JP3002935B2 - Stowage equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stowage apparatus for stowing a stackable article such as a case on a mounting member such as a pallet .
About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various stowage methods and various stowage devices have been used in a wide area such as a transfer work site of a factory or a logistics field. For example, a loading device using a mounting member such as a pallet or a transfer device. The device may contain one article at a time or
There are a flow type robot palletizer that stacks one row at a time from the bottom, and a type in which articles (stacked articles) stacked in advance (stacked articles) are collectively transferred to a pallet. In order to rationalize a factory transport system or a distribution system, a mix palletizing apparatus is required in which articles are stacked in consideration of a delivery order, and the stacked articles are accumulated and transferred on a pallet. As an apparatus for stacking articles one by one from the bottom, there is, for example, an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-6271. In this publication, long cubic case bodies (articles) sequentially supplied from a supply step are pooled one by one in a predetermined arrangement, and the pools are placed on a vertically movable table. This is a structure related to a palletizer that is sequentially stacked on a pallet in a multi-stage manner.The mechanism for sorting the vertical and horizontal flow direction of the case body allows the case body to be supplied even if the supply trajectory of the long cubic case body supplied by the conveyor is not constant. It is intended to control the vertical and horizontal directions accurately and to supply the pallet onto the pallet reliably. This apparatus has a problem that so-called mix palletizing in which articles having different heights are simultaneously stacked cannot be performed. On the other hand, as a stacking type transfer device capable of mix palletizing, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-48698, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 4-4003
No. 4 publication.

[0003] In the structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-48698, when the stacked articles are palletized, the articles are locked one by one so that the stacked appearance is achieved. It is designed to securely hold and prevent the stacked articles from tipping over, so that orderly pallet stacking can be performed. A locking body to be moved, a fork for supporting the article, which is horizontally movable between a forward position for horizontally supporting the article below the locking body and a retreat position for retreating from below the article, A plurality of engaging claws which are provided on the stacked article locking surface of the locking body so as to be vertically movable and which are inserted into side openings of the stacked articles and engage with lower edges of the openings; And a pallet loading device.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 4-40034, the stacked containers can be installed in a small space for automatically loading the pallets, and are simple and inexpensive. A supporting table that supports and moves the pallet, a device that moves the supporting table, a table that supports the stacked containers, a pusher that pushes the stacked containers on the table onto the pallet, and movement of the supporting table And a control device for automatically controlling the operation of the pusher.

[0005]

In the conventional method and apparatus described above, when the stacked articles are transferred onto a pallet, the upper or lower part of the stacked articles is held. The loaded articles wait in an unstable state during the transfer operation, and there is a risk of falling over due to vibration of a nearby machine or the like or contact with other transferred articles.

Accordingly, in a type in which articles stacked in advance (stacked) are collectively transferred onto a pallet, as a measure for stabilizing the articles, articles which can be locked by hooks, such as plastic cases, are used. Or a method in which the upper and lower cases are locked by engaging the unevenness of the upper and lower cases when they are stacked in a four-pin stack pattern. In many cases, the transfer mode is restricted because of a specific pattern. In particular, when stacking and transferring articles that cannot be locked with hooks or the like, such as carton cases, for example, when the height of the stacking differs by stacking articles in cases where there are multiple types of article heights It is necessary to transfer the products in the state of being stacked up to the uppermost stage, that is, stacking for each stacking stage having a different height.In this case, since there is a high risk of collapse of the stacked products due to vibration or the like, a high level is required. It has been very difficult to transfer quickly and reliably in a stacked state.

An object of the present invention is to stack articles that cannot be locked by a hooking means, for example, a cardboard box, and to transfer the articles to a pallet in this high stacked state, and to control the height, width, and length of the articles. It is an object of the present invention to provide a stowage device that can stably and quickly transfer even when the stacking height and the stacking width are different due to different stacking heights .

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above object of the present invention is an object of the present invention .
Conveyor (10) for carrying goods, and the conveyor (1
0) and a chain pusher that can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction.
-Device (30) and the chain pusher device (30)
And a slat for placing the article delivered from the device (30).
Is provided between the pair of drive chains (42), and
At an interval that allows the rat (43) to pass articles down the slat
Installed and linked with the chain pusher device (30)
Apron device (40) connected so as to
Raising and lowering below the device (40), the slats (4
An elevating fork that can stack items released by 3)
Fork device (50) and the stacking fork of the elevating fork device (50).
By lowering the fork (53)
The article is transferred onto the transport surface and the article is transferred to the fork truck (80).
A moving roller conveyor (70) and the roller conveyor (70)
Of the stacked articles in the roller gap
Transfer fork (83) that can move horizontally in the
Upright push plate that can move horizontally independently of the fork (83)
(86), and the article is placed on the roller conveyor (70) side.
With the pallet conveyor (90) that transports the pallet (94)
The fork truck (80) that moves horizontally between it and the push plate (86)
Upright at a position close to the pallet (94) so as to face
To support the side of the article from the side opposite to the push plate (86).
A position regulating plate (95),
The device (30) is hung on a pair of endless drive chains (32).
Provided with the passed pusher (33), the apron device (40)
The drive chain (42) and the drive chain (32) are
In the connecting chain (34) to be driven by the moving means (35)
Circulation timing of both connected drive chains (32, 42)
Stowage characterized by matching
This can be achieved by a device .

[0009]

[0010]

As described above, the apparatus of the present invention is adapted to temporarily hold articles of different sizes conveyed according to a desired loading order in the loading direction and to successively lower the articles downward in that order. When stacking goods quickly on the pallet, the fork trolley presses the rear side of the stacked articles (as necessary, the side), and moves to the pallet side. In addition, since the articles move while being placed on the fork, vibrations and the like due to dynamic friction generated on the article bottom surface during the movement of the articles in a stacked state are reduced. In addition, it moves to the pallet side and transfers so that the stacked articles are pressed against the position regulating plate provided in front of the pallet, and then the upright push plate on the fork truck is independent of the fork by the push plate pushing device. By operating and pushing, the stacking articles are retracted while being pressed against the push plate for regulating the position, the fork is withdrawn from the lower surface of the stacking articles, and the stacking articles are transferred onto the pallet. Even when the height of the transfer device is high, or when there is a vibration or an impact when the transfer device operates, for example, a fork or the like, it is possible to prevent the stacked articles from collapsing or falling over. Even when the articles to be transferred have different widths and lengths, the articles are stacked in a stable state such that the two sides of the articles are aligned by the respective stoppers and position regulating plates in the stacked state. In addition,
Chain pusher and apron device
Because the drive chain is driven by one drive source in conjunction
In addition, there is no need to adjust the timing,
The timing of the input of goods is determined by the operation of the chain pusher device.
The chain pusher device and
And apron devices are operated continuously without stopping.
The efficiency can be improved because it can be performed.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS.
An embodiment of the device will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the stowage device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the stowage device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the operation of the stowage device of the present invention.

The stowage apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, as a whole, can be described as shown in FIG. 1, for example, a carry-in conveyor 10 which is a carry-in path provided on a gantry 21 having a constant height. A chain pusher device 30 provided so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the carry-in conveyor 10 and a slat provided adjacent to the chain pusher device 30 for mounting the articles sent from the device 30, and a pair of drive chains 42. Apron device 40 provided between the slats 43 so as to allow the slats 43 to pass articles downwardly of the slats, and further connected so as to interlock with the chain pusher device 30; Stacking device 2 comprising an ascending and descending fork device 50 capable of stacking articles lifted and lowered by the apron device and released from holding by the slats 43. It is equipped with a. Further, there is provided a roller conveyor 70 for transferring the articles in the stacked state on the conveying surface by lowering the stacking forks 53 of the lifting and lowering fork device 50 and moving the articles to the fork truck 80 side. A transfer fork 83 capable of holding articles located in the roller gap of the roller conveyor 70 and an upright push plate 86 that can move horizontally independently of the transfer fork 83
And a fork truck 80 that horizontally moves between the roller conveyor 70 side and the pallet conveyor 90 side that conveys a pallet 94 on which articles are placed. Furthermore,
A position regulating plate 95 that stands upright at a position close to the pallet 94 so as to face the push plate 86 and supports the side surface of the article from the side opposite to the push plate 86 is provided.

Further, individual components of the stowage apparatus 100 will be described in detail. The stacking device 20 includes the chain pusher device 30 and the apron device 40 as described above.
And a lifting and lowering fork device 50, and are provided on the gantry 21 which is higher than the position of the pallet 94 on which the stacked articles P are finally placed. The chain pusher device 30 is provided so as to extend a pusher 33 between two endless drive chains 32. The drive chain 32 passes slightly below the carry-in conveyor 10, 33
Move over the rollers of the conveyor 10. Drive chain 32 in carry-in conveyor 10
A notch 11 is provided in a portion through which the vehicle passes, and a stopper 31 is provided at the end of the carry-in conveyor 10.

The apron device 40 is partially (two places) between the two endless drive chains 42.
The three groups are provided, and the article P0 can be temporarily placed on the slats 43 group. This slat 43 may be a roller or a plate. The gap between the slat groups is configured to be large enough to allow the article P0 to pass through. In addition, the drive chain 42 is a standby unit 4 having a path extending below the article conveying surface on the carry-in conveyor side.
The waiting portion 44 enables the article P0 to be put into the apron device and held by the slat 43. Further, a stopper 41 is provided on the inner side of the apron device 40 in the article loading direction.

The chain pusher device 30 and the apron device 40 have, for example, drive chains 32 and 42 of the same length, and are connected to each other by a connecting chain 34.
For example, it is driven by one drive means 35 such as a motor. The lifting and lowering fork device 50 raises and lowers a comb-like stacked fork 53 along a lifting and lowering guide column 51 by a lifting and lowering chain 52, and the lifting and lowering chain 52 is driven by a drive source 55. The stacking fork 53 descends while receiving articles one after another below the apron device 40 (falls down by the height of the article).
The stacked articles P are transferred onto the conveyor 70 by the stacking forks 53 entering between the rollers of the roller conveyor 70, which is a path for moving the stacked articles. Is moved onto the roller conveyor 70.

A roller conveyor 70 is provided between the first roller conveyor 71 in the first half and the second roller conveyor 72 in the second half provided between the fork truck 80 and receives articles from the lifting and lowering fork device 50 and sends it to the fork truck 80.
And The first roller conveyor 71 is provided with a suitable notch 71a for receiving the stacking fork 53 of the lifting and lowering fork device 50, and the second roller conveyor 72 is provided with a notch 71a.
Is provided with a notch 72a for allowing the transfer fork 83 of the fork truck 80 to move. The rollers of the first and second roller conveyors 71 and 72 are driven by a drive source (not shown) to convey the stacked articles P.

The fork truck 80 is provided such that a main body 81 provided with a plurality of wheels 84 on the side surface, for example, straddles the second roller conveyor 72. This main body 81 is the second
A horizontal base portion 82 extending along the roller conveyor 72 has a comb-like shape having a holding surface between the rollers of the second roller conveyor 72 at a position lower than the upper surface of the roller by h ₁ (see FIG. 3). A push plate pushing device 85 having a transfer fork 83 and a push plate 86 for pushing out the stacked articles P is provided. The main body 81 has a second roller conveyor 72.
Is provided with a side holding plate 86a indicated by an imaginary line.

The push plate pushing device 85 is provided with a driving rod 8 which is extended and contracted by a driving cylinder 85a provided on the side of the horizontal base 82.
5b, a slider cylinder 8 provided to correspond to the points A and B provided on the push plate 86 side and the point A on the horizontal base portion 82 side.
6a, a scissors link mechanism (see FIG. 1) in which a two link arm 88 pivotally supported at a point E at an intersection angle between point C and point D below the push plate 86. Provided on each of the right and left sides of the plate 86).
6 is supported by the link arm 88. The operation of the drive cylinder 85a allows the push plate 86 to move horizontally in the front-rear direction while being held vertically.

The fork truck 80 has rails 84a extending forward and backward on both sides of a main body 81 thereof.
The wheel 84 is configured to move on a. Further, a chain 84c is endlessly stretched on sprocket gears 84b provided on a transfer station pallet conveyor 92 and a second roller conveyor 72, which will be described later, so as to extend in the same direction as the rail 84a.
4c is appropriately connected to the main body 81. Therefore, the fork truck 80 can be moved on the rail 84a across the transfer station pallet conveyor 92 from the second roller conveyor 72 side by the drive source 98 such as a motor.

The pallet conveyor 90 is, for example, installed below and parallel to the carry-in conveyor 10, and comprises a carry-in pallet conveyor 91, a transfer station pallet conveyor 92, and a delivery pallet conveyor 93. The transfer station pallet conveyor 92 is provided with a gap between the pallet carry-in conveyor 91 and the delivery pallet conveyor 93 so that the fork truck 80 can move across the front and rear thereof. upper surface of the pallet 94 to be put on are as low as h ₂ from the lower surface of the transfer forks 83 of the fork carriage 80. A position regulating plate 95 is provided on a side surface of the transfer station pallet conveyor 92 that stands upright along the pallet conveyance direction and is farther from the fork truck 80.

The operation of the stowage apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described. Articles P0 conveyed on the carry-in conveyor 10 in accordance with the stow order and the stow direction already determined on the upstream side of the carry-in conveyor 10 (arrow a in FIG. 2)
1) enters the chain pusher device 30 and is stopped by the stopper 31. Subsequently, the article P0 is pushed by the pusher 33 in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction (arrow a2 in FIG. 2) with respect to the carry-in conveyor 10. When the article P0 attempts to enter the next apron device 40, the slat 43
When the group of slats is hidden by the standby portion 44 where the drive chain 42 extends below the article conveying surface, and when the article P0 enters the apron device 40, the article P0 is
3 is sent in the left direction of FIG. 3 (arrow a2 in FIGS. 2 and 3). Then, the article P0 is pressed by the stopper 41, and the slat 43 is wound upward in FIG. 3, so that the article P0 falls from between the drive chains 42, 42 (arrow a3 in FIG. 3). Become.

At this time, the lifting fork device 5
The stacking fork 53 of 0 is waiting to receive articles. The lifting and lowering fork device 50 receives the next article by descending by the height of the article P0 carried in one after another, and repeats this operation to stack the articles P0 to form the stacked articles P shown in FIG. Make up the state. Then, the upper surface of the stacking fork 53 is moved to the first roller conveyor 7.
When the first roller conveyor 71 is driven to enter below the upper surface of the first roller, the stacked articles P stacked by the lifting and lowering fork device 50 are transferred to the second roller conveyor 72.
Side (arrow a4 in FIG. 2). The stacked articles P sent to the second roller conveyor 72 in this manner are supplied to the side holding plate 86a provided on the main body 81 of the fork truck 80.
Stop in contact with.

The articles P stacked in a row on the fork truck 80
Are accumulated, the fork truck 80 moves rightward in FIG.
2 and the arrow a5) in FIG. 3, the stacked articles P accumulated by the push plate 86 are pushed to the pallet side. At this time, the stacked article P is
Initially, it is slid on the rollers of the second roller conveyor 72, but after passing through the ends of the rollers, the fork truck 80
To the transfer fork 83 side. In this way, the fork truck 80 on which the stacked stacked articles P are placed on the transfer fork 83 moves forward across the transfer station pallet conveyor 92 to move the stacked articles P onto the pallet 94. Thereafter, the fork truck 80 moves backward (moves in the direction opposite to the arrow a5) while operating the push plate 86 so as to press the stacked articles P against the position regulating plate 95 or the already transferred stacked articles. Thereby, the stacked articles P are transferred onto the pallet 94 on the transfer station pallet conveyor 92.

After a predetermined amount of the stacked articles P are arranged on the pallet 94 in this way, the transfer station pallet conveyor 92 is driven to discharge the pallet 94 to the delivery pallet conveyor 93 side. The next pallet 94 is carried into the transfer station pallet conveyor 92 by the pallet carry-in conveyor 91 at appropriate timing.

In this embodiment, since the chain pusher device and the apron device of the stacking device are driven by one drive source in conjunction with their respective drive chains, no timing adjustment is required. By adjusting the timing of inputting the articles to the carry-in conveyor in accordance with the movement of the chain pusher device, the chain pusher device and the apron device can be continuously operated without stopping, thereby achieving higher efficiency. . Further, since the positions of the two surfaces of the article are determined by the stopper of the chain pusher device and the stopper of the apron device, stacking is possible without requiring a complicated device even if the size of the article is different. Therefore, the present invention can also be applied to stowage of a plastic case or the like in which the upper and lower fittings need to be matched. The fork truck has a simple structure because it is not necessary to raise and lower the comb-shaped fork. In addition, the fork trolley retracts and pushes out the fork while pressing the stacked articles with the push plate against the position regulating plate, so that the accumulated stacked articles are orderly placed on the pallet, The stop position accuracy of the fork truck may be rough, and the traveling control of the fork truck is simplified.

Further, since this fork truck travels across the second roller conveyor and the transfer station pallet conveyor, it is compared with the conventional one in which the fork truck is suspended from the upper part of the conventional large portal frame. Small and simple. According to the stowage device of the present embodiment, the carry-in conveyor and the stacking device are provided on the gantry, and the pallet transfer device and the pallet conveyor are provided on the ground. Thus, a simple and high-performance mix palletizing apparatus can be obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified. For example, the present invention may be configured as shown in FIG. The configuration shown in FIG. 4 is a stowage device that can exhibit a higher stowage capacity than the above-described embodiment, and is a double type in which the stowage device 20 is provided side by side as shown in the figure. That is, the chain pusher device 3
0, an apron device 40, a lifting and lowering fork device 50, and the like are arranged side by side on the same side with respect to the carry-in conveyor 10. The other parts have the same configuration as that of the embodiment shown in FIGS.

[0028]

As described above, according to the stowage apparatus of the present invention, articles conveyed in a desired stowage order are temporarily held in that order and sequentially lowered downward. In this way, stacking can be performed quickly, and when the stacked articles are transferred onto the pallet, the fork truck moves toward the pallet while holding the rear side of the stacked articles, and moves the stacked articles forward of the pallet. The fork is moved so as to be pressed against the position regulating plate provided on the fork, and the upright push plate on the fork truck is operated independently of the fork by the push plate extruder to push out the fork from the lower surface of the stacked articles. Therefore, the stacked articles are transferred onto the pallet, so that the stacked articles can be loaded even if the height of the stacked articles is high or if there is vibration or impact when the fork of the transfer device is operated. To prevent collapse and falls. Higher stage stacked been also able to stacking integrated very smoothly rapidly pallet on the stacking article can very quickly mix palletizing, it is possible to further streamline the factory transport system and distribution system. In addition, the chain pusher and Ep
Device and its drive chain is linked to one drive
No timing adjustment is required because the
The timing of the loading of articles into the carry-in conveyor.
By adjusting the movement of the pusher device, the chain
Stopping the pusher device and apron device
And it can be operated continuously, improving efficiency
It is planned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire structure of an embodiment of a stowage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the stowage apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing an operation of the stowage device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of a stowage device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Carrying conveyor 20 Stacking device 30 Chain pusher device 31 Stopper 32 Drive chain 33 Pusher 34 Connecting chain 40 Apron device 41 Stopper 42 Drive chain 43 Slat 44 Standby part 50 Elevating fork device 51 Elevating guide column 52 Elevating chain 53 Stacking fork 70 Roller conveyor 80 Fork truck 81 Main body 83 Transfer fork 84 Wheel 84a Rail 85 Push plate pushing device 85a Drive cylinder 85b Drive rod 86 Push plate 90 Pallet conveyor 94 Pallet 95 Position control plate 100 Loading device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-317918 (JP, A) JP-A-5-17730 (JP, U) JP-B-53-38862 (JP, B2) JP-A-5-38862 6271 (JP, Y2) JP-B-44-18132 (JP, B1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 57/00-61/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A carry-in conveyor (10) for carrying in an article, and a movable body provided in a direction perpendicular to the carry-in conveyor (10).
Chain pusher device (30), the chain pusher device (30)
A pair of slats on which the goods sent out are placed
Provided between the chains (42) and the slats (43)
Are provided at intervals that allow products to pass below the slats.
Connected to the chain pusher device (30)
Apron device (40), and the apron device which is raised and lowered under the apron device (40).
Can be stacked on the slats (43)
The lifting fork device (50) and the stacking fork (53) of the lifting fork device (50)
By moving the stacked articles on the transport surface
And a roller controller for moving the article toward the fork truck (80).
A conveyor (70) and a roller conveyor (70) positioned in the roller gap and stacked.
Transfer that can move horizontally while holding the bottom of the article in the state
Horizontal independent of the fork (83) and the transfer fork (83)
The roller conveyor is provided with a movable upright push plate (86).
Pallet (94) for transporting pallets (94)
Fork truck that moves horizontally between the feed conveyor (90)
(80) and approach the pallet (94) so as to face the push plate (86).
From the opposite side to the push plate (86).
A position regulating plate (95) for supporting the side surface of the chain pusher device (30) , wherein the chain pusher device (30) is a pair of endless
Equipped with a pusher (33) that spans the drive chain (32),
The drive chain (42) of the apron device (40) and the drive chain
Chain (32) should be driven by one drive means (35).
Connected by the connecting chain (34) and both drive chains
(32, 42)
A stowage device.