JP2023020211A - Article supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent articles from falling out of a conveyance path and to move a storage hopper downward from an article supply position to an article replenishment position.SOLUTION: An article supply device comprises: a hopper elevating mechanism 30 that supports a storage hopper 13 comprising a shutter 40 so that it can move up and down between an article supply position and an article replenishment position; and a shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 that opens and closes the shutter 40 in conjunction with the elevation of the storage hopper 13 so as to open the shutter 40 at the article supply position and close the shutter 40 at the article replenishment position. The shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 moves the shutter 40 linearly to open and close the lower end opening part of the storage hopper 13.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an article supply apparatus suitable for supplying articles to a combination weighing apparatus or the like that mixes and weighs many types of articles.

As a combination weighing device for mixing and weighing a wide variety of articles, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a large number of weighing units each composed of a supply hopper, a weighing hopper, and a memory hopper are arranged in a horizontal row in parallel. At the same time, a storage hopper is arranged above the start end of the straight feeder that supplies articles to the supply hopper of each weighing unit. So-called batch-type article feeders are known.

JP 2018-77074 A

In a batch-type article supply apparatus, the storage hopper can be moved up and down between a high article supply position facing the beginning of the article conveying path by the straight feeder and a low article supply position away from the beginning of the article conveying path. The storage hopper is lowered to the low position so that the operator can easily carry out the work of replenishing the articles.

The speed at which articles are fed out and consumed in a plurality of storage hoppers storing different types of articles is not always uniform, and the required replenishment timing often differs for each storage hopper. Here, if the replenishment work is performed for each storage hopper that requires replenishment, the frequency of the replenishment work will increase, and the work will be complicated and the work efficiency will be low.

Therefore, in general, when replenishing a storage hopper that requires replenishment, replenishment is also performed at the same time as replenishment to a storage hopper that still has articles and does not necessarily need to be replenished immediately. The frequency is reduced to reduce the complexity of the work.

In order to replenish the storage hopper where articles remain, it is desirable to prevent the remaining articles from leaking out of the storage hopper when the storage hopper is moved downward from the article supply position to the article replenishment position. It is conceivable to equip the lower end opening of the hopper with, for example, a shutter that swings to open and close.

In this case, the shutter is swung to close the lower opening at the beginning of the downward movement of the storage hopper containing the articles from the article supply position to the article replenishment position. The tip of the shutter swinging in the closing direction scoops up the remaining articles and easily spills out of the conveying path.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and is capable of lowering the storage hopper from the article supply position to the article replenishment position while suppressing the articles from spilling out of the conveying path. The object is to provide a feeding device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.

(1) An article supply apparatus according to the present invention has a storage hopper having an openable and closable shutter at its lower end. and a hopper elevating mechanism for vertically moving the storage hopper so that the shutter is opened at the article supply position and the shutter is closed at the article supply position. and a shutter opening/closing mechanism that opens and closes the shutter in association with the elevation, and the shutter opening/closing mechanism linearly moves the shutter to open and close the lower end opening of the storage hopper.

According to the article supply apparatus of the present invention, the shutter linearly moves to close the lower end opening of the storage hopper in conjunction with the movement of the storage hopper from the article supply position to the article replenishment position. Unlike the case where the shutter is oscillated to close, the tip of the oscillating shutter does not scoop up the articles remaining at the starting end of the article conveying path, thereby preventing articles from spilling out of the conveying path. can be prevented.

(2) In one embodiment of the present invention, a movable gate is provided at the lower end of the storage hopper on the closing direction side of the shutter, the movable gate being retractable in the direction away from the tip of the shutter.

When the shutter moves linearly to close the opening at the lower end of the storage hopper, if there are any articles left in the lower part of the storage hopper or if the articles are piled up at the beginning of the article conveying path, the closing direction may change. There is a possibility that articles may be caught between the closing direction tip of the shutter moving forward and the wall surface of the hopper lower end opening. According to this embodiment, since the movable gate is located on the closing direction side of the shutter, the movable gate is pushed backward by the article sandwiched between the movable gate and the tip of the shutter, and the article is bitten and damaged. The lower end opening of the storage hopper is closed by the shutter.

The articles pushed aside by the movable gate move to the hopper side or fall to the beginning of the article conveying path as the posture of the storage hopper changes.

(3) In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the movable gate is oscillatingly biased toward the shutter with its upper end as a fulcrum.

According to this embodiment, the movable gate is pushed by the caught article and smoothly swings back, and when the caught article is released from the caught part, the movable gate returns to the posture of approaching and facing the tip of the shutter.

(4) In another embodiment of the present invention, the movable gate is biased to swing by its own weight toward the shutter.

According to this embodiment, the article sandwiched between the movable gate and the tip of the shutter is sandwiched by the weight of the movable gate itself. and will not damage the item.

(5) In still another embodiment of the present invention, the shutter opening/closing mechanism includes a linear guide rail and a slide member that supports the shutter and is slidable along the guide rail.

According to this embodiment, the slide member supporting the shutter can be slid linearly along the guide rail to open and close the lower end opening of the storage hopper.

According to the present invention, the shutter is linearly moved to close the lower end opening of the storage hopper in conjunction with the movement of the storage hopper from the article supply position to the article replenishment position. To prevent articles from spilling out of a conveying path without scooping up the articles remaining at the starting end of the article conveying path with the tip of a swinging shutter as in the case of closing by swinging. can be done.

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of a combination weighing device equipped with an article feeding device according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an overall plan view of the combination weighing device of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the metering device of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of the weighing device of FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view of the article supply device. FIG. 6 is a front view of the article supply device as seen from the front. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism. FIG. 8 is a longitudinal side view of part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism when the shutter is fully open. FIG. 9 is a side view of the article supply device when the storage hopper is in the article supply position. FIG. 10 is a side view of the article supply device in a state where the storage hopper is slightly away from the article supply position. FIG. 11 is a side view of the article supply device in a state in which the storage hopper is far away from the article supply position. FIG. 12 is a side view of the article supply device when the storage hopper is in the article supply position. FIG. 13 is a vertical cross-sectional view of part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism in the initial state when the storage hopper begins to move from the article supply position toward the article replenishment position. FIG. 14 is a vertical cross-sectional view of part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism when the storage hopper is slightly away from the article supply position. FIG. 15 is a vertical cross-sectional view of part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism when the storage hopper is further removed from the article supply position.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an entire combination weighing device equipped with an article feeding device according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the weighing device. 4 is a schematic front view of the weighing device.

The combination weighing device of this embodiment combines and weighs various kinds of articles such as various foods and sweets by a predetermined weight, and mixes and weighs them so that the total weight falls within a predetermined weight range. The articles mounted on the floor and combined and weighed are thrown into a packaging machine (not shown) installed downstairs and bagged.

In order to make the structure easier to understand, in the following description, the lateral direction in FIGS. The direction, the vertical direction in FIG. 2, and the lateral direction in FIG. 4 will be referred to as the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, this combination weighing apparatus has a structure in which two front and rear weighing apparatuses 1 are arranged facing each other across a central passage R on which a worker can walk left and right. Each weighing device 1 is basically configured to the same specifications, and the basic configuration of one of the weighing devices 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Inside the weighing device 1 (on the side of the central passage R), two bases 3 formed in the shape of a horizontally long box are installed side by side on an underframe 2 installed on the floor surface F. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of (in this example, seven) weighing units 4 are arranged in a row on the left and right outside each base 3 (on the side opposite to the central passage R). Therefore, in this example, one weighing device 1 is equipped with a row of 14 weighing units 4, and the front and rear weighing devices 1 allow a total of 28 weighing units 4 to handle a wide variety of articles (e.g., 8 types). are mixed and combined weighing.

Further outside the group of weighing units 4 in each weighing device 1, as shown in FIG.

The weighing unit 4 itself has a well-known structure. A weighing hopper 7 having an openable and closable gate for storing articles, measuring their weight and discharging them, and a memory having an openable and closable gate for receiving, temporarily storing and discharging the articles weighed and discharged by the weighing hopper 7. It has a structure in which the hoppers 8 are arranged in vertical columns.

As shown in FIG. 3, the weighing hopper 7 is provided with an outer gate 7a on the far side from the central passage R and an inner gate 7b on the central passage R side which can be opened and closed independently. By swinging open the chisel, the weighed articles are sent directly downward, and by swinging open only the inner gate 7b, the weighed articles are sent to the memory hopper 8 and temporarily stored. there is

Since each weighing unit 4 is provided with a memory hopper 8, the number of hoppers that can participate in the combination operation can be increased.

As shown in FIG. 4, below the weighing hoppers 7 and memory hoppers 8 are a plurality of weighing hoppers 7 selected in combination to achieve a predetermined weight, or four units for collecting articles discharged from the memory hoppers 8. The first collecting chutes 9 are arranged in a row on the left and right, and two units below each two adjacent first collecting chutes 9 temporarily receive and store the articles collected by the first collecting chutes 9. of the first gathering hopper 10 is deployed. Below the first collecting hoppers 10, the articles discharged from the first collecting hoppers 10 are slid down and collected by a second collecting chute 11, and weighed and collected using 14 weighing units 4. A second collecting hopper 12 is arranged to collect and temporarily store the collected articles in one place.

As shown in FIG. 3, the supply unit 5 includes storage hoppers 13 for storing articles, and fixed hoppers 14 supported by a supply section frame 16 so as to communicate with lower ends of the storage hoppers 13 . In addition, in the supply unit 5, 14 straight feeders 15 for linearly vibrating and conveying the articles fed out from the fixed hopper 14 toward each weighing unit 4 are arranged side by side on the upper part of the supply unit frame 16. Deployed.

The straight feeder 15 is configured by arranging an upper feeder 15a and a lower feeder 15b, which place an article on a trough-like trough and vibratingly convey the article, and a lower feeder 15b arranged in series in the form of downwardly descending steps in the conveying direction.

Above the linear feeder 15, article detection sensors 17a and 17b are arranged to detect the piled-up heights of articles on the starting end side and the trailing end side of the lower feeder 15b. The drive of 15b is controlled so that each straight feeder 15 can carry articles uniformly.

The supply section frame 16 of the supply unit 5 is provided with a reject mechanism 20 for ejecting the excessive amount of articles when the weighing hopper 6 is supplied with an excessive amount of articles exceeding the appropriate amount range. The reject mechanism 20 is equipped with a reject chute 21 that can move back and forth horizontally, a collection chute 22 for collecting articles introduced into the reject chute 21, and a collection container 23. - 特許庁

The reject chute 21 is arranged to face the delivery path from the weighing hopper 7 to the first collecting chute 9 from the outside, and is driven forward and backward by an actuator 24 such as an air cylinder. Normally, as indicated by the solid line in FIG. 3, the reject chute 21 is retracted to the outside, preventing the discharge of the articles to the first collecting chute 9 when the outer gate 7a of the weighing hopper 7 is opened. do not have. When the weight value weighed by the weighing hopper 7 is excessive, the reject chute 21 advances as indicated by the virtual line in FIG. In this state, when the outer gate 7a is opened, the articles in the weighing hopper 7 are discharged to the reject chute 21, and the excess articles are guided down through the collection chute 22 to the collection container 23 and collected. . When the collection is completed, the reject chute 21 is retracted to the original retracted position, and the outer gate 7a of the weighing hopper 7 is closed to prepare for the next weighing.

Next, an article supply device provided in the supply unit 5 will be described. 5 is a side view of the article supply device, and FIG. 6 is a front view of the article supply device as seen from the front.

The article supply apparatus of this embodiment includes a hopper elevating mechanism 30 that supports the storage hopper 13 so that it can be raised and lowered. After lowering to a low article replenishing position and replenishing the storage hopper 13 with articles in a comfortable posture, the hopper is raised to the original article replenishing position where it communicates with the fixed hopper 14.例文帳に追加

The storage hopper 13 is provided with a shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 that opens and closes the opening at the lower end of the hopper in conjunction with the upward/downward movement of the hopper. 7 is a perspective view showing part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism 29, and FIG. 8 is a longitudinal side view of part of the shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 when the shutter is fully open.

Details of the hopper lifting mechanism 30 and the shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 5, the hopper elevating mechanism 30 includes a pair of left and right elevating arms 32 supported on the back of the feeder frame 16 via a bracket 31 so as to be vertically swingable about a fulcrum q. A frame-shaped elevating frame 33 connected and fixed to the end side, and a pair of left and right elevating frames 33 supported by the bracket 31 so as to be vertically swingable around the fulcrum s and supported by the elevating frame 33 via the long hole 34 and the roller 35 . and a lifting link 36. The storage hopper 13 is detachably supported by an elevating frame 33 that is supported by the elevating arm 32 and swings up and down. An opening 13a is formed in the upper half of the storage hopper 13 for supplying articles to the storage hopper 13 at the lowered article replenishment position.

Guide rails 37 are fixed along the lower edges of the left and right side plates of the lift frame 33 so as to face each other. A stay 39 is horizontally cross-linked across the left and right slide members 38, and a plate-like shutter 40 with its left and right edges erected and bent is detachably supported by bolting to the stay 39.

A cam plate 41 is supported on the inside of the side plate of the lift frame 33 so as to be rotatable around the fulcrum t. The roller 43 is engaged, and the cam plate 41 is rotated by changing the relative posture of the lifting link 36 with respect to the lifting frame 33 and moving the operating roller 43 .

An operating link 44 is supported on the upper part of the lifting frame 33 so as to be able to swing back and forth around the fulcrum u. In addition, the upper portion of the operating link 44 and the cam plate 41 are interlocked with the interlocking link 46 .

The shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 includes a shutter 40 supported via a stay 39 on a slide member 38 that linearly moves along a guide rail 37, and a cam plate 41 and an operation link 44 supported on the elevating frame 33, respectively. , a link 45 that connects the operation link 44 and the slide member 38 and a link 46 that connects the operation link 44 and the cam plate 41 .

In this embodiment, the position and orientation of the lifting link 36 relative to the lifting frame 33 change and the operation roller 43 moves, thereby rotating the cam plate 41 about the fulcrum t and In conjunction with the rotation of the cam plate 41, the operating link 44 is swung back and forth, and the shutter 40 is slid back and forth accordingly.

The storage hopper 13 is formed in the shape of a square funnel with handles 48 on its top and front surfaces. After the storage hopper 13 is inserted into the elevating frame 33 and positioned and mounted in the front, rear, left, and right directions, the hooks 49 provided on the top of the left and right outer surfaces of the storage hopper 13 are hooked to the dead points provided on the left and right outer surfaces of the elevating frame 33 . The storage hopper 13 can be connected and fixed to the lifting frame 33 by engaging and tightening the over-operating fastener 50 . Conversely, by removing the fasteners 50 from the hooks 49, the storage hopper 13 can be removed from the elevating frame 33, and the storage hopper 13 can be cleaned at any desired location.

A movable gate 52 is provided at the lower end of the front wall of the lower end opening of the storage hopper 13 so as to be freely swingable back and forth around a fulcrum v via a hinge 51 . When the storage hopper 13 is set at the article supply position, the movable gate 52 is suspended under its own weight so as to face the front end of the shutter 40 at the closed position.

The hopper lifting mechanism 30 and the shutter opening/closing mechanism 29 are constructed as described above, and the operation thereof will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the storage hopper 13 is set at the article supply position communicating with the fixed hopper 14, the lift link 36 is in a substantially vertical posture and the cam plate 41 is rotated backward. . As a result, the operating link 44 is swung rearward, and the shutter 40 is held at the open position retracted from the downward opening of the lower end of the storage hopper 13 .

When the storage hopper 13 is raised to the article supply position, forward swinging of the lifting link 36 is prevented by stopper bolts 53 provided on the bracket 31, and the storage hopper 13 moves forward and backward. positioning is performed.

Further, lock arms 54 are supported on the upper portions of the left and right side surfaces of the lift frame 33 so as to be able to swing back and forth around the fulcrum x. A lock arm 54 is engaged from behind with a lock pin 55 projecting from the portion. As a result, the lifting link 36 cannot swing backward with respect to the lifting frame 33 . That is, the hopper elevating mechanism 30 is in a downward locked state in which the downward movement of the hopper lifting mechanism 30 is disabled, and the storage hopper 13 is fixedly held at the article supply position. The left and right lock arms 54 are bridged at their lower ends by a handle bar 54a, so that the left and right lock arms 54 can be swung integrally by gripping the handle bar 54a.

When replenishing the storage hopper 13 with articles, as shown in FIG. 10, the lock arm 54 is first swung backward to release the lowering lock, and then the handle 33a provided on the back of the lifting frame 33 is lifted. is grasped and the storage hopper 13 is pulled backward.

With the initial rearward movement of the storage hopper 13 , the lift link 36 moves upward relative to the lift frame 33 , and the cam plate 41 is lifted by the cam action of the moving operating roller 43 and the lower half of the bent cam groove 42 . rapidly rotates forward, the shutter 40 is slid forward at once, and the opening at the lower end of the storage hopper 13 is closed by the shutter 40 that extends linearly across.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the articles w remaining in the storage hopper 13 or the fixed hopper 14 are caught between the tip of the shutter 40 and the lower end of the front wall of the storage hopper 13. Even if the article w is about to be caught, the lower end of the front wall of the storage hopper 13 is composed of the movable gate 52 which is oscillated by its own weight. The shutter 40 is pushed forward and swung against the force to prevent the article w from being strongly caught and damaged.

As the storage hopper 13 is further lowered, the lifting link 36 moves further upward relative to the lifting frame 33 as shown in FIG. The cam plate 41 is stably held in the forward rotating posture by the cam action of the shutter 40, thereby maintaining the closed state of the shutter 40. As shown in FIG.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 15 , as the storage hopper 13 is turned backward, the self-weight biasing force of the movable gate 52 is applied to the article w that is sandwiched between the tip of the shutter 40 and the movable gate 52 . , and the articles w flow down along the shutter 40 and are collected in the lower part of the storage hopper 13 in the reversing posture.

When the storage hopper 13 is further tilted backward, as shown in FIG. 12, the lifting arm 32 is held in a substantially horizontal posture, and is received by the stopper bolt 56 provided on the bracket 31, and further downward rocking is performed. Movement is blocked, and the storage hopper 13 is lowered and held at a predetermined article replenishment position. At this article supply position, the lower end opening of the storage hopper 13 faces forward and backward.

A gas damper 57 is installed across the lifting arm 32 and the bracket 31 of the hopper lifting mechanism 30 so that the lifting biasing force balanced with the weight of the storage hopper 13 storing the articles is applied to the hopper lifting mechanism 30. Granted. The lock arm 54 is engaged with the lock pin 55 of the lifting link 36 to lock the storage hopper 13 so that the storage hopper 13 lowered to the article replenishment position is not inadvertently lifted by the upward biasing force of the gas damper 57 . is stably held at the low article replenishment position, the article replenishment work is performed through the opening 13a.

When the article replenishment work is completed, first, the lock arm 54 is pivoted backward to release the lifting lock, and then the storage hopper 13 is erected forward and upward. The shutter 40 is closed until the storage hopper 13 is hooked to the fixed hopper 14 (the state shown in FIG. 10), and the shutter 40 is rapidly opened as the storage hopper 13 moves upward (forward) thereafter, and as shown in FIG. At the original article supply position, the lower end opening of the storage hopper 13 is completely opened and returns to the state of communicating with the fixed hopper 14 .

In this embodiment, the shutter 40 is closed when the storage hopper 13 is slightly moved from the article supply position toward the article replenishment position, and the closed state of the shutter 40 is maintained during subsequent downward movement of the hopper. Conversely, when the storage hopper 13 is moved upward from the article replenishment position toward the article supply position, the closed state of the shutter 40 is maintained until the vicinity of the article replenishment position. Inadvertent leakage of articles into the container is prevented.

Furthermore, when the storage hopper 13 is moved from the article supply position toward the article replenishment position, the lower end opening of the storage hopper 13 is closed by the shutter 40 that slides linearly, so that the shutter is swung to close. There is no possibility of scooping up and spilling the articles remaining in the fixed hopper 14 with the tip of the swinging shutter as in the case where the shutter is oscillating.

Further, according to the present embodiment, in performing batchwise replenishment of articles to a plurality of storage hoppers 13, replenishment to storage hoppers 13 that still have articles and do not necessarily require immediate replenishment can be performed by using other storage hoppers. It can be performed simultaneously with the replenishment of articles in the hopper 13, so that the frequency of replenishment work can be reduced and the work efficiency can be improved.

[Other embodiments]
The present invention can also be implemented in the following forms.

(1) A weight may be attached to the movable gate 52 that swings under its own weight so that it is biased by its own weight. In this case, it is preferable to make the weight of the weight adjustable and set the self-weight biasing force according to the property of the article.

(2) The movable gate 52 may be lightly biased toward the shutter by a spring.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the posture of the storage hopper 13 is largely rotated (approximately 90 degrees) between the high article supply position and the low article replenishment position. By using a quadruple link mechanism for 30, it is possible to raise and lower the storage hopper 13 with a constant or substantially constant posture.

4 Weighing Unit 5 Supply Unit 13 Storage Hopper 29 Shutter Opening/Closing Mechanism 30 Hopper Lifting Mechanism 32 Lifting Arm 33 Lifting Frame 36 Lifting Link 37 Guide Rail 38 Slide Member 40 Shutter 41 Cam Plate 43 Operating Roller 44 Operating Link 52 Movable Gate

Claims (5)

A storage hopper having an openable and closable shutter at its lower end is arranged between a high article supply position facing above the starting end of the article conveying path and a low article replenishing position outside and below the article conveying path. A hopper elevating mechanism supported so as to be vertically movable, and a shutter opening/closing mechanism that opens and closes the shutter in conjunction with the elevation of the storage hopper so that the shutter is opened at the article supply position and closed at the article replenishment position. a mechanism and
The shutter opening/closing mechanism moves the shutter linearly to open and close the lower end opening of the storage hopper.
An article supply device characterized by: A movable gate that can move backward in a direction away from the tip of the shutter is provided at the lower end of the storage hopper on the closing direction side of the shutter,
The article supply device according to claim 1. The movable gate is oscillatingly urged toward the shutter side with the upper end as a fulcrum,
The article supply device according to claim 2. The movable gate is biased to swing by its own weight toward the shutter,
The article supply device according to claim 3. The shutter opening/closing mechanism includes a linear guide rail and a slide member that supports the shutter and is slidable along the guide rail.
The article supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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