JP2012166788A - Boxing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an article to be pushed in from being brought into contact with an upper edge of an opening of an exterior box.SOLUTION: A boxing apparatus includes a push-in device 14 for lowering a pushing member so that one or more articles (aligned articles) are pushed into an exterior box arranged below from an opening formed by opening a floor plate 50, and a guide device 10 for guiding the articles to be pushed in to the exterior box. The guide device has N-pieces of guide pieces 45 with vertically faces constituting N-pieces of corners of a virtual frame body of a hollow inverted truncated N-angle pyramidal shape (where N denotes an integer of ≥3) with upper and lower surfaces opened. The guide pieces are rocked downwardly in a substantially vertical plane including each ridge so that the aligned articles to be pushed in are guided to the exterior box by forming the virtual frame body at the reference position. The exterior box has a predetermined N-angle pyramidal shape with its upper surface opened, and is arranged below an opening to be formed by opening a floor plate while flaps on N-ridges of the upper surface are erected.

Description

  The present invention relates to a boxing device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a boxing device for packing a plurality of articles in a state in which a plurality of articles are arranged is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  The boxing device includes an openable / closable damper plate, a holding plate that sandwiches and holds the article by a pressing force, a pushing plate that pushes the article downward, and a guide unit that guides the article pushed by the pushing plate to the outer box. It has. When the article is pushed into the outer box by the pushing plate, the article placed on the damper plate in the closed state is sandwiched and held by the holding plate. Then, the damper plate is opened, the article is pushed into the opening formed by opening the damper plate by the pushing plate, and further pushed into the inlet side opening of the guide portion. The pushed-in article is guided by the guide part, discharged from the outlet side opening part smaller than the inlet side opening part, and packed into the exterior box through the opening part of the exterior box.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-19707

  However, since the guide portion of the conventional boxing device is fixed at a predetermined position directly below the opening formed by opening the damper plate, the outer box is arranged so as to be shifted, and the guide portion is relatively in plan view. In some cases, the upper edge of the opening of the outer box was located inside the small exit side. In this case, the article pushed in by the pushing plate comes into contact with the upper edge of the opening of the outer box, and is sandwiched between the upper edge of the opening and the pushing plate and is damaged or jumps out of the box. In some cases, the packaging was defective.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a boxing device according to the present invention includes a floor plate, a floor opening and closing device that opens and closes the floor plate, and one or more articles aligned on the floor plate (hereinafter referred to as an aligned article). An article placement device, a sandwiching device for sandwiching the aligned articles arranged on the floor board from the alignment direction, and a pushing member configured to be movable up and down, and sandwiched by the sandwiching device by the pushing member. A pushing device for lowering the pushing member so as to push the aligned articles into the outer box disposed below the opening from the opening formed by the floor opening and closing device opening the floor plate, and the floor plate And a guide device that guides an article pushed by the pushing member to the outer box, and the guide device has a hollow inverted N truncated pyramid shape (N is an open top surface and a bottom surface). 3 or more (Integer) virtual guide frames each having N guide pieces configured to form N corners of the virtual frame body, and the N guide pieces are formed at the reference position to form the virtual frame body. In order to guide the aligned articles to be pushed into the outer box, each of the outer boxes is configured to swing downward in a substantially vertical plane including each ridgeline, and the outer box has a predetermined N prism shape. The upper surface is opened, and the flap is formed on the N sides of the upper surface. The flap is disposed below the opening formed by opening the floorboard.

  According to this configuration, by swinging the N guide pieces, the opening on the outlet side formed by the N guide pieces can be expanded and contracted to an arbitrary size within a predetermined range. it can. Accordingly, the opening on the outlet side formed by the N guide pieces is positioned inside the upper edge of the opening of the outer box in plan view, and the article pushed by the pushing device contacts the upper edge of the outer box. Can be prevented.

  In the boxing device according to the invention, the N guide pieces are configured to swing into an opening of the outer box, and the lower end of the N guide pieces is located at a lower end of the outer box. The position located in an opening may be sufficient.

  With such a configuration, the article pushed by the pushing device can be guided to the inside of the opening of the outer box by the guide piece.

  The boxing device according to the invention further includes a box approaching / separating device for relatively approaching and separating the N guide pieces and the outer box in the vertical direction, the box approaching / separating device comprising: Before the pushing member descends, the N guide pieces and the outer box are relatively brought close to each other, and after the pushing member of the pushing device pushes the alignment article into the outer box, the N guide pieces And the outer box may be relatively spaced apart from each other.

  With such a configuration, the N guide pieces and the outer box can be positioned at a predetermined relative position.

  In the boxing device according to the invention, the N guide pieces may be configured to swing by a driving force of a driving unit.

  With such a configuration, the N guide pieces are swung by the driving force of the driving unit to be positioned at the reference position, and a hollow inverted N truncated pyramid-shaped frame body whose upper surface and lower surface are opened is formed. Can do.

  The present invention is configured as described above, and has an effect that an article pushed by the pushing device can be prevented from coming into contact with the upper edge of the opening of the outer box.

It is a perspective view which shows the structural example of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the exterior box in which goods are boxed by the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structural example of the guide apparatus of the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a side view which shows the structural example of the guide apparatus of the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows roughly the structural example of the control system of the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the boxing operation example of the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows roughly the example of boxing operation | movement of the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows roughly the example of boxing operation | movement of the boxing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows roughly the example of boxing operation | movement of the boxing apparatus of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout all the drawings, and redundant description thereof is omitted.

[overall structure]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a boxing device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The boxing apparatus 100 is an apparatus that packs one or more articles W packed in a packaging material such as a pillow bag in an aligned state. The boxing device 100 according to the present embodiment packs, for example, four articles W in a state aligned with the outer box 110.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the exterior box 110. The outer box 110 is a so-called cardboard box formed in an N-prism shape (N is an integer of 3 or more). In the present embodiment, for example, N is 4, and the exterior box 110 is formed in a quadrangular prism shape and has a rectangular peripheral wall portion 117 that is composed of four side wall portions 111 and a bottom surface of the peripheral wall portion 117. A bottom 112 and four flaps 113 extending upward from the upper edge of each side wall 111 are provided. An opening 114 of the exterior box 110 is formed by the upper edge portion of the peripheral wall portion 117. The four flaps 113 can close the opening 114 by bending inward. A gap 115 is formed between a certain flap 113 and the adjacent flap 113. Furthermore, an overlapping portion 116 where the end portions of the corrugated cardboard sheets overlap is formed at any one corner of the peripheral wall portion 117. The overlapping portion 116 protrudes inward from the inner surface of the side wall portion.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a boxing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes an article conveying device 6 that aligns and conveys articles W, and an extrusion device 7 that extrudes four articles W from the article conveying apparatus 6 in an aligned state (articles). An arrangement device), a stop member 17 that comes into contact with and stops the extruded article W, a pressing device 18 that aligns a group of articles made of one or more extruded articles W, and a sandwiching mechanism that sandwiches the group of articles A device 8, a floor opening and closing device 13 that opens and closes a surface on which the group of sandwiched articles are placed, a pushing device 14 that pushes the sandwiched group of articles into the exterior box 110, and a group of sandwiched articles A guide device 10 that guides the outer box 110, an outer box placement device 20 (box access isolation device) that places the outer box 110 below the floor opening and closing device 13, a control device 30 that controls the operation of the boxing device 100, Boxed It has a frame 1 to place each component of the location 100 in a predetermined positional relationship, a. Here, the predetermined position refers to a position required for carrying out the boxing operation of the boxing apparatus 100 of the present invention.

[Configuration of alignment conveyor]
The article conveying device 6 includes an aligning conveyor 60 and a group of aligning plates 61 that stand on the conveying surface of the aligning conveyor 60 so as to cross the conveying path of the aligning conveyor 60. Between the group of alignment plates 61, a plurality of storage units 62 that can store articles W are arranged on the alignment conveyor 60 to form a group of storage units. In the present embodiment, five alignment plates 61 form a group. Therefore, the four accommodating portions 62 are formed as a group.

  The alignment conveyor 60 is supported by four annular belts wound around a pair of sprockets 63. Accordingly, the aligning conveyor 60 includes the forward path portion 60a, the return path portion 60b that is positioned opposite to the lower side of the forward path portion 60a, and both ends of the forward path portion 60a and the return path portion 60b, that is, both ends of the alignment conveyor 60. And an arcuate reversing part 60c formed in the part. Since the alignment plate 61 stands upright on the conveying surface of the alignment conveyor 60, the reversing portion 60c has a form extending radially from the sprocket 63. The four annular belts are divided into two to constitute a first belt group 64 and a second belt group 65.

  Each of the first belt group 64 and the second belt group 65 is provided with one or more alignment plates 61. In the present embodiment, a series of alignment plates 61 are attached to each of the first belt group 64 and the second belt group 65. Each alignment plate 61 is attached to one of the first belt group 64 and the second belt group 65 by a coupler 66. The first belt group 64 is configured to be rotationally driven when one sprocket 63 is rotationally driven by a driving force of a driving device (not shown). The second belt group 65 is configured to be rotationally driven when the other sprocket 63 is rotationally driven by a driving force of a driving device (not shown). A known actuator can be used as the driving device for the first and second belt groups 64 and 65, which is a servo motor in this embodiment. As described above, the accommodating portions 62 of the first and second belt groups 64 and 65 are arranged so that the alignment plate 61 is removed from the return path portion 60b by the driving force of the driving devices of the first and second belt groups 64 and 65, respectively. It is circulated and driven so as to go to the forward path portion 60a through the reversing portion 60c on the upstream side in the transport direction, and then again toward the return path portion 60b through the reversing portion 60c on the downstream side in the transport direction. Further, since the driving devices for the first and second belt groups 64 and 65 are different, the first belt group 64 and the second belt group 65 can be circulated and driven independently of each other.

  On the side of the alignment conveyor 60, an article take-in detection device 69 is provided. The article take-in detection device 69 is a light-shielding detection device, and includes a pair of light projectors and light receivers. The presence or absence of the article W can be detected by blocking the optical path between the pair of projectors and light receivers. The optical path of the article take-in detection device 69 is arranged so as to cross the article take-in standby position S set in the reversing portion 60 c on the upstream side of the alignment conveyor 60. The article take-in standby position S is a position where the storage unit 62 is standby, and the position where the alignment plate 61 adjacent to the lower side of the storage unit 62 faces obliquely upward, that is, the front end of the alignment plate 61 is the base end. It is set to a position located higher than.

  A transfer conveyor 200 is disposed on the upstream side of the article conveying device 6. The transfer conveyor 200 is disposed such that its downstream end is close to the reversing portion 60c on the upstream side of the alignment conveyor 60 and its upper surface is located above the forward path portion 60a of the alignment conveyor 60. Is done. Thereby, the article W conveyed by the transfer conveyor 200 can be transferred to the article take-in standby position S of the reversing unit 60c. Then, the article W conveyed by the transfer conveyor 200 is conveyed in a sleeping posture, that is, in a posture in which the horizontal dimension in the conveying direction is longer than the vertical dimension so that the article W can be stably conveyed. . Then, when the article W in the sleeping position is transferred to the article taking-in standby position S, it is placed on the alignment plate 61 adjacent to the lower side of the article taking-in standby position S in the lying position. When the aligning plate 61 moves from the reversing part 60c to the forward path part 60a, the orientation of the alignment plate 61 from the sleeping position to the upright position on the forward path part 60a, that is, the vertical dimension is larger than the horizontal dimension in the transport direction. The posture of the article W transferred along with this is changed from a sleeping posture to an upright posture.

  And the stop position T where extrusion to the floor opening-and-closing apparatus 13 of the article W by the extrusion apparatus 7 mentioned later is performed is set in the intermediate part of the outward path part 60a.

  As described above, the article transport device 6 receives the four articles W transferred from the transfer conveyor 200 at the article take-in standby position S, changes the posture of the articles W from the sleeping posture to the upright posture, and forms a line. To the stop position T.

  Accordingly, the article transporting device 6 is configured to be able to stop a plurality of aligned articles at the stop position T.

[Configuration of floor opening and closing device]
The floor opening / closing device 13 includes a pair of floor plates 50 that are disposed on the side of the article conveying device 6 and extend in the horizontal direction. The floor plate 50 is supported by a plurality of rollers disposed on the frame body 1 at its edge, and is configured to be able to advance and retract so that end surfaces facing each other come into contact with and separate from each other. An article placement position A (details will be described later) is set on a pair of closed floor boards 50 on the sides of the stop position T. The floor board 50 is configured to be opened and closed by a driving force of a driving device (not shown). Further, when the floor board 50 is driven backward, an opening is formed. A known actuator can be used for this driving device, and in this embodiment, it is a servo motor.

  A passage portion 73 is provided between the upper surface of the article conveying device 6 and the upper surface of the floor opening / closing device 13. On the passage portion 73, a guide portion 74 is provided so as to extend the alignment plates 61 at both ends of the group of alignment plates 61 of the stop position T. The guide portion 74 is fixed to the frame body 1 and extends to an article placement position A, which will be described later.

  Thus, the floor opening and closing device 13 can form an opening directly below the article placement portion A by driving the floor plate 50 backward.

[Configuration of extrusion equipment]
The extrusion device 7 includes a flat plate-like extrusion member 70. The pushing member 70 is guided by a rail member (not shown) in which the flat pushing member 70 is supported by the frame body 1 by a driving force of a driving device (not shown), and the article. Linear direction between a retracted position located along one side of the conveying device 6 and an advance position located on the other side of the article conveying device 6 and the article placement position A side which will be described later through the passage portion 73. It is configured to move forward and backward. The pushing member 70 has a plurality of slits extending in the vertical direction from the lower end to the intermediate portion so as not to come into contact with the series of alignment plates 61 located at the stop position T when moving between the retracted position and the advanced position. 71 is formed. In the present embodiment, five slits 71 are formed corresponding to the position of each alignment plate 61 located at the stop position T. A known actuator can be used as the driving device of the extrusion device 7, which is a servo motor in this embodiment. Accordingly, the plurality of articles W accommodated in the series of accommodating portions 62 positioned at the stop position T are pushed out by the extrusion member 70 and become a group of articles aligned in the conveyance direction of the article conveyance device 6. It is located at an article placement position A, which will be described later.

  And since the guide part 74 is provided in the channel | path part 73, it can prevent that a group of articles | goods extruded by the extrusion member 70 were scattered in the alignment direction.

[Structure of stopper member]
The stop member 17 is a plate-like body extending in the same direction as the extending direction of the alignment conveyor 60, and the article placement position A (a group pushed out by the push member 70) of the push member 70 located at the advanced position above the floor plate 50. Are fixed to the frame 1 on the opposite side via the article. Accordingly, the article W pushed out by the pushing member 70 is configured to come into contact with the stop member 17 and stop on the closed floor board 50. Accordingly, the position of the article W located at the article placement position A in the direction of the stop member 17 can be determined.

[Configuration of holding device]
The pressing device 18 includes a pressing member 55. The pressing member 55 rotates the pressing member 55 toward the article transporting device 6 from the pressing position and the pressing position that are positioned on the pushing member 70 side of the article placement position A by the driving force of a driving device (not shown). It is configured to swing between the retracted position. By positioning the pressing member 55 in the retracted position, it is possible to avoid a conflict with the pushing member 70 when the pushing member 70 moves back and forth. On the other hand, after the push-out member 70 is retracted, the upper side surface of the group of articles pushed out by the push-out member 70 is pressed and held together with the stop member 17 by positioning the presser member 55 in the press-down position. The group of articles positioned in the width direction can be positioned. A known actuator can be used for the driving device of the pressing device 18, which is a servo motor in this embodiment. This driving device is provided on the frame 1. The pressing device 18 may be configured to drive the pressing member 55 forward and backward by the driving force of the driving device.

[Configuration of clamping device]
The clamping device 8 includes a pair of flat plate-shaped clamping members 80. The pair of clamping members 80 are disposed so as to extend the pair of guide portions 74 above the floor board 50. In other words, the pair of clamping members 80 are provided in a direction orthogonal (crossing) to the moving direction of the pushing member 70. The pair of clamping members 80 extend to the vicinity of the stopper member 17. That is, on the floor board 50, an area defined by the stop member 17, the pressing member 55 located at the pressing position, and the pair of clamping members 80 is formed. This region constitutes the article placement position A. Then, the group of articles is placed in an aligned state by the extruding device 7 in the direction in which the pair of clamping members 80 oppose each other on the article placement position A, that is, in the same direction as the extending direction of the alignment conveyor 60 of the article conveying device 6. Placed.

  A shaft 81 is provided extending from the back surface of the clamping member 80. The shaft body 81 is configured so as to move forward and backward in a direction in which the clamping member 80 approaches and away from each other by a driving force of a driving device (not shown) together with the clamping member 80. Since the group of articles located at the article placement position A are sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 80 by the advancing in the direction in which the clamping member 80 approaches each other, the articles W located at the article placement position A are It can be adhered. A known actuator can be used for the driving device of the clamping member 80, and a servo motor is used in this embodiment. This driving device is provided on the frame 1.

[Configuration of pushing device]
The pushing device 14 includes a shaft body 90 extending in the vertical direction and a flat plate-like pushing member 91 in which the lower end of the shaft body 90 is joined to the upper surface thereof. The shaft body 90 is supported by the frame body 1 so as to be movable up and down. The shaft body 90 is configured to move up and down in the vertical direction of the article placement position A by a driving force of a driving device (not shown) together with the pushing member 91. A known actuator can be used for this driving device, and in this embodiment, it is a servo motor. In this way, the pushing device 14 lowers the pushing member 91 and presses the upper surface of the group of articles in a state where the pushing member 91 is sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 80 that have opened the group of articles. It is comprised so that it can push in to an opening part.

[Configuration of guide device]
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of the guide device 10. FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating a configuration example of the guide device 10.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the guide device 10 is provided between the floor board 50 and the outer box placement device 20. The guide device 10 includes N guide pieces 45 that guide the article pushed by the push device 14 to the outer box 110. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the guide piece 45 is located at a reference position described later. The guide device 10 further includes a support portion 46 that extends in the horizontal direction in parallel with the floor plate 50 and supports the guide piece 45, and a guide portion drive device 47 that swings the guide piece 45 with a driving force. In the present embodiment, N is 4 as described above, and four guide pieces 45 are provided.

  The support part 46 is a plate-like body, and has, for example, a rectangular opening 46a formed below the opening between the pair of open floor boards 50, as shown in FIG. The opening 46a is an opening through which an article pushed by the pushing device 14 passes from above to below. The support portion 46 is supported by the frame body 1.

  The guide piece 45 is a thin plate-like body that is bent at a substantially right angle at the bent portion 45b and has a planar shape formed in an L shape. As shown in FIG. 2, the guide piece 45 includes an inclined portion 45aa and an extended portion 45ab extending in the vertical direction from the lower end of the inclined portion 45aa. As shown in FIG. 4, the guide piece 45 is arranged inside the opening 46 a so that the inclined portion 45 aa approaches each other as it goes from the upper edge to the lower edge.

  And the four guide pieces 45 are comprised in the shape which each comprises four corner | angular parts of the virtual frame body of a hollow inverted square frustum shape in the reference position mentioned later. That is, the area defined by the four guide pieces 45 is formed so as to become narrower from the top to the bottom. A rectangular area defined by the upper edges of the guide pieces 45 of the four guide pieces 45 constitutes an inlet side opening that is larger than the opening 46 a of the support 46. The four guide pieces 45 are formed so that the entrance-side opening is sufficiently large so that the article pushed by the pushing device 14 does not come into contact with the upper edge of the guide piece 45. A rectangular area defined by the lower edges of the guide pieces 45 of the four guide pieces 45 constitutes an outlet side opening smaller than the opening 46 a of the support portion 46.

  And the guide piece 45 is provided with a pair of arm part 45c extended toward the outer side of the opening part 46a from each guide piece 45. As shown in FIG. The pair of arm portions 45c are provided to face each other. A first connecting part 45d and a second connecting part 45e are installed on the intermediate part and the tip part of the pair of arm parts 45c, respectively. The first connecting portion 45d is supported by the support portion 46 via a support tool (not shown) that rotatably supports the first connecting portion 45d. Accordingly, the guide piece 45 swings around the central axis of the first connecting portion 45d.

  The guide unit driving device 47 is supported by the support unit 46 via a support tool (not shown) below the support unit 46. The guide part drive device 47 is an air cylinder, for example, and is provided so as to extend in the vertical direction. The guide unit driving device 47 has a rod that moves forward and backward. And the front-end | tip part of this rod is connected with the 2nd connection part 45e. Therefore, each guide piece 45 swings via the second connecting part 45e and the arm part 45c by moving the rod of the guide part driving device 47 forward and backward. That is, each guide piece 45 swings in a substantially vertical plane including one ridge line of a hollow inverted quadrangular frustum-like virtual frame, and an intermediate portion of the guide piece 45 is an opening 46a. Swing between a reference position (guide piece 45 indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3) in contact with the edge and a contracted position (guide piece 45 indicated by an alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 3) rotated upward from the reference position. To do. At this time, the four guide pieces 45 swing in synchronization with each other. In this way, the four guide pieces 45 can be positioned above the reference position by driving the rods of the guide unit driving device 47 to move backward in synchronization with each other. Accordingly, the lower edge portion of the guide piece 45 is positioned above the reference position and moves in a direction approaching each other in plan view. Therefore, the area of the region defined by the lower edge portion of the guide piece 45 in plan view can be reduced. Further, the four guide pieces 45 can be positioned downward by driving the rod of the guide drive unit 47 forward. As a result, they move in directions that are separated from each other in plan view. Therefore, the area of the region defined by the lower edge portion of the guide piece 45 in plan view can be increased. Thus, by moving forward and backward the rod of the guide unit driving device 47, the outlet side openings of the four guide pieces 45 can be expanded and contracted to an arbitrary size within a predetermined range.

  Further, at the reference position, the intermediate portion of the guide piece 45 and the edge portion of the opening 46a are in contact with each other, and the guide piece 45 is restricted by the opening 46a so as not to swing further downward from the reference position.

  Further, the guide piece 45 is configured such that, at the reference position, the extended portion 45ab abuts or approaches the inner surface of the peripheral wall portion 117 of the exterior box 110 located at a boxing position P described later.

[Configuration of exterior box placement device]
The exterior box placement device 20 includes an exterior box transport conveyor 22 that transports the exterior box 110, a restraining device 23 that stops the exterior box 110 that moves on the transport path, and an exterior box that is stopped on the exterior box transport conveyor 22. And an outer box lifting / lowering device 21 for lifting 110.

  In the present embodiment, the outer box transport conveyor 22 is a so-called roller-type conveyor, and includes a large number of drive rollers that are spaced apart from each other in parallel. Each driving roller is driven by a driving force of a driving device (not shown). The outer box transport conveyor 22 extends in parallel with the article transport device 6. Thereby, the boxing apparatus 100 can be comprised compactly. Since the outer box transport conveyor 22 can be constituted by a well-known roller conveyor, further detailed description is omitted.

  The restraining device 23 includes a bar that extends in the horizontal direction so as to be orthogonal to the transport direction of the outer box transport conveyor 22, and is provided on the side of the outer box transport conveyor 22. Then, the restraining device 23 advances from the retracted position where the tip of the rod body is located outside the transport path of the exterior box transport conveyor 22 and the transport path of the exterior box transport conveyor 22 from the retracted position. It is possible to move back and forth between the advanced position, and by restricting the movement of the outer box transported by the outer box transport conveyor 22 in the downstream direction by positioning the rod body at the advanced position. can do. Accordingly, the restraining device 23 holds the outer box 110 so that it is positioned at the standby position U below the article placement position A.

  The outer box lifting / lowering device 21 includes a pedestal 40 on which the outer box 110 is placed. The pedestal 40 includes a bar that extends on the same horizontal plane so as to be spaced apart from each other in parallel, and a connecting member that connects one or both ends of each bar. This bar is configured so as to be buried in a gap formed between the driving rollers at the standby position U. The pedestal 40 is supported by the frame 1 so as to be movable up and down. The pedestal 40 is configured to move up and down by a driving force of a driving device (not shown) so that the guide piece 45 and the outer box 110 can be relatively approached and separated. A known actuator can be used for this driving device, and in this embodiment, it is a servo motor.

  As described above, the outer box placement device 20 can transport the outer box 110 carried into the boxing device 100 by the outer box transport conveyor 22 and can be positioned at the standby position U by the restraining device 23. And the exterior box arrangement | positioning apparatus 20 lifts the exterior box 110 by raising the base 40 buried in the clearance gap formed between the drive rollers, and it forms below the guide piece 45 (the floor board 50 is open | released). It is comprised so that it can be located in the boxing position P set to the lower part of the opening part made. The boxing position P is adjacent to the upper edge of the peripheral wall 117 of the outer box 110 where the lower edge of the inclined portion 45aa of the guide piece 45 located at the reference position (upper edge of the extension 45ab) is located at the boxing position P. The height position to be set is set. That is, when the outer box 110 is located at the boxing position P, the lower end of the guide piece 45 located at the reference position is located within the opening 114 of the outer box 110. And the exterior box arrangement | positioning apparatus 20 returns this exterior box 110 to the standby position U again by dropping the base 40, and also conveys the exterior box 110 by the exterior box conveyance conveyor 22, and carries it out of the boxing apparatus 100. It is configured to be able to.

  As described above, the article placement position A, the opening formed by driving the floor plate 50 backward, the inlet side opening of the guide piece 45, the opening 46a, the outlet side opening of the guide piece 45, and the exterior The opening of the box 110 is configured to be positioned side by side in the vertical direction.

[Configuration of control system]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration example of a control system of the boxing device 100. Hereinafter, the control system of the boxing apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The control device 30 provided in the boxing device 100 includes, for example, a control unit 31 having a computing unit such as a CPU and a storage unit 32 having a memory such as a ROM and a RAM. The control unit 31 may be configured by a single controller that performs centralized control, or may be configured by a plurality of controllers that perform distributed control in cooperation with each other. The control unit 31 controls the operation of each drive device of the article transport device 6, the extrusion device 7, the floor opening and closing device 13, the pressing device 18, the clamping device 8, the pushing device 14, the guide device 10, and the outer box placement device 20, Thereby, the operation of each device is controlled. A predetermined control program is stored in the storage unit 32, and the operation of the boxing device 100 is controlled by the control unit 31 reading and executing these control programs. The article detection signal output from the article take-in detection device 69 is input to the control unit 31. The storage unit 32 stores a predetermined control program. In addition, the arrow in a figure shows the transmission direction of a signal.

[Operation example]
Next, an operation example of the boxing device 100 will be described. In these operations, the control device 30 controls the drive devices of the article conveying device 6, the extrusion device 7, the floor opening and closing device 13, the pressing device 18, the clamping device 8, the pushing device 14, the guiding device 10, and the outer box arranging device 20. By doing.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the boxing operation of the boxing device 100. 7A, 7B, and 7C are diagrams illustrating an example of the boxing operation of the boxing device 100. FIG.

  In the initial state, the control unit 31 positions the guide piece 45 in the contracted position as shown in FIG. 7A.

  First, the control unit 31 positions the leading storage unit 62 at the article take-in standby position S among the group of storage units 62 of one of the belt groups. Then, when the article W in a posture lying in the article taking-in standby position S is transferred from the downstream end of the transfer conveyor 200 and the article taking-in detection device 69 detects the article W, the control unit 31 stores a group of containers. The next storage section 62 is made to wait at the article take-in standby position S. When the articles W are stored in all the storage units 62 of the group of storage units, the control unit 31 positions the group of storage units 62 in the belt group at the stop position T. At this time, the posture of the alignment plate 61 changes from the sleeping posture to the posture standing upright on the forward path portion 60a, and the posture of the article W transferred along with this is changed from the sleeping posture to the standing posture. As a result, the plurality of articles W are in an upright posture in the aligned state at the stop position T (step S1).

  Since the first belt group 64 and the second belt group 65 are configured so as to be able to circulate and drive independently of each other, the control unit 31 has the articles W in all the accommodating parts 62 of one belt group. When they are accommodated and started to be conveyed toward the stop position T, the leading accommodating portion 62 of the other belt group of accommodating portions 62 is positioned at the article take-in standby position S. Thereby, the transfer of the article W to the article take-in standby position S by the transfer conveyor 200 can be continued.

  Next, the control unit 31 moves the pushing member 70 of the pushing device 7 from the retracted position to the advanced position, whereby the group of articles positioned in the aligned state at the stop position T is on the floor board 50, that is, the article. It is positioned in the aligned state at the mounting position A. Then, the control unit 31 returns the pushing member 70 from the advanced position to the retracted position (step S2).

  Next, the control unit 31 swings the pressing member 55 downward and presses the upper side surface of the group of articles pushed out. As a result, each article W is held by the pressing member 55 and the stopper member 17 so that both ends are aligned. Next, in this state, the control unit 31 advances the holding members 80 in directions in which the pair of holding members 80 approach each other. Thereby, a group of articles are clamped between the pair of clamping members 80 (step S3). Since this group of articles is held by the pressing member 55 and the stopper member 17, scattering of the article W in the width direction can be prevented when the group of articles are clamped by the pair of clamping members 80. .

  Next, the control part 31 drives the floor board 50 backward (step S4). As a result, the floor board is opened, and an opening is formed immediately below the group of articles located at the article placement position A. Note that the group of articles located at the article placement position A is held by the pair of clamping members 80, and thus the state of being placed at the article placement position A is maintained without dropping.

  On the other hand, the control part 31 positions the exterior box 110 in the boxing position P in parallel with the process of step S1-S4 (step S5). That is, the control unit 31 positions the stop device 23 at the advanced position and positions the outer box 110 at the standby position U. Next, the control unit 31 raises the pedestal 40 and positions the exterior box 110 located at the standby position U at the boxing position P. At this time, the guide piece 45 is located at the contracted position as described above, and the peripheral wall portion 117 of the exterior box 110 and each guide piece 45 are located apart from each other in plan view, and below the guide piece 45 in plan view. The area of the region defined by the edge is small. Thereby, when raising the exterior box 110 by the exterior box elevating device 21, it is possible to prevent the lower edge of the guide piece 45 from contacting the upper edge of the peripheral wall portion 117.

  Next, the control unit 31 synchronously swings the guide piece 45 positioned at the contracted / closed position and positions it at the reference position. At this time, each flap 113 is pushed outward by the guide piece 45. Accordingly, the four guide pieces 45 constitute four corners of a hollow inverted quadrangular frustum-like virtual frame. When the outer box 110 is positioned away from the boxing position P, the outer box 110 is moved in the horizontal direction by the four guide pieces 45 that are expanded and positioned at the boxing position P.

  Further, by positioning the guide piece 45 at the reference position, the lower edge portion of the guide piece 45 moves downward and is located in the exterior box 110.

  Further, by positioning the guide piece 45 at the reference position, the lower edge portion (extension portion 45ab) of the guide piece 45 moves in a direction to be separated from each other in plan view, and approaches or approaches the inner wall of the peripheral wall portion 117.

  As described above, the outlet side openings of the four guide pieces 45 are expanded and contracted in the opening 114 of the outer box 110 in a plan view.

  In addition, each gap 115 is covered by a corresponding inclined portion 45aa, and the overlapping portion 116 is covered by any extension 45ab.

  When the floor is opened in step S4, the exterior box 110 appears below the group of articles in an open state through the opening 46a.

  Next, the control unit 31 lowers the pushing member 91 (step S6). Accordingly, the pushing member 91 pushes the upper surface of the group of articles in the clamped state downward, and pushes the group of articles into the opening formed between the floor boards 50. At this time, both end portions of each article W slide through the surfaces of the extrusion member 70 and the stopper member 17. Further, the articles W at both ends of the group of articles slide through the surface of the clamping member 80.

  The article pushed into the opening first passes through the inlet side opening of the guide piece 45. The group of articles comes into contact with the intermediate portion of the guide piece 45 on the way to the lower edge of the guide piece 45 and slides down the surface of the guide piece 45. At this time, the region defined by the four guide pieces 45 is formed so as to narrow toward the lower side, so that the group of articles are further pushed by the pushing device 14 to approach each other by the guide pieces 45. And are in close contact with each other. Then, the group of articles is discharged from the outlet side opening of the guide device 10 and accommodated in the exterior box 110.

  At this time, since the lower edge portion of the guide piece 45 is located in the outer box 110, the article can be guided to the outer box 110 by the guide piece 45.

  In addition, since the lower edge portion of the guide piece 45 approaches or abuts against the inner wall of the peripheral wall portion 117, the article discharged from the opening on the outlet side formed by the lower edge portions of the four guide pieces 45 and A gap with the peripheral wall portion 117 can be narrowed, and the articles W can be tightly packed.

  Furthermore, since the upper edge of the flap 113, the gap 115, and the overlapping portion 116, which are easy to catch an article, are covered by the guide piece 45, the article can be prevented from being caught on them.

  In this way, the group of articles is packed in the outer box 110 without being caught by the gap 115 and the overlapping part 116.

  Next, the control part 31 returns the pressing member 55, the clamping member 80, the pushing member 91, and the floor board 50 to the original state (step S7). That is, the pressing member 55 is swung upward, the pressing member 91 is raised, the pair of clamping members 80 are moved in directions away from each other, and the floor board 50 is closed.

  Then, in parallel with step S7, the control unit 31 lowers the pedestal 40 and positions the packed outer box 110 at the standby position U, and then packs the outer box 110 from the downstream end of the conveyor 22. Unload from device 100. Further, the guide piece 45 is positioned at the contracted position (step S8).

  Then, the boxing operation is newly repeated.

  As described above, the boxing device 100 of the present invention swings the four guide pieces 45 so that the opening on the outlet side formed by the lower edge portions of the guide pieces 45 can be arbitrarily set within a predetermined range. The size can be expanded and contracted. Thereby, the opening on the outlet side formed by the four guide pieces is positioned inside the upper edge of the opening of the outer box in plan view, and the article pushed by the pushing device contacts the upper edge of the outer box. Can be prevented.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, the guide piece 45 is configured to swing between the contracted position and the reference position by the driving force of the guide drive unit 47, but is not limited to this. For example, the guide piece 45 is positioned in the contracted position by the pressing force of the spring, and the article W is pushed into the opening on the inlet side by the pushing member 91, so that each guide piece 45 is against the pushing force of the spring. You may be comprised so that it may be located in a position.

  In the above embodiment, the article W is pushed downward from above by the pushing device 14 and pushed into the outer box 110 positioned below, but this is for convenience of explanation. It is only used for and is not limited to this. For example, the article W may be pushed in from the left to the right by the pushing device 14, and the article W may be pushed into the outer box 110 positioned to the right. Therefore, in the present invention, the pushing direction can be freely set and configured.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the outer box placement device 20 has positioned the outer box 110 at the boxing position P. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an operator positions the outer box 110 at the boxing position P. May be.

  Moreover, you may comprise the alignment conveyor 60 with other conveying apparatuses, such as a roller conveyor.

  Moreover, you may comprise the exterior box conveyance conveyor 22 with other conveying apparatuses, such as a belt conveyor.

  Moreover, the floor opening / closing device 13 is not limited to the above-described configuration example, and may be any door that can open and close the floor. For example, the floor opening / closing device 13 may be configured to open and close the floor by moving one floor board forward and backward in one direction, or may be configured to open and close the floor by rotating the floor board forward and backward. Good.

  Further, the alignment conveyor 60 does not necessarily need to be intermittently circulated so as to be temporarily stopped. For example, the alignment conveyor 60 may be slowly circulated while the push-out member 70 is advanced and retracted.

  From the foregoing description, many modifications and other embodiments of the present invention are obvious to one skilled in the art. Accordingly, the foregoing description should be construed as illustrative only and is provided for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the invention. The details of the structure and / or function may be substantially changed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The boxing apparatus of the present invention is useful for a line for packing products.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Frame 6 Article conveying apparatus 7 Extruding apparatus 8 Clamping apparatus 10 Guide apparatus 13 Floor opening / closing apparatus 14 Pushing apparatus 17 Stopping member 18 Holding apparatus 20 Exterior box arrangement apparatus 21 Exterior box raising / lowering apparatus 22 Conveyor 23 Control apparatus 30 Control apparatus 31 Control part 32 storage part 40 base 45 guide piece 45aa inclined part 45ab extension part 45b bent part 45c arm part 45d first connection part 45e second connection part 46 support part 46a opening part 47 guide part driving device 50 floor plate 55 pressing member 60 alignment conveyor 60a forward path portion 60b return path portion 60c reversing portion 61 alignment plate 62 accommodating portion 63 sprocket 64 first belt group 65 second belt group 66 coupling tool 69 article take-in detection device 70 push-out member 71 slit 73 passage portion 74 guide portion 80 clamping member 81 Shaft body 90 Shaft body 91 Push-in member 100 Packing Equipment

Claims (4)

A floor opening and closing device that has a floor plate and drives the floor plate to open and close;
An article placement device for placing one or more articles arranged on the floor board (hereinafter referred to as an aligned article);
A clamping device for clamping the aligned articles aligned on the floor board from the alignment direction;
A pressing member configured to be able to move up and down, and the alignment article held by the pressing device by the pressing member from the opening formed by the floor opening / closing device opening the floor plate, below the opening A pushing device for lowering the pushing member to push into the outer box disposed in
A guide device that is disposed below the floor plate and guides an article pushed by the pushing member to the exterior box,
The guide device includes N guides each having N corners of a virtual inverted N-shaped truncated pyramid shape (N is an integer of 3 or more) whose upper and lower surfaces are open. Substantially vertical including each ridgeline so that the N guide pieces form the virtual frame at the reference position and guide the aligned articles to be pushed into the outer box. It is configured to swing each downward in the plane,
The exterior box has a predetermined N prism shape, an opening is formed below the opening formed by opening the recording board in a state where the upper surface is open and the flaps on the N sides of the upper surface are standing. Arranged, boxing device.   The N guide pieces are configured to swing into the opening of the outer box, and the reference position is a position where the lower ends of the N guide pieces are located in the opening of the outer box. The boxing device according to claim 1. A box approaching / separating device for relatively approaching and separating the N guide pieces and the outer box in the vertical direction;
The box approaching / separating device causes the N guide pieces and the outer box to relatively approach each other before the pressing member of the pressing device descends, and the pressing member of the pressing device moves the aligned articles to the outer box. The boxing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the N guide pieces and the outer box are relatively separated from each other after being pushed into the box. The boxing device according to claim 1, wherein the N guide pieces are configured to swing by a driving force of a driving unit.

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