JP2017095134A - Grip direction unifying device of liquid container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a grip direction unifying device of a bottle for quickly aligning the direction of a grip of the respective bottles in the predetermined direction, when transferred to a bottle container.SOLUTION: A grip 3 provided with a clearance between an outer surface of a recessed part and itself, is provided in the recessed part 2 provided in a part of an outside wall of a container body part 1, and the grip 3 is provided along the vertical axis direction on the inside of a contour line of the container body part 1 in a space of the recessed part 2, and a liquid container attitude control device 31 is constituted of a rotary table 37 for placing a liquid container 10 carried in by a suspension carrying device 11, a rotary device 32 constituted of a rotary mechanism 33 having a motor 35 and a motor driver 34 and a grip position setting control part 36, and the liquid container 10 is lifted from a carrying-in conveyor 21 by the suspension carrying device 11, and is rotated by placing on the rotary table 37 of the rotary device 32, and is transferred to a carrying-out conveyor 25 by unifying the grip direction of a plurality of liquid containers 10 in the predetermined direction based on direction detection of a grip by a clearance S between the recessed part 2 and the grip 3 of the container body part 1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a container handling technique, and in particular, the handle of a liquid container that ensures the convenience and safety of transporting cargo by making the direction of the handles of a large number of liquid containers provided with handles the same in each group. It relates to a direction unifying device.

  In a so-called gallon bottle (refer to Patent Document 1), a relatively large-capacity liquid container has a handle for facilitating transportation and handling between the filling factory and the accumulation center or consumers. There are many things. Hereinafter, a plastic bottle for drinking water will be described as an example of a liquid container, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a container with a handle for filling and transporting various liquids. is there.

  A water purification apparatus is known in which raw water such as ground water and tap water is made pure water using a reverse osmosis membrane, and necessary mineral components are added and adjusted to obtain purified water. The purified water thus produced is filled in a relatively large capacity plastic container (hereinafter also simply referred to as a bottle) and finally delivered to the consumer. This delivery is delivered from the water purification plant to the consumer via a collection / delivery station, or may be delivered directly to the consumer from the plant.

  For bottle delivery, it is efficient to handle a plurality of bottles at once using various cargo handling cases, containers or pallets. The case and container mean a cargo handling box, and the pallet means a loading platform for fork handling, but there are also those with a low side wall around the pallet (also called a bottle container), and the boundary between them is not always clear. In the present invention, it is assumed that a plurality of (for example, 10) bottles are accommodated in the bottle container for cargo handling.

  Some liquid containers (bottles) of this type are provided with a handle to provide convenience for handling by a cargo handling robot or for individual handling by an operator. For transport between a filling factory and a collection center or a consumer, for example, 10 bottles are stored in a plane in a 2 × 5 array in a bottle container and loaded on a transfer means such as a container truck. A cargo handling machine (forklift or cargo handling robot) is used for such cargo handling. When a transport means such as a container truck loaded with bottles arrives at the delivery center or the consumer's permission, the cargo handling machine unloads the bottle container unit, or the delivery worker 1 or 2 from the bottle container. Deliver through bottles.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a liquid filling facility provided with means for detecting the orientation of a container (bottle) with a handle in the transport direction based on the image picked up by the handle and rotating the orientation to be a predetermined direction. is there.

  Furthermore, in order to detect the posture of a container (bottle) with a handle, the position of the handle is detected by rotating the bottle and blocking and passing the light between the laser light emitting element and the light receiving element between the handle and the bottle body. Patent document 3 can be mentioned as what disclosed the prior art to do.

JP 2006-198863 A JP 2004-256164 A Japanese Patent No. 5350412

  Normally, bottles that are emptied due to the consumption of their contents are collected and reused in a filling plant. The collected bottles are first washed in a washing station, and then sent to a refilling process through a leak inspection process in an inspection station that detects the presence or absence of pinholes or cracks. A conveyor, in particular, a roller conveyor, is usually used for the transfer between these processes and the movement at the processing station, and a slider or a robot (multi-joint automatic cargo handling machine) is used for the transfer at the processing station.

  For example, 10 filled bottles (products) that have passed through the filling station are collectively transferred to a bottle container and shipped. For bottles with handles, by aligning the orientation of the handles of multiple bottles in a certain direction, it is possible to provide convenience for loading and unloading operations when unloading to a bottle container by a cargo handling robot during shipping operations. .

  The direction detection of the handle described in the above-mentioned patent document 2 relating to the control of the direction of the handle of the bottle is taken by a camera in order to improve the capping work efficiency in the stopper when the bottle has a direction of the cap (plug). The bottle direction is detected and stoppered by pattern matching of the bottle image based on the above.

  In addition, the handle detection disclosed in Patent Document 3 includes one electrode inserted into the bottle and the other electrode attached to the handle on the outside of the bottle in order to detect the discharge current of the bottle pinhole and crack. The bottle is rotated in order to set the attachment position, and a light detection means using a pair of photosensors (laser light emitting element / light receiving element) is used for the position of the handle to which the other electrode is attached.

  According to the above-described prior art, the direction of the bottle is detected based on the direction of the handle in order to set the stopper position of each bottle (Patent Document 2), or an electrode for inspecting whether each bottle can be reused. It is a handle position detection (patent document 3) for setting an installation location. That is, the above-mentioned conventional technique is a technique for accurately detecting the position of the handle of a single bottle, and the direction of the handle is required to be fairly accurate in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3. Therefore, this requires a complicated device configuration and a precise sensor. A system that does not have a sufficient production cycle time, such as the logistics field that handles a plurality of bottles at once, cannot take much time for one process. The prior art does not take into account the convenience of batch transfer of a plurality of bottles by a robot or unloading work for unloading workers as in the present invention.

  An object of the present invention is to determine the orientation of the handle of each bottle when transferring a plurality of bottles conveyed with irregular handle orientations to a bottle container as a group of a predetermined number (for example, 10). An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for unifying the grip direction of a bottle (liquid container) that can be quickly aligned in the direction.

  The liquid container handled by the present invention has a handle on a part of the side wall of the container body filled with liquid and capped with a cap. In the handle direction unifying device according to the present invention, the handle direction of the bottle is detected by a gap formed between the side wall and the handle. The detected handle direction is transferred to the bottle container in the same direction. A typical configuration of the present invention will be described below. Here, in order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the reference symbols attached to the drawings of the embodiments are shown together with the main components of the present invention, but the present invention is limited to the configurations indicated by the reference symbols. It is not a thing.

(Means 1) A carry-in conveyor (21) for placing a plurality of liquid containers (10) with caps (4) plugged in the mouth and carrying them in series in an irregular state of the handle, and the attitude of the liquid containers A control device (31), a carry-out conveyor (25) for serially conveying a plurality of liquid containers having grips set in a predetermined direction toward the bottle container transfer station, and the liquid at the head of the carry-in conveyor (21) The container (10) is lifted and landed on the liquid container posture control device (31), and the liquid container (10) with the handle direction set is lifted from the liquid container posture control device (31) and the carry-out conveyor (25 A grip direction unifying device having a suspended conveying device (11) to be transferred to
The liquid container (10) has a substantially cylindrical container main body (1) having a bottom (1a) at the lower end, and is positioned at the upper end of the container main body (1) in the vertical direction from the main body. Between the mouth portion (4) for filling and pouring the liquid at the top converged on and the concave portion (2) provided in a part of the outer wall of the container main body portion (1) between the outer surface of the concave portion The handle (3) is provided with a gap (S), and the handle (3) is placed in the space of the recess (2) inside the outline of the container body (1). Provided along the direction,
The liquid container attitude control device (31) has a rotation table (37), a motor (35), and a motor driver (34) on which the liquid container (10) carried by the suspended transfer device (11) is placed. It comprises a rotating device (32) composed of a mechanism (33), and a handle position setting control unit (36).
The suspended conveying device (11) includes a rail (12) and an air gripper (13) comprising a grip / moving mechanism (14) and a grip hand part (15) which is raised and lowered by a hand elevating part (16). And
The liquid container (10) is lifted from the carry-in conveyor (21) by the suspended conveying device (11) and is placed on the rotating table (37) of the rotating device (32) to be rotated, and the container main body (1) Based on the detection of the handle direction by the gap (S) between the recess (2) and the handle (3), the handle directions of the plurality of liquid containers (10) are unified in a predetermined direction and transferred to the carry-out conveyor.

  (Means 2) The liquid container posture control device (31) includes a distance sensor (6) constituted by a laser light emitting element (61) and a light receiving element (62), and laser light from the laser light emitting element (61). A reflector (7) for reflecting in the direction of the light receiving element (62) is provided, and the position of the handle (3) is determined based on the amount of light received by the light receiving element (62) in the gap (S). Detect.

  (Means 3) In the above (Means 2), the motor (35) is a servo motor provided with an encoder (51), and is provided with an arithmetic control means (38) to achieve a peak of the received light amount of the light receiving element (62). A handle position setting control device (36) for detecting the orientation of the handle (3) relative to the container body (1) from the corresponding output of the encoder (51) and aligning the orientations of the handles (3) of a plurality of liquid containers. Prepared.

  (Means 4) In the above (Means 3), the unification of the handle direction in a predetermined direction is preset with the handle direction of each liquid container detected by the handle position setting control device (36) for each liquid container. This is performed based on the aligned reference position information.

  (Means 5) In the (Means 2), the motor (35) is a servo motor, and includes an arithmetic control means (38) and corresponds to the peak of the received light amount of the light receiving element (62). And a handle position setting control device (36) for detecting the orientation of the handle (3) with respect to the container body (1) from the output of the plurality of liquid containers and aligning the orientations of the handles (3) of the plurality of liquid containers.

  (Means 6) In the above (Means 5), the unification of the handle direction in a predetermined direction is preset with the handle direction of each liquid container detected by the handle position setting control device (36) for each liquid container. This is performed based on the aligned reference position information.

  (Means 7) The air gripper (13) constituting the suspended conveyance device (11) in (Means 1) includes the carry-in conveyor (21), the liquid container attitude control device (31), and the carry-out conveyor ( 25), and the grip (4) of the liquid container (10) is grasped / released by the movement along the rail between 25) and the lowering / raising of the grip hand part (15). The liquid container (10) having a unified handle direction is transferred to the conveyor 25.

  (Means 8) The cap (4) of the liquid container (10) in (Means 1) has a QR code (registered trademark) print describing attribute data of the liquid filled in the liquid container (10). .

  (Means 9) The QR code during rotation of the liquid container (10) on the portion of the liquid container attitude control device (31) in the (Means 8) facing the cap (4) of the liquid container (10). It has a QR code reading head (39) for reading data written on the print.

  (Means 10) The attribute data recorded in the QR code printing in (Means 8) is a plurality of information including a product manufacturing date, a lot number, a serial number, and a shelf life.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the above-described means and the embodiments described later, and various modifications can be made without departing from the technical idea of the present invention.

  In this technical field, a liquid container (hereinafter simply referred to as a container or bottle, generally made of plastic) is filled with a required liquid (typically purified water) and shipped as a product. In this type of water purification manufacturing and shipping system, after a new container or a container to be collected and reused is washed at a washing station, a liquid container that has undergone a leak inspection or the like at the inspection station is filled with a liquid at the filling station. Filled containers are shipped on bottle containers or pallets. In addition, a plurality of stations for inspecting contents, inspecting filled containers, and other processes are installed. These various processing stations are connected by a conveyor (many roller conveyors), and transfer robots are arranged at important points.

  Containers with handles (handles) have various handle orientations when transported between these various processing stations, and the stations that handle them use a method to detect the direction of the handle each time. Alternatively, the work efficiency can be greatly improved by correcting the posture of the container body in a desired direction and unifying the directions of the handles.

  At a processing station that handles multiple containers at once, workers are placed and the handle direction is unified by manual posture control. However, the water-filled containers are heavy and have a huge number of continuous handling. Therefore, from the viewpoint of work safety, there is a demand for the realization of an apparatus that can easily and efficiently unify the grip direction. In order to realize such a demand, the present invention is configured as described above. With this configuration, the container can be handled at the shipping station only by the transfer robot.

  According to the present invention, the direction of the handle is detected by a gap between the outer wall of the liquid container body and the inside of the handle, and the handle can be grasped without being lost by the hand of the transfer robot or the hand of the operator. It is sufficient to align the direction as much as possible. Therefore, high grip position detection accuracy is not required as in the prior art, and the cycle time in the processing of a large number of liquid containers flowing on the conveyor is not greatly affected, and it greatly contributes to improvement of product throughput. .

It is a block diagram of the handle direction detection station explaining one Example of the handle direction unification apparatus of the liquid container which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram of the typical example of the liquid container which is the object of the handle direction unification apparatus of the liquid container which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the basis of the handle direction detection of the liquid container which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the specific example of the handle direction detection of the liquid container which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the light reception amount waveform of the distance sensor used for the handle direction detection of the liquid container which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram explaining an example of the signal processing apparatus for the handle direction detection of the liquid container which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram explaining the other example of the signal processing apparatus for the handle direction detection of the liquid container which concerns on this invention.

    DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a grip direction unifying device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings of the examples.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a handle direction detection station for explaining an embodiment of a liquid container handle direction unifying apparatus according to the present invention. This embodiment will be described on the assumption that the liquid container is a bottle filled with purified water. Examples of the bottle include polycarbonate and PET resin, but the present invention can be adopted regardless of the material, and does not limit the material of the bottle.
2A and 2B are configuration diagrams of a typical example of a liquid container that is a target of the liquid container grip direction unifying device according to the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a side view and FIG. 2B is a view of FIG. The cross section along the AA 'line is shown. The liquid container 10 has a substantially cylindrical container main body 1 having a bottom 1a at the lower end, and is positioned at the upper end of the container main body 1 from the container main body 1 in the vertical axis direction (up and down toward the plane of FIG. 2). (Direction: vertical center line of the container) The top portion converged upward has a mouth portion 4 for filling and dispensing liquid, that is, purified water.

And the recessed part 2 is formed in a part of outer wall of the said container main-body part 1, The handle 3 is attached to this recessed part 2 along the said vertical axis | shaft inside the outline of the said container main-body part 1. Yes. As shown in FIG. 2, a gap S is provided between the outer surface of the recess 2 and the handle 3. The gap S is provided so that light passes from one side surface of the liquid container 10 to the other side surface with respect to the handle, passing between the container body 1 and the handle 3.

  A plurality of liquid containers 10 filled with purified water at a not-shown purified water filling station and caps 4 at the mouth are placed on the carry-in conveyor 21 and are installed in the handle direction detection station where the liquid container attitude control device 31 is installed. It is brought in. The carry-in conveyor 21 includes a number of rollers 23 that are rotatably supported by a roller frame 22. The liquid container 10 to be carried arrives at a handle direction detection station in which the liquid container posture control device 31 is installed in a queue with its handle direction being irregular.

  The liquid container 10 at the head of the carry-in conveyor 21 is lifted by the suspending and conveying device 11 and is attached to the liquid container attitude control device 31. The suspended transport device 11 includes a rail 12 and an air gripper 13 including a grip / moving mechanism unit 14 and a grip hand unit 15 that is lifted and lowered by a hand lifting unit 16.

  The liquid container attitude control device 31 is a rotary table of a rotation device 32 configured by a rotation mechanism 33 having a motor 35 and a motor driver 34 and a handle position setting control unit 36 for the liquid container 10 carried in by the suspension transfer device 11. 37. The handle position setting control unit 36 rotates the turntable 37 upon detecting that the liquid container 10 is correctly placed on the turntable 37, and the handle direction is determined by the gap S between the recess 2 of the container body 1 and the handle 3. Based on the detection, the grip direction of the plurality of liquid containers 10 is set. The suspending and conveying device 11 lifts the liquid container 10 with the handle direction set, and transfers it to the carry-out conveyor 25 in a state where the handle direction (direction) is unified in a predetermined direction. This operation is sequentially repeated. In principle, the number of rotations of the liquid container 10 may be at least one rotation per minute, but it is 50 to 60 rotations per minute from the viewpoint of production cycle time.

  The air gripper 13 that constitutes the suspending and conveying device 11 is disposed in the horizontal direction (lateral direction) between the carry-in conveyor 21, the liquid container posture control device 31, and the carry-out conveyor 25 along the rail 12 as indicated by an arrow X in FIG. ). The liquid container 10 that has reached the top of the carry-in conveyor 21 is gripped by the grip hand portion 15 lowered in the arrow A direction by the hand lifting / lowering portion 16 of the grip / movement mechanism portion 14 and lifted in the arrow B direction.

  The grip / movement mechanism unit 14 that lifts the liquid container 10 moves to the right in the X direction on the paper surface illustrated in FIG. 1 and stops immediately above the turntable 37 of the rotation device 32 provided in the liquid container attitude control device 31. As shown by the arrow C, the liquid container 10 is placed on the turntable 37 and the grip hand unit 15 is released. In response to this release, the turntable 37 rotates as indicated by the arrow Y. The turntable 37 is controlled by a host controller (not shown) that controls the system of the present invention.

  The liquid container attitude control device 31 includes a distance sensor 6 composed of a laser light emitting element 61 and a light receiving element 62, and a reflecting plate 7 for reflecting the laser light from the laser light emitting element 61 toward the light receiving element 62. The QR code reading head 39 reads the QR code printing data of the cap 4 by the rotation of the rotary table 37. The read data is used for shipping management and distribution management.

  As the liquid container 10 is rotated, the amount of light received by the light receiving element 62 in the gap S changes. The position of the handle 3 is detected based on the peak of the received light quantity. The distance sensor 6 may be a combination of a laser diode and a photodiode to detect the difference in the amount of light received by the light receiving / receiving device, or a known distance sensor such as a digital distance sensor using a laser diode and a CMOS element. Alternatively, a position sensor can be used.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the basics of the detection of the handle direction of the liquid container according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic view for explaining a specific example of detection of the handle direction of the liquid container according to the present invention. And FIG. 5 is explanatory drawing of the light reception amount waveform of the distance sensor used for the handle direction detection of the liquid container based on this invention.

  FIGS. 3A to 3C show the same cross section as FIG. 2B schematically showing detection of the position of the handle by rotating the liquid container 10. In FIG. 3, reference numerals are the same as those in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a handle 3 is provided in a recess provided in a part of the side wall of the container main body 1. The gap S described with reference to FIG. 2 exists between the handle 3 and the side wall of the container main body 1. In the case of the illustrated liquid container 10, the handle 3 is located inside the outline of the side wall of the container main body 1. The present invention does not exclude the case where the handle 3 protrudes outside the outline of the side wall of the container main body 1.

This type of liquid container 10 has a blueish body color as a whole, including the handle 3,
A part of the light emitted from the laser light emitting element 61 of the distance sensor 6, reflected by the reflecting plate 7 and returned to the light receiving element 62 exists also outside the region of the gap S. That is, a part of the light emitted from the laser light emitting element 61 passes through the side wall or the handle 3 of the container main body 1 and reaches the reflecting plate 7, and again passes through the side wall or the handle 3 of the container main body 1 to receive the light receiving element. Return to 62.

  However, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, most of the light emitted from the laser light emitting element 61 and hitting the side wall of the container main body 1 is reflected and scattered. On the other hand, the amount of light received by the light receiving element 62 in the gap S is much larger than the amount of light that passes through the side wall of the container body 1 and returns to the light receiving element 62. In the present embodiment, this is used to detect the position of the handle. And the direction of the handle of the liquid container 10 carried out based on the detected position is unified to a predetermined direction.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram specifically explaining the detection of the handle position. The distance sensor 6 includes a laser light emitting element 61 and a light receiving element 62. Laser light 81 emitted from the laser light emitting element 61 has a small amount of light reaching the reflection plate 7 at the outer wall and handle portion of the container body 1 due to the rotation of the liquid container. However, the amount of light 82 that passes through the gap S between the concave portion 2 and the handle 3 of the container main body 1 of the liquid container 10 and reaches the reflecting plate 7 to be reflected and returns to the light receiving element 62 is much larger than the above. Become.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a received light amount waveform of the distance sensor used for detecting the handle direction of the liquid container according to the present invention. The horizontal axis shows the peripheral direction of the outer wall along the line AA ′ in FIG. 2A of the container body 1, and the vertical axis shows the change in the amount of received light detected by the light receiving element 62. Further, _{L D} of FIG. 5 is operating level of the light receiving element 62, _{L S} represents the level of detection.

In FIG. 5, the amount of light received by the light receiving element 62 is small due to reflection at the container body 1, and increases rapidly as shown by the waveform shown in the region of the gap S between the recess 2 and the handle 3 of the body 1. A light receiving peak is formed. A detection level L _S is set for the amount of light received in the area of the gap S. The drive frequency of the servo motor 35 is set so that at least one encoder pulse of the servo motor 35 always exists in the gap S region. Within the range of the gap S, the orientations of the handles 3 of the plurality of liquid containers 10 are detected.

  A plurality of liquid containers 10 that are carried out by performing an operation of aligning the handles 3 of the plurality of liquid containers 10 that further rotate the direction of the handles with encoder pulses corresponding to the detected direction of the handles 3 and preset reference position data. Unify the handle 3

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a signal processing apparatus for detecting the handle direction of the liquid container according to the present invention. This signal processing apparatus is a servo motor position control system (closed loop control) in which an encoder 51 is incorporated in a servo motor 35 and control information is fed back to a motor driver 34.

  The signal processing device of the handle position detection setting unit 44 includes a handle position setting control device 36 incorporating a calculation control means (38). The handle position setting control device 36 detects the peak from the received light amount signal of the distance sensor 6, the motor drive pulse (stepping pulse) counting means 42 between the received light peaks, and the drive up to the rotation angle of the motor. It comprises pulse number indicating means 43 and calculation control means (CPU) 38 for instructing the number of pulses based on a handle alignment reference position setting signal set from a terminal 45.

  The handle position setting control device 36 controls the rotation and stop of the servo motor 35 incorporating the encoder 51 by the motor driver 34, and the handle for the container body 1 from the output of the encoder 51 corresponding to the peak of the light receiving amount of the light receiving element 62. 3 is detected, and a drive pulse corresponding to the rotation angle corresponding to the handle alignment reference position setting signal set from the terminal 45 is applied to the motor driver to rotate and stop the motor. Thereby, the directions of the handles 3 of the plurality of liquid containers carried out by the carry-out conveyor 25 are aligned in a predetermined direction, and are shipped to the shipping station in a unified direction.

  The liquid container 10 whose handle orientation is set as described above by the liquid container attitude control device 31 (see FIG. 1) is lifted as indicated by the arrow D while the cap 4 is gripped by the lowering of the air gripper 13. E is transported as shown by E, and is lowered (arrow F) on the carry-out conveyor 25, and the grip is released and transferred to the carry-out conveyor 25. The air gripper 13 ascends as indicated by an arrow G, and returns to the position above the liquid container attitude control device 31 as shown by an arrow H or to the container lifting position of the carry-in conveyor 21.

  It should be noted that only one air gripper 13 moves between the carry-in conveyor 21 and the carry-out conveyor 25, and one liquid gripper posture control device is provided between the carry-in conveyor 21 and the liquid container posture control device 31. By arranging one, two in total between 31 and the carry-out conveyor 25, it is possible to shorten the grip alignment cycle time.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining another example of a signal processing apparatus for detecting the handle direction of a liquid container according to the present invention. The signal processing device for detecting the handle direction described in FIG. 6 is a servo control method (closed loop method) using an encoder, but the signal processing device for detecting the handle direction shown in FIG. Without the feedback control, the motor drive pulses existing between the light intensity peak signals detected by the received light peak detection means 41 are counted by the peak-to-peak pulse counting means 42 to detect the direction of the handle, and the alignment reference position setting signal This is an open loop method in which a drive pulse corresponding to the rotation angle corresponding to the pulse difference is applied to the motor driver. Although it cannot be expected to be as accurate as the closed loop system shown in FIG. 6, it is advantageous in terms of cost.

  The control circuit configurations shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are merely examples, and the liquid container rotation control means for detecting the handle position of the liquid container and unifying the orientation is not limited to the above configuration.

  As described above, the motor 35 used in this embodiment is a servo motor (pulse motor). In FIG. 6, the motor 35 has an arithmetic control unit 38 and corresponds to the peak of the received light amount of the light receiving element 62. And a handle position setting control device 36 for detecting the orientation of the handle 3 relative to the container body 1 and aligning the orientations of the handles 3 of the plurality of liquid containers.

  The unification of the position (orientation) of the handle in a predetermined direction is performed based on the direction of the handle of each liquid container detected by the handle position setting control device 36 for each liquid container and preset reference position information.

  The air gripper 13 constituting the suspending and conveying device 11 shown in FIG. 1 moves between the carry-in conveyor 21, the liquid container attitude control device 31 and the carry-out conveyor 25 along the rail 12, and lowers the grip hand unit 15. By finally grasping / releasing the cap 4 of the liquid container 10 by ascending, the liquid container 10 whose handle direction is unified is finally transferred to the carry-out conveyor 25.

  The cap 4 of the liquid container 10 is printed with a QR code describing attribute data of the filled liquid. This QR code is printed / recorded using laser printing means or the like after the container is filled with liquid and the cap is capped. The recorded QR code attribute data is a plurality of pieces of information including the product manufacture date, lot number, serial number, and expiration date. Along with this recording, letters and numbers are printed as necessary.

  According to the present embodiment, by detecting the direction of the handle in the gap between the outer wall of the liquid container body and the inside of the handle, the handle can be grasped without being lost by the hand of the transfer robot or the hand of the operator. Alignment as much as possible becomes easy. As in the prior art, it does not require a high degree of grip position detection accuracy, and greatly contributes to an improvement in product throughput without greatly affecting the cycle time in the processing of a large number of liquid containers flowing on a conveyor.

  The present invention is not limited to a bottle filled with purified water, but can also be applied to a container with a handle containing other liquids, emulsions, granules, powders, and other substances.

1 .. Container body 1a.. Bottom 2.. Concave 3.. Handle 4.. Cap 5.. Print 6.. Distance sensor 61 ... Aether issuing element 62 ... Light receiving element 7 Reflector S Gap 10 ・ ・ Liquid container 11 ・ Hanging and conveying device 12 ・ Rail 13 ・ ・ Air gripper 14 ・ ・ Grip / moving mechanism 15 ・ ・ Grip hand unit 16 ・ ・ Hand lifting unit 21 ・ ・ Loading conveyor 22 ・ ・Roller frame 23 ·· Roller 25 ··· Unloading conveyor 26 · · Roller frame 27 · · Roller 31 · · Liquid container attitude control device 32 · · Rotation device 33 · · Rotation mechanism 34 · · Motor driver 35 · · Servo motor 36 · ·・ Handle position setting control device 37 ・ ・ Rotary table 38 ・ ・ Calculation control device (CPU)
39..QR code reading head 41..Reception peak detecting means 42..Peak pulse counting means 43..Pulse number indicating means 44..Handle position detection setting unit 45..Alignment reference position setting terminal

Claims (10)

A plurality of liquid containers with caps at the mouth are placed, and a carry-in conveyor that conveys in series in an irregular state of the handle, a liquid container attitude control device, and a handle is set in a predetermined direction The carry-out conveyor that serially conveys a plurality of liquid containers in the direction of the bottle container transfer station, and the liquid in which the handle direction is set while lifting the liquid container at the head of the carry-in conveyor and landing it on the liquid container attitude control device A grip direction unifying device having a suspended conveying device that lifts a container from the liquid container posture control device and transfers it to the carry-out conveyor,
The liquid container has a substantially cylindrical container main body having a bottom at the lower end, and is filled with liquid and poured into a top located at the upper end of the container main body and converging upward in the vertical axis direction from the main body. And a recess provided in a part of the outer wall of the container main body with a handle provided with a gap between the outer surface of the recess, and the handle is provided in the space of the recess. , Provided along the longitudinal axis inside the outline of the container body,
The liquid container attitude control device is composed of a rotating device including a rotating table on which the liquid container carried by the hanging and conveying device is placed, a rotating mechanism having a motor and a motor driver, and a handle position setting control unit. And
The suspended conveying device is composed of a rail, an air gripper composed of a grip / moving mechanism unit and a grip hand unit that moves up and down by a hand lifting unit,
The suspension container lifts the liquid container from the carry-in conveyor, rotates it on the turntable of the rotating device, rotates the container, and detects a plurality of orientations based on a handle orientation detection by a gap between the recess of the container body and the handle. A handle direction unifying device characterized by unifying the handle direction of a liquid container in a predetermined direction and transferring it to a carry-out conveyor. In claim 1,
The liquid container attitude control device includes a distance sensor composed of a laser light emitting element and a light receiving element, and a reflecting plate for reflecting laser light from the laser light emitting element toward the light receiving element, An apparatus for unifying a handle direction, wherein the position of the handle is detected based on the amount of light received by a light receiving element. In claim 2,
The motor is a servo motor provided with an encoder, and includes an arithmetic control means for detecting the orientation of the handle relative to the container body from the output of the encoder corresponding to the peak of the received light amount of the light receiving element, and a plurality of liquid containers A handle direction unifying device comprising a handle position setting control device for aligning the directions of the handles. In claim 3,
The unification of the handle direction in a predetermined direction is performed on the basis of the handle orientation of each liquid container detected by the handle position setting control device for each liquid container and preset alignment reference position information. Handle direction unifying device. In claim 2,
The motor is a servo motor, and includes an arithmetic control unit to detect the orientation of the handle relative to the container body from the output of the encoder corresponding to the peak of the received light amount of the light receiving element, and the orientation of the handles of a plurality of liquid containers A handle direction unifying device characterized by comprising a handle position setting control device for aligning. In claim 5,
The unification of the handle direction in a predetermined direction is performed on the basis of the handle orientation of each liquid container detected by the handle position setting control device for each liquid container and preset alignment reference position information. Handle direction unifying device. In claim 1,
The air gripper constituting the suspending and conveying device moves the liquid container between the carry-in conveyor, the liquid-container attitude control device, and the carry-out conveyor along the rail, and the grip hand unit is lowered / lifted. The handle direction unifying device is characterized in that the liquid container having the unified handle direction is finally transferred to the carry-out conveyor by gripping / releasing the cap. In claim 1,
A grip direction unifying device having QR code (registered trademark) printing describing attribute data of a liquid filled in the liquid container on the cap of the liquid container. In claim 8,
A portion of the liquid container posture control device that faces the cap of the liquid container has a QR code reading head that reads data described in the QR code printing while the liquid container is rotating. In claim 8,
The handle direction unifying device, wherein the attribute data recorded in the QR code printing is a plurality of pieces of information including a product manufacturing date, a lot number, a serial number, and a shelf life.

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