4 stocked in the stock section 12 are supplied from the article supply conveyor 6. However, it is not always necessary to supply the containers 4 from the article supply conveyor 6. For example, other methods such as manual supply are used. You may make it supply with.

  Since the container 4 conveyed by the article supply conveyor 6 and first accommodated in the carrier 2 stopped at the article take-out position T is supplied to the stock unit 12, from the next container 4 by the transfer means 20, It is inserted into the case 8 on the case conveyor 10. Similarly to the above, after the eight containers 4 stopped at the container take-out position T are held by the eight grippers 24 of the transfer means 20, the robot 14 raises the head 22 to take out the containers 4 from the carrier 2. After that, the interval between the grippers 24 is reduced to bring the eight containers 4 close to or in contact with each other, and then inserted into the case 8 stopped at the boxing position P on the case conveyor 10. This operation is repeated three times, and after three rows of eight containers 4 are stored in the case 8, the case conveyor 10 is driven to move the case 8 by one pitch, and the next empty case 8 is moved to the boxing position P. Stop.

  As described above, the presence or absence of the container 4 introduced into the container removal position T is confirmed by the detection means 18 immediately before the position where the container 4 is engaged with the screw 16. When the missing of the container 4 is detected during rotation, the count number of the missing container 4 is stored in the control means 26. The number of counts due to the rotation of the screw 16 corresponds to each of the eight grippers 24 attached to the head 22, and the grippers 24 corresponding to the carrier 2 in which the container 4 is missing from the stored count number, That is, the gripper 24 without the container 4 to be held is specified by the specifying means 28. For example, when the container 4 of the sixth carrier 2 (the carrier indicated by reference numeral 2B in FIG. 1) from the top of the container takeout position T is missing, among the eight grippers 24 attached to the head 22, The sixth gripper 24 from the downstream side of the article supply conveyor 6 is identified as the gripper 24 corresponding to the carrier 2 (2B) from which the container 4 is missing (see the gripper indicated by reference numeral 24A in FIG. 2). The gripper 24A is moved and gripped above the container 4 located on the most end side (the end on the downstream side of the container supply conveyor 6) of the container 4 stocked in the stock unit 12 (see FIG. 2). State shown).

  After the container 4 is gripped by the specified gripper 24 (24A), the head 22 is moved above the container take-out position T of the article supply conveyor 6 and is moved into the eight carriers 2 stopped at this position T. The container 4 accommodated is held. When the head 22 is lowered at this time, only the sixth gripper 24 (24A) already holds the container 4, but the carrier 2 (2B) corresponding to the gripper 24 (24A) is empty, and the head 22 Is lowered, the container 4 held by the sixth gripper 24 (24A) is inserted into the sixth carrier 2 (2B) at the container take-out position T, and the other grippers 24 move the corresponding containers 4 respectively. Hold. When the container 4 is missing from the carrier 2 introduced into the container take-out position T in this way, the gripper 24 that should hold the missing container 4 is identified. First, the identified gripper 24 grips the container 4 from the stock portion 12, and then the remaining gripper 24 grips and removes the container 4 from the carrier 2 at the container removal position T, so it is very easy to replenish the missing container 4. It is. In the above description, the containers 4 stocked in the stock section 12 are held in order from the end, but the position and order of the containers 4 to be taken out can be set as appropriate.

  In the said Example, although the container 4 is conveyed by the fixed space | interval by putting the container 4 in the carrier 2, it is not restricted to what is carried in the carrier 2, for example, a bucket conveyor and the conveyance surface of a conveyor It is possible to apply the present invention as long as the article is conveyed at regular intervals, for example, by engaging with engagement members provided at regular intervals. Moreover, in the said Example, since the container 4 inserted in the carrier 2 is conveyed by the article supply conveyor 6, the container 4 was inserted in the same carrier 2 also in the stock part 12, and it was made to wait. Then, it is not always necessary to insert it into the carrier 2, and it is possible to provide an interval regulating means capable of regulating the interval of articles to be stocked in accordance with the article conveying interval in the article supply conveyor (first conveyor). Furthermore, in the said Example, although the container 4 taken out from the article supply conveyor 6 was inserted in the case 8 of the case conveyor 10, it is not necessarily restricted to inserting in the case 8, and it is not limited to an article by some method. It is also applicable to those that are transferred onto a second conveyor that transports the paper with a constant interval.

  In the embodiment, the container 4 of the stock unit 12 is first held by the gripper 24 (24A) specified by the specifying means 28 among the eight grippers 24 of the transfer means 20, and then the other grippers are used. 24, the containers 4 on the article supply conveyor 6 are held. However, depending on the arrangement of the articles 4 in the stock section 12, the articles 4 on the first conveyor 6 may be held first, and then the stock section 12 It is also possible to hold the article 4. For example, when the articles 4 are supplied to the stock unit 12 one by one, the articles 4 on the first conveyor 6 are held first, and then the articles 4 are put on the specified gripper (holding means) 24. It is also possible to hold it.

4 Goods (containers)
6 First conveyor (article supply conveyor)
10 Second conveyor (case conveyor)
12 Stock unit 18 Detection means 20 Transfer means 24 Holding means (gripper)
26 Control means 28 Identification means

Claims (4)

A first conveyor that conveys articles in an aligned state, a second conveyor that conveys articles transferred from the first conveyor, and a plurality of holding means, the articles from the first conveyor to the second conveyor In an article transfer device comprising transfer means for transferring and control means for controlling the operation of the transfer means,
Detecting means for detecting a missing piece conveyed by the first conveyor; a specifying means for identifying a holding means corresponding to the missing article among the plurality of holding means; and a stock unit for stocking a supply article Provided,
When an article conveyed by the first conveyor is missing, the holding means corresponding to the missing part is specified, the article in the stock part is held by the specified holding means, and the first holding means is used by the other holding means. An article transfer device for holding an article on a conveyor.   The said 1st conveyor conveys the carrier which accommodated the articles | goods, The article transfer apparatus of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The first conveyor includes a screw that engages with a carrier to be conveyed, and the specifying unit specifies a holding unit corresponding to the missing article from a detection result of the detection unit and the number of rotations of the screw. The article transfer apparatus according to claim 2.   The said 2nd conveyor is a case conveyor which conveys the case which accommodates articles | goods, and articles | goods are accommodated in a case by a transfer means, and are conveyed. The article transfer apparatus according to the description.

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