JP3112788B2 - Counter - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a counting device for counting a set number of workpieces from a large number of spherical workpieces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various types of conventional counting devices for counting spherical workpieces, and recently there has been a remarkable improvement in the counting speed.

[0003]

However, there is an ever-increasing demand to increase the productivity by counting workpieces at a higher speed than ever before, and the development of a counting device suitable for higher-speed counting is under way. ing.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the related art, and has as its object to provide a counting device capable of counting at a higher speed than in the past.

[0005]

The present invention has the following features to attain the object mentioned above. That is, the counting device of the present invention includes (a) a counting chute, (b) a cutout device, (c) an aligner, and (d) a bridge prevention mechanism .

[0006] The counting chute is provided with inclined running paths that are separated from each other and parallel to each other. Spherical workpieces flow in a row on each running path. The number of running paths is the same as the desired work count.

A cutting device is provided at the outlet of the counting chute. The cutout device includes a pair of cutout members that are arranged across the entire running path of the counting chute and are spaced apart in the flow direction of the work. The two cutting members are arranged so as to be spaced apart by a size that can accommodate one work therebetween, and the work is cut by alternately moving the two cutting members up and down.

The aligner is provided upstream of the counting chute so as to be inclined, and accommodates the work substantially planarly and supplies it to the counting chute. Here, to accommodate the work in a plane means to limit the overlap of the work in the aligner to about one or two steps. The connecting portion of the aligner to the counting chute is formed to have a width equal to or greater than the entire width of the counting chute on the entire running path. This is to ensure that the work spreads over the entire running path of the counting chute.

[0009] The bridge prevention mechanism includes a counter and the aligner.
It is provided at the connection with several chutes and has many rocking pieces
ing. This rocking piece intersects the flow direction of the work
In a reciprocating direction.
The work is moved by the outlet of the aligner.
Prevent bridging that can not move due to entanglement.

[0010] If a presence check sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a work at the tip of each runway of the counting chute is installed, and the cutout device is controlled based on a detection signal of the presence check sensor, counting mistakes are prevented. Can be.

It is also possible to install a nonstandard product discharge chute upstream of the aligner. In this nonstandard product discharge chute, a large number of rails extending along the flow direction of the work are arranged in parallel with a gap therebetween, and the dimension between the adjacent rails is set smaller than the allowable dimension of the work. I have. Work pieces larger than the permissible dimension flow on the space between the adjacent rails and are supplied to the aligner. Work pieces smaller than the permissible dimension are removed from the gap between the rails.

In the non-standardized product discharge chute, the work may be caused to flow by natural fall by inclining each rail, or the work may be forcibly caused to flow by an air flow or the like. Further, vibrations may be applied to the rails to efficiently remove nonstandard products.

[0013] A supply hopper for automatically supplying a work to the non-standardized product discharge chute, and a height confirmation sensor for detecting whether or not the work is accommodated within a set height in the aligner are provided. It is also possible to control the supply and stop of the work from the supply hopper based on the detection signal of the confirmation sensor. In this case, an appropriate amount of work is always accommodated in the aligner, which is preferable.

The presence confirmation sensor and the height confirmation sensor can be constituted by a light emitting element and a light receiving element, for example, composed of a photoelectric tube or the like.

[0015]

[Function] The work runs through the counting chute in the aligner.
Until the work reaches the road, it is stored almost flat and counted.
Supply to the chute. In addition, when supplying, the bridge
The work piece is aligned by the reciprocating swinging piece by the prevention mechanism.
Block the entangled bridging at the exit of
Work is evenly supplied to each runway. Then, the work that has flowed down each runway hits the first cutout member located on the upstream side and is prevented from moving forward, and is lined up in each runway.

Next, the second cutout member located downstream is lowered, and subsequently the first cutout member is raised. As a result, the work lined up on each runway advances at the same time,
The leading work on each runway collides with the second cutout member, is stopped from moving forward, and stops.

Next, the first cutout member descends, and the first cutout member and the second cutout member are moved between the first cutout member and the second cutout member.
The number of works for one count is sandwiched. Next, the second cutout member is raised to allow the workpiece sandwiched between the first and second cutout members to advance. Thus, the set number of works is counted.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the diameter is 7-8.
In this embodiment, the food is a work that is easily broken and has a spherical shape in mm.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a counting device according to the present invention. This counting device comprises a hopper 1 and a vibratory feeder 2
, Lift hopper 3 and first non-standard product discharge chute 4
And a supply hopper 5 and a second nonstandard product discharge chute 6
, An aligner 7, a counting chute 8, a cutout device 9,
And a filling device 10.

The work W is supplied from a hopper 1 to a vibratory feeder 2.
Is supplied to the lift hopper 3. A shock absorber is mounted on the inner surface of the lift hopper 3 so that the work W is not damaged when the work W is loaded.

The work W lifted up by the lift hopper 3 is dropped into the first nonstandard product discharge chute 4.
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the first nonstandard product discharging chute 4,
The first nonstandard product discharge chute 4 is provided on both side walls 11a and 11b.
A large number of round bars (rails) 12 are arranged in parallel with a predetermined gap d on one plane. The gap d is set slightly smaller than the minimum allowable dimension of the work W.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first nonstandard product discharging chute 4 is arranged slightly inclined, and a microvibration is applied by a vibrator 13. Then, the workpiece W is made to flow downward while or rolling slipping riding between rod 12 two each adjacent, during this movement, damage to the workpiece W ₁ and the allowable minimum and most dimensions following the work W ₂ are eliminated by falling through the gap d between the rod 12, the minimum allowable dimension or of the workpiece W reaches the end of the first non-standard products discharge chute 4.

The work W is dropped into the supply hopper 5 from the first nonstandard product discharge chute 4. FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of the supply hopper 5, the second nonstandard product discharging chute 6, the aligner 7, and the counting chute 8.

The supply hopper 5 is formed in a box shape, and an impact absorbing material is mounted on the inner surface of the supply hopper 5 so that the work W is not damaged when the work W is loaded. Supply hopper 5
Is subjected to micro-vibration by the vibrator 14, and this micro-vibration causes the workpiece W to move to the outlet side of the supply hopper 5. At the outlet of the supply hopper 5, a shutter 15 for opening and closing the outlet is provided so as to be vertically movable, and the vertical movement of the shutter 15 is automatically controlled by a height confirmation sensor 17 described later.

The workpiece W is supplied from the outlet of the supply hopper 5 to the second
It is dropped into the nonstandard product discharge chute 6. Since the configuration of the second non-standard product discharging chute 6 is the same as that of the first non-standard product discharging chute 4, detailed description thereof is omitted. The first non-standard product discharge chute 4 is connected to the vibrator 13 so that a slight vibration is applied thereto. However, the second non-standard product discharge chute 6 is merely fixed in the inclined posture. Therefore, the work W only falls naturally based on the inclination. This point is different between the first non-standard product discharging chute 4 and the second non-standard product discharging chute 6.
Also in the second off-specification products discharge chute 6, damaged workpiece W ₁ and the minimum allowable dimension following workpiece W ₂ is eliminated and falls through the gap between the round bar.

The work W is dropped into the aligner 7 from the second nonstandard product discharge chute 6. The aligner 7 is formed in a U-shaped cross section by the bottom plate and both side plates, and is installed inclined. The width of the aligner 7 gradually decreases as approaching the outlet, and the width of the outlet is formed to be substantially the same as the width of the counting chute 8 on the inlet side.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the outlet of the aligner 7,
FIG. 5 is a plan view of a connecting portion between the aligner 7 and the counting chute 8, and FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connecting portion as viewed from the side.

As shown in FIG. 6, only the first-stage work W accommodated in the aligner 7 passes through the outlet of the aligner 7 before the passage of the second and higher-stage works W is prevented. Wall 1
6 are provided.

The work W is accommodated in the aligner 7 so as to be spread in a planar manner, and the work W is spread laterally at least at the exit portion of the aligner 7 without any gap. In order to ensure such a housing state, it is necessary to stack the works W in two or three stages substantially at the center of the outlet of the aligner 7.

Therefore, a height confirmation sensor 17 is installed at the exit of the aligner 7, and it is detected by this sensor 17 whether or not the work W overlaps three or more stages, and based on the detection signal, the supply hopper 5 is detected. The vertical movement of the shutter 15 is automatically controlled to adjust the supply of the work W to the aligner 7.

That is, the shutter 15 is raised based on the detection signal of the sensor 17 when the number of the work W is two or less, the outlet of the supply hopper 5 is opened, and the work W is supplied to the aligner 7. On the other hand, the shutter 15 is moved down based on the detection signal of the sensor 17 when the work W is at three or more stages, the outlet of the supply hopper 5 is closed,
The supply of the workpiece W to is stopped. The sensor 17 can be composed of, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element formed of a photoelectric tube.

A bridge prevention mechanism 18 is provided on the front side of the front wall 16 at the outlet of the aligner 7. The bridge prevention mechanism 18 is configured by arranging a number of plastic rods (oscillating pieces) 19 having a slight flexibility in a vertical position, spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and arranged in parallel.
9 is arranged such that the lower end thereof is located at substantially the height of the center of the first stage work W in the aligner 7.

All the plastic rods 19 are reciprocated right and left by a vibrator 20.
Thereby, the work W is moved, and the work W is moved to the aligner 7.
At the exit of the work piece, prevents the bridge from becoming entangled and becoming immovable, and smoothly moves the work W from the aligner 7 to the counting chute 8.
Can be supplied.

The work W that has exited the outlet of the aligner 7 is supplied to the counting chute 8. The counting chute 8 is installed at a predetermined angle. FIG. 8 is a front view showing a part of the counting chute 8 in a cutaway manner. As shown in this figure, the counting chute 8 has a bottom plate portion 22 and a top plate portion 23 which are arranged in parallel with a predetermined distance between each other. And a V-shaped groove (runway) 21 extending in parallel with the inclined direction in the bottom plate portion 22 thereof.
Are provided as many as the number of works W to be counted.

In the counting chute 8, the work W rolls downward in a row in each groove 21. The work W is accommodated in the counting chute 8 so as to slightly protrude from the upper end of the bottom plate portion 22, and the top plate portion 23 is installed with a slight gap between the work W and the work W. So that it does not interfere with it.

As shown in the right half of FIG. 8, the groove 2 of the bottom plate 22
A slit 24 is formed at the bottom of the unit 1 and has a function of discharging a non-standard work W.

At the exit of the counting chute 8, there is no top plate 23, in which the cut-out device 9, the first existence confirmation sensor 30 and the second existence confirmation sensor 31 are installed. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the cutout device 9. The cut-out device 9 includes two shutters (cut-out members) 25 and 26 arranged before and after in the inclination direction of the counting chute 8, and these shutters 2.
And air-operated actuators 27 and 28 which move up and down alternately. Shutter 2
5 and 26 have a width sufficient to cross all the grooves 21 of the counting chute 8 left and right.

The first presence sensor 30 is disposed slightly behind the shutter 25 on the upstream side, and is provided on each groove 21 one by one. Each existence confirmation sensor 30
Is provided with a light emitting element and a light receiving element formed of a photoelectric tube or the like, and irradiates the light emitted from the light emitting element to the work W positioned in the front row of each groove 21 from obliquely backward, and detects the reflected light by the light receiving element. It is a mechanism. Then, the presence of the non-defective work W can be confirmed by receiving the reflected light (see FIG. 10A), and the absence of the work W (see FIG. 10B) or breakage by not receiving the reflected light. the presence of the defective workpiece W ₁ has to be able to verify (FIG 10 (C)).

The second presence sensor 31 is provided on the tip side of the outlet of the counting chute 8 as shown in FIGS. The second existence confirmation sensor 31 includes a light emitting element such as a photoelectric tube and a light receiving element, and is installed so that light emitted from the light emitting element of the second existence confirmation sensor 31 crosses the work W located in the front row of each groove 21. ing. The second existence confirmation sensor 31 determines whether the workpiece W does not exist in the front row of any of the grooves 21 or that any of the grooves 21
Is detected that the work W exists in the forefront row.

The shutters 25 and 26 operate while being controlled as follows. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the shutter 25 is raised, the shutter 26 is lowered to stop the work W. At this time, the first existence confirmation sensor 30 confirms that the non-defective work W exists in the front row of each groove 21. If any of the grooves 21
Or the front row in the work W does not exist, or when the presence of the defective work W ₁ is confirmed, the cut-out device 9 is stopped.

When the presence of the non-defective work W in the front row of each groove 21 is confirmed, as shown in FIG.
Descends to prevent the work W in the second row of each groove 21 from advancing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7 (C), the shutter 26 rises to release the work W in the front row of each groove 21. Thereafter, the shutter 26 is lowered again as shown in FIG. Here, the second existence confirmation sensor 31 confirms that the work W does not exist in the front row of any of the grooves 21. Here, if it is confirmed that the work W exists in the front row of any of the grooves 21, the cutout device 9 stops as a discharge failure.

Each groove 21 has a workpiece W at its front row.
When it is confirmed that there is no, the shutter 25 rises again as shown in FIG. 7 (A) and advances the work W in the second row of each groove 21 to the front row.

The workpieces W cut out to the set number by the cut-out device 9 in this manner are dropped into the filling device 10. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the filling device 10 as viewed from the front. The work W has three shutters 36, 37, and 38 driven by pneumatic actuators arranged at different heights, and the work W is sequentially moved from the upper shutter to the lower shutter. . Then, the work W is always stored in a standby state in each shutter,
Finally, the bag container 40 is filled. Thereby, the filling time is shortened, and the productivity is improved.

As described above, in this counting device, the first non-standard product discharging chute, the second non-standard product discharging chute 6 and the counting chute 8 cause the work W _{2 having a} minimum allowable dimension or the defective defective work W _1. Is eliminated, only the non-defective work W can be filled in the bag container 40, and the quality is improved.

A first existence confirmation sensor 30 and a second existence confirmation sensor 31 are installed at the exit of the counting chute 8, and the operation of the cutout device 9 is controlled based on the detection signals of these sensors 30 and 31. since, this also can prevent an allowable minimum dimension following the work W ₂ or damaged defective workpiece W ₁ is filled in the bag container 40 by also blocking before filling an underfill of the workpiece W And very good quality control is achieved.

Further, the work W can be counted and cut out at a very high speed and accurately. If necessary, a count amount of the work W can be changed by attaching a stopper to the groove 21 of the counting chute 8.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An excellent effect is obtained that the workpiece can be counted and cut out very quickly and accurately.

Further, non-defective defective workpieces can be eliminated, and only non-defective workpieces can be counted, thereby achieving an excellent effect of improving quality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of a counting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of a supply hopper, a second nonstandard product discharging chute, an aligner, and a counting chute of the counting device.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the first non-standard product discharging chute of the counting device as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of an outlet of an aligner of the counting device as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a connection portion between the aligner and the counting chute of the counting device.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the connection portion viewed from a side.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a cutout device of the counting device.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the counting chute as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of the filling device of the counting device as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the existence confirmation sensor of the counting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 4 1st nonstandard product discharge chute 6 2nd nonstandard product discharge chute 7 Aligner 8 Counting chute 9 Cutout device 12 Round bar (rail) 17 Height check sensor 18 Bridge prevention mechanism 19 Plastic bar (rocking piece) 21 Groove (Runway) 25 Shutter (cutout member) 26 Shutter (cutout member) 30 First existence confirmation sensor 31 Second existence confirmation sensor

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-117590 (JP, A) JP-A-50-34968 (JP, A) JP-A-2-23111 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int) .Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06M ⁷ /00-11/04 B65G 47/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pre-set number from a number of workpieces forming a spherical
An apparatus for counting cut out serial work, a counting chute flow (i) the set number of runways separated by forming the parallel arranged inclined to one another, said workpiece in a row in this each runway, ( b) provided at the outlet of the counting chute, said traverse the entire track counting chute, a pair of cut members to work in the flow direction of the workpiece disposed in a spaced relationship from each other only one capable of accommodating dimensions and alternately a clipping device for cutting the workpiece by moving up and down, is provided to be inclined upstream of (c) the counting chute, before
Serial connection between the counting chute is formed on the entire runway entire width over the width of the counting chute, and aligner supplied to the counting chute accommodating the workpiece substantially planar, and said aligner (d) counting At the connection with the chute,
Multiple reciprocating motions in a direction that intersects the
A counting device comprising: a bridge preventing mechanism constituted by a moving piece . 2. A includes a presence check sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the work of each runway tip of the counting chute claim 1, wherein said cut-out device on the basis of the detection signal of the presence confirmation sensor is being controlled 2. The counting device according to 1. 3. A non-standard product discharging chute is provided upstream of the aligner, and the non-standard product discharging chute is formed by arranging a plurality of rails extending along the flow direction of the work in parallel with a gap therebetween. are made, the adjacent said rail dimension between is set smaller than the allowable size of the workpiece, according to claim 1, characterized in that it is over between adjacent rails to flow only standard dimensions workpiece or 3. The counting device according to 2 . 4. A automatic supplying feed hopper of the workpiece to the substandard products discharge chute, the word <br/> over click in the aligner for detecting whether or not housed below a set height 4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a height confirmation sensor, wherein supply and stop of the work from the supply hopper are controlled based on a detection signal of the height confirmation sensor. 5. Counting device.