JP2022134980A - Article conveyance device and article inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a small-sized, compact and highly convenient article conveyance device and an inspection device using the same.SOLUTION: An article inspection device 1 has an article conveyance device 2 and an inspection part 3. The article conveyance device has a supplying part 4 and a conveying part 5. The supplying part aligns articles W circumferentially in a row and conveys them to a supply position P. The conveying part has an annular body 25 which is rotated above the supplying part, sucks the article W to an inner peripheral surface thereof at the supply position P, and conveys the same to the inspection part. The article determined to be NG or OK in the inspection part is conveyed by the annular body, and a suction force is eliminated at a timing when the article is conveyed to an NG article recovery part 30 or an OK article recovery part 31 so that the article is dropped and recovered.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article conveying device for conveying articles supplied to a predetermined supply position by being attracted to the inner peripheral surface of a rotating annular body, and to an article inspection apparatus using the article conveying device.

Patent Document 1 below discloses an invention of a tablet measuring device and a tablet measuring method using an optical sensor. This tablet measuring device has a measuring section 30 having a disk-shaped carrier disc 1 and an optical sensor 2, and is provided horizontally adjacent to the carrier disc 1. Tablets 3 are supplied to the carrier disc 1 of the measuring section 30. It comprises a tablet supply section 40 and a recovery section 50 for returning the measured tablets 3 to the tablet coating apparatus. The tablet 3 supplied by the tablet supply unit 40 is adsorbed to the outer peripheral portion of the transport disk 1 at a predetermined position and transported, and the physical properties thereof are measured by the optical sensor 2 in a non-contact state. Non-standard tablets 3 are discharged from the defective product discharge unit 60, and within-standard tablets 3 are returned to the tablet coating apparatus via the recovery unit 50. FIG. According to this invention, it is possible to continuously measure the exact physical properties of individual tablets. are reference numerals in Patent Document 1).

JP 2019-95236 A

According to the invention of the tablet measuring device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the tablet feeding section 40 that feeds the tablets 3 and the disc-shaped transport disk 1 that receives and transports the tablets 3 from the tablet feeding section 40 are arranged in the horizontal direction. located adjacent to. Therefore, the tablet measuring apparatus as a whole becomes a large-sized apparatus having a large horizontal dimension, and there is a problem that a large floor space is required for installation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems in the prior art, and the convenience of not requiring a large space for installation because the article supplying section and the article conveying section are compactly integrated and the overall size is reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article conveying apparatus with high efficiency and an inspection apparatus using the same.

The article conveying device 2 described in claim 1 is
a supply unit 4 that aligns the articles W and conveys them to the supply position P;
an annular conveying unit 5 that rotates above the supply unit 4 and adsorbs the article W to its inner peripheral surface at the supply position P;
It is characterized by having

The article conveying apparatus 2 according to claim 2 is the article conveying apparatus 2 according to claim 1,
The supply section 4 is characterized by having a curved transport path 9 for transporting the articles W in a line to the supply position P. As shown in FIG.

The article conveying apparatus 2 according to claim 3 is the article conveying apparatus 2 according to claim 2,
The feeding portion 4 is circular, the diameter of the conveying portion 5 is larger than the diameter of the feeding portion 4, and the center of the conveying portion 5 and the center of the feeding portion 4 do not match.

The article conveying apparatus 2 according to claim 4 is the article conveying apparatus 2 according to claim 3,
It is characterized in that article recovery sections 30 and 31 for receiving the articles dropped away from the conveying section 5 are provided at positions below the conveying section 5 where the supply section 4 does not exist.

The article inspection device 1 according to claim 5 is
An article conveying device 2 according to claim 1;
an inspection unit 3 that inspects the article W being conveyed by the conveying unit 5 of the article conveying device 2;
It is characterized by having

According to the article conveying apparatus of claim 1, a compact structure in which the supply section and the conveying section are arranged in the vertical direction can realize a reduction in size.

According to the article conveying apparatus of claim 2, the articles can be arranged in a row along the conveying path and can be continuously and reliably supplied one by one to the conveying section.

According to the article conveying apparatus of claim 3, since most of the supply section can be arranged below the conveying section, it is possible to achieve further miniaturization with a compact configuration.

According to the article conveying apparatus according to claim 4, after conveying the article by the conveying section to a position where the supply section does not exist below, the article is collected by the article collecting section by separating from the conveying section and dropping the article. can be done.

According to the article inspection apparatus of claim 5, the article inspection apparatus can be downsized due to the compact configuration of the article conveying apparatus in which the supply section and the conveying section are arranged in the vertical direction.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a part of the configuration of the article inspection device omitted or schematically shown; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a supply unit that aligns and conveys articles to a supply position; 1 is a perspective view of an article inspection device; FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the article inspection apparatus viewed from the side opposite to FIG. 3 by 180° in the horizontal plane;

A configuration of an article inspection apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, which is a plan view, this article inspection apparatus 1 includes an article conveying apparatus 2 that conveys articles W along a circular conveying course in a plane, and an article W inspecting device that inspects the articles W in the middle of the conveying course. is provided with an inspection unit 3 for performing

As shown in FIG. 1, the article conveying apparatus 2 includes a supply section 4, which is a so-called rotary parts feeder, which aligns articles W in a circular line and conveys them to a supply position P. A conveying unit 5 is provided, which holds the article W by suction on the inner peripheral surface of the annular body at the supply position P of the supply section 4, and conveys the article W to the inspection section 3 by rotating the annular body. .

In addition, the article W is a small-diameter article that can be conveyed as a single item without packaging, and has an outer diameter of several mm to several tens of mm. Including articles and molded articles of defined shape manufactured on equipment, especially articles that do not change shape during transport. Applicable articles W include, for example, preparations such as tablets, capsules, troches, and drops, candy, chocolate, and the like. In the following, an example of a tablet that is round in plan view and substantially cylindrical in side view with a small height (thickness) relative to its diameter will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the supply unit 4 includes a rotating deep dish-shaped supply container 6, which is disposed at an angle in the supply container 6, and is rotated by a drive source separate from the supply container 6. It has a feed disc 7 .
As shown in FIG. 2, the supply container 6 has an inverted truncated cone shape with an open upper surface, and is a horizontal circular flange provided with a predetermined width over the entire circumference of the opening 8 on the upper surface. a substantially circular bottom portion 10; and an inverted cone-shaped inclined surface 11 connecting the edge portion 9 and the bottom portion 10. As shown in FIG. A part of the bottom portion 10 is provided with an open notch portion 12 . The supply container 6 is rotatably attached to a frame (not shown). The axis of rotation of supply container 6 coincides with a line that passes through the center of bottom 10 and is perpendicular to bottom 10 . A circular internal gear 13 is fixed to the lower surface of the bottom portion 10 of the supply container 6 so as to be centered on the bottom portion 10 . A first motor 14 is attached to the frame (not shown) described above, and a pinion 15 provided on a drive shaft 14 a of the first motor 14 meshes with the internal gear 13 . When the first motor 14 is driven, the supply container 6 rotates about its central axis in the direction of rotation A (see FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the diameter of the feed disc 7 is slightly larger than the diameter of the bottom 10 of the feed container 6 . The supply disc 7 is arranged obliquely inside the supply container 6 . As shown in FIG. 2, one end 7a of the outer peripheral edge of the supply disk 7 (the end 7a on the upper right in FIG. 2) faces the upper edge of the inclined surface 11 of the supply container 6. The other end portion 7b (the end portion 7b located at the lower left in FIG. 2) located 180° opposite to the end portion 7a in the circumferential direction of the supply disc 7 is located on the inclined surface 11 of the supply container 6. facing the lower edge. That is, the inclined supply disc 7 is lowest at the portion facing the lower edge of the inclined surface 11 of the supply container 6 and highest at the portion facing the upper edge of the inclined surface 11 of the supply container 6 . A drive shaft (see FIG. 2) is vertically fixed to the center of the lower surface of the supply disc 7, and this drive shaft 16 is inserted through the notch 12 of the bottom 10 of the supply container 6 in a slanted state to extend into the second position. 2 is connected to a motor 17 (see FIG. 2). The second motor 17 is attached to the above-described frame (not shown). When the second motor 17 is driven, the supply disc 7 inside the supply container 6 rotates around the drive shaft 16 in the direction B (see FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an arc-shaped guide plate 20 is provided above the edge 9 of the supply container 6 . The guide plate 20 guides the moving direction of the articles W on the edge 9, which is the conveying path of the articles, and prevents the articles W from jumping out of the edge 9 due to the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the supply container 6. It has the function of suppressing The guide plate 20 is attached to a frame (not shown) and is arranged with a slight gap from the upper surface of the edge portion 9 of the rotating supply container 6 . This gap must be narrower than the height of the article W at least. Particularly, as shown in FIG. 1, the guide plate 20 guides the supply container from the vicinity of the highest portion of the supply disc 7 (the portion where the end portion 7a of the supply disc 7 faces the upper edge of the inclined surface 11). 6 along the rotation direction A of 6 and the rotation direction B of the supply disk 7, at the lowest portion of the supply disk 7 (the portion where the end 7b of the supply disk 7 faces the lower edge of the inclined surface 11). For example, it is provided in a circular shape over a central angle of about 140°. Although the details will be described later, a position slightly advanced in the rotation direction A from the leading end of the guide plate 20 in the rotation direction A of the supply container 6 becomes the supply position P for transferring the articles W to the transport unit 5 described later. .

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 , articles W are introduced into the supply container 6 from an introduction path 21 inclined downward toward the supply container 6 . As can be seen particularly from FIG. 3, the loading position of the articles W is the lowest portion of the supply disc 7 (the portion where the end 7b of the supply disc 7 faces the lower edge of the inclined surface 11). 3 and 4, the input path 21 is omitted and is expressed as a short one, but the actual input path 21 is extended to the supply source of the articles W, and the articles W are continuously supplied to the supply container 6. can be supplied.

In the supply unit 4 configured as described above, the first motor 14 and the second motor 17 shown in FIG. If the supply container 6 and the supply disk 7 are rotated at the same speed in the directions of rotation A and B, respectively, the article W that has fallen to the lowest part of the supply disk 7 as shown in FIG. With the rotation of , it moves to the highest part of the supply disk 7, rests on the edge 9 of the supply container 6, moves in the direction of rotation A along the guide plate 20, and is brought to the supply position P. Note that the rotational speeds of the first motor 14 and the second motor 17 do not necessarily have to be the same.

As shown in FIGS. 1 , 3 and 4 , the transport section 5 is provided above the supply section 4 . The body of the carrier 5 is an annular body 25 mounted in a circular opening 22a in a horizontal frame 22 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) of the device and rotating in the same direction of rotation C as the supply container 6. As shown in FIG. The supply container 6 of the supply unit 4 described above is located in the circular opening 22a of the frame 22, and the edge 9 of the supply container 6 protrudes above the circular opening 22a.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, the annular body 25 is a hollow body whose cross section perpendicular to the direction of rotation C is substantially rectangular. (see FIGS. 3 and 4) is formed with an opening over the entire circumference. A suction means (not shown) is connected to the annular body 25 so that a suction force can be selectively applied to each of the plurality of suction holes 26 .

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an external gear 27 is attached to the outer circumference of the annular body 25, and a third motor (see FIG. 3) 28 is attached to the frame 22. As shown in FIG. A pinion 29 provided on the drive shaft of a third motor 28 and an external gear 27 are in mesh with each other. Rotate.

As shown in FIG. 1, the diameter of annular body 25 is greater than the diameter of supply container 6 . Further, the center of rotation of the annular body 25 does not coincide with the center of rotation of the supply container 6, and is arranged eccentrically with respect to the supply container 6 in plan view. At the position where the outer peripheral edge of the supply disc 7 is the lowest and the inclined surface 11 of the supply container 6 is exposed, the inner peripheral surface of the supply disk 7 is arranged so as to substantially match the inner periphery of the edge portion 9 of the supply container 6 . , the annular body 25 is arranged. Since the annular body 25 is arranged with respect to the supply container 6 as described above, at the supply position P which is slightly ahead of the end of the guide plate 20 with respect to the rotation direction A of the supply container 6, the edge 9 of the supply container 6 and annular body 25 intersect in plan view. That is, the annular body 25 overlaps the edge 9 of the supply section 4 in a plan view before and after the central portion of the inclined surface 11 in the rotation direction A, and the supply section 4 exists below the annular body 25 . However, at positions other than this, the supply unit 4 does not exist below the annular body 25, and an inspection unit 3 and an article recovery unit, which will be described later, can be arranged.

In the supply unit 4 and the transport unit 5 configured as described above, the supply unit 4 is operated to supply the articles W to a predetermined input position (for example, on the supply disk 7 near the end 7b), and the supply container If the annular body 25 is rotated in the same direction at a rotational speed C synchronized with the rotational speed A of 6, as shown in FIG. 26 and is conveyed forward by the rotation of the annular body 25 .

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the inspection section 3 is provided outside the supply section 4 and at the most upstream position of the annular body 25 in the rotational direction C. As shown in FIGS. The inspection section 3 is attached to the frame 22 . The inspection unit 3 can measure the physical properties of the article W conveyed by the annular body 25 of the conveying unit 5 in a non-contact state using an optical sensor. Note that the optical sensor is merely an example, and the items W to be inspected by the inspection unit 3 and the principle of inspection are arbitrary according to the type of the article W and the purpose of inspection, and are not particularly limited.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, two locations below the annular body 25 outside the supply unit 4 and downstream of the inspection unit 3 with respect to the rotation direction C are provided as article recovery units. A NG product recovery unit 30 and an OK product recovery unit 31 are provided side by side with a predetermined interval in the rotation direction C. As shown in FIG. The NG product recovery unit 30 stores products W for which the inspection result of the inspection unit 3 is NG, and the OK product recovery unit 31 stores products W for which the inspection result of the inspection unit 3 is OK. When the inspection unit 3 inspects the article W and the judgment result is NG, when the annular body 25 rotates and the article W comes directly above the NG article collection unit 30, the suction hole is opened. The suction force of 26 is selectively stopped to drop the article W and store it in the NG article collection section 30. - 特許庁When the inspection unit 3 inspects the article W and the judgment result is OK, the suction hole is opened when the annular body 25 rotates and the article W comes directly above the OK article collection unit 31. The suction force of 26 is selectively stopped to drop the article W and store it in the OK article collection section 31 .

Instead of dropping the articles W to the NG product collection unit 30 and the OK product collection unit 31 by selectively stopping the suction force, the suction force is always applied, and the NG product collection unit 30 and the OK product collection are performed. A means for blowing air downward from above may be provided directly above the portion 31 and at a position through which the article W passes, and the article W may be forcibly separated from the suction hole by the air and dropped downward. Rather than turning off the suction force and allowing the article W to fall naturally, the technique of forcibly knocking the article W down with air is more reliable for separating the article W from the annular body 25, but the falling speed becomes large, the article W needs to be strong enough not to be broken by a collision.

Although not shown, the article inspection apparatus 1 is provided with a control section, which can integrally control the article conveying apparatus 2 including the supply section 4 and the conveying section 5 and the inspection section 3 .

The operation of an article inspection apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the first motor 14 and second motor 17 shown in FIG. As shown, the supply container 6 and the supply disc 7 are rotated at the same speed in directions of rotation A and B, respectively. As the supply disc 7 rotates, the articles W that have fallen to the lowest portion of the supply disc 7 move to the highest portion of the supply disc 7 as shown in FIGS. They are placed on the portion 9, aligned in a line along the guide plate 20, moved along the rotation direction A, and transported to the supply position P. As shown in FIG. 1, the article W that has not been adsorbed by the annular body 25 at the supply position P falls along the inclined surface 11 as indicated by the short arrow on the article W, and returns to the supply position P again. supplied to

As shown in FIG. 1, at the supply position P, the articles W on the edge 9 are attracted to the suction holes 26 of the annular body 25 and are conveyed forward by the rotation of the annular body 25 .

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, each article W held in the suction holes 26 of the rotating annular body 25 is inspected as it passes through the inspection section 3 . If the judgment result of the inspection is NG, the suction force of the suction hole 26 is stopped at the timing when the annular body 25 rotates and the article W comes directly above the NG article collection unit 30, and the article W is NG. The articles are dropped and stored in the article collection section 30. - 特許庁If the judgment result of the inspection is OK, the suction force of the suction hole 26 is stopped at the timing when the annular body 25 rotates and the article W comes directly above the OK article collection section 31, and the article W is OK. The articles are dropped and stored in the article collection section 31. - 特許庁

In the embodiment described above, the annular body 25 has a perfect circular shape (FIG. 1), but it is needless to say that it is not limited to a perfect circular shape and may have an annular shape. Further, the annular body 25 is driven by the external gear 27 and the third motor 28 provided on its outer peripheral surface, and the article W is attracted and held by its inner peripheral surface. may be That is, by replacing the rotation driving mechanism of the annular body 25 with other driving means, the external gear 27 on the outer peripheral surface is eliminated, and suction holes are provided on the free outer peripheral surface to attract, hold, and convey the article W. may be In this case, it is necessary to change the arrangement of the annular body 25 and the supply unit 4 from the state shown in FIG. be.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Article inspection apparatus 2... Article conveying apparatus 3... Inspection part 4... Supply part 5... Conveying part 9... Edge as a conveying path 14... First motor 17... Second motor 20... Guide plate 25... Ring of conveying part Body 28... Third motor 30... NG product recovery part as an article recovery part 31... OK product recovery part as an article recovery part W... Product P... Supply position A, B, C... Rotation direction

Claims (5)

a supply unit (4) that aligns the articles (W) and conveys them to a supply position (P);
an annular conveying unit (5) that rotates above the supply unit and adsorbs the article to its inner peripheral surface at the supply position;
An article conveying device (2), characterized in that it comprises: 2. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply section (4) has a curved conveying path (9) for arranging the articles (W) in a line and conveying them to the supply position (P). 2). The supply part (4) is circular, the diameter of the transfer part (5) is larger than the diameter of the supply part, and the center of the transfer part and the center of the supply part are not aligned. Article conveying device (2) according to claim 2. An article recovery section (30, 31) for receiving the articles (W) separated from the conveying section and dropped is provided at a position below the conveying section (5) where the supply section (4) does not exist. An article conveying device (2) according to claim 3, characterized in that: An article conveying device (2) according to claim 1;
an inspection unit (3) for inspecting the article (W) being conveyed by the conveying unit (5) of the article conveying device;
An article inspection device (1) characterized by comprising:

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