JP3273567B2 - Article counting and feeding device - 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 and feeding apparatus which counts a predetermined number of articles sequentially conveyed, discharges the predetermined quantity, and supplies the same to a next step. The present invention relates to a device for counting and supplying articles to be counted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional article counting and feeding apparatus of this kind, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-127224, an article feeding apparatus for feeding articles to a rotating belt at an article feeding position; The rotating conveyor comprises a rotating conveyor for storing the supplied articles in a pocket and transporting the articles to a discharging position, a counter for counting the articles on the rotating conveyor, and a discharging device for discharging a predetermined number of articles from the rotating conveyor at one time. In the conveyor, pockets for storing articles are defined by a plurality of blades arranged at substantially equal intervals, and soft individual accessories such as sanitary napkins are sequentially supplied to empty pockets that are sequentially circulated. After counting a predetermined number of articles, a predetermined number of articles are discharged from the rotating belt at one time by the article discharge device.

In such an article counting and feeding apparatus,
A transport conveyor that transports articles to a supply position on a rotary conveyor holds the articles between a pair of transport belts and transports the articles toward a fixed supply position. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-43132, a rotary conveyor is provided with a pulley, and a polygonal shape such as a triangular or quadrangular shape is formed. Is disclosed in which the driving of the motor is relatively stopped.

[0004]

However, according to the former prior art, the rotary conveyor is always driven to continuously supply and, at the discharge position, the rotary conveyor is driven and discharged. There is a problem in that it is difficult to stably supply the counting due to twisting of the belt, deformation of the blades, breakage of the individual packaging, etc. at the time of discharging.

In the latter prior art, the pocket is stopped relative to the rotating belt at the discharge position, so that the above-mentioned problem does not occur, but the pulley on which the rotating conveyor is hung moves. Therefore, the article supply position and the article discharge position cannot be provided at a position where the article supply position and the article discharge position are close to each other, for example, on the same side of a polygonal rotary conveyor. For this reason, there is a problem that the transport distance of the articles on the rotary conveyor is required to be long, and twisting of the blades and deformation of the articles are likely to occur in the transport step, and stable and high-speed counting and feeding cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an article counting and feeding apparatus capable of performing an article counting process stably and at high speed.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a rotating belt stretched over a plurality of pulleys and having a number of pockets defined by outwardly extending vanes, into which articles are placed. A rotating belt for storing and transferring the articles from the article supply position to the discharge position, and a pair of articles for nipping the articles to be supplied to the pockets and sequentially transporting the articles toward the article supply position of the rotating belt. Conveyor and above
In the above article supply position on the same straight line as the discharge position
The tip of the rotating belt along the pocket
Swing the pair of conveyors so that the ends move.
Swinging mechanism, a counter for counting the articles conveyed by the rotating conveyor, and taking out the counted number of articles conveyed to the discharge position from the pockets of the rotating conveyor, to the next step And a discharge device for discharging.
By controlling the position of the pulley in which the rotating belt is applied, the movement of the pocket relative stops against the rotating belt at the discharge position, the relatively stop
The product supply position behind the stopped discharge position pocket in the transport direction
In the same position as the above discharge position.
The conveyor is swung with respect to the pocket
The object is achieved by providing an article counting and feeding apparatus characterized by sequentially feeding articles.

[0008]

[Function] An article held between a pair of conveyors is
In the article supply position, the product is supplied to the pocket of the rotating belt. The articles supplied to the pockets are conveyed to a discharge position while being held by a rotating belt.After a predetermined number is counted by a counter, the predetermined number of articles are discharged at a time by a discharge device. You.

At the time of discharging, the pulley on which the rotating belt is wound is moved together with the rotating belt to the supply position side, and the movement of the article at the discharging position is stopped relatively to the rotating belt. pockets one Sorcerer fed to the article supply position at the position, it will be arranged in a straight line. At this time, in the article supply position, the conveyor is swung by the swing mechanism according to the feeding and arrangement of the pockets, and the articles are sequentially supplied to the pockets.

Subsequently, the pulley is moved together with the rotating belt to the discharging position, the pockets supplied with the articles are moved to the discharging position by the movement of the rotating belt, and the next group of articles is transported to the discharging position. By repeating this operation, the article is supplied at the supply position, after counting, at the discharge position to sequentially eject the One not a few predetermined.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, the article A will be described using a sanitary napkin, which is a soft individual accessory, as an example.

An article counting and feeding device 1 according to the present embodiment is
A plurality of pulleys 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, have a plurality of pockets 4 defined by vanes 3 extended to the outside, and a plurality of pockets 4 for storing articles.
Belt 5 for transferring the material from the article supply position to the discharge position
If, sandwiching the above article A to be supplied to the pocket, the article A and the pair of conveyor 6 and 7 sequentially conveyed toward the product supply position f of the rotary belt 5, the discharge position
In g and the article supply position f collinear, ahead along the feed pocket 4 of the rotary belt 5
Swing the pair of conveyors so that the ends move.
A swing mechanism 8 to a counter 10 for counting the articles that are transported by the carousel, from the pockets of the carousel which has been conveyed to the discharge position g, retrieves the counted article discharged to the next process And controlling the positions of the pulleys 2a and 2b on which the rotating belt 5 is hung, thereby stopping the movement of the pocket 4 at the discharging position g relative to the rotating belt 5, The relative
Of the pocket 4 at the discharge position g stopped in the transport direction
At the product supply position 9, on the same straight line as the discharge position g
The above-mentioned transport conveyor for the pockets 4 sequentially fed out
It is characterized in that the articles are sequentially supplied by being swung to 6,7 .

The pair of conveyors 6 and 7 have conveyor belts 11a and 11b, respectively.
11b is wound around upper drive rollers 12a and 12b and lower turn rollers 13a and 13b, respectively. Each of the conveyor belts 11a and 11b has an arrow M,
As shown in FIG. N, the flat articles A are driven in opposite directions to each other so as to pinch both flat surfaces of the flat article A and convey the article A in the vertical direction.

The driving mechanism of the transport belts 11a and 11b is as follows.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the driving rollers 12a, 12b
Are supported by the shafts 20a and 20b, and the shafts 20a and 20b
0b through a timing belt 15 stretched over driven pulleys 14a, 14b which are coaxially supported.
6 is transmitted. On the other hand, the drive rollers 12a and 12b and the turn rolls 13a and 13b are supported by guide frames 18a and 18b so as to maintain a predetermined interval, respectively, and these guide frames 18a and 18b At substantially the center, the joints 19 are connected so as to simultaneously swing.

The swing mechanism 8 includes a driven gear 21 provided on a shaft 20a to which the guide frame 18a is fixed, a driving gear 22 meshing with the driven gear 21,
2 is provided with a speed reducer 23 and an AC servo motor 24 for driving the driven gear 21.
Of the guide frame 18a about the shaft 20a.
Swings, and at the same time, swings the guide frame 18 b via the joint fitting 19.

As shown in FIG. 1, the discharge position 9 is a rod 25 which is slidable in the article discharge position g so as to be orthogonal to the rotating belt 5, ie, slidable along the direction in which the blade 3 extends.
And a cylinder 26. At the tip of the rod 25, a contact plate 27 having a contact portion extending in a rake shape is provided.
The abutment plate 27 to the back is Tsu Na as contact takes out simultaneously a plurality of articles A from the plurality of pockets. The discharge position 9 is driven when the article at the discharge position is relatively stopped in response to a drive signal of a driving mechanism of the rotating belt 5 described later.

The counter 10 is arranged between the conveyors 6 and 7 and the discharge device 9 and counts the number of articles conveyed by the rotating belt 5. The counter 10 counts the number of articles passing by the photoelectric tube. Next, a driving mechanism of the rotating belt 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The rotary belt is arranged so as to form a quadrilateral by being hung on four pulleys of driven pulleys 2a, 2b, 2d and a driving pulley 2c, and a tension pulley 2 is provided between the driven pulleys 2a, 2d.
e is arranged.

The drive pulley 2c is connected to the A
A C servomotor 32 is connected, and the rotating belt 5 is driven by the AC servomotor 32. The pulleys 2a and 2b are driven pulleys, which respectively define ends of a supply position f and a discharge position g of the rotating belt, and are simultaneously slidably connected in the same direction by extended ball screws 33. One end of ball screw 33 is A
The driven pulleys 2a and 2b are moved by a predetermined amount by driving the AC servomotor 34.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
The articles A conveyed toward the conveyors 6 and 7 are:
The driving rollers 12a and 12b are sandwiched between the conveying belts 11a and 11b of the conveying
a and 13b. At this time, when the driving pulley 16 is driven, the driven pulleys 12a and 12b rotate via the timing belt 15, and the transport belts 11a and 11b are driven.

The rotating belt 5 is driven in the direction of the arrow P through the reduction gear 31 and the driving pulley 2c by the driving of the AC servomotor 32. When the counter 10 counts a predetermined number of articles, the AC servomotor 34 is turned on. Drive the pulley 2
a and 2b are moved from the state of the solid line shown in FIG. 2 as shown by the two-dot chain line. During the movement of the pulleys 2a and 2b, the pocket 4 of the rotating belt 5 at the discharge position g is relatively stopped. During this time, the discharge device 9 is operated to move the contact plate 27 between the pockets 4. A predetermined quantity, in this embodiment, four articles A
Is taken out of the rotating belt 5 and transported to the next step.

On the other hand, at the article supply position f, the pulleys 2a,
As 2b moves from the position indicated by the two-dot chain line to the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1, empty pockets 4 are sequentially extended to the supply position and arranged linearly. That is, the position of the pocket to which the article is to be supplied is relatively moved rearward in the transport direction of the article. In response to the feeding of the pocket at the article supply position, the conveyors 6 and 7 are swung, and the turn rolls 13a and 13b, which are the leading end portions of the conveyors 6 and 7, are swung in accordance with the feeding of the pocket 4. Let it. This swinging drives the AC servomotor 24 to rotate the drive gear 22 by a predetermined amount, and to rotate the driven gear 21 meshing with the drive gear 22 to swing the guide frame 18a together with the shaft 20a. Do it. In addition, the timing and amount of swing
The driving of the AC servomotor 24 is controlled in response to a program or a control signal incorporated in advance.

Next, at the supply position f, the article A is
After supplying to the position indicated by the solid line shown in FIG.
To move the pulleys 2a and 2b horizontally to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line. As a result, the pocket that was relatively stopped at the discharge position g is moved, and the pocket 4 that was at the supply position is horizontally moved as it is to the discharge position g.
And the above-described operation is repeated.

According to this embodiment, the article supply position f and the discharge position g can be provided close to each other by making the conveyors 6 and 7 swingable. That is, the supply position f and the discharge position g of the article can be arranged on the same straight line of the rotating belt ( on the same side of the polygon formed by the rotating belt 5). Therefore, the conveyance distance of the article on the rotating belt 5 can be reduced, and the article is twisted and
Deformation and the like can be prevented, and the article counting process can be performed stably and at high speed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, as shown in FIG.
Instead of using a normal transport belt, a configuration in which a large number of through-holes 35 are formed and a vacuum device 36 is disposed behind the transport belt in the transport path of the article A may be used. In such a case, the article A during transportation
Is held on the conveying belt by suction, so that the article can be conveyed more reliably and at a higher speed.

[0025]

According to the article counting and feeding apparatus of the present invention,
The supply position and the discharge position of the articles are on the same straight line of the rotating belt.
To transport goods on the rotating belt.
Since the transport distance can be shortened,
The twisting of the blades, deformation of the article, and the like are prevented, and the article counting process can be performed stably and at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an apparatus for counting and supplying articles according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing a driving mechanism of a rotating belt in the article supply device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a transport conveyor in the article supply device.

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing a configuration of a transport conveyor in the article supply device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically showing an article counting and feeding apparatus according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 article counting and feeding device 5 rotating belt 6, 7 transport conveyor 8 swing mechanism 9 discharging device 10 counter A article f article feeding position g discharging position

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A rotating belt stretched over a plurality of pulleys, having a plurality of pockets defined by blades extending outward, storing articles in the pockets, and storing the articles in an article. a rotating belt for transferring from a supply position to a discharge position, clamp the article supplied to the pocket, the article toward the article supply position of the rotary belt, successively, a pair of conveyor for conveying, the discharge position To the above article supply position on the same straight line as
Along the pocket of the rotating belt
Swing the pair of conveyors so that the tip moves
Swinging mechanism, a counter for counting the articles transferred by the rotary conveyor, and taking out the counted number of the articles conveyed to the discharge position from the pockets of the rotary conveyor, to the next step and a discharge device for discharging, by controlling the position of the pulley in which the rotating belt is applied, the movement of the pocket relative stops against the rotating belt at the discharge position, the relatively stop
The product supply position behind the stopped discharge position pocket in the transport direction
In the same position as the above discharge position.
The conveyor is swung with respect to the pocket
An article counting and supplying apparatus for sequentially supplying articles. 2. A plurality of through holes are formed in the conveyor belts of the pair of conveyors.
2. The article counting and feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a vacuum box that sucks the article from the through hole.