JP3053132B2 - Sorting and conveying equipment for articles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transport apparatus for selecting articles to be transported based on the transport information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, discharging and sorting an article carried in from a carry-in section to one carry-out section selected from a plurality of carry-out sections based on the transport information is particularly required in the field of physical distribution. It is often done in.

Here, an example will be described with reference to FIG . In the figure, the sorting / conveying apparatus 1 includes a loading section A, a sorting section B, and two unloading sections C (C1, C2). The carry-in part A and the carry-out part C are provided with a transfer conveyor 3 for carrying the article 2;
The transfer conveyors 3 and 4 are set on the same line. The sorting unit B includes a plurality of transport rollers 6 that are driven to rotate, and an extruding plate 8 that is moved along a transport support surface 7 formed on the upper surface of the transport rollers 6 in a direction substantially orthogonal to the article transport direction. Have. The pushing plate 8 is provided so as to reciprocate between an origin position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 11 and a forward position a indicated by a dashed line.

In such a configuration, when the article 2 is conveyed by the transfer conveyor 3, first, the article 2
Is read by a detector (not shown), and the sorting destination is recognized. When the article 2 moves from the transfer conveyor 3 to the transport roller 6, the article 2 is moved in the direction of the discharge section C by the rotation of the transport roller 6. Here, the sorting destination recognized from the barcode label is the unloading section C.
In the case of 1, the extruding plate 8 maintains the origin position in FIG. 11 , and the article 2 is unloaded to the unloading section C1. On the other hand, when the sorting destination is the unloading section C2, the article 2 is
The extruding plate 8 moves to the advance position a shown by the alternate long and short dash line at the stage where the article 2 has been moved, and moves the article 2 downward in the drawing during its conveyance, thereby positioning the article 2 on the unloading line of the discharge section C2. Thereby, the article 2 is unloaded to the unloading section C2. After the article 2 is positioned on the discharge line of the discharge section C2, the extruded plate 8
Returns to the origin position.

[0005]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, when the articles 2 are sorted into the discharge section C2, the extruding plate 8 moves to the advance position a shown by the dashed line, so that the extruding plate 8 is moved. Only after returning to the origin position, the next article 2 cannot be carried into the sorting section B, causing a reduction in processing capacity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an article sorting / conveying apparatus capable of improving the processing ability of a sorting operation.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an article loading section, a sorting section, and a plurality of unloading sections are arranged in this order, and the sorting section has a transport support surface for the article and the loading section.
A conveying device for applying a conveying force to the article carried in from the section, and an extruding device for moving the article carried in from the carrying-in section in a direction substantially orthogonal to the article conveying direction. In the article sorting and transporting apparatus configured to selectively carry out the article carried in from the carrying-in section to one of the plurality of carrying-out sections by operating based on the extruding apparatus, The groups are grouped individually or multiple groups
Provided to be able to move up and down in each loop
A plurality of extruded portions that are, the plurality of extruded portions individually or
Or a first driving unit for raising and lowering for each group ,
Said plurality when said pusher moves forward from the home position based multiple extrusion portion and a second driving means for reciprocating the article carrying direction substantially perpendicular direction, the conveyance information of the article
Set the extrusion unit in the raised position, over advancement of the extruded portion
Relative to the transfer of the article by the transfer device.
And a control means for controlling the first and second driving means so as to sequentially set the lowering position from the pushing member which is not to be provided.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the articles carried from the carry-in section to the sorting section are sorted by the extruding section which is set at a raised position above the transport support surface and advances according to the sorting destination.
Then, during the forward movement of the extrusion section, the article is
Order from the extruded member that will not be opposed as it is conveyed
Down to be set in position, can be extruded part without waiting to return to the home position is carried subsequent article selection portion.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a sorting and conveying apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of an extruding portion in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 to 10 are operations of the sorting and conveying apparatus shown in FIG. It is a state diagram. The same parts as those in FIG. 11 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In the sorting / conveying apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1, an information detector 11 and an article detector 12 are provided near the end of the transfer conveyor 3 in the loading section A along the article conveying direction. This information detector 11 recognizes the sorting destination of the article by reading the barcode attached to the side of the article,
The article detector 12 detects the article 2 to be conveyed to detect its length in the conveying direction, and also detects the rear end of the article 2 in the conveying direction to detect the article 2 to be conveyed.
Is to detect the time when it is carried into the transport roller 6 from
The respective recognition signals and detection signals are sent to the control device 13. Further, an encoder 14 is provided in a rotating section of the transfer conveyor 3, and a signal of the encoder 14 is also sent to the control device 13.

The sorting section B has an extruder 20.
Therefore, the extrusion device 20 will be described with reference to FIG. A guide rod 21 and a ball screw 22 are installed in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction a of the article 2, and a moving table 24 forming an extrusion unit 23 is connected to the guide rod 21 and the ball screw 22. The moving table 24 extends in the transport direction a of the article 2 and can reciprocate in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction a of the article 2 by a ball screw 22 driven by a motor (not shown). The moving table 24 is provided with a plurality of elevating mechanisms 25 in the longitudinal direction. Each lifting mechanism 25 includes a bracket 2 fixed to the moving table 24.
6, a rotating shaft 28 rotatably held on a bracket 26 via a bearing 27, a slit plate 29 fixed to the rotating shaft 28, an origin detector 30, a lever 31 fixed to the rotating shaft 28, and a tip of the lever 31. Pin 32 integrally attached to the motor, and the pulse motor 3 fixed to the bracket 26
3. A pinion 34 for transmitting the torque of the pulse motor 33 to the rotating shaft 28 and a gear 35.

Each of the lifting pins 32 constituting the pushing section 23 having such a configuration is rotated between a raised position and a lowered position by the rotation of the pulse motor 33. That is, when the rotation of the pulse motor 33 causes the gear 35 to rotate in the m direction via the pinion 34, the elevating pin 32 rotates approximately 90 degrees from the state shown in FIG. Is also set downward. When the pulse motor 33 is rotated in the opposite direction and the gear 35 is rotated in the n direction, the tip of the lifting pin 32 projects above the transport support surface 7. At this time, the elevating pin 32 is configured to rotate in a direction away from the article 2 during the movement process between the ascending position and the descending position.

When the lift pin 32 is rotated by about 90 degrees from the state shown in FIG.
The notch of is detected. The drive of the pulse motor 33 is stopped by this detection signal, and a counter (not shown) connected to the pulse motor 33 is reset, thereby eliminating accumulated errors.

In the above example, one rotating shaft 28 has one
Although the three lifting pins 32 are integrated, a plurality of lifting pins 32 may be integrated. In this case, the plurality of elevating pins 32 integrally forming one group move up and down, but a plurality of such groups may be provided to control the up and down movement between the groups. Good.

The mechanism for vertically moving the elevating pin 32 is not limited to this mechanism, and may be, for example, a cylinder.

[0017] will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 10 for operation.

(1) First, as shown in FIG. 3, when the preceding article 2A is conveyed from the transfer conveyor 3, the information detector 11 reads the bar code attached to the side face thereof, and
Recognize the sorting destination of A. Hereinafter, the sorting destination will be described as the discharging unit C2. The article detector 12 detects the article 2A to detect the length in the transport direction.

(2) As shown in FIG. 4 , the article detector 12
The lifting pins 32 (a, b, c) used for sorting the articles 2A are selected and raised based on the detected length information. For example, the timing at which the lifting pin 32 rises is synchronized with the timing at which the article detector 12 detects the end of the article 2 in the transport direction. At this time, the controller 13
In, the measurement of the transport amount of the article 2A by the encoder 14 is started from the time when the article detector 12 detects the rear end of the article 2A, and the transport position of the article 2A is monitored.

(3) As shown in FIG. 5 , when the article 2A reaches the operating range of the extrusion device 20, the control device 13
Moves the entire extruder 20 forward. At this time, the succeeding article 2B is being conveyed by the transfer conveyor 3, and the recognition of the sorting destination and the length in the conveying direction are performed by the detectors 11 and 12, similarly to the preceding article 2A.

(4) As shown in FIG.
Is moving forward and is being conveyed rightward in the figure.
Is moved in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction by the lifting pin 32 at the raised position. When the detector (not shown) detects that the preceding article 2A has reached the transport line of the transfer conveyor 5, which is the sorting destination, as shown in FIG. 7 , the forward movement of the pushing device 20 stops. At this time, the lifting pin 32
In the process of moving the article 2A according to (a, b, c), the article 2A
The setting is changed to the lowering position in order from the elevating pins 32 (a) on the upstream side, which are not opposed to the above. Then, the succeeding article 2B is allowed to be introduced into the extra space created above the lowered lifting pin 32 (a).

In the present embodiment, the most upstream elevating pin 3
At approximately the same time as setting 2 (a) to the lowered position, the lifting pin 32 newly facing the article 2A this time on the downstream side is newly added.
(D) is newly set to the ascending position, and is made to participate in the work for sorting the article 2A this time together with other ascending elevating pins 32 (b, c). This lifting pin 3
2 is controlled based on the transport position of the article 2 monitored by the control device 13.

(5) When the sorting operation of the articles 2A is completed,
As shown in FIG. 8 , all the lift pins 3 in the raised position
2 is located in the lowered position. And the extrusion device 20
The whole returns to the origin position (see FIG. 9 ).

(6) Subsequent article 2B detected in (3)
The lifting pins 32 (a to e) used for the sorting operation of the succeeding articles 2B are selected and set to the ascending position (see FIG. 10 ) based on the length in the transport direction (see FIG. 10 ) . Done.

When the sorting destination of the succeeding article 2B is the carry-out section C1, even if the succeeding article 2B is carried into the sorting section B, the lifting pins 32 of the extruding device 20 maintain the state shown in FIG. No forward movement of the entire 20 is performed.

In the embodiment described above, the control device 13 sets the elevating pin 32 constituting the push-out portion 23 of the sorting / conveying device 10 to the ascending position and advances the product 2 from the origin position, thereby transferring the article 2 to the unloading portion. It is sorted to the transfer conveyor 5 of C2. And after the sorting work,
When the pushing section 23 is in the process of returning to the home position, the lifting pin 3
2 is set to the lowered position. Therefore, even after the elevating pins 32 of the extruding section 23 complete the sorting operation of the preceding article 2A and return to the origin position, the subsequent article 2B
Can be brought in. This is because, after the sorting operation, the elevating pins 32 of the push-out section 23 are set at the descending position below the transport support surface 7 and return to the origin position, so that the succeeding article 2B is introduced without interference with the elevating pins 32. Because you can.

The control device 13 passes through the front of the lifting pins 32 by the conveying force of the conveying roller 6 among the elevating pins 32 set at the ascending position for sorting the articles 2A this time. The lifting pins 32, which are no longer relative to each other, that is, the lifting pins 32 that are not required for the sorting operation of the preceding article 2A are sequentially set to the lowered position. For this reason,
The preceding article 2A moves to the downstream side in the transport direction and the transport roller 6
When there is enough room on the upstream side of the
Without waiting for the position 3 to return to the origin position, it is introduced into the extra space where there is no protruding elevating pin 32 at the same time as this extra space is generated.

In view of the above, in the above embodiment, even if the articles conveyed adjacently are continuously supplied without widening the interval, the sorting can be performed, and the processing capacity can be increased as compared with the prior art. It is possible to greatly improve.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which sorting is performed in two directions has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to a case where sorting is performed in three or more directions.

Although the sorting destination of the article is recognized from the bar code attached to the side of the article, other means, for example, may be set in the control device 13 in advance.

[0031]

According to the present invention, the processing capability of the sorting operation can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a sorting and conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of an extrusion unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying apparatus shown in FIG . 1;

FIG. 5 FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the sorting and conveying device shown in FIG. 1.
You.

FIG. 11 It is a top view of the conventional sorting conveyance device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List A carry-in section B sorting section C carry-out section 2 articles 7 transport support surface 10 sorting transport apparatus 13 control device 20 push-out device 23 push-out section 25 elevating mechanism 32 elevating pin

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An article loading section, a sorting section, and a plurality of unloading sections are arranged in this order, and the sorting section has a transport support surface for the article and applies a transport force to the article loaded from the loading section. Attached
Conveying apparatus, comprising an extrusion device for moving the conveyed article from the loading unit to the article conveying direction substantially perpendicular direction to given,
An article sorting and conveying apparatus configured to operate the extruder based on the article conveying information so as to selectively carry out the article carried in from the carry-in section to one of the plurality of unloading sections. In the above, the extruder may be individually or plurally grouped with the transfer support surface as a boundary.
Vertically movably provided the every flop Graded the group
A plurality of extruded portions that are arranged in the article carrying direction, the plurality
The first part which raises and lowers the extrusion part of each individually or in groups
Said plurality when said pusher moves forward from the home position based and drive means, second drive means for reciprocating the plurality of the extruded section to the article direction substantially perpendicular to the conveyance direction, the conveyance information of the article set of extrusion in the raised position, this
Of the article by the transfer device during the advancement of the pushing section of
Order from the extruded member that will not be opposed as it is conveyed
And a control means for controlling the first and second driving means so as to set the lower position.