JP2021066599A - Article transfer method and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an article transfer method and a device therefor that allow a plurality of articles in a lying posture to be efficiently transferred to the transfer destination as aggregated products aggregated and aligned in a simple configuration.SOLUTION: Holding means 15 provided in a handling part 16 of a transfer robot 12 holds the side faces of a flat article 11 being mounted and transported in a lying posture on a transport conveyor 10 and picks up the article 11 from the transport conveyor 10. A stacking process is repeated predetermined times, where the article 11 picked up from the transport conveyor 10 is positioned above another article 11 being transported on the transport conveyor 10 by operating the handling part 16, and then the holding by the holding means 15 is released, thereby all the stacked articles 11 are held by the holding means 15 and picked up from the transport conveyor 10. Aggregated products W, which are formed by aggregating a predetermined number of articles 11 in a stacking condition and held by the holding means 15 in a consolidated manner, are transferred to a supply conveyor 13.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an article transfer method and an apparatus thereof for transferring an article conveyed by a transfer conveyor as an aggregate of a plurality of articles.

Conventionally, when articles such as frozen foods in which croquettes are frozen are transported from a manufacturing machine, the distance and orientation between the articles are not constant, so that a pillow wrapping machine or the like in which each article is arranged on the downstream side is used. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of collecting articles in a group of articles aligned in the same direction and sending them to a packaging machine so as to meet the packaging specifications.

The apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is formed by a plurality of alignment guides separated from each other in a direction intersecting the transport direction above the transport surface of a conveyor that transports articles in a lying position irregularly placed on the transport surface. A plurality of transport paths are provided, and the articles transported by the conveyor are introduced into each transport path to align the directions, and the movement of the leading article introduced in each transport path is carried out by a predetermined number of articles in the transport path. It is configured to be regulated by regulatory means until it is introduced. Then, the movement restriction by the regulating means is released, and the article is sent from all the transport paths to the posture change transport device composed of the twisted belt conveyor, so that the posture of the article is changed to the standing posture, and the posture is changed to the standing posture. By restricting the movement of a plurality of articles with the delivery shutter, a plurality of articles are gathered as an aligned article group in a direction intersecting the transport direction, and the article group is directed toward the packaging machine by releasing the movement restriction by the delivery shutter. It is configured to be sent out.

Japanese Patent No. 5711915

In the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, articles are transported toward the transport path at irregular intervals, so that there is a time lag until a predetermined number of articles are introduced into each of the plurality of transport paths. As a result, it takes time to feed the articles from the plurality of transport paths to the posture change transport device all at once, and as a result, there is a problem that the article group cannot be efficiently delivered to the packaging machine. Further, since a posture change transport device for collecting articles, a delivery shutter, and the like are provided on the downstream side of the transport path, it is pointed out that the configuration is complicated and the device is lengthened.

The present invention provides an article transfer method and an apparatus thereof capable of efficiently transferring a plurality of articles transported by a transfer conveyor to a transfer destination as an aggregate that is assembled and arranged in a simple configuration. The purpose is to do.

The method for transferring an article according to claim 1 of the present application is as follows.
Another article (10) picked up from the transfer conveyor (10) sandwiched between the handling units (16) of the transfer robot (12) is conveyed by the transfer conveyor (10) by operating the handling unit (16). After being positioned above the article (10), the picked-up article (10) is released from the handling section (16) and stacked, and the stacked article (10) is sandwiched between the handling section (16). The stacking / picking process picked up from the transport conveyor (10) is repeated until the number of stacked articles (10) picked up by the handling unit (16) reaches a predetermined number, and the predetermined articles (10) are in a stacked state. It is characterized in that the assembled product (W) assembled in is transferred to the transfer destination (13) by operating the handling unit (16).

The article transfer device of the invention according to claim 2 of the present application is
An article transfer device that transfers an article (11) conveyed by a transfer conveyor (10) as an aggregate (W) in which a plurality of articles are assembled.
A transfer robot having a handling unit (16) that sandwiches an article (11) conveyed by the conveyor (10) with sandwiching members (20, 20) and picks up the article (10) from the conveyor (10). With (12)
The transfer robot (12) moves the article (10) picked up by the handling unit (16) from the conveyor (10) onto another article (10) being conveyed by the conveyor (10). After positioning, the sandwiching member (20,20) is released from sandwiching and stacked, and the article (10) in the stacked state is sandwiched by the sandwiching member (20,20) and conveyed by the handling unit (16). The stacking / picking process picked up from (10) is repeated until the number of stacked articles (10) picked up by the handling unit (16) reaches a predetermined number, and the predetermined number of articles (10) are assembled in a stacked state. It is characterized in that the operation of the handling unit (16) is controlled so that the assembled product (W) is transferred to the transfer destination (13).
According to the inventions of claims 1 and 2, since the articles transported by the transfer conveyor are assembled in a stacked state at the handling portion of the transfer robot, a predetermined number of articles can be assembled in a short time. Can be done. In addition, since the assembled aggregates are transferred to the transfer destination by the operation of the handling unit, the aggregates in which a plurality of articles are arranged can be efficiently transferred to the transfer destination with a simple configuration. .. Moreover, the device does not become long.

In the invention according to claim 3, the sandwiching member (20, 20) sandwiches the periphery of the flat article (10) transported in a lying position on the transport conveyor (10), and the assembly (W). ) Is configured to be able to hold around all the articles (10) that make up
The transfer robot (12) converts the article (10) into an upright posture until the aggregate (W) sandwiched between the sandwich members (20, 20) is transferred to the transfer destination (13). It is characterized in that the operation of the handling unit (16) is controlled so as to be performed.
According to the invention of claim 3, before the aggregate is transferred to the transfer destination, the article sandwiched by the sandwiching member of the handling portion is changed from the lying posture to the standing posture. It is not necessary to separately provide a device for changing the posture, and the device configuration can be simplified.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the handling portion (16) is provided with a regulating means (29) for regulating a change in the posture of an article (10) sandwiched between the sandwiching members (20, 20). To do.
According to the invention of claim 4, when the article is sandwiched by the sandwiching member, the change in the posture of the article can be regulated by the regulating means, so that the article can be sandwiched in an appropriate posture. Further, when the pinching of the article by the pinching member is released, the change in the posture of the article falling on another article can be regulated by the regulating means, and a plurality of articles can be stacked in the same posture. Can be sandwiched between.

In the invention according to claim 5, when the transfer robot (12) transfers the aggregate (W) in which the article (10) is converted into the standing posture to the transfer destination (13), the article (10) When the restricting means (29) located at the lower restricting position of the aggregate (W) is released from being pinched by the pinching members (20, 20) when the posture is changed to the standing posture, the article (10) is released. It is characterized in that it moves to the release position to be transferred to the transfer destination (13) without interfering with the regulation means (29).
According to the invention of claim 5, until the article is transferred to the transfer destination by releasing the pinching by the sandwiching member by the regulatory means located below the aggregate when the article is converted into the upright posture. Can be prevented from falling from the handling portion. In addition, the regulating means located below the aggregate is moved to a release position that does not interfere with the holding member when the aggregate is transferred to the transfer destination, so that the aggregate is effectively transferred to the transfer destination. Can be placed.

In the invention according to claim 6, the sandwiching member (20,20) includes a deformable portion (25) that can be elastically deformed in the sandwiching direction of the article (10), and the sandwiching member (20,20) is the article (10). It is characterized in that the deformed portion (25) is configured to be able to deform and absorb the variation in the side surface shape of each article (10) when the article (10) is sandwiched.
According to the invention of claim 6, even if the side shape and the length in the sandwiching direction vary from article to article, each article in a stacked state can be effectively sandwiched, and the position and orientation of the aggregate can be determined. Can be prevented from being disturbed.

In the invention according to claim 7, the sandwiching member (20,20) includes a support portion (27) capable of supporting the lower surface of the lowermost article (10) sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members (20,20). It is characterized by that.
According to the invention of claim 7, it is possible to prevent the sandwiched article from falling until the article sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members is positioned above another article.

According to the present invention, the articles transported by the transport conveyor can be efficiently transferred to the transfer destination as an aggregate that is assembled and arranged in a simple configuration, and the device can be lengthened. Absent.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows the article transfer apparatus. It is the schematic perspective view which shows the handling part by the stacking posture of the holding means. It is the schematic perspective view which shows the handling part by the transfer posture of the holding means. It is a cross-sectional plan view of the handling part which shows the holding means in a stacking posture. It is a vertical sectional side view of the handling part which shows the regulation member in a transfer posture.

Next, a method for transferring an article and a suitable embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the article transfer device according to the embodiment is a transfer robot 12 that collects articles 11 that are irregularly placed and transported on a transfer conveyor 10 as an aggregate W in which a predetermined number of articles are stacked. The transfer robot 12 is configured to transfer the aggregate W to the supply conveyor 13 which is the transfer destination. In the embodiment, the article 11 is an oval-shaped and flat frozen food such as a croquette or a hamburger steak, but if it is flat, it may have a circular, oval, or rectangular shape. On the transport surface of the conveyor 10, the articles 11 that have undergone various treatments such as inspection by X-rays in the previous step are placed in a lying position in which the articles 11 are laid flat without overlapping the articles. They are placed and transported with irregular orientations and intervals between articles. An encoder (not shown) is arranged in the drive system of the conveyor 10, and pulse information output from the encoder is output to a control unit (not shown) of the transfer robot 12.

As shown in FIG. 1, as the transfer robot 12, a parallel link robot or the like having a handling unit 16 provided with a holding means 15 at the end of a robot arm 14 that can freely move in a three-dimensional space is used. Two transfer robots 12 are arranged apart from each other in the article transport direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the handling portion 16 is a U-shaped support that is horizontally rotated in a direction along the axial direction of the output shaft of the servomotor 17 by a servomotor 17 arranged on the robot arm 14. The member 18, the main body 19 pivotally supported on the tip side of the pair of extension pieces 18b, 18b extending from the end of the base 18a of the support member 18, and the article 11 provided on the main body 19. The holding means 15 is provided with a pair of holding members 20, 20 that can be moved close to each other so as to hold the side surfaces from both sides, and the servomotor 21 rotates the main body 19 with respect to the support member 18. As a result, the postures of the holding members 20 and 20 in the holding means 15 can be changed. Specifically, the main body 19 is formed in a box shape, a servomotor 21 as a driving means is arranged therein, and the main body 19 projects from one side wall 19a facing the horizontal rotation axis direction. The support member 18 is connected to the output shaft of the servomotor 21, and the main body 19 can be vertically rotated by the servomotor 21 with respect to the support member 18 that is horizontally rotated by the servomotor 17.

As shown in FIG. 4, the holding means 15 includes a pair of first air cylinders 22, 22 as driving means arranged inside the main body 19 apart from each other in the rotation axis direction of the main body 19. The first actuating rods 23, 23 connected to the piston rods of the first air cylinders 22 are supported so as to be able to move forward and backward with respect to the side wall 19a of the main body 19. The holding member 20 located outside the front wall 19b parallel to the rotation axis direction of the main body 19 is connected to the end of the first operating rods 23, 23 protruding from the main body 19 via a holder 24. By operating the pair of first air cylinders 22, 22 in synchronization with each other, the pair of holding members 20, 20 move close to each other. Further, the holding means 15 (holding members 20, 20) rotates the servomotor 21 in the forward and reverse directions to rotate the main body 19 90 degrees vertically with respect to the support member 18, thereby rotating the rotation shaft of the main body 19. The main body is located in front of the main body 19 that intersects the direction, and the stacking posture (see FIG. 2) when stacking the articles 11 and the standing posture that the sandwiched articles 11 are changed from the lying posture to the standing posture. The posture changes to the transfer posture (see FIG. 3) located below the portion 19.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the holding means 15 is configured to sandwich both side surfaces of the oval-shaped article 11 facing in the longitudinal direction with the pair of holding members 20, 20. The contact portion 25 as a deformed portion formed in a shape that resembles the side shape of the article 11 is provided on the 20 so as to extend in the vertical direction in the stacked posture. The contact portion 25 is set to a length capable of holding all the stacked articles 11. Further, the contact portion 25 is configured by arranging deformable members 26 made of leaf springs that can be elastically deformed in the front-rear direction in the holding direction of the article 11 in the vertical direction in a stacked posture. The elastic deformation of the article 26 is configured to be able to absorb variations in the side surface shape of each article 11 and variations in the length of the article 11 in the longitudinal direction (pinching direction). In the embodiment, four deformable members 26 are configured to be able to come into contact with the side surface of the article for each article 11. Further, a plate-shaped support portion 27 capable of placing and supporting the lower surface of the lowermost article 11 when the article 11 is sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 20 and 20 is provided at the lower end of the sandwiching member 20 in the stacked posture. It is provided so as to extend toward the holding member 20 of the.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, a support wall 28 for restricting the movement of the article 11 in the proximity direction to the main body 19 is provided on the front wall 19b of the main body 19, and the support wall 28 is provided. Is formed in a shape that follows the side surface shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the article 11. Further, a restricting member 29 as a sandwiching means for restricting the movement of the article 11 sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 20 and 20 with respect to the main body 19 in the separating direction faces the main body 19 apart from the support wall 28. It is provided to do so. The support wall 28 and the restricting member 29 regulate changes in posture such as the direction of the article 11 sandwiched by the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 (movement in a direction intersecting the sandwiching direction of the article 11 by the sandwiching members 20, 20). The supporting wall 28 and the regulating member 29 are set to a length that can regulate changes in posture such as the orientation of all the stacked articles 11. Further, the regulating member 29 is positioned in a substantially horizontal posture below the aggregate W sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 when the holding means 15 is placed in the transfer posture.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the regulating member 29 is composed of a pair of round bar-shaped rods 29a and 29a that are separated from each other in the proximity separation direction (longitudinal direction of the article 11) of the holding members 20 and 20. The rod 29a has a regulated position (solid line position in FIG. 5) in which the movement of the article 11 can be restricted by the second air cylinder 30 arranged in the main body 19 and the link mechanism 31 operated by the second air cylinder 30. , It is configured to be movable between the release position (two-dot chain line position in FIG. 5) that enables the release of the aggregate W from the holding means 15. The second air cylinder 30 arranged inside the main body 19 is connected to a second operating rod 32 whose piston rod is supported so as to be able to move forward and backward with respect to the side wall 19a of the main body 19. The link mechanism 31 has one end rotatably supported by a bracket 33 arranged on the front wall 19b of the main body 19 in a stacking posture around an axis in the vertical direction, and the other end of the rod 29a. One end is pivotally supported between the first link member 34 on which the upper end is arranged and the first link member 34, and the other end protrudes from the main body 19 of the second operating rod 32. It is provided with a second link member 35 pivotally supported by. Then, by operating the pair of the second air cylinders 30 and 30 in synchronization, the pair of rods 29a and 29a move closer to each other as the pair of first link members 34 and 34 swing. Move between the regulated position and the released position. At the lower end of the rod 29a in the stacked posture, an inclined portion 29b is formed on the side separated from the main body 19 at the regulated position and separated from the main body 19 as it goes upward from the lower end.

As shown in FIG. 1, the article transfer device places the article 11 transported by the conveyor 10 above the article transfer path by the transfer conveyor 10 on the upstream side of the arrangement position of the transfer robot 12. An imaging means 36 such as a CCD camera that captures a state is arranged. The image data captured by the imaging means 36 is sequentially sent to the control unit of the transfer robot 12 for each imaging. In the control unit, each of the articles 11 conveyed by the conveyor 10 is subjected to a process of specifying the orientation and a position, and a process of determining the distance between the articles. Since the positions of the respective articles 11 identified by the process change every moment due to the transfer by the transfer conveyor 10, the control unit of the transfer robot 12 determines the positions of the respective articles 11 based on the pulse information obtained from the encoder. Is processed to track. Then, when the article 11 imaged by the imaging means 36 arrives at the stacking area where the stacking / picking process is performed by the transfer robot 12, the transfer robot 12 handles the handling unit 16 based on the processing in the control unit. The operation is controlled to perform a stacking / picking process for assembling a plurality of articles 11. That is, the transfer robot 12 sandwiches the side surface of the article 11 conveyed by the transfer conveyor 10 by the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 in the holding means 15 of the handling portion 16 in the stacked posture, and the article 11 Is picked up from the transport conveyor 10, and the picked up article 11 is positioned so as to align the direction above another article 11 transported by the transport conveyor 10 by operating the handling unit 16, and is sandwiched by the sandwiching members 20, 20. By releasing the above, the articles 11 sandwiched on another article 11 are stacked, and all the articles 11 in the stacked state are sandwiched again by the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 and taken up from the conveyor 10. The operation of the handling unit 16 is controlled so that the stacking / picking process is repeated until the number of stacked articles 11 reaches a predetermined number. Further, the transfer robot 12 transfers the holding members 20 and 20 of the holding means 15 holding the collective product W in which the articles 11 are assembled in a predetermined number of stacked states to the supply conveyor 13 until the collective product W is transferred. In the meantime, the handling portion 16 is rotated 90 degrees vertically so that the article 11 is in an upright posture with an edge stand, and the holding members 20 and 20 are converted into a transfer posture located below the main body portion 19. Control the operation.

When the control unit of the transfer robot 12 performs the stacking / picking process, the order determined based on the information obtained from the image data (for example, the articles on the downstream side being conveyed by the transfer conveyor 10). A predetermined number of articles 11 are stacked and picked up in order in the order of articles 11 on the upstream side from 11). Further, in the article transfer device including the two transfer robots 12, 12, the articles 11 to be stacked by each transfer robot 12 are determined based on the information obtained from the image data.

As shown in FIG. 1, the supply conveyor 13 of the packaging machine is arranged so as to be separated from one side of the transfer conveyor 10 and to have a transfer direction parallel to the transfer direction of the transfer conveyor 10. The supply conveyor 13 is a conveyor in which a support bar is laid horizontally between a pair of endless chains that circulate and a transport surface is formed by the support bar, and is an aggregate that is placed on the transport surface by the transfer robot 12. W is supplied toward the packaging part of the horizontal bag filling machine. On the transport surface of the supply conveyor 13, an aggregate W in which the article 11 is converted into an upright posture by vertical rotation of the holding means 15 (holding members 20, 20) provided in the handling portion 16 of the transfer robot 12 is packaged. It is placed according to the interval of article supply to the department. The left and right sides of the aggregate W placed on the supply conveyor 13 are guided by the article guides 37 and 37 and conveyed toward the packaging section.

Next, the operation of the article transfer device according to the embodiment will be described in relation to the article transfer method.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of articles 11 placed and transported by the transport conveyor 10 in irregular directions and intervals are imaged by the imaging means 36. The control unit of the transfer robot 12 associates the captured information with the pulse information output from the encoder and sequentially updates the position information of the article 11. Further, the control unit of the transfer robot 12 determines the order of the articles 11 to be stacked based on the information obtained from the image data.

The transfer robot 12 controls the operation of the robot arm 14 based on the order determined by the control unit, and the pair of holding members 20, 20 of the holding means 15 are separated from each other and are in a stacked posture. The handling portion 16 is moved upward of the article 11 to be first sandwiched, and at the time of the movement, the handling portion 16 is horizontally rotated by the servomotor 17 to orient the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20. , Align the orientation of the article 11 to be pinched. Specifically, the handling portion 16 is horizontally rotated so that the longitudinal direction of the article 11 and the sandwiching direction of the article 11 by the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 are aligned. Then, the transfer robot 12 in which the orientations of the sandwiching members 20 and 20 are aligned with the orientation of the article 11 lowers the handling portion 16 to a position where the support portion 27 provided on the sandwiching member 20 is close to the transport surface of the conveyor 10. After that, as shown in FIG. 4, the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 are moved close to each other by the first air cylinders 22, 22, and the side surfaces of the article 11 are sandwiched from both sides in the longitudinal direction. The transfer robot 12 moves the handling unit 16 to the downstream side at the same speed as the transfer conveyor 10 until the handling unit 16 is lowered and the article 11 is sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 20 and 20. , The contact between the other articles 11 located around the article 11 to be sandwiched and the sandwiching members 20, 20 is avoided.

The transfer robot 12 in which the article 11 is sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members 20 and 20 raises the handling portion 16 to pick up the article 11 from the conveyor 10 and extends to the upper part of another article 11 to be sandwiched next. The article 11 being sandwiched is moved, and at the time of the movement, the handling portion 16 is horizontally rotated by the servomotor 17 so that the directions of the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20 are aligned with the orientation of the article 11 to be sandwiched. As a result, the orientation of the sandwiched article 11 and the other article 11 are aligned. The transfer robot 12 in which the article 11 sandwiched by the sandwiching members 20 and 20 is positioned above the other article 11 with the orientation aligned is such that the pair of sandwiching members 20 and 20 are held by the first air cylinders 22 and 22. The articles 11 are separated from each other to release the sandwiching of the articles 11, and the sandwiched articles 11 are dropped onto the upper surface of another article 11 and stacked. Then, the transfer robot 12 lowers the handling portion 16 by the height of one article, and then moves the pair of holding members 20, 20 close to each other by the first air cylinders 22, 22 to stack them. The two articles 11 in the state are sandwiched together.

After that, in the same manner as described above, the handling portion 16 in which all the stacked articles 11 are sandwiched by the pair of sandwiching members 20 and 20 is raised to pick up the articles 11 from the conveyor 10, and the articles 11 are picked up as follows. After aligning the orientation above another article 11 to be pinched, the pinch is released and stacked, and after the handling portion 16 is lowered by the height of one article, all the articles 11 are pinched in pairs. The stacking / picking process of collectively sandwiching the members 20 and 20 is repeated a predetermined number of times. The rods 29a and 29a of the regulation member 29 are maintained at the regulation position during the stacking / picking process. Then, when a predetermined number of articles 11 are stacked in a predetermined number, the transfer robot 12 uses the servomotor 21 to sandwich all the stacked articles 11 by the pair of sandwiching members 20, 20. The main body 19 is rotated 90 degrees vertically with respect to the support member 18, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the holding members 20 and 20 are changed from the stacking posture to the transfer posture, so that the article 11 in the aggregate W is formed. Convert from a lying position to a standing position. That is, the plurality of articles 11 in the stacked state are arranged side by side in the standing posture. The transfer robot 12 moves the handling unit 16 to the upper side of the supply conveyor 13, and as shown in FIG. 5, the rods 29a and 29a of the regulation member 29 located below the aggregate W are moved to the second air cylinder. After moving from the regulated position to the release position by 30 and 30, the pair of holding members 20 and 20 are separated from each other by the first air cylinders 22 and 22 to release the holding, so that the aggregate W is supplied to the supply conveyor. It is transferred to the transport surface of 13 in an upright position and side by side. The aggregate W conveyed by the supply conveyor 13 is packaged by a packaging machine provided on the downstream side.

In the article transfer device of the embodiment, articles 11 transported in an irregular state by the transfer conveyor 10 in a lying position are stacked in a lying position by controlling the operation of the handling unit 16 of the transfer robot 12. Since it is configured to be assembled in a short time, a predetermined number of articles 11 can be assembled in a short time. Further, since the aggregate W assembled by the handling unit 16 is configured to be converted from the lying posture to the standing posture before moving to the upper side of the supply conveyor 13, the aggregate W is efficiently transferred to the supply conveyor 13. Can be reprinted. Further, it is not necessary to separately provide a device for aligning the directions of the plurality of articles 11, a device for gathering, and a device for changing the posture, and the device is transferred to the supply conveyor 13 as an aggregate W in which the plurality of articles 11 are aligned with a simple configuration. It can be mounted and the device does not become long. Further, since the articles 11 conveyed by the transfer conveyor 10 are shared by the two transfer robots 12, 12 and collected in a stacked state and transferred to the supply conveyor 13, the processing capacity can be improved. it can.

In the article transfer device of the embodiment, when the articles 11 are stacked and picked up, the movement of the articles 11 in the front-rear direction with respect to the main body 19 can be restricted by the support wall 28 and the restricting member 29, so that a pair of sandwiches can be sandwiched. It is possible to prevent the article 11 that falls due to the release of the sandwiching by the members 20 and 20 from being displaced with respect to the article 11 below. Further, the support wall 28 is formed in a shape that follows the side shape extending in the longitudinal direction of the article 11, and the regulating member 29 is composed of a pair of rods 29a, 29a that are separated from each other in the longitudinal direction of the article 11. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the posture such as the direction of the falling article 11 from changing, and the plurality of articles 11 can be stacked so as to be aligned in the vertical direction. Further, the restricting member 29 located below the aggregate W converted into the standing posture can prevent the article 11 from falling from the holding members 20 and 20 during the operation of the handling portion 16, and a predetermined number of articles 11 can be prevented from falling. The aggregate W composed of the articles 11 can be transferred to the supply conveyor 13.

Since the abutting portion 25 of the holding member 20 that comes into contact with the side surface of the article 11 is composed of a plurality of deforming members 26 that can be elastically deformed in the front-rear direction of the holding member 11, the side shape varies from article to article 11. Even if the length in the longitudinal direction varies, the deforming members 26 that come into contact with the stacked articles 11 can be effectively sandwiched by elastically deforming independently. It is possible to prevent the position and orientation of the. Further, since the sandwiching member 20 includes a support portion 27 that supports the lower surface of the sandwiched lowermost article 11, the sandwiched article 11 falls before the sandwiched article 11 is positioned above another article 11. Can be prevented from doing so.

Since the inclined portion 29b that is separated from the main body 19 at the lower end of the rod 29a in the stacked posture is provided on the side that is separated from the main body 19 from the lower side to the upper side, the transport of the conveyor 10 is carried out. When the holding members 20 and 20 are changed from the stacked posture to the transfer posture above the surface, the rod 29a is placed on the transport surface even if the height at which the handling portion 16 is raised with respect to the transport surface is reduced. It is possible to avoid contact. That is, the height at which the handling portion 16 is lifted from the transport surface when the postures of the holding members 20 and 20 are changed can be suppressed to a low level, which contributes to shortening the cycle time.

(Change example)
The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the examples, and can be modified as follows, for example. Further, not limited to the following modified examples, various embodiments may be adopted within the scope of the gist of the present invention for the configurations described in the examples.
(1) The number of transfer robots 12 arranged may be one or three or more.
(2) The aggregate W was transferred to the supply conveyor (transfer destination) 13 with the edge upright, but it was transferred to the supply conveyor 13 as the aggregate W of the articles 11 stacked in a lying position. You may do so. When the article 11 is transferred to the supply conveyor 13 in a recumbent posture, the regulating member 29 may be fixedly arranged so as not to move between the regulated position and the released position. Further, when the article 11 is transferred to the supply conveyor 13 in a recumbent posture, only the article 13 below the assembly W can be transferred to the supply conveyor 13 while sandwiching the aggregate W. Can be adopted by the sandwiching members 20, 20.
(3) In the embodiment, the pair of holding members 20, 20 are configured to move close to each other by the pair of first air cylinders 22, 22, but the mechanism for moving the pair of holding members 20, 20 close to each other. Adopts various known mechanisms such as connecting a pair of holding members 20 and 20 by a connecting mechanism and operating the connecting mechanism by one air cylinder to move the holding members 20 and 20 in close proximity to each other. be able to.
(4) In the embodiment, the rods 29a, 29a of the regulating member 29 are configured to be moved to the regulated position and the released position by the link mechanism 31, 31, but the rods 29a, 29a are moved to the regulated position and the released position. The mechanism has a configuration in which the rods 29a and 29a are directly moved by the second air cylinders 30 and 30, or a pair of rods 29a and 29a are connected by a connecting mechanism and the connecting mechanism is operated by one air cylinder to operate the rods. Various known mechanisms such as moving the 29a and 29a to the regulated position and the released position can be adopted.

10 Conveyor, 11 Goods, 12 Transfer Robot, 13 Supply Conveyor (Transfer Destination)
16 Handling part, 20 Holding member, 25 Contact part (deformed part), 27 Support part 28 Support wall (regulatory means), 29 Regulatory member (regulatory means), W assembly

Claims (7)

After the article picked up by the handling section of the transfer robot from the conveyor is positioned above another article being transported by the conveyor by operating the handling section, the picked up article is released from the handling section. In addition to stacking the articles, the stacking / picking process of sandwiching the articles in the stacked state between the handling sections and picking them up from the conveyor is repeated until the number of stacked articles picked up by the handling section reaches a predetermined number. An article transfer method characterized in that an aggregate in which articles are assembled in a stacked state is transferred to a transfer destination by operating a handling unit. An article transfer device that transfers articles transported by a conveyor as an aggregate of a plurality of articles.
A transfer robot having a handling unit for sandwiching an article conveyed by the conveyor with a sandwiching member and picking up the article from the conveyor is provided.
The transfer robot positions the article picked up by the handling unit from the transfer conveyor above another article conveyed by the transfer conveyor, then releases the sandwiching by the sandwiching member, stacks the articles, and stacks the articles. The stacking / picking process of holding the stacked articles between the holding members and picking them up from the conveyor at the handling section is repeated until the number of stacked articles picked up by the handling section reaches a predetermined number, and the predetermined number of articles are stacked. An article transfer device characterized in that the operation of a handling unit is controlled so that an aggregate collected in a stacked state is transferred to a transfer destination. The sandwiching member is configured to sandwich the periphery of a flat article transported to the transport conveyor in a lying position and to sandwich the periphery of all the articles constituting the aggregate.
The transfer robot is characterized in that the handling unit is operated and controlled so as to convert an article into an upright posture until the aggregate sandwiched between the sandwiching members is transferred to the transfer destination. The article transfer device according to claim 2. The article transfer device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the handling portion is provided with a regulating means for regulating a change in the posture of the article sandwiched by the sandwiching member. When the transfer robot transfers the aggregate in which the article is converted into the standing posture to the transfer destination, the transfer robot uses the regulating means located at the regulation position below the aggregate when the article is converted into the standing posture. The article transfer device according to claim 4, wherein when the pinch by the pinching member is released, the article moves to a release position where the article is transferred to the transfer destination without interfering with the restricting means. .. The sandwiching member is provided with a deformable portion that can be elastically deformed in the sandwiching direction of the article, and is configured so that when the article is sandwiched by the sandwiching member, the deformed portion can deform and absorb variations in the side shape of each article. The article transfer device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the article transfer device is characterized. The article transfer device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the sandwiching member includes a support portion capable of supporting the lower surface of the lowermost article sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members.

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