JP2727024B2 - Weight sorter - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial application field of the present invention> The present invention measures the weight of an article during transportation, performs sorting determination of the weight, and places the article on a transport path according to the determination result. The present invention relates to a weight sorting device for sorting and transporting.

<Prior Art> In a production line, a weight sorting apparatus shown in FIG. 4 has been conventionally used to sort a conveyed article by its weight.

In FIG. 4, the weight sorting device 3 includes a carry-in conveyor 1
Is carried into the weighing conveyor 4.

The weight judging unit 6 is configured to perform the following operations based on the weighing signal output from the weighing device 5 while the article is being conveyed on the weighing conveyor 4.
The weight of the article is determined, the weight is determined, and a determination signal indicating the determination result is output to the selection driving unit 7.

The sorting drive unit 7 is configured to move the sorting conveyor 8 from the weighing conveyor 4 to the sorting conveyor 8.
Is guided to a route according to the determination result, and is distributed to the carry-out conveyor 2 or another route.

The sorting drive unit 7 supplies air to one of the air nozzles 9a and 9b provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor 2 when it is determined that the article weight is excessive as shown in FIG. 5, for example. When it is determined that the article weight is insufficient, air is supplied to the other air nozzle 9b.

Therefore, when the article conveyed from the weighing conveyor 4 to the sorting conveyor 8 is determined to be defective, the article is dropped to the side of the sorting conveyor 8, and when it is determined to be non-defective, the article is directly carried out to the unloading conveyor 2 and Sorting by weight will be done during the transport.

<Problem to be solved> However, in such a conventional weight sorter,
For example, even if an article determined to be defective is not completely removed and is unloaded from the sorting conveyor 8 to the unloading conveyor 2, the sorting error cannot be known, and the defective product is sent to the subsequent line without any warning. I will.

In particular, in the weight sorting device having the above-described air exclusion type sorting drive unit 7 capable of quickly removing articles with a simple configuration,
This sorting error is likely to occur depending on the shape and posture of the article, and there is an abnormality in the front line, defective products are continuously carried in, and a large number of these items are carried out to the rear line side due to the sorting error. It can happen that the situation goes unnoticed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a weight sorting device that solves this problem.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to solve the above problems, a weight sorting device of the present invention includes: a first conveyor that conveys articles; and a weighing device that weighs articles conveyed on the first conveyor. Receiving the weighing signal from the weighing device, calculating the weight of the conveyed article, performing a sorting judgment of the weight, outputting a judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result, and unloading from the first conveyor A second conveyor that conveys the determined article, and a sorting driving unit that sorts, at a predetermined sorting position on the second conveyor, a discharge path of the determined article in a direction according to the determination result; A first determination result delay unit that outputs a determination signal from the weight determination unit to the sorting driving unit at a timing when the article corresponding to the determination signal reaches the sorting position, and a plurality of items that are sorted by the sorting driving unit. A carry-out sensor that is provided at a predetermined carry-out position of a predetermined carry-out path of the carry-out path and detects passage of an article to the carry-out position; A second determination result delay unit that outputs a determination signal from the determination unit, and a determination signal from the carry-out sensor and the second determination result delay unit, and determine that an item different from the determination signal has been selected. A selection error determining means for outputting a selection error signal, and a notifying means for receiving the selection error signal and informing the outside.

<Operation> Therefore, when an article whose weight has been determined on the first conveyor reaches the sorting position of the second conveyor, the article is sorted to the carry-out path according to the determination signal of the article.

At the timing when the article arrives at the predetermined unloading position from the sorting position, the sorting is confirmed by the signal from the unloading sensor and the determination signal, and when it is determined that there is a sorting error, it is notified to the outside.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a weight sorting apparatus 10 according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 12 denotes a carry-in sensor for detecting the carry-in of an article to the weighing conveyor 4, and is constituted by, for example, a pair of light emitters and receivers.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a sampling circuit that closes the switch 14 at a predetermined measurement timing after receiving a signal from the carry-in sensor 12 indicating the start of article carry-in. It is assumed that the measurement timing is set to a timing at which the weighing signal is stabilized after the article is carried in.

The stable weighing signal at the measurement timing is input to the weight calculation means 16 of the selection determination unit 15 via the switch 14, and the weight value of the carried-in article is calculated by averaging or the like.

The calculated weight from the weight calculating means 16 is compared with a predetermined allowable weight range determined by the determining means 17,
A determination signal corresponding to the determination result, for example, a pass signal, an over signal, and an under signal are output. Note that a preceding-stage inspection signal from a preceding-stage detector is also input to the determination unit 17.

The judging means 17 outputs the judgment signal corresponding to the conveyed article including the preceding inspection signal. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, any one of the four bits of the judgment signal has "1". Thus, the result of the first-stage inspection and the determination result for the weight can be known.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a first memory for sequentially storing the determination signals from the determination means 17.
Is the determination result memory.

The first determination result memory 18 is composed of a FIFO memory, and sequentially stores a plurality of determination signals while updating the write pointer with a “1” bit signal always included in the determination signal.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a first delay timer which constitutes a first determination result delay means together with the first determination result memory 18 and delays a signal indicating the loading of an article from the loading sensor 12 by a predetermined time to obtain a first determination result. Output to the memory 18.

The first determination result memory 18 updates the read pointer each time it receives the output of the first delay timer 19.

The delay time Tp of the first delay timer 19 is
The distance Lp from 12 to the sorting position P where the articles are removed by the air blowing of the air nozzles 9a and 9b provided on both sides of the sorting conveyor 8 is set in advance to a value obtained by dividing by the conveyor speed S ( Actually, distance L is about 1/2 of the article length
p)).

Therefore, when an article that has been carried into the weighing conveyor 4 and has been judged based on the weight has reached the sorting position P, the judgment result of the article is output from the first judgment result memory 18.

The determination signal read from the first determination result memory 18 is supplied to the air supply device 20 and the second determination result memory.
Output to 21.

If "1" is present in the second bit of the determination signal, the air supply device 20 supplies air to one of the air nozzles 9a for a predetermined time (a time determined by the article length and the conveyor speed S). If "1" is present in the first and fourth bits, air is supplied to the other air nozzle 9b for a predetermined time.

The second determination result memory 21 is formed of a FIFO memory, like the first determination result memory 18, and sequentially stores determination signals read from the first determination result memory 18.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a second delay timer for further delaying the delay signal from the first delay timer 19 by a predetermined time Tr and outputting the delayed signal to the second determination result memory 21.
Together with 21, a second judgment result delay means is constituted.

The second determination result memory 21 updates the read pointer each time it receives the output from the second delay timer 22.

The delay time Tr of the second delay timer 22 is set in advance to a value obtained by dividing the distance Lr from the sorting position P where the articles are sorted to the unloading position R of the sorting conveyor 8 by the conveyor speed S.

23 receives the judgment signal read from the second judgment result memory 21 and the signal indicating the article unloading from the unloading sensor 24 provided at the unloading position R of the sorting conveyor 8, and is unloaded to the unloading conveyor 2. This is a sorting error determination unit that determines that a defective article that should not be carried out or that a good product that should be carried out has not been carried out.

Reference numeral 25 denotes an alarm unit that receives a selection error signal from the selection error determination unit 23 and generates an alarm sound. Reference numeral 26 denotes a third delay timer for delaying the sorting error signal by a predetermined time and outputting the signal. This timer output is used to distinguish defective articles carried out due to sorting errors from non-defective products by re-sorting means (not shown) at the subsequent stage. The delay time can be arbitrarily changed so that the delay time can be used.

The operation of the weight sorting device 10 configured as described above will be described.

When the articles W1W2,... To be sorted are sequentially carried into the weighing conveyor 4 from the carry-in conveyor 1, the detection signal of the carry-in sensor 12 is output in synchronization with the carry-in of the goods, as shown in FIG. You.

These article weights are sequentially calculated, and the determination signals corresponding to the determination results are sequentially stored in the first determination result memory 18 as shown in FIG. 3 (b).

The judgment signal for each article stored in the first judgment result memory 18 is supplied by the air of the first delay timer as shown in FIG. It is stored in the device 20 and the second determination result memory 21.

Here, for example, when it is determined that both the articles W2 and W3 following the article W1 are defective, air is supplied to the corresponding air nozzles (9a and 9b) as shown in (d) of FIG. You.

The articles will effectively receive this air approximately in the center of the articles and will be expelled to the side of the sorting conveyor 8.

As a result, defective articles are eliminated. However, at the timing when the articles judged by weight reach the unloading position R of the sorting conveyor 8, as shown in FIG. The determination signal for each article read in order is input to the sorting error determining means 23 together with the signal from the carry-out sensor 24 shown in FIG. 3 (f) to determine whether there is a sorting error.

As shown in (e) and (f) of FIG. 3, the non-defective article W1
When the output of the unloading sensor 24 becomes “H” in response to the determination signal H1, it is confirmed that the non-defective article has been surely unloaded. However, the output of the unloading sensor 24 does not correspond to the determination signal H3 of the defective article W3. When it becomes "H", it is determined that there is a selection error, a selection error signal as shown in FIG. 3 (g) is output, and an alarm sound is generated.

Also, in response to the judgment signal H4 of the good article W4, the carry-out sensor 24
Is kept at "L" level, it is determined that clogging or the like has occurred in the transport path, and a selection error signal is output.

Therefore, even if the worker is away from the weight sorting device, the operator can grasp the frequency of occurrence of sorting errors and can prevent a large amount of defective products from being carried out.

<Another embodiment of the present invention> In the above embodiment, the sorting position is set near the carry-out side of the sorting conveyor 8 for the purpose of preventing the adverse effect of the air sorting on the weighing operation. The first and second judgment result memories 18 and 21 which can sequentially store a plurality of judgment signals so that a plurality of articles may be on the sorting conveyor 8 are used. In the case of a weight sorting apparatus having a sorting driving means for removing the material on the side of the conveyor 8, if the length of the sorting conveyor 8 is shortened so that only one article is conveyed on the sorting conveyor 8, this kind of apparatus is used. It is not necessary to use a memory, but only to delay the determination signal.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the defective articles are excluded to the side of the sorting conveyor 8, but the sorting judgment based on the weight is performed more finely, that is, the carry-out path is changed depending on the weight of the non-defective article and the smaller one. In such a case, the present invention can be similarly applied, and a plurality of carry-out sensors may be provided according to the number of carry-out paths.

Further, in the above embodiment, the first delay timer 19 is started by a signal from the carry-in sensor 12 indicating the carry-in of the article to the weighing conveyor 4, and the second delay timer 22
Was started, but both timers may be started at the output timing of the determination signal, or both timers may be started by a signal from the carry-in sensor 12.

<Effects of the Present Invention> As described above, the weight sorting device of the present invention sorts according to the determination result based on the weight of the articles carried into the first conveyor (the weighing conveyor 4) and according to the determination result. Since the sorting is confirmed by comparing with the actual article unloading state, and a notifying means for notifying that the article has not been sorted on the transport path according to the determination result is provided,
The fact that a sorting error has occurred can be easily known, and line management becomes very easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a signal form of one embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of one embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the conventional device, and FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of the conventional device of FIG. 4 weighing conveyor, 5 weighing machine, 8 sorting conveyor, 9a, 9b air nozzle, 10 weight sorting device, 12
... Carry-in sensor, 13... Sampling means, 15... Selection judgment section, 18... First judgment result memory, 19... First delay timer, 20... Air supply device, 21. Result memory, 22... Second delay timer, 23... Sorting error determination means, 24... Unloading sensor, 25.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A first conveyor for transporting articles; a weigher for weighing articles carried on the first conveyor; and a weight of the articles carried in response to a weighing signal from the weigher. Weight determination means for calculating the weight, performing a sorting determination of the weight, and outputting a determination signal corresponding to the determination result; a second conveyor for transporting a determined article carried out from the first conveyor; At a predetermined sorting position on the second conveyor, sorting driving means for sorting the determined article carrying-out path in a direction corresponding to the determination result, and a determination signal from the weight determining means, First determination result delay means for outputting to the sorting driving means at a timing when the corresponding article reaches the sorting position; and predetermined unloading of a predetermined unloading path among a plurality of unloading paths to which the articles are sorted by the sorting driving means. And an output sensor that detects the passage of the article to the unloading position, and outputs a determination signal from the weight determination unit corresponding to the article when the determined article reaches the predetermined unloading position. Receiving a determination signal from the carry-out sensor and the second determination result delay unit, determining that an item different from the determination signal has been selected, and generating a selection error signal. A weight sorting device comprising: a sorting error determining unit to be output; and a notifying unit that receives the sorting error signal and notifies the outside to the outside.