JP2539396Y2 - Plate material loading device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for loading a sheet material such as a sheet metal stacked on a pallet onto a conveyor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a pressing process of a body or a door of an automobile, for example, a plurality of steel sheets of a material are stacked and sent to a predetermined destack area by a conveyor. To press machines and the like. In this case, since the large plate-like material having a large width is easily bent, the pallet is supplied to the material loading stage of the conveyor together with the pallet in a state of being stacked on the pallet by an in-plant truck such as a forklift.

As described above, when materials are supplied together with pallets on a conveyor, it is necessary to collect the pallets at an appropriate time. Conventionally, pallets are collected using a pallet separation mechanism at the pallet separation stage, which is located downstream of the material loading stage and before the destacking area, using a pallet separation mechanism. The work is carried out such that the pallet is transferred to an area, the materials on the pallet are taken out one by one from the top in the destack area, and the pallet is carried out when the material is exhausted.

[0004]

Among the pallet collecting means described above, in the method of unloading the pallet when the material on the pallet is empty, the pallet stays in the destack area together with the material for a long time. The efficiency of pallet collection is poor, and therefore a large number of pallets are required.

On the other hand, when a pallet is separated and collected at a pallet separation stage located between a material loading stage and a destack area, a pallet separation stage is required in addition to the material loading stage. May not be sufficient. In addition, the work loading operation and the pallet collection operation using a pallet fork or other yard transport vehicle must be performed on separate stages, resulting in poor work efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a plate-like material loading apparatus which can efficiently separate and collect pallets in a material loading stage when the material is supplied to the stage. is there.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which has been developed to achieve the above-mentioned object, is a loading device provided on a material loading stage on a conveyor, wherein the loading device moves up and down through a gap between the conveyor elements and has a desired height. A lifter that can be stopped at the same time as a pallet loaded with material in a state where the pallet is loaded with the material lifted to a position higher than the conveyor element, and a pallet body and the material in a state where the lifter pushes the pallet up to a predetermined height The pallet separator includes a movable pallet separator that is allowed to enter a gap between the pallets from a horizontal direction, and a support member that supports the pallet separator when the pallet separator is advanced.

[0008]

The material loaded on the pallet is supplied to the material loading stage together with the pallet by a pallet fork or the like. At this time, the lifter has risen to a position higher than the conveyor element through the gap between the conveyor elements.
In this state, after the pallet is put on the lifter together with the material, the pallet separator enters the gap between the pallet body and the material. Then, the tip of the pallet separator is supported by the support member.

Next, as the lifter descends, the material rides on the pallet separator, and only the pallet descends together with the lifter. When you reach this state,
The pallet is carried out by a pallet fork or the like. Thereafter, as the lifter rises again, the lifter pushes up the material. When the material floats on the pallet separator, the pallet separator retreats and the support member is also retracted. After that, the lifter descends to a position lower than the conveyor element,
The material is transferred to the conveyor.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The plate material forming equipment 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 shows a laminated plate material A such as a sheet metal by an arrow F.
Roller conveyor 11 for conveying in the direction
1 is a material loading stage 12 located on the left end side of the drawing, that is, the transport start end side of the material A by the conveyor 11, and a destack area 13 located on the transport end side of the conveyor 11.
And the like. The roller conveyor 11 has a number of rotatable rollers 11 as an example of a conveyor element.
a are arranged in the transport direction of the material A.

The destack area 13 includes a transfer mechanism 14 using, for example, a vacuum cup or a magnet belt.
Thereby, the material A is fed one by one to a transfer press device 15 (only a part of which is shown).

As shown in FIG. 3 and the like, the pallet 20 comprises a flat pallet main body 21 and a saw-shaped material receiving portion 22 projecting parallel to the upper surface of the pallet main body 21.
It is provided with. The material A is sent to the material loading stage 12 by an in-plant carrier such as a pallet fork while being placed on the receiving portion 22.

The material loading stage 12 is provided with a material loading device 25 according to the present invention. The material loading device 25 includes a lifter 30. The lifter 30 includes a plurality of elevating members 31 which are moved up and down by an actuator such as a hydraulic cylinder.

Each elevating member 31 moves up and down through the gap between the rollers 11a from a lower position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 to an upper position shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. Moreover, the respective lifting members 31 can be stopped at a desired height in synchronization with each other. The height of the upper end of each elevating member 31 is uniform, and the pallet 20 loaded with the material A can be put on the elevating member 31 in a state where the upper end is raised to a position higher than the roller 11a. ing.

In the material loading stage 12, an auto fork mechanism 35 is provided beside the conveyor 11. The auto fork mechanism 35 includes a comb-shaped pallet separator 36 extending in the horizontal direction toward the roller 11a.
It has. The pallet separator 36 is connected to the lifter 30.
When the lifting member 31 is moved up to the height shown in FIG. 4, it can enter the gap between the pallet body 21 and the material A from the horizontal direction. The pallet separator 36 is moved forward and backward by a predetermined stroke in the above direction by an actuator such as a hydraulic cylinder (not shown).

A gate-shaped support member 40 is provided on the opposite side of the auto fork mechanism 35 with the conveyor 11 interposed therebetween. The support member 40 supports the tip of the pallet separator 36 from below when the pallet separator 36 advances.

The above-described lifter 30, pallet separator 36, support member 40, and the like are operated in a predetermined sequence described later by an operator operating switches provided on an operation panel (not shown).

Next, the operation of the material loading device 25 having the above-described configuration will be described for a case where the material A is on the pallet and a case where the material A is not on the pallet. [When the material is on the pallet] In the initial state shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, the upper end of the lifting member 31 of the lifter 30 is at a position lower than the upper surface of the roller 11a. The pallet separator 36 is retracted to a standby position beside the conveyor 11.

When the material A is supplied to the material loading stage 12, the elevating member 31 is raised to a position shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the material A on the pallet 20 carried by the yard carrier such as a forklift is put on the lifting member 31 of the lifter 30 together with the pallet 20. When this is done,
The operator turns on the "pallet available" switch on the operation panel.

When the switch of "with pallet" is turned on, as shown in FIG. 4, the support member 40 rises, and the pallet separator 36 moves forward.
It enters between the pallet body 21 and the material A. The support member 40 rises to a position where the tip of the pallet separator 36 can be supported from below.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, as the lifting member 31 descends, the material A remains on the pallet separator 36, and only the pallet 20 descends together with the lifting member 31. The pallet 20 that has dropped onto the conveyor 11 is carried out by a pallet fork or the like used at the time of loading the materials, and is in the state shown in FIG.

When the pallet unloading operation is completed, the pallet unloading end switch on the operation panel is turned on. As a result, the lifting member 31 moves up again, so that the lower surface of the material A is pushed up by the lifting member 31 as shown in FIG. Go up. In this state, the pallet separator 36 retreats to the original standby position, and the support member 40 descends.

After the above steps, the material A is put on the elevating member 31 as shown in FIG. Thereafter, as the lifting member 31 descends to the lower limit position, the material A is transferred onto the conveyor 11 as shown in FIG. The material A is moved to a predetermined position, for example, the destack area 13 of the press device 15 in the example shown in FIG.
Is transported.

[When no material is placed on the pallet] When the material A is relatively small, the material A can be supplied to the material loading stage 12 without using the pallet 20. In this case, the lifting member 31 of the lifter 30 is raised to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, and the material A is directly put on the lifting member 31 by a pallet fork or the like as shown in FIG.

Thereafter, when the operator turns on the switch of "no pallet" on the operation panel, the elevating member 31 descends. This causes the material A to move onto the conveyor 11 as shown in FIG. As described above, the material loading device 25 of the present embodiment, regardless of the presence of the pallet 20,
The material A can be efficiently supplied onto the conveyor 11.

[0026]

According to the present invention, the pallets can be efficiently collected immediately after loading the materials at the material loading stage, and the number of pallets used can be reduced. Further, the material can be supplied to the loading stage without using a pallet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of equipment provided with a material loading device showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view when the material loading device in FIG. 1 is in an initial state.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a state where a lifter of the material loading device in FIG. 1 is lifted.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state where a pallet separator of the material loading device in FIG. 1 is advanced.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a state where a lifter of the material loading device in FIG. 1 is lowered.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state where a pallet is carried out in the material loading device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a state in which the lifter of the material loading device in FIG. 1 has risen again;

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a state where a material is placed on a lifter of the material loading device in FIG. 1;

9 is a front view of the material loading device in FIG. 1 in a state where a material is placed on a conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

A: Material, 11: Conveyor, 11a: Roller (conveyor element), 13: Destack area, 20: Pallet,
21: Pallet body, 25: Material loading device, 30:
Lifter, 31: elevating member, 36: pallet separator,
40 ... Support member.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A loading device provided on a material loading stage of a conveyor for transporting a plate-shaped material in a horizontal direction, wherein the loading device can be moved up and down through a gap between conveyor elements of the conveyor and stopped at a desired height. A lifter on which a pallet loaded with materials is placed in a state in which the pallet is lifted to a position higher than the conveyor element, and a lifter which lifts the pallet up to a predetermined height in a gap between the pallet body and the material. An apparatus for loading a plate-shaped material, comprising: a pallet separator that can be advanced and retracted from a direction; and a support member that supports the pallet separator when the pallet separator is advanced.