JP2012035958A - Stock apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a stock apparatus which temporarily stocks successively charged boxes of a plurality of varieties, the stock apparatus enabling equipment cost and an installation floor area to be suppressed and being flexibly adaptable to change in the varieties of the boxes and an increase or decrease in the number of the varieties of boxes to thereby enhance the efficiency of operation.SOLUTION: The stock apparatus 1 includes: a conveyer 2 which moves and stocks the boxes W; an opening and closing stoppers 31 to 33 which are arranged along the conveyer 2; a stopping stopper 30 disposed on the downstream side of the conveyer 2; box detection sensors 40 to 43 for detecting the presence or absence of the boxes W on positions of the respective stoppers; a variety information gaining sensor 5 for gaining the variety information of the boxes W charged to the conveyor 2; and a control part 6 for controlling the movement of the respective parts. When the control part 6 determines that there is change in the varieties with respect to the newly charged boxes W based on the variety information, the control part 6 turns the opening and closing stoppers 31 to 33 of the most downstream position where the boxes W are not detected by the box detection sensors 40 to 43 into the closed state to divide the boxes W before and after the change of the varieties of boxes from each other, and stocks the divided boxes.

Description

  The present invention relates to a stock apparatus for stocking a plurality of types of boxes that are sequentially inserted.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, boxes that are successively carried in by a roller conveyor, a belt conveyor, or the like are gripped by, for example, a hand attached to a robot or the like at the end of the conveyor and transferred to a pallet for conveyance. There are a plurality of types of boxes to be handled, and when transferring to a pallet separately for each type, it is necessary to cut out a box for each type from the row of boxes. In order to perform such cut-out, there is known an assortment device that uses a plurality of branch lanes as a buffer space for sorting and stocking articles (boxes) (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The above assortment apparatus is provided with a plurality of branch lanes on one side or both sides of the supply conveyor, the articles flow from the upstream side of the supply conveyor, and the same shipment destination articles supplied from the supply conveyor are allocated to the shipment destination. Transfer to stock and stock. When a predetermined number of articles stored in the branch lane are stored in a predetermined number forming one unit, they are paid out to the carry-out conveyor, and one unit of the predetermined number of articles shipped from the same ship-out is downstream of the carry-out conveyor. Assorted. The branch lane is allocated for each shipping destination, and serves as a buffer space for stocking articles for each shipping destination.

JP 2004-250137 A

  However, in the apparatus using the branch lane as described above as the buffer space for stock, the number of branch lanes corresponding to the shipping destination of the goods to be stocked at the same time is required, so that the equipment cost and the installation floor area are increased. There's a problem. Further, even when the number of articles constituting one unit is small and there is a space in one branch lane, there is a problem that the space cannot be used effectively and the operation efficiency is poor.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and with a simple configuration, it is possible to suppress equipment costs and installation floor area and flexibly cope with change of product types and increase / decrease in the number of product types, thereby realizing high operating efficiency. An object is to provide a stock device.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the stock device of the present invention is a stock device that temporarily stocks a plurality of types of boxes that are sequentially inserted. A conveyor that is disposed along the conveyor, is opened and closed to stop the box in the closed state, and is opened and closed to pass the box downstream, and a stop stopper that stops the box downstream of the conveyor, A box detection sensor for detecting whether or not a box is present at the position of the opening / closing stopper and the stop stopper, a type information acquisition sensor for acquiring type information of a box put into the conveyor, and a control for controlling the operation of the conveyor and the opening / closing stopper The control unit determines that there is a product type change based on the product type information from the product type information acquisition sensor for the newly input box. Box by detection sensor is characterized by a state of the rotation stoppers stocked classified with each other a box around Product switching by closed positions that have not been detected.

  In this stock apparatus, when the control unit determines that there is no product switching, it is preferable that all the opening / closing stoppers upstream of the opening / closing stoppers in the closed state are opened.

  In this stock apparatus, when the box is not detected at the stop stopper position by the box detection sensor, the control unit sequentially opens and closes the opening and closing stoppers from the downstream side, and sequentially opens the stocked boxes. It is preferable to move to a stop stopper.

  In this stock apparatus, the control unit sets addresses in the open / close stopper and the stop stopper, and sequentially updates and records the information on the type of the stopped box or the information on the no-stopped box for each address. It is preferable to provide a table and to control the opening / closing of the opening / closing stopper based on the reference table.

  The stock apparatus includes a plurality of sets of a conveyor, an opening / closing stopper, a stop stopper, and a box detection sensor, and further includes an input unit that inputs a box into each conveyor, and the control unit receives product information from the product information acquisition sensor. It is preferable to select one of the conveyors based on the above, and to control the input unit to input the boxes to the selected conveyor.

  According to the stock device of the present invention, since the box is stocked in a state where it is easily cut out for each product type on a conveyor equipped with an open / close stopper and a box detection sensor, the product type can be switched with a device that suppresses the equipment cost and installation floor area. It can flexibly respond to changes in the number of products and the number of products, and can realize high operating efficiency.

(A) is a top view about the stock apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is a side view of the apparatus. (A) is a perspective view of the opening-and-closing stopper used in the apparatus, (b) is a perspective view which shows the modification of the opening-and-closing stopper. (A)-(f) is a top view which shows the operation example of the apparatus in time series. (A)-(f) is a top view which shows the other operation example of the apparatus in time series. The top view explaining the mode of address allocation in the same apparatus. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing association data between product types and box numbers handled by the apparatus, and FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of a reference table in which correspondence between stopper addresses and stocked product types is recorded. The top view which shows the modification of the apparatus. (A) (b) (c) is a diagram showing an example of a reference table that records the correspondence between the stopper address and the stocked box type for each conveyor of the same modification.

  Hereinafter, a stock apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the stock apparatus 1 includes a conveyor 2 for temporarily placing boxes W, various stoppers 3 (30, 31 to 33) for stopping the boxes W, and a box detection sensor 4 ( 40 to 43), a product type information acquisition sensor 5, and a control unit 6. The stock apparatus 1 operates in response to a box W that is input from the outside, and the input is performed by, for example, the input unit 7. The conveyor 2 moves the input boxes W and temporarily stores the stopped boxes W for each product type and stocks them (A and B indicate product types). The conveyor 2 is, for example, a roller-type conveyor that is disposed at an inclination without a driving device. The box W moves on the conveyor 2 from the upstream side by gravity toward the stop stopper 30 on the downstream side. The conveyor 2 constitutes a buffer space for stocking a plurality of types of boxes W to be supplied to the next process. The stop stopper 30 is a fixed stopper that stops the box W at the most downstream side of the conveyor 2. The opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 are arranged along the conveyor 2 and are opened and closed so as to stop the box W in the closed state and allow the box W to pass downstream in the opened state. The open / close stoppers 31 to 33 according to the present embodiment are arranged on both sides of the conveyor, and stop and hold the boxes W on the conveyor at both ends thereof.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 include a driving portion 3a, a shaft portion 3b reciprocally rotated by about 90 degrees by the driving portion 3a, and a door portion 3c fixed to the shaft portion 3b. Is configured as a rotary (rotary) stopper, and the opening / closing operation is controlled by the control unit 6. The drive unit 3a can use an air cylinder or a motor as a drive source. The opening / closing stopper shown in FIG. 2 (b) is configured as a vertically moving (direct acting) stopper in which the shaft portion 3b and the door portion 3c are moved up and down by the driving portion 3a. This vertically movable opening / closing stopper allows the box W to pass therethrough when the door 3c is lowered, so that the door 3c is disposed in the lower part of the roller conveyor, for example, the gap between the rollers. Can be moved up and down. In this case, it can be set as the structure which arrange | positions only one in the center of a conveyor instead of arrange | positioning a total of two one each on the both sides of a conveyor. However, since the vertically movable opening / closing stopper has a longer contact state with the box W during the opening operation than the rotating opening / closing stopper, it is necessary to consider the influence on the surface state of the box W. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the box detection sensor 4 detects the presence / absence of the stopped box W at the position of the stopper 3 by detecting the bottom surface of the box W from below, for example. The box detection sensor 4 may be an optical sensor that detects the presence or absence of an object based on the presence or absence of reflected light, another proximity sensor, or the like.

  The loading unit 7 is a device for loading the boxes W into the conveyor 2. The conveyor 71 that transports the boxes W, the drive unit 72 that drives the conveyor 71, and the boxes W on the conveyor 71 are transferred to the conveyor 2. And a pusher 73 for detecting the position of the box W. The conveyor 71 is arranged such that its conveyance direction is perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyor 2. Furthermore, the upper surface (conveyance surface) of the conveyor 71 is set higher than the upper surface on the upstream side of the conveyor 2 for easy transfer. The conveyor 71 can be appropriately selected from any conveyor such as a belt conveyor, a chain conveyor, and a roller conveyor. The drive unit 72 is, for example, a motor drive unit, and includes an encoder for recognizing the number of rotations thereof, and thus the position of the box W that moves together with the conveyor 71. The pusher 73 includes an extruding mechanism using an air cylinder or the like, and is provided in an arrangement in which the pushing mechanism pushes the box W on the conveyor 71 toward the conveyor 2 from the side of the box W. The sensor 74 is a sensor that detects, for example, the front position, the rear end position, or both positions of the box in order to determine the absolute position of the box W on the conveyor 71. An optical interrupter having a light projecting unit and a light receiving unit can be used. The product type information acquisition sensor 5 acquires product type information of the box W to be put into the stock apparatus 1. The product type information is attached to the box W by attaching or printing a barcode, a two-dimensional barcode or the like at a fixed position on the surface of the box W. Therefore, the product type information acquisition sensor 5 is a barcode reader. The product type information of the box W can be attached to the box W by an RFID tag or the like. In this case, the product type information acquisition sensor 5 is an RFID reader. The product type information includes information that makes it possible to determine at least whether the product type of the box W is different, and thus whether or not the product type has been switched.

  The control unit 6 controls the operation of each unit of the stock apparatus 1. The control unit 6 acquires detection result information from each sensor 4 or sensor 74, acquires the product type information of the box W from the product type information acquisition sensor 5, and acquires information on the transport distance by the conveyor 71 from the encoder of the drive unit 72. To do. The control unit 6 controls the conveying operation of the conveyor 71, the opening / closing operations of the opening / closing stoppers 31 to 34, the pushing operation by the pusher 73, and the like based on the acquired information. The control unit 6 closes the open / close stoppers 31 to 34 in the conveyor 2 so that the different types of boxes W are not stocked in contact with each other, thereby setting the closed stoppers between the different types of boxes W. Intervene. In the example of FIG. 1, the two boxes W of the type A are stopped and stocked by the stop stopper 30, and the third box W is the type B, so the opening / closing stopper 31 is closed. In addition, the white arrow in a figure shows that the box W is moving. The box W of the product type B is stopped by the opening / closing stopper 31, separated from the box W of the product type A downstream and stocked on the conveyor 2. That is, each of the open / close stoppers 31 to 33 is a movable partition that partitions different types of boxes W (if different, the different types of boxes W may be in contact with each other).

  Next, the basic operation of the stock apparatus 1 will be described. When the packed box W is conveyed from the previous process to the input unit 7, the product information is acquired by the product information acquisition sensor 5. For each box W put into the stock apparatus 1, the control unit 6 compares the kind information with the kind information stored and stored last time, so that the kind has been switched for the newly loaded box W. Whether or not switching is performed is determined. When the control unit 6 determines that the product type is switched in the determination, the control unit 6 closes the stopper 3 on the most downstream side, which is determined not to stop and hold the box W based on the detection result of the box detection sensor 4. Stop and hold W. In FIG. 1, the third moving box W is the type B, the type switching is performed, and the opening / closing stopper 31 is closed. Further, when it is determined that there is no product switching, the control unit 6 opens all the stoppers 3 on the upstream side of the stopper 3 on the most upstream side in the closed state. In FIG. 1, it is determined that the fourth box W is the type B and the type is the same as the third box W, and there is no type switching, and the upstream opening / closing stoppers 32 and 33 are all open. Has been. For this process, the opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 may be set to “normally open”.

  After setting the open / close state of the stopper 3, the control unit 6 operates the conveyor 71 based on information from the encoder and sensor 74 of the drive unit 72 to convey the box W to the front position of the conveyor 2. Stop. After the box W stops, the control unit 6 operates the pusher 73 to push the box W from the conveyor 71 toward the conveyor 2 in a side slip and transfer the box W. The third box W from the downstream in FIG. 1 is in a state of being moved by gravity after being pushed onto the conveyor 2 in this way. The fourth box W is in a state of being moved on the conveyor 71 after the type information is acquired by the type information acquisition sensor 5 and the leading position of the box W is read by the sensor 74. The stop position of the fourth box W is a position where the center position in the longitudinal direction is aligned with the center line of the conveyor 2. The center position of the box W can be obtained from the head position and the rear end position of the box W acquired by the sensor 74, or can be obtained from the head position and the length information of the box W included in the product information.

  The boxes W stocked on the conveyor 2 of the stock apparatus 1 are stocked with different varieties separated by the open / close stoppers 31 to 33, and the rows of boxes W sequentially inserted into the stock apparatus 1 are separated for each kind. It is in a state of being easily cut out into sections. The boxes W stocked on the conveyor 2 are discharged to the next process in order from the boxes W held by the stop stopper 30 on the most downstream side. This is because, for example, a notification or electrical signal indicating that the box W has been detected is output from the box detection sensor 40, and based on the output, an operator takes out the box W, or an automatic machine such as a palletizer takes out the box W. It is done by doing. When the box W held by the stop stopper 30 is exhausted, the upstream opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 are sequentially opened and closed and sequentially forwarded to another stock stocked in a state where the different types of boxes W are not in contact with each other. It becomes a state.

(Operation example of stock equipment)
An example of stock operation in the conveyor 2 will be described with reference to FIG. When the type of the box W is switched, the control unit 6 closes the most downstream stopper 3 where the box W is not detected by the box detection sensor 4 (40 to 43), and stops the box W at that position. Thus, the different types of boxes W are not mixed, that is, the different types of boxes W are not stocked in contact. As shown in FIG. 3 (a), a box W of the type B exists at the tip of the conveyor 2, and the box W that is loaded next is set as the type D as shown in FIGS. 3 (b) and 3 (c). If there is, the control unit 6 closes the open / close stopper 31 based on the detection results of all the box detection sensors 4 of the conveyor 2. The opening / closing stopper 31 is the most downstream stopper that does not detect the box W when there is a type change. When different types of boxes W are partitioned and stocked, not the most downstream stopper that has not detected the box W, but an upstream stopper, for example, an opening / closing stopper 32 may be closed. It is not preferable for the efficient use of the device 1. This is because it is desirable to stock the boxes W packed in the downstream as much as possible in order to cope with the case where the varieties are frequently switched and input. When there is no product type switching, such as the two boxes W of the product type D shown in FIGS. 3D, 3E and 3F, the most upstream movable stopper with the boxes W in the conveyor 2 is in the closed state. However, all the upstream stoppers remain open. The box W of the same kind D comes into contact with the box W of the kind D that has been put in and stocked one time before and is stopped and stocked.

(Other operation examples of stock equipment)
With reference to FIG. 4, an example of carrying out the box W from the stock apparatus 1 and the subsequent operation will be described. Here, regarding the boxes W stocked on the conveyor 2 of the stock apparatus 1, the entire boxes W stocked in contact with each other will be referred to as groups. And are separated from each other by the stopper 3. In the state shown in FIG. 4A, there are groups of varieties B, D, and E from the downstream side. In FIG. 4 (b), the box W of the type B of the first group is unloaded and no box is stopped by the stop stopper 30, which is grasped by the control unit 6 via the box detection sensor 40. The In the state where the box detection sensor 40 does not detect the box W, the box W is not carried out from the stock apparatus 1. If the control part 6 grasps | ascertains that the box detection sensor 40 is not detecting the box W, as shown in FIG.4 (c), as shown in FIG.4 (d), the opening-and-closing stopper 31 will be in an open state. All the boxes W of the group of the product type D are moved downstream. The control unit 6 grasps that the movement of all the boxes W in one group is completed by the fact that the box detection sensor 41 has not detected the box W. After all the boxes W of the group of type D have been moved downstream, the controller 6 closes the open / close stopper 31 and then opens the upstream open / close stopper 32 as shown in FIG. 4 (e). The box W of the type E on the upstream side can be moved. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4 (f), the box W of the product type E is stopped and stocked by the opening / closing stopper 31. As shown in FIG. 4D, the type W box W stopped by the stop stopper 30 can be carried out when the box W is detected by the box detection sensor 40. In this way, when the box is no longer detected by the box detection sensor 40 at the position of the stop stopper 30, the control unit 6 of the stock apparatus 1 sequentially opens and closes the opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 from the downstream side, and the box W Are sequentially moved to the downstream stop stopper 30 or the open / close stoppers 31 to 33 for each group.

  As described above, according to the stock apparatus 1, when a plurality of types of boxes W are stocked, the stock is managed and stocked for each group of products, so that the product switching can be easily and reliably cut and stocked. That is, according to the stock apparatus 1, it is not necessary to manage and stock each individual box W. Accordingly, it is complicated and difficult to ensure consistency between the management data in the method of allocating product data to each box W, managing and stocking each box W, and the information of the boxes actually stocked. Work can be avoided. For example, when the box W is extracted due to defective packing or the like, manual work for reflecting this in the management data occurs, but this can be avoided.

  In the stock apparatus 1 described above, the input unit 7 that inputs the box W into the stock apparatus 1 can be in various forms, for example, input manually or by a robot. The stock apparatus 1 only needs to be able to acquire at least the type information of the box W to be loaded into the stock apparatus 1 by the type information acquisition sensor 5 when the box W is loaded. Moreover, the arrangement | positioning space | interval and the number of arrangement | positioning of an opening-and-closing stopper are not restricted to four places of equal intervals as shown in FIG.

  Next, management for each type of box W will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, addresses 1 to 4 are assigned to areas a <b> 1 to a <b> 4 set on the upstream side of the stop stopper 30 and the opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 in the conveyor 2. In other words, it can be said that addresses 1 to 4 are assigned to the stop stopper 30 and the opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33, and further, addresses 1 to 4 are assigned to the box detection sensors 40 to 43. Further, as shown in FIG. 6A, a product number correspondence table TB0 for assigning product numbers 1, 2,... To each type A, B,. Using these addresses 1 to 4 and the part number correspondence table TB0, a reference table TBL expressing the stock status of the boxes W on the conveyor 2 can be created. For example, the reference table TBL shown in FIG. 6B represents the stock status of the boxes W in the conveyor 2 shown in FIG. That is, since the box D of the product type D is stocked in the area a1, the set of address and product number is (address, product number) = (1, 4). Similarly, in the areas a2, a3, and a4, 2,5) (3,5) (4,6). The reference table TBL associates addresses and product numbers, that is, associates which type of box W is detected by the box detection sensors 40 to 43 to which the addresses are set, and is stocked in each of the areas a1 to a4. The type of the box W is a management target, but the number is not a management target. Note that the product number 0 is associated with the address where the box W is not detected. For example, when the box W is not detected at the address n, (n, 0). The control unit 6 sequentially updates the reference table TBL with respect to the type information (part number 1, 2,...) Of the box W stopped for each address or the information about the no box stopped (part number 0). The opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33 are controlled to open and close based on the reference table TBL.

(Variation of stock equipment)
7 and 8 show a modification of the stock apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 7, the modified example of the stock apparatus 1 includes a loading unit 7 as a constituent element, and also includes three stock units 11, 12, and 13 including a conveyor 2 and devices attached thereto. Are provided in parallel with each other along the conveyor 71. Each stock unit 11, 12, and 13 includes a set of a stop stopper 30, opening / closing stoppers 31 to 33, box detection sensors 40 to 43, and a pusher 73. Further, the conveyor 71 of the loading unit 7 has a conveyance length that allows the box W to be loaded into any of the stock units 11, 12, and 13. Further, the control unit 6 knows distances L1, L2, and L3 from the sensor 74 that detects the position of the box W to each pusher 73, and the distance X that is half the length of each box W and the distances L1 to L3. Based on the above, the drive unit 72 is controlled, and the box W is transported to the stock units 11, 12, and 13 and loaded. In FIG. 7, the stock section 11 is stocked with two types A of boxes W, and the third type A of boxes W is loaded. In addition, in the stock units 12 and 13, one box W of varieties B and C is stocked one by one. Note that the input unit 7 is not limited to the configuration of the conveyor 71 and the pusher 73, and may have other configurations, for example, a configuration of input by a robot hand, a configuration of a conveyor and a sorter, or the like.

  As shown in FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C, the stock state of the box W in the modified example of the stock apparatus 1 is the same as the reference table TB1, which is the same as the reference table TBL shown in FIG. It is grasped and managed using TB2 and TB3. In this case, the part number correspondence table TB0 shown in FIG. In each of the reference tables TB1 to TB3, for example, the address is 11 corresponding to the stop stopper 30 (box detection sensor 40) of the stock unit 11. Such an address is set by adding a number for identifying each stock unit 11 to 13 to a number for identifying the areas a1 to a4 (see FIG. 5) in each stock unit 11 to 13. Then, for example, in the reference table TB1, it is recorded that the box of product number 1, that is, product type A exists at the address 11, and that the product number 0, that is, the box W does not exist at addresses 12, 13, and 14, and the stock status of the stock section 11 is recorded. It is reflected.

  Next, the operation of this modification will be described. The control unit 6 selects each stock unit 11, 12, 13, and thus one of the conveyors 2 of each stock unit, based on the product type information from the product type information acquisition sensor 5, and controls the input unit 7. The box W is put into the selected conveyor 2. At this time, the open / close states of the open / close stoppers 31 to 33 are determined. Here, selection of any one of the stock units 11 to 13 into which the box W is loaded and selection of any of the areas a1 to a4 in the selected stock unit will be described. For example, the number of types of boxes W, the handling amount of the boxes W for each type, the frequency with which the boxes W of each type are inserted and their fluctuations, and the stop stopper 30 side are selected. Based on prior information such as speed, a stock part as an input destination may be set for each type of box W. Also, the input destinations may be dynamically selected according to the vacant states of the areas a1 to a4, some may be fixed, and the rest may be selected dynamically. Furthermore, as a simple selection method, the selection may be made in order from the stock part close to the upstream side of the input part 7. Further, by referring to each of the reference tables TB1 to TB3, the stock unit may be selected and the box W may be loaded so that each stock unit operates on average. When allocating a stock unit for each product type, the control unit 6 may be provided with input / output means such as a touch panel, and may be set in advance or appropriately by the input / output means. According to such a modified example of the stock apparatus 1, it is possible to flexibly and surely respond to the change of the type of the box W, and to stock the product separately for each type. Note that the number of stock sections (number of systems) and the configuration of stoppers in each stock section are not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. The stock part can be two systems, four systems or more, the length of each stock part can be changed with each other, and the number of box detection sensors 4 can be changed together with the opening / closing stopper 3. According to such a stock apparatus, with a simple configuration, it is possible to suppress equipment cost and installation floor area, flexibly respond to change of product types and increase / decrease in the number of product types, and realize high operating efficiency.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various modifications can be made. For example, the configurations of the above-described embodiments can be combined with each other. Further, as the control unit 6, a computer having a general input / output device or a storage device can be used. The opening / closing stopper can be of a position variable type together with the box detection sensor. The position change can be manual or automatic with movement power. In the case of an automatic system, the position may be dynamically changed by the control unit 6. Further, the box W stocked by the stock apparatus 1 can be any type of box such as a cardboard box, a wooden box, or a container. More generally, any article that can be stocked while being stopped and held on a conveyor by an appropriate opening / closing stopper can be regarded as a box W and stocked. Further, the type of the box W in the present invention is a type identified by the type information. Accordingly, even if the articles are equivalent, different varieties can be used, and even if the articles have different shapes and functions, the same varieties can be used. Therefore, for example, the type can be set according to the difference in the shipping destination, or the type can be set according to the difference in the content of the next process. , Can be stocked. Further, as the opening / closing stopper, a stopper that falls down to the downstream side and is open, and stands up and closes can be used. Such an opening / closing stopper can be arranged in a passing region of the box W.

1 Stock device 2 Conveyor 3 Stopper (open / close stopper, stop stopper)
30 Stop stoppers 31 to 33 Opening and closing stoppers 4, 41 to 43 Box detection sensor 5 Product information acquisition sensor 6 Control unit 7 Input unit TBL, TB1 to TB3 Reference table W box

Claims (5)

In stock equipment that temporarily stocks multiple types of boxes that are sequentially inserted,
A conveyor that moves the input boxes and temporarily stores the stopped boxes and stocks them;
An opening / closing stopper that is arranged along the conveyor and is opened and closed to stop the box in the closed state and pass the box downstream in the opened state;
A stop stopper for stopping the box downstream of the conveyor;
A box detection sensor for detecting whether a box is present at the position of the open / close stopper and the stop stopper;
A product type information acquisition sensor for acquiring product type information of boxes to be placed on the conveyor;
A controller for controlling the operation of the conveyor and the opening / closing stopper,
When the control unit determines that there is a product type switch based on product type information from the product type information acquisition sensor for a newly inserted box, an opening / closing stopper at a position where the box is not detected by the box detection sensor A stock apparatus characterized in that the box before and after the product changeover is divided into a stocked state by closing the box.   2. The stock apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the control unit determines that there is no product switching, the control unit opens all the open / close stoppers upstream of the open / close stopper in the closed state.   The control unit sequentially opens and closes the opening and closing stoppers from the downstream side when the box is not detected by the front box detection sensor, and sequentially opens and closes the stored boxes. The stock apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stock apparatus is moved to a stopper.   The control unit includes a reference table that sets addresses in the opening / closing stopper and the stop stopper, and sequentially updates and records the information on the type of the stopped box or the information on the no-stopped box for each address. The stock apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the opening / closing stopper is controlled to open / close based on the reference table. A plurality of sets of the conveyor, the open / close stopper, the stop stopper, and the box detection sensor are provided,
It further comprises an input unit for supplying boxes to each conveyor,
The control unit selects one of the conveyors based on product type information from the product type information acquisition sensor, and controls the input unit to input boxes to the selected conveyor. The stock apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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