JP2948312B2 - Length measuring device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Purpose of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention is applicable to, for example, type determination by measuring the length of an article and measuring the length of a stock in the manufacture of an article and inventory management of the article. It relates to a length measuring device to be used.

(Prior Art) Manufacturers who manufacture bottles and the like need to count the number of bottles for each size in order to perform quantity counting at the time of manufacturing and inventory management. Especially in inventory management, items of different sizes may be mixed and stored, and the effort of totalizing the number of stored products for each type is enormous. The development of an inventory management system that can do this is underway.

By the way, such an inventory management system suspends a plurality of storage shelves containing a plurality of articles on an endless chain pair, and drives the endless chains so that the storage shelves are transported along a predetermined transport path. It is configured to be. Then, in the transport path, the articles stored in the storage shelves are detected by the photoelectric switch, the shape of the detection result is determined by a computer or the like, and the quantity is counted for each type such as cans and bottles.

As shown in FIG. 4, the photoelectric switch used in such a system consists of a combination of an infrared projector and an infrared receiver, between which an object such as a can or bottle to be inspected passes to block infrared light. The shape of the article was determined based on the time taken.

However, as shown in FIG. 5, the light output from the infrared projector of the photoelectric switch of such a system has a characteristic that spreads in accordance with the distance, which causes a variation in the light-shielding point and the dimension measurement accuracy of the article. There was a problem that became worse.

In addition, when photoelectric switches are used side by side as shown in FIG. 6, there is a problem that the infrared light receiver receives a light beam emitted from the adjacent infrared light projector.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional shape judging device, the light output from the infrared projector has a characteristic that spreads according to the distance, which causes a variation in the light-shielding point and the size of the article. There is a problem that the measurement accuracy is deteriorated, and when the photoelectric switches are used side by side, there is a problem that the infrared light receiver receives a light beam emitted from an adjacent infrared light projector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide a length measuring device with improved dimensional measurement accuracy of an article.

[Constitution of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, a length measuring device of the present invention comprises a conveying means for conveying an article at a predetermined speed along a conveying path; A light projecting means for projecting light toward a passage position of an article conveyed along a road, a first light-shielding panel having a first slit, and provided on a front surface of the light projecting means; A light receiving means for receiving the light projected from the means, a second light shielding panel having a second slit provided substantially orthogonal to the first slit, and provided on a front surface of the light receiving means; Calculating means for calculating a length of the article in the conveying direction based on a time when light emitted from the light projecting means is blocked by the article conveyed by the conveying means. I do.

(Operation) According to the length measuring apparatus of the present invention, since the panel having the slit is provided on the front surface of the light projecting means, the length of the light projected by the light projecting means is not widened, and the length is accurately measured. Becomes possible.

Further, a panel having a slit orthogonal to the slit of the panel provided on the front of the light emitting means is provided also on the front face of the light receiving means, so that the light emitted from the light emitting means is accurately taken into the light receiving means. The length can be measured more accurately.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an embodiment in which the length measuring device of the present invention is applied to an inventory control device for checking the temporal quality of beer.

As shown in the figure, a storage box 2 is suspended between a pair of endless chains 1a and 1b. The storage boxes 2 are rotatably fixed to the pair of endless chains 1a and 1b so as to maintain substantially the same posture at any position on the transport path. The storage box 2 is provided with a plurality of storage pockets 4 for storing articles 3 such as canned beer and bottled beer. Further, the endless chain pair 1a, 1b is circulated and conveyed at a constant speed by a driving device 5 using a motor. V is a belt conveyor for conveyance.

Further, at a predetermined position of the transport path, the same number of photoelectric switches 6 as the number of storage pockets 4 are provided for detecting the articles 3 stored in the storage box 2 transported to that position. The photoelectric switch 6 includes an infrared projector 6a that outputs an infrared beam, and an infrared receiver 6b that is disposed to face the infrared projector 6a and receives infrared light from the infrared projector 6a. , A light-shielded signal is output from the infrared receiver 6b. When the article 3 is not stored in the storage box 2,
An opening is provided so as not to block the infrared beam.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an infrared projector 6a and an infrared receiver 6b provided in the inventory management device.

As shown in the figure, a light shielding panel 9a having a vertically long slit 8a is provided on the front surface of the infrared projector 6a. A light-shielding panel 9b having a horizontally long slit 8b is provided on the front surface of the infrared receiver 6b. Arrow A in the figure indicates the direction in which the article 3 is conveyed.

Next, a description will be given of an operation when the articles 3 such as beer stored in the inventory management device configured as described above are totaled for each type.

The storage box 2 is circulated and transported by the endless chain pair 1a, 1b, and sequentially passes through the photoelectric switch 6. At this time, the storage box 2 and the storage pocket 4 of the storage box 2
The infrared beam of the infrared projector 6a is narrowed by the slit 8a and emitted to the article 3 such as beer stored in the container. This infrared beam is blocked when the article 3 passes.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the infrared beam 10a emitted from the infrared projector 6a is narrowed by the light shielding panel 9a having the vertically elongated slit 8a, and becomes an infrared beam 10b having a vertically long elliptical cross section.

On the other hand, on the infrared receiver 6b side, the infrared beam 10b having a vertically long elliptical cross section is received by being limited by the horizontally long slit 8b.

Then, the shading time indicated by the shading signal and the endless chain pair 1a,
The speed of the storage box 2 circulated and conveyed by 1b is input to a computer (not shown), the length of the article 3 such as beer in the conveying direction is calculated, and the type is determined.
Then, tallying is performed for each type.

Therefore, in the inventory management device of the present embodiment, the infrared beam 10a from the infrared projector 6a is narrowed and emitted, and the light receiving range of the infrared receiver 6b is also limited. Even when they are used side by side, the influence of the infrared beam from the neighbor is reduced, and the length of the article 3 in the transport direction can be accurately measured.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the length measuring device of the present invention, the light from the light projecting means is restricted by the slit and the light receiving range of the light receiving means is narrowed, so that the variation of the light shielding point is reduced. Less, and less affected by other light,
It is possible to accurately measure the length of the article to be measured in the transport direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an embodiment in which the length measuring device of the present invention is applied to an inventory control device for checking the temporal quality of beer, and FIG. 2 is an infrared ray provided in the inventory control device. FIG. 3 is a view showing a projector and an infrared receiver, FIG. 3 is a view showing an infrared beam narrowed by a slit on a light emitting side and a slit on a light receiving side, and FIG. 4 is a view showing an infrared projector and a receiver of a conventional length measuring device. FIGS. 5 and 6 are views showing the relationship between the articles 3, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are views showing how the infrared beam emitted from the light projector reaches the infrared light receiver. 1a, 1b ... Endless chain, 2 ... Storage box, 4 ...
Storage pocket, 5 ... Drive device, 6a ... Infrared projector
6b …… Infrared receiver, 8a, 8b …… Slit, 9a, 9b ……
Shading panel.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A conveying means for conveying an article at a predetermined speed along a conveying path; a light projecting means for projecting light toward a passage position of the article conveyed along the conveying path; A first light-shielding panel provided on the front surface of the light projecting means, and a second slit provided substantially orthogonal to the first slit, and provided on the front surface of the light receiving means. A second light-shielding panel, light-receiving means for receiving light emitted from the light-emitting means, and a time during which light emitted from the light-emitting means is blocked by the article carried by the carrying means. Calculating means for calculating the length of the article in the transport direction based on the length of the article.