JP2020075809A - Article transport system - Google Patents

Abstract

To shorten a clearance between articles or article groups in a stable manner during transport.SOLUTION: An article transport system 1 includes: an article supply device 10 that supplies article groups intermittently; a relay device 20 that includes a relay transport belt 21 that loads the article groups supplied from the article supply device 10, a first driving part 22 that drives the relay transport belt 21, and a second driving part 23 that advances the relay transport belt 21 in a transport direction α of the article groups; and a continuous transport device 30 that is provided at a lower position than a downstream side end part 21B of the relay transport belt 21 in the transport direction α and has a continuous transport belt 31 that transports the article groups released from the downstream side end part 21B in the same direction as the transport direction α. The relay device 20 drives the second driving part 23 so that the downstream side end part 21B of the relay transport belt 21 advances in the transport direction α at a faster speed than the transport speed of the continuous transport belt 31 on the downstream side in the transport direction α of an end of the relay device 20 of the continuous transport belt 31 and also at an upper position of the continuous transport belt 31.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article transport system capable of reducing the interval between articles or groups of articles that are intermittently transported during transportation.

  2. Description of the Related Art There is known an article transport system including an unloader that collectively removes a plurality of articles from a predetermined location and a conveyor device that transports the plurality of articles retrieved by the unloader. Patent Document 1 discloses an example of an unloader, and this unloader can take out a plurality of articles collectively from the tray by reversing the tray in which the plurality of articles are accommodated.

  In the article transport system including the unloader as disclosed in Patent Document 1, after the unloader takes out a plurality of articles and supplies the articles to the conveyor device, the unloader moves to the next unloading, so that articles are intermittently supplied. .. At this time, when the conveyor device conveys the articles supplied from the unloader at a constant conveyance speed, a group of a plurality of articles (hereinafter referred to as an article group) sequentially supplied and conveyed on the conveyor device. A space will be formed between them.

  The interval between the article groups on the conveyor device is called the conveyance pitch, and the larger the conveyance pitch, the lower the efficiency of work on the downstream side of the conveyor device. For example, in the case of sequentially packing the articles conveyed by the conveyor device, the larger the conveyance pitch, the longer the time for which the packaging work must be stopped and the greater the work loss.

  In consideration of the problem of work efficiency as described above, in this type of article transport system, a relay device for shortening the transport pitch may be provided between the unloader and the conveyor device. As such a relay device, for example, a device is known in which an article taken out by an unloader is adsorbed by a suction cup and the article is moved at a speed higher than a conveying speed of a conveyor device. In this relay device, since the adsorbed article can be brought closer to the preceding article on the conveyor device and supplied to the conveyor device, it is possible to shorten the conveyance pitch.

Patent No. 4553131

  However, as described above, since the relay device that uses the suction cup moves the article at a relatively high speed while adsorbing the article, the transportation state of the article may become unstable. In particular, if water droplets are attached to the article to be conveyed, the risk of dropping the article from the suction cup increases. For example, a product bag for retort food may be transported by the above-described article transport system, but such a product bag usually has a liquid adhering after the retort treatment, and therefore the product bag is sucked by a relay device. The state tends to be unstable.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an article transport system that can stably reduce the interval between articles or groups of articles that are intermittently transported during transportation. To do.

  An article conveying system according to the present invention includes an article supply device that intermittently supplies an article or an article group including a plurality of articles, a relay conveyance belt on which the article or the article group supplied from the article supply apparatus is mounted, A first drive unit for driving the relay conveyance belt, and a whole of the relay conveyance belt is moved forward in the conveyance direction of the article or article group, or the relay conveyance belt is extended in the conveyance direction of the article or article group. A relay device having two drive parts, and the article or group of articles that are arranged below the downstream end of the relay transport belt in the transport direction and are released from the downstream end, and the transport is performed. A continuous conveying belt that conveys the continuous conveying belt in the same direction as the direction, and a continuous conveying device that drives the continuous conveying belt at a constant conveying speed, and the relay device is an end of the continuous conveying belt on the relay device side. On the downstream side of the section in the transport direction and above the continuous transport belt, the downstream end of the relay transport belt advances or extends in the transport direction at a speed faster than the transport speed of the continuous transport belt. Thus, the second driving unit is driven.

  The relay device advances and extends the downstream end of the relay conveyor belt above the continuous conveyor belt, and then drives the relay conveyor belt by the first driver while driving the relay conveyor belt by the second driver. While the relay conveyor belt is retracted, the relay conveyor belt may be moved to a release state in which the article or article group is released from the downstream end portion. In the release state, the transport speed of the relay conveyor belt is VA, the relay is The first drive unit and the second drive unit may be controlled such that the relationship of VA + VB = VC is established, where VB is the backward speed of the conveyor belt and VC is the conveyor speed of the continuous conveyor belt.

  The relay conveyance belt may have an inclined portion that inclines obliquely downward toward the downstream end.

  A vertical gap between the downstream end of the relay conveyor belt and the continuous conveyor belt may be equal to or less than a height of the article in the vertical direction.

  According to the present invention, the interval between articles or groups of articles that are intermittently transported can be stably reduced during transportation.

It is a schematic side view of the article conveyance system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the article conveyance system shown in FIG.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an article transport system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The article conveyance system 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an article supply device 10, a relay device 20, and a continuous conveyance device 30. The article supply device 10 sequentially supplies an article or an article group including a plurality of articles to the relay apparatus 20, and the relay apparatus 20 supplies the article or the article group from the article supply apparatus 10 to the continuous transport device 30. The continuous transport device 30 is configured to further transport the article or article group supplied from the relay apparatus 20.

  The article supply apparatus 10 is provided with a circulation-type supply conveyor belt 11 on which an article or a group of articles is placed, and the supply conveyor belt 11 is driven by a drive unit having a motor or the like (not shown) so that It is adapted to convey a placed article or group of articles. The article or group of articles on the supply conveyor belt 11 is released from the downstream end 11B of the supply conveyor belt 11, and the released article or group of articles is received by the relay device 20. The article or group of articles is supplied to the relay device 20.

  In the present embodiment, the article supply apparatus 10 places the article group Wg including a plurality of articles W on the supply conveyor belt 11 and supplies one article group Wg to the relay device 20 by one article supply operation. Is becoming After that, the article supply apparatus 10 places the next article group Wg on the supply conveyor belt 11 and supplies it to the relay apparatus 20. Thereby, the article supply apparatus 10 is adapted to intermittently supply the article group Wg. Although the article supply apparatus 10 intermittently supplies the article group Wg in the present embodiment, as a modification, the article supply apparatus 10 may intermittently supply one article S.

  The relay device 20 includes a relay conveyor belt 21 on which the article group Wg supplied from the article supply device 10 is placed, a first drive unit 22 including a motor for driving the relay conveyor belt 21, and an article group on the relay conveyor belt 21. The second drive unit 23 that advances the entire relay conveyance belt 21 in the conveyance direction α of Wg.

  The relay conveyance belt 21 is a circulation type conveyor belt, and is driven by the first drive unit 22 to convey the article group Wg placed on the upper surface. The conveyance direction α of the article group Wg on the upper surface of the relay conveyance belt 21 is the same as the conveyance direction α of the article group Wg on the upper surface of the supply conveyance belt 11 of the article supply device 10.

  The upstream end portion 21A of the relay transport belt 21 in the transport direction α is close to the downstream end portion 11B of the supply transport belt 11, near the upstream end portion 21A on the upper surface of the relay transport belt 21, and the supply transport belt. The vertical position near the downstream end 11B on the upper surface of 11 is set to substantially the same position. Also, when the article group Wg is supplied from the article supply device 10, the relay conveyance belt 21 is driven at the same speed as the supply conveyance belt 11 of the article supply device 10. As a result, the article group Wg can be supplied from the supply conveyor belt 11 to the relay conveyor belt 21 while maintaining the arrangement state when placed on the supply conveyor belt 11.

  In the present embodiment, the position where the upstream end 21A of the relay conveyor belt 21 is close to the downstream end 11B of the supply conveyor belt 11 shown in FIG. In the state, the relay device 20 is supplied with the article group Wg from the article supply device 10. Further, the relay device 20 shifts from the receiving state to the forward state (or the extended state) by advancing the relay conveying belt 21 by the second drive unit 23, and moves to the receiving state by retracting the forward conveying belt 21. Return.

  The article group Wg on the relay transport belt 21 is released from the downstream end 21B of the relay transport belt 21 in the transport direction α, and the released article group Wg is supplied to the continuous transport device 30. Specifically, the article group Wg on the relay transport belt 21 is supplied to the continuous transport device 30 so as to be dropped from the downstream end 21B of the relay transport belt 21. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the relay conveyance belt 21 has an inclined portion 21S that inclines obliquely downward toward the downstream end 21B. As a result, the relay conveyance belt 21 can smoothly supply the article group Wg to the continuous conveyance device 30 by allowing the inclined group 21S to pass the article group Wg.

  The second drive unit 23 in the present embodiment has a base unit 24 fixedly arranged on the floor surface and a movable unit 25 reciprocally provided on the base unit 24, and a motor not shown By moving the movable part 25 toward the continuous transport device 30 side or retracting it toward the article supply device 10 side by a drive source such as the above, the entire relay transport belt 21 is reciprocated. The structure for reciprocating the movable part 25 on the base part 24 is not particularly limited, and for example, a structure using a timing belt and a pulley, a rack and pinion, a structure using a ball screw, or the like may be adopted.

  In the relay device 20, the first drive unit 22 and the second drive unit 23 can be driven separately. As a result, the relay device 20 causes the relay belt 21 to move forward or backward by the second drive portion 23 while stopping the drive of the relay belt 21 by the first drive portion 22, or the relay belt 21 by the first drive portion 22. It is possible to move the relay conveyance belt 21 forward or backward by the second drive unit 23 while driving 21.

  Subsequently, the continuous transport device 30 is disposed below the downstream end 21B of the relay transport belt 21, and carries the article group Wg released from the downstream end 21B and transports the same in the transport direction α. The continuous transport belt 31 is driven, and the continuous transport belt 31 is driven at a constant transport speed by a drive source such as a motor. In the present embodiment, the portion of the continuous transport belt 31 on the relay device 20 side vertically overlaps with the portion of the relay transport belt 21 on the downstream end 21B side in the receiving state. Further, the vertical gap between the downstream end 21 </ b> B of the relay transport belt 21 and the continuous transport belt 31 is less than or equal to the vertical height of the article W.

  In the article transport system 1 according to the present embodiment described above, the relay device 20 is located downstream of the end 31A of the continuous transport belt 31 on the relay device 20 side in the transport direction α and above the continuous transport belt 31. The downstream end portion 21B of the relay conveyor belt 21 drives the second drive unit 23 so as to advance in the conveying direction α at a speed higher than the constant conveying speed of the continuous conveyor belt 31. This makes it possible to reduce the conveyance pitch, which is the gap between the article groups Wg supplied from the relay device 20 and sequentially conveyed on the continuous conveyance belt 31.

That is, in the relay device 20, in the receiving state shown in FIG. 1, even when the relay transport belt 21 is driven by the first drive unit 22 and the second drive unit 23 is not driven, the continuous transport device 30 continuously operates. The article group Wg can be sequentially supplied onto the conveyor belt 31. However, in this case, the relay device 20 is intermittently supplied with the article group Wg from the article supply apparatus 10, and the article group Wg is supplied to the continuous conveyance device 30 in units of the article group Wg supplied by one supply operation of the article supply apparatus 10. Supply Wg. Therefore, a relatively large conveyance pitch is formed between the article groups Wg sequentially conveyed on the continuous conveyance belt 31.
On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as described above, the relay conveyor belt 21 is moved forward by the second drive portion 23 to bring the downstream end 21B of the relay conveyor belt 21 closer to the preceding article group Wg, and the downstream side. The supply of the article group Wg is started from the side end portion 21B. By such an operation, the conveyance pitch formed between the article groups Wg sequentially conveyed on the continuous conveyance belt 31 can be shortened.

  In addition, the relay device 20 advances the relay conveyor belt 21 above the continuous conveyor belt 31 as described above, and then drives the relay conveyor belt 21 by the first drive unit 22 and the relay conveyor belt 21 by the second drive unit 23. While retreating 21, the state shifts to a release state in which the article group Wg is released from the downstream end 21B. In this released state, the article group Wg is supplied to the continuous transport device 30 from the downstream end 21B of the relay transport belt 21.

  Here, when the transport speed of the relay transport belt 21 in the released state is VA, the reverse speed of the relay transport belt 21 is VB, and the transport speed of the continuous transport belt 31 is VC, the relay device 20 has a relationship of VA + VB = VC. The first drive unit 22 and the second drive unit 23 are driven so as to hold. However, the speed relationship in the released state is not limited to the above relationship.

  Hereinafter, an example of the operation of the article transport system 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 9.

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which the article supply device 10 has completed the supply of the article group Wg to the relay device 20 in the receiving state. In FIG. 2, the article group Wg is placed on the relay conveyance belt 21 of the relay device 20. In the present embodiment, when the article group Wg is supplied from the article supply device 10 to the relay conveyance belt 21, the relay conveyance belt 21 is driven at the same speed as the supply conveyance belt 11 of the article supply device 10 and the article group Wg. The drive of the relay conveyor belt 21 is stopped when the supply of the sheet is completed. However, the drive of the relay conveyance belt 21 may be continued even after the supply of the article group Wg from the article supply device 10 is completed.

  When the article group Wg is placed on the relay conveyance belt 21 as described above, in this example, the relay device 20 continuously connects the relay conveyance belt 21 by the second drive unit 23 as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. It is moved forward above the conveyor belt 31 (forward state).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the relay device 20 drives the relay transport belt 21 by the first drive unit 22 and retracts the relay transport belt 21 by the second drive unit 23, while moving the relay transport belt 21 backward from the downstream end 21B. Release Wg (released state). As a result, the article group Wg is supplied to the continuous transport device 30 from the downstream end 21B of the relay transport belt 21.

  Here, in the release state, when the transport speed of the relay transport belt 21 is VA, the backward speed of the relay transport belt 21 is VB, and the transport speed of the continuous transport belt 31 is VC, the relationship of VA + VB = VC is established. , The first drive unit 22 and the second drive unit 23 are controlled. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the article group Wg is supplied from the relay conveyance belt 21 to the continuous conveyance belt 31 while maintaining the arrangement state when the article group Wg is placed on the relay conveyance belt 21. It Further, since the relay conveyance belt 21 has the inclined portion 21S that is inclined obliquely downward toward the downstream end portion 21B, the vertical distance between the downstream end portion 21B and the continuous conveyance belt 31 is shortened, so that the article group Wg is stably supplied.

  Next, when the supply of the article group Wg from the relay transport belt 21 to the continuous transport belt 31 is completed, the relay device 20 returns to the receiving state as shown in FIG. At this time, the article supply apparatus 10 places the article group Wg to be supplied next to the relay apparatus 20 on the supply conveyor belt 11.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6, a new article group Wg is supplied to the relay apparatus 20 from the supply conveyor belt 11 of the article supply apparatus 10. FIG. 6 shows a state where the supply of the new article group Wg from the article supply apparatus 10 to the relay apparatus 20 is completed.

  Here, since the continuous transport belt 31 of the continuous transport device 30 is driven at a constant transport speed, while the new article group Wg is being supplied to the relay device 20, the continuous transport belt 31 is moved forward. The article group Wg present therein is gradually separated from the relay device 20. Then, when the supply of the new article group Wg to the relay device 20 is completed, it is between the preceding article group Wg on the continuous transport belt 31 and the new article group Wg on the relay transport belt 21. The conveyance pitch A is formed.

  Here, in the present embodiment, in order to reduce the above-described transport pitch A, the relay device 20 causes the second drive unit 23 to connect the relay transport belt 21 to the continuous transport belt 31 as indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 7. Forward above (the forward state). Subsequently, the relay device 20 drives the relay conveyor belt 21 by the first drive unit 22 and retracts the relay conveyor belt 21 by the second drive unit 23 as illustrated in FIG. Wg is released (released state), and a new article group Wg is supplied from the downstream end 21B of the relay conveyance belt 21 to the continuous conveyance device 30. As a result, on the continuous transport belt 31, the transport pitch between the preceding article group Wg and the new article group Wg becomes the transport pitch B which is narrower than the above-described transport pitch A.

In the present embodiment, when supplying the article group Wg from the relay device 20 to the continuous transport device 30, the relay device 20 does not particularly change the posture of the article group Wg placed on the relay transport belt 21 (without reversing or the like). ), Since the articles W are supplied to the continuous conveyance device 30, the conveyance pitch between the article groups Wg can be stably shortened without dropping the articles W or the like.
Further, even when the relay device 20 shifts to the release state in order to supply the new article group Wg to the continuous transport device 30, the transport speed of the relay transport belt 21 in the released state is VA, and the reverse speed of the relay transport belt 21 is When VB and the transport speed of the continuous transport belt 31 are VC, the relationship of VA + VB = VC is established. Thereby, the article group Wg is supplied from the relay conveyance belt 21 to the continuous conveyance belt 31 while maintaining the arrangement state when the article group Wg is placed on the relay conveyance belt 21.

  Therefore, according to the article carrying system 1 of the present embodiment, the carrying pitch, which is the interval between the articles or the group of articles that are carried intermittently, can be stably shortened during the carrying. Specifically, as compared with a case where only the relay conveyor belt 21 of the relay device 20 is simply driven to sequentially supply the article group Wg onto the continuous conveyor belt 31, the articles between the article groups Wg on the continuous conveyor belt 31 are transferred. The conveyance pitch can be shortened. This makes it possible to increase the processing amount per unit time of the work on the downstream side with respect to the article Wg conveyed by the continuous conveyance belt 31, so that the work efficiency of the work can be improved.

  In addition, the relay device 20 advances and extends the downstream end 21 </ b> B of the relay transport belt 21 above the continuous transport belt 31, and then drives the relay transport belt 21 by the first drive unit 22 and the second drive unit 23. Thus, while the relay conveyance belt 21 is retracted, a transition is made to the release state in which the article group Wg is released from the downstream end 21B thereof. In this release state, when the transport speed of the relay transport belt 21 is VA, the backward speed of the relay transport belt 21 is VB, and the transport speed of the continuous transport belt 31 is VC, the relationship of VA + VB = VC is established.

  Thereby, the article group Wg can be supplied to the continuous transport belt 31 while maintaining the arrangement state when placed on the relay transport belt 21, and a stable transport state can be obtained.

  Further, the relay conveyance belt 21 has an inclined portion 21S which is inclined obliquely downward toward the downstream end portion 21B, whereby the vertical distance between the downstream end portion 21B and the continuous conveyance belt 31 is shortened. Therefore, the article group Wg can be stably supplied from the relay transport belt 21 to the continuous transport belt 31, and the posture of the article W on the continuous transport belt 31 can be suppressed from being collapsed.

  The vertical gap between the downstream end 21B of the relay conveyor belt 21 and the continuous conveyor belt 31 is less than or equal to the height of the article W in the vertical direction. As a result, the occupation range of the relay device 20 and the continuous transport device 30 in the vertical direction can be suppressed, and the product can be prevented from dropping from between the downstream end portion 21B of the relay transport belt 21 and the continuous transport belt 31.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications may be added to the above embodiment.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the relay device 20 is configured to move the entire relay conveyor belt 21 forward or backward by the second drive unit 23, but the relay device 20 is configured as a so-called shuttle conveyor. Good. In this case, the relay device 20 is configured to extend the relay transport belt 21 in the transport direction α and contract the relay transport belt 21 in the direction opposite to the transport direction α.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the article supply apparatus 10 is configured to supply the article group to the relay apparatus 20 in the same direction as the conveyance direction α of the article group Wg on the relay apparatus 20. However, the article supply device 10 may supply the article or the article group from a direction that intersects the transport direction α on a horizontal plane, specifically a direction that is orthogonal to the conveyance direction α, or from above the relay device 20.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Article conveyance system 10 ... Article supply apparatus 11 ... Supply conveyance belt 11B ... Downstream end 20 ... Relay device 21 ... Relay conveyance belt 21A ... Upstream end 21B ... Downstream end 21S ... Inclined portion 22 ... 1 drive part 23 ... 2nd drive part 24 ... base part 25 ... movable part 30 ... continuous conveyance device 31 ... continuous conveyance belt W ... article Wg ... article group

Claims (4)

An article supply device that intermittently supplies an article or an article group including a plurality of articles,
A relay conveyance belt on which the article or article group supplied from the article supply device is placed, a first drive unit that drives the relay conveyance belt, and the entire relay conveyance belt advances in the conveyance direction of the article or article group. Or a second drive unit for extending the relay transport belt in the transport direction of the article or group of articles,
A continuous conveyor belt that is disposed below the downstream end of the relay conveyor belt in the conveyor direction and carries the article or group of articles released from the downstream end and conveys it in the same direction as the conveyor direction. Having a continuous transport device for driving the continuous transport belt at a constant transport speed,
In the relay device, the downstream end of the relay conveyor belt is located at the downstream side of the end of the continuous conveyor belt in the conveyor direction and above the continuous conveyor belt. An article transport system for driving the second drive unit so as to advance or extend in the transport direction at a speed faster than the transport speed of. The relay device advances and extends the downstream end of the relay conveyor belt above the continuous conveyor belt, and then drives the relay conveyor belt by the first driver while driving the relay conveyor belt by the second driver. While retracting the relay conveyor belt, transition to a release state in which the article or article group is released from the downstream end,
In the release state, when the transport speed of the relay transport belt is VA, the retreat speed of the relay transport belt is VB, and the transport speed of the continuous transport belt is VC, the relation of VA + VB = VC is satisfied. The article transport system according to claim 1, wherein the first drive unit and the second drive unit are controlled.   The article conveyance system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the relay conveyance belt has an inclined portion that is inclined obliquely downward toward the downstream end portion.   4. The article transport according to claim 1, wherein a vertical gap between the downstream end of the relay transport belt and the continuous transport belt is equal to or lower than a vertical height of the article. system.

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