JP2567754Y2 - Sorting device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorting apparatus which is suitable for sorting articles in different directions in which articles are to be transported or in various destinations in an article transport system or other physical distribution processes in various production plants. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally used sorting apparatuses include:
For example, a method of arranging articles to be sorted on a conveyor and appropriately intercepting the articles at a predetermined sorting position, or sequentially placing the articles on a movable tray continuously attached on a transport path, and setting a predetermined sorting position. In various fields, various configurations such as a system in which a tray is inclined to slide articles down are adopted.

One of such sorting apparatuses is filed by the applicant of the present invention and disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-4275 as a device capable of speeding up and smoothing the sorting and transferring of articles and reducing noise during sorting. There is also a system such as a "narrow belt sorting device".

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned take-over method is often restricted by the shape of the article, and is not suitable for the sorting process for handling a large number of various kinds of articles.

On the other hand, the method of tilting the tray is to level the tray during the transport of the articles, and to tilt the articles at the sorting position in a direction just lateral to the traveling direction of the trays to slide down the articles. There is also a configuration in which the tray can be tilted not only on one side but also on both sides with respect to the moving direction of the tray.

[0006] This type of apparatus has a complicated structure because it is necessary to hold the tray horizontally and convey it, and to surely tilt the tray at the sorting position. Therefore, various proposals have been made as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-64622. However, those skilled in the art are not yet satisfied with the simplification of the structure, improvement of reliability, maintenance and inspection, and the like, and further improvement is desired.

[0007] Further, regarding the narrow belt sorting apparatus,
Since it is a structure in which a take-up device is provided for each of a plurality of narrow belts formed in an endless shape, the center of gravity of the conveyed product is likely to move due to the narrow belt width,
There is a problem that the belt tends to meander. Furthermore, since the number of wheels provided between the belts is large, when a conveyed object has a string or the like, it has a problem to be improved such that the conveyed object is easily caught by the wheel and becomes an obstacle to conveyance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sorting apparatus which has a simple structure and can surely sort articles.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a sorting apparatus for transporting articles along a transport path and changing the transport direction from the transport path to sort the articles in a specific direction at predetermined intervals. A transport belt driven for traveling,
The transport belt is provided adjacent to the transport belt and substantially along the traveling direction of the transport belt, is driven to rotate in a direction substantially intersecting the travel direction, and has one end on the downstream side in the transport direction driven by driving means. Above the mounting surface
And the other end on the upstream side in the transport direction is the article placement surface.
Supported below and can swing up and down around the other end
And a sorting roller supported by the sorting device.

[0010]

[Action] That is, when sorting the articles conveyed by the conveyor belt, conveying a portion of the article and lift the end of the sorting roller from the conveyor belt of the article by Rukoto let ride on the sorting roller Directional inertia
While decelerating while absorbing the force, the sorting is performed by changing the conveying direction of the article by the conveying force of the conveying belt and the rotational force of the sorting roller.

Therefore, the sorting of the articles is performed along the transport belt .
This is performed by lifting the sorting roller provided in this way, so that many narrow belts and wheels are not required, and the structure can be simplified.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a sorting apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic explanatory views illustrating the basic operation of sorting, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the main part, FIG. 4 is a side view of the main part explaining the lifting operation of the sorting roller, and FIG. It is a front view explaining rotation drive of a roller.

In the description of the embodiment, a side surface viewed from the traveling direction of the sorting apparatus is referred to as a front surface, a side surface viewed from the left and right with respect to the traveling direction, and a plane surface viewed from above. Also,
The basic configuration and operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, and then a specific example will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the basic configuration and operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The sorting device A includes a wide conveying belt 1 and a narrow conveying belt 2,
Roller 3, which is provided along the traveling direction between the conveyor belt 2 and the conveyor belt 2, a drawing roller 4 for drawing the sorted articles B in the sorting direction, and an air cylinder 33 (drive means for inclining the sorting roller 3). (See Fig. 4)
And the like. Therefore, the articles B to be transported and sorted are transported so as to straddle between the transport belt 1 and the transport belt 2.

The conveying belt 1 is set wide so that most of the article B can be carried thereon and conveyed in the direction of the arrow X. Although the conveying belt 2 moves in the same direction as the conveying belt 1,
Its width is set narrow. The sorting roller 3 is configured to rotate clockwise as viewed from the front via a pulley 11 provided at one end, and further rotates so that the leading end thereof is lifted around a fulcrum P as described later. It is configured.

The sorting roller 3 is located below the surface of the conveyor belt 1 and the sorting belt 3, that is, the surface on which the articles B are placed, when sorting is not performed. (In FIG. 1, the right end portion on the opposite side to the fulcrum P) is lifted to be positioned on the upper surface.

On the other hand, although the pull-in roller 4 is configured to rotate clockwise as viewed from the front, it only rotates at a predetermined position and does not have a lifting structure like the sorting roller 3.

Next, the basic operation will be described. When the article B is transported in the direction of the arrow X, the sorting roller 3 is not lifted. In this case, the sorting roller 3 has no effect on the article B and moves in the direction of the arrow X while straddling the conveyor belt 1 and the conveyor belt 2.

On the other hand, immediately before the article B reaches the sorting position, the leading end of the sorting roller 3 is lifted upward by control means (not shown). Since this lifting is performed around the fulcrum P, the sorting roller 3 is inclined obliquely upward from the fulcrum P toward the tip.

Therefore, the article B that has moved in the direction of the arrow X
Is gradually climbed on the sorting roller 3. Since the sorting roller 3 rotates while being held by the shaft 31 even during lifting, a force in the direction of arrow X acts on the article B, and at the same time, a force in the direction of Y shown in FIG. Will do. That is, the force in two directions continues to act on the article B,
The article B moves in the Z direction shown in FIG. This means that the articles B conveyed by the conveyor belts 1 and 2 are
One end of the sorting roller 3 on the downstream side in the transport direction is lifted, and the bottom portion of the article B is made to ride on the sorting roller 3 from the transport belts 1 and 2. Changes the transport direction of the article B to the Z direction.

When the article B continues to move in the Z direction and the center of the article B has passed the sorting roller 3, a part of the article B comes to be located on the drawing-in roller 4. Since the drawing-in roller 4 is formed to be longer than the sorting roller 3, even if the article B moves in the Z direction and moves in front of the sorting roller 3, the article B will fall on the drawing-in roller 4.

As a result, the article B is drawn out of the conveyor belt 1 by the sorting roller 3 and the pull-in roller 4 rotating in the same direction, and to the right in FIG. Therefore, the article B transported in the X direction by the transport belt 1 and the transport belt 2 is changed in the transport direction in the Z direction, and the articles B are sorted.

Next, the sorting device A will be described with reference to FIGS.
A specific example will be described. Note that the reference numerals used in the basic configuration are used for specific examples. The transport belt 1 is an endless belt, is wrapped around a roller 22 rotatably provided on a gantry 21 at appropriate intervals, and is driven in the X direction by drive means (not shown). One projection 23 is provided below the transport belt 1, in other words, inside, and the projection 23 is fitted into a guide member 24 provided on the gantry 21.

Further, a guide roller 25 composed of a pair of rollers is provided inside the gantry 21 so as to sandwich the projection 23 of the transport belt 1 which is folded back as shown in FIG. Therefore, although the transport belt 1 is a long endless belt, the protrusions 23, the guide members 24,
The guide roller 25 prevents meandering.

As shown particularly clearly in FIG. 5, the transport belt 2 is formed to have a convex cross section. Then, the flat plate portion 2A is fitted into the guide portion 26, the convex portion 2B protrudes above the guide portion 26, and the upper surface of the convex portion 2B becomes the transport surface of the article B. The guide section 26 is fixed to the gantry 21 at a predetermined interval from the conveyor belt 1.

Therefore, the transport belt 2 travels in the direction of the arrow X without meandering at a predetermined interval with respect to the transport belt 1.

The sorting roller 3 is rotatably supported by a shaft 31, and one end of the shaft 31 is fixed to a support member 32. The support member 32 is fixed to the gantry 21, but is configured to be able to tiltably support the shaft 31 when the tip of the sorting roller 3 is lifted.

The other end of the shaft 31 has an air cylinder 33
Are installed, and piping 35, 3
By controlling the air supply via 6, the lifting of the shaft 31 and the control to the steady state, that is, the lifting of the sorting roller 3 and the control to the steady state are performed.

The sorting roller 3 is provided with a pulley 11 for driving the sorting roller 3 to rotate. The structure and operation of the pulley 11 will be described together with the pull-in roller 4 described in the next section.

The draw-in roller 4 is rotatably supported by a pair of support members 41 and 42 fixed on the gantry 21. And at one end of the pull-in roller 4,
A pulley 51 is provided at a position aligned with the pulley 11 provided on the sorting roller 3.

On the other hand, a large-diameter pulley 53 formed so that a single round belt 52, which will be described later, can be double-hung, is provided below the intermediate position between the pulleys 11 and 51. It is configured to be driven to rotate.

A single round belt 52 is stretched between the pulleys 11, 51, and 53, and as shown in FIG.
And the pull-in roller 4 are driven to rotate in the same direction as described above.

Next, the sorting of the articles B will be described. In a steady state, the sorting roller 3 is located below the conveyor belt 1 and the conveyor belt 2 as shown by a solid line in FIG. B is transported across the sorting roller 3.

When approaching the sorting position, the air cylinder 33 is driven to lift the tip of the sorting roller 3 as shown by the dotted line in FIGS.
Since both the sorting roller 3 and the pull-in roller 4 continue to rotate, the article B moves as described with reference to FIG. 2, and the article B is sorted.

After the sorting, the air cylinder 33
Is driven to lower the leading end of the sorting roller 3, that is, to return to the steady state, and shift to preparation for the next sorting.

As described above, in the sorting apparatus A shown in this embodiment, the sorting of the articles B can be performed very easily only by controlling the lifting of the leading end of the sorting roller 3 by the air cylinder 33 when performing sorting. Can be. Furthermore,
There is no need to change the direction of the sorting roller 3, and the sorting can be performed by one sorting roller 3, so that the sorting structure can be greatly simplified.

Since the conveying belt 1 for the article B is wide and does not have a structure using many narrow belts,
Accidents such as entanglement of a string or the like during transport do not occur, and transport and sorting can be performed efficiently and reliably. In addition, since the sorting roller 3 and the pull-in roller 4 are driven to rotate by one round belt 52, there are various advantages such as a simple structure and easy maintenance.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration. For example,
By providing the sorting roller 3, the narrow conveying belt 2, and the drawing-in roller 4 on both sides of the conveying belt 1, it is possible to form a sorting device for sorting articles B on both sides.

In addition, the lifting drive of the sorting roller 3 is not limited to the air cylinder, and a configuration using a cam mechanism, a solenoid valve or the like can be adopted. In the above embodiment, the inclination angle of the sorting roller 3 is not particularly limited, but can be appropriately set depending on the angle of the sorting direction, and the inclination angle can be changed as needed. Further, the sorting roller 3 is installed in parallel with the transport direction of the article B, but may have a structure inclined in the sorting direction with respect to the article transport direction. Furthermore, sorting roller 3
The diameter of the roller is not limited to the same structure as a whole, and a tapered roller structure that increases the diameter of the lifting member can be adopted, and a structure in which a plurality of sorting rollers are arranged instead of one as in the above embodiment. It can be.

[0040]

As described above, the sorting apparatus according to the present invention has a conveyor belt driven and driven in a specific direction at a predetermined interval, and is substantially adjacent to the conveyor belt in the traveling direction of the conveyor belt. Is provided, and is rotatably driven in a direction substantially intersecting with the traveling direction, and one end on the downstream side in the transport direction is movable above the article mounting surface of the transport belt by the driving means , and the upstream side in the transport direction. Other
The end is supported below the article placement surface, and the other end is
A sorting roller supported so that it can swing downward
Structure, holding the leading end of the sorting roller during sorting.
How to transport goods by lifting them and riding them
The speed is reduced while absorbing the directional inertial force, and the moving direction of the articles is changed by the rotation of the sorting roller and the transport of the transport belt to perform the sorting.

Therefore, the sorting of the articles can be performed by the conveying force of the conveying belt and the rotating force of one sorting roller, and the structure of the sorting apparatus can be simplified.
In addition, since the conveyance and sorting of articles are performed by a small number of belts mainly using a wide conveyance belt, even if there is a string attached to the article, there is little risk of being caught between the belts,
Transport and sorting can be performed reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the sorting operation of articles.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the sorting apparatus showing a specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part of the sorting device.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a main part of the sorting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveying belt 2 Sorting belt 3 Sorting roller 4 Pull-in roller 11, 51, 53 Pulley 21 Stand 22 Roller 23 Projection 24 Guide member 25 Guide roller 31 Shaft 33 Air cylinder A Sorting device B Article X, Y, Z directions

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A sorting apparatus for transporting articles along a transport path, changing the transport direction from the transport path and sorting the articles, comprising: a transport belt driven to travel in a specific direction at a predetermined interval; Is provided substantially along the running direction of the conveyor belt, and is rotatably driven in a direction substantially intersecting the running direction, and one end on the downstream side in the conveying direction is driven by driving means on the article mounting surface of the conveyor belt. Can be moved upward, and
The other end is supported below the article mounting surface, and the other end is centered.
A sorting device comprising: a sorting roller supported to be swingable in a vertical direction .