JP3390220B2 - Article transfer device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article conveying device,
In particular, the present invention relates to an article transporting apparatus that transports a large number of articles to the next step while separating and separating the articles without the articles being stuck to each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the case of products (products) mass-produced in a large lot, after production, the products are conveyed to the next process while separating and separating the products from each other, and if necessary, to the next process during the conveyance. It is widely practiced to count the number of articles sent.

Conventionally, as an article conveying apparatus used for this kind of conveyance, one using a vibrating feeder 1 as shown in FIG. 6 is generally known. That is, the vibrating feeder 1 includes an upper conveyance unit 1a, a middle conveyance unit 1b, and a lower conveyance unit 1 along the flow direction (conveyance direction of articles) in the figure.
c is composed of three stages of conveyance units, and each stage conveyance unit 1a,
On the upper surfaces of 1b and 1c, a plurality of rows of product flow grooves 2 linearly extending in the length direction are formed by saw-toothed concavities and convexities. Further, the vibrating feeder 1 is rotatably connected to and held by an upper end of a link 4 whose base end is rotatably supported by a base 3 so as to constitute a parallel crank mechanism. It is designed to vibrate back and forth.

As a result, the articles supplied to the upper surface of the vibrating feeder 1 in a state of sticking to each other are
When falling from the upper transfer section 1a to the middle transfer section 1b and from the middle transfer section 1b to the lower transfer section 1c in sequence with the vibration of the above, the transfer sections 1a, 1b and 1c further enter inside the product flow groove 2. At that time, the articles are forcibly separated, and the separated articles are conveyed to the next step from the lower conveying section 1c by a natural drop. The non-contact sensors 5 such as optical sensors arranged on both sides of the dropping path measure the articles supplied to the next process.

Further, as the one using the conveyor belt device, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, two conveyor belt devices 6 and 7 are vertically arranged in two stages with their carry-out end and carry-in end overlapping each other. Arrange the upper conveyor belt device 6
The articles sent on the belt 6a of the lower conveyor belt are dropped and transferred toward the upper surface of the belt 7a of the conveyor belt device 7 of the lower stage to separate the articles stuck to each other, and the conveyor belt of the lower stage. It is generally known that the device 7 is naturally dropped from the carry-out end and is conveyed to the next step.

Here, in the case of measuring the articles that are dropped from the lower conveyor belt device 7 and sent to the next process, as shown in FIG. It is common practice to arrange partition plates 8 extending along the lines to align the articles before dropping, and to arrange the non-contact sensor 5 below the area partitioned by the adjacent partition plates 8. There is.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, it is possible to convey a so-called bleed-type article in which oil or the like is exuded on the surface, such as an electrical component (elastic member) impregnated with oil. If they are used, the articles may stick to each other in a dumpling state, and they may not be separated into individual articles and may be conveyed to the next process while being stuck together.Therefore, there will be an error in the measurement and it will be difficult to regulate the fixed quantity feed. Was there. In addition, there is a problem in that the posture of a rollable article is not fixed and the positioning is difficult.

Particularly, in the latter case where the conveyor belt device is used, this tendency is strong, and in the former case where the vibrating feeder is used, the structure of the portion contacting the article such as the feed surface contact portion or the side surface is It was empirical, its adjustment was quite difficult, and the transport speed was extremely slow.

In view of the above, the present invention provides an article transporting apparatus that can transport articles to the next process at high speed while reliably separating the articles in a fixed amount or in a fixed posture, and that has a relatively simple structure and does not require adjustment. The purpose is to

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an article conveying apparatus according to the present invention is arranged in parallel and horizontally, and an endless traveling body is provided between a pair of rotating bodies in which at least one of them is rotationally driven. And a plurality of rectangular article separating feeder pieces are continuously arranged linearly on the outer peripheral surface of the endless traveling body along the traveling direction of the endless traveling body, and the article separating feeder pieces or each other are Between each adjacent article separating feeder piece, an article insertion concave portion having a shape along the outer shape of the article to be conveyed and opening to the outside is provided , and the article is provided at the upper end.
Assists the natural dropping from the article insertion recess with low contact
A draining board equipped with a drop assist hook member for
Placed near the endless traveling body on the unloading side, and sandwiching the drop path.
A non-contact sensor that measures falling objects is placed at the position
It is characterized in that the.

The article separating feeder piece may be made of non-sticking fluororesin such as PTFE.

[0012]

The article transporting apparatus of the present invention constructed as above
According to this, if the articles to be conveyed are supplied from above onto the endless traveling body that is made to travel by rotationally driving the rotating body, only the articles in the separated state and in the matched posture are separated by the article separation feeder. Pieces or article-inserting feeder pieces provided between adjacent article-separating feeder pieces are inserted into the article-inserting recesses that are open upward, and the other articles are left on the upper surface of the feeder piece. Then, if the conveyance of the articles left on the upper surface of the feeder piece to the downstream side is stopped without entering the article insertion recess, only the articles that enter the article insertion recess are accompanied by the traveling of the endless traveling body. While being conveyed to the downstream side and the endless running body is turned over by 180 ° along the rotating body, the article insertion concave portion gradually faces downward so that the article can be naturally dropped and conveyed to the next step.
It Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, for inserting the article at the upper end.
In order to assist the natural fall from the recess with low contact,
As the auxiliary hooking member, for example, air blowing, claw portion
The draining plate 44 provided with 44a and the like is on the carry-out side (downstream side)
Is disposed near the endless belt 12. Therefore,
With the drop-assisting hook member of the
Can be naturally dropped and can be transported to the next process.
It For example, electrical equipment impregnated with oil (elastic member)
Such as oil oozing on the surface, so-called bleed
Even when used to convey
Despite the wearability, by the drop assist hook member,
Allows the article to drop naturally from the insertion recess
It In the unlikely event that the claws at the upper ends of the closing plate 40 and the draining plate 44
Items that do not pass between 44a and then fall naturally,
It is received by the draining board 44 and collected in the collection box 45.
It is supposed to be. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
A non-contact sensor such as an optical sensor for measuring falling objects.
Sensor 43 is arranged at a position across this drop path.
Therefore, the goods sent to the next process are accurately measured and sent in a fixed amount.
Regulation can be performed easily and reliably .

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment. In this embodiment, pulleys 10 and 11 as a pair of rotating bodies are rotatably provided.
An endless belt 12 as an endless traveling body is stretched between 0 and 11.

Here, the pulleys 10 and 11 are arranged in parallel and horizontally with a predetermined space therebetween, and
The timing belt 14 is stretched between the carry-in side pulley 10 and the pulley driving motor 13, and the carry-out side pulley 11 is located slightly above the carry-in side pulley 10.

As a result, as the pulley driving motor 13 rotates, the return side of the endless belt 12 from the carry-in side pulley 10 to the carry-out side pulley 11 at the sending side (upper side) of the endless belt 12 in the carrying direction A. It is configured such that (the lower side) travels in the opposite return direction B, and the transport direction A is slightly upward.

On the outer peripheral surface of the endless belt 12, a plurality of rectangular article separating feeder pieces 20 are provided over the entire circumference thereof.
Are continuously arranged in a straight line along the traveling direction of the endless belt 12. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of these rows are formed at equal pitches along the width direction of the endless belt 12.

The article separating feeder piece 20 is made of, for example, a non-sticking fluororesin such as PTFE, and is molded integrally with the endless belt 12.
It may be attached to the endless belt 12 via a bolt or the like.

Further, between the adjacent article separating feeder pieces 20, 20, there is provided a substantially cylindrical article insertion recess 21 having a shape along the outer shape of the article to be conveyed and opening outward. There is.

That is, the article insertion recesses 21 are a pair of semi-cylindrical recesses 20a, 20a provided on the respective end faces of the article separating feeder pieces 20, 20 facing each other along the running direction of the endless belt 12. It is composed by.

As a result, the article insertion recess 21 opens upward on the sending side and opens downward on the returning side, and
When the endless belt 12 is turned over 180 ° along the pulleys 10 and 11, first, there is a gap that expands outward between the article separating feeder pieces 20 and 20 to open at a predetermined angle and then close. There is.

Side plates 25 located on the sides of the endless belt 12 and on both sides of the endless belt 12 prevent articles from spilling.
And the article supply hopper 26 is installed above the carry-in side pulley 10. Further, the articles are fed from below the discharge port of the article supply hopper 26 to the upper surface of the article separating feeder piece 20 on the sending side to convey the articles .
A guide plate 27 that leads to the upper surface of the product separation feeder piece 20 is provided.

A rotary brush wiper 30 is disposed between the pulleys 10 and 11 and above the pulleys 10 and 11 so that the lower end is close to the upper surface of the article separating feeder piece 20 on the feeding side. A timing belt 32 is stretched around the drive motor 31. As a result, the rotary brush wiper 30 rotates in the direction C opposite to the carrying direction A as the wiper driving motor 32 is driven.

The rotary brush wiper 30 is made by densely implanting a large number of fine bristles made of, for example, hard or soft synthetic resin such as nylon, and is provided with a comb 33 for aligning the bristles. On the upstream side of the rotary brush wiper 30, a fixed quantity supply sensor 3 is provided.
4 are arranged.

As a result, the articles loaded into the article supply hopper 26 are guided by the guide plate 27 and reach the upper surface of the article separating feeder piece 20 located on the feed side, and are separated by the side plate 25 and the rotary brush wiper 30. Accumulates in the open space. Then, in the separated state, an article which is in the same posture as the article insertion recess 21 formed by the recesses 20a, 20a of the article separation feeder pieces 20, 20 adjacent to each other is placed inside the article insertion recess 21. It enters completely, passes under the rotary brush wiper 30, and is conveyed to the downstream side.
The other articles stop in this space.

At this time, since the rotating brush wiper 30 rotates in the direction C opposite to the article conveying direction A, the rotating brush wiper 30 allows the articles which have not completely entered the inside of the article insertion recess 21 to the upstream side. The article can be efficiently put into the article insertion recess 21 by pushing back the article to push back the article. On the other hand, the articles other than the article insertion recess 21 are always returned to the upstream side.

It should be noted that, without using the rotary brush wiper 30, a fixed wiper (not shown) made of rubber, for example, is arranged such that its lower end surface is close to the upper surface of the article separating feeder piece 20, whereby the article is removed. Article insertion recess 21
It is possible to assist in entering the inside and prevent the articles that did not enter from being conveyed to the downstream side.

On the other hand, along the pulley 11 on the unloading side, 1
Article separation feeder piece 20 located at a position rotated by 80 °
Around the upper half of the cover plate 4 placed close to it.
Each of the columns is surrounded by a partition plate 41.
The columns are divided into columns, and the next process supply hopper 42 is arranged immediately below.

As a result, when the endless belt 12 is turned downward by 180 ° along the carry-out side pulley 11 to rotate the article separating feeder piece 20, first, the article separating feeder piece 20 is outwardly moved between the article separating feeder pieces 20. There is a gap that widens toward the product insertion recess 21. As a result, even if the product that has entered the product insertion recess 21 adheres to this, this adhesion is forcibly released and in this state. As the opening of the article insertion concave portion 21 gradually faces downward, the article is thrown into the next process supply hopper 42 by spontaneous fall.

A non-contact sensor 43 such as an optical sensor for measuring the falling article is arranged at a position sandwiching the dropping path. Further, a drainer plate 44 having a claw portion 44a as a fall assist hook member for assisting the natural fall with low contact is arranged on the upper end, and the drainer plate 44 is provided below the return endless belt 12. It extends and reaches the collection box 45.

As a result, articles that do not pass between the cover plate 40 and the claws 44a at the upper end of the draining plate 44 and then fall naturally will be received by the draining plate 44 and collected in the collecting box 45. It has become.

Instead of the drop-assisting hooking member such as the claw portion 44a, it is also possible to provide an assist such as an air spot for blowing air to assist the natural fall. Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

First, the pulley drive motor 13 is driven to cause the endless belt 12 to travel on the feed side (upper side) in the article conveying direction A, and the wiper drive motor 31 is driven to rotate the rotary brush wiper. The article 30 is rotated in the direction C opposite to the article conveying direction A, and the article is loaded into the article supply hopper 26 in this state.

Then, this article is guided by the guide plate 27 to reach the upper surface of the article separation feeder piece 20, and the article in the separated state and in the same posture is inserted into the article insertion recess 21.
It completely enters the inside, and the rest is blocked by the rotating brush wiper 30 from being conveyed to the downstream side. at the same time,
The article that has not completely entered the article insertion recess 21 is swept back to the upstream side by the rotating brush wiper 30 that rotates in the direction C opposite to the article conveying direction A, and the article is the article due to the sweepback effect. The insertion into the insertion recess 21 is promoted.

Then, only the article that has completely entered the article insertion recess 21 passes below the rotary brush wiper 30 and is sent to the downstream side, and the endless belt 12 moves downward along the pulley 11 on the unloading side. When turning 180 degrees toward
The article insertion concave portion 21 opens, and naturally falls with the aid of the claw portion 44a, passes between the claw portion 44a and the closing plate 40, is thrown into the next process supply hopper 42, and is sent to the next process. The number of articles is measured by the non-contact sensor 42.

As a result, it has been confirmed that the measurement accuracy within 99.815% can be secured. On the other hand, the articles that have reached the return side without falling naturally and are dropped here are received by the draining plate 44 and collected in the collecting box 45.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show the second embodiment, and the difference of this embodiment from the first embodiment is as follows. That is, in this embodiment, the sprockets 50 and 51 are used as rotating bodies, the endless chain 52 is used as an endless traveling body, and the endless chain 5 is used.
A product separating feeder piece 55 is connected to each of the link plates 53 that form part 2 through a support body 54, and an article inserting recess 56 that opens outward is provided on the surface of each product separating feeder piece 55. is there.

A bite prevention sheet 57 is interposed between the support 54 and the product separation feeder piece 55. In addition, in the case of this embodiment, the rotary brush wiper 30 is provided as in the case of the above-mentioned embodiment, but this rotary brush wiper 30 is provided for rotation of the chain drive motor 60 that causes the endless chain 52 to travel. Accordingly, the article is rotated in the direction C, which is opposite to the article carrying direction A.

That is, the chain driving motor 60 is connected to the sprocket 51 on the carry-out side via the coupling 61, and the chain 62 is stretched between the sprocket 50 on the carry-in side and the rotary brush wiper 30. Has been done.

As a result, the sprocket 51 on the carry-out side rotates in accordance with the rotation of the chain drive motor 60, and the endless chain 52 on the feed side (upper side) thereof conveys the article in the direction A.
Along with the rotation of the sprocket 50 on the carry-in side as the endless chain 52 travels.
The rotary brush wiper 30 rotates in the direction C opposite to the article conveying direction A via the.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, each article separation feeder piece 55 is provided with one article insertion recess 56, so that the articles are fed in a single row, that is, one article at a time. It is configured to be transported.

In the case of this embodiment, the articles are reliably fed, and when the articles to be sent to the next process reach a fixed quantity, the endless chain 52 is stopped from running, so that the fixed quantity feeding is easily and reliably regulated. I can do it.

[0042]

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structure,
Even if it is used to convey a bleed-type article, it can be conveyed at a high speed while being reliably separated and kept in a fixed posture, and can be conveyed to the next step by natural fall.
This makes it possible to accurately and accurately measure the articles sent to the next step, regulate fixed-quantity feeding, and easily perform positioning. Moreover, as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the top of the
In order to assist with low contact, as a drop assist hook member
For example, air blowing, claw portion 44a, etc. are provided.
The draining plate 44 is provided on the carry-out side (downstream side) of the endless belt 12.
It is located in the vicinity. Therefore, this fall auxiliary hook
The member ensures that the article will spontaneously drop from the insertion recess.
Then, it can be conveyed to the next step. For example, oil
The surface of impregnated electrical components (elastic members) will not be exposed to oil, etc.
Used to convey the so-called bleed-type articles
Even if it is used, it will be removed despite its adhesiveness.
The lower auxiliary hook member secures the article from the insertion recess.
It can be naturally dropped. In addition, by any chance, 4
0 and the claw 44a at the upper end of the draining plate 44
If the product does not fall and then falls naturally,
Are collected in the collection box 45
It Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 1, measure falling articles.
The non-contact sensor 43 such as an optical sensor for
Since it is placed in the position across the route, it is sent to the next process
Accurately and easily regulates fixed-quantity delivery
Can be done.

Moreover, the article separating feeder piece arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the endless traveling body is provided with the article insertion recess having a shape along the outer shape of the article and opening to the outside. Moreover, there is an effect that no special adjustment is necessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall front view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is also an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

3 is a right side view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing a main part of the second embodiment.

5 is a right side view of FIG.

6A and 6B show a conventional example, FIG. 6A is a schematic front view, and FIG.

7A and 7B show another conventional example, FIG. 7A is a schematic front view, and FIG. 7B is a right side view thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 11 Pulley (rotating body) 12 Endless belt (endless running body) 13 Pulley drive motor 20,55 Article separation feeder piece 21,56 Article insertion recess 26 Goods Supply Hopper 30 rotating brush wiper 33 comb 42 Next process supply hopper 43 Non-contact sensor 45 collection box 50,51 Sprocket (Rotating body) 52 Endless chain (endless running body) 60 Chain drive motor

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An endless traveling body is bridged between a pair of rotating bodies arranged in parallel and horizontally and at least one of which is rotationally driven, and a plurality of rectangular article separations are provided on an outer peripheral surface of the endless traveling body. Feeder pieces are continuously arranged in a straight line along the running direction of the endless traveling body, and a shape along the outer shape of an article to be conveyed is formed between the article separation feeder pieces or between the adjacent article separation feeder pieces. An article insertion recess that has an outward opening is provided , and the upper end has a low contact with the natural drop of the article from the article insertion recess.
Water with drop assist hooks to assist with touch
A cutting plate is placed near the endless traveling body on the unloading side, and a non-contact measuring device is used to measure falling articles at a position sandwiching the falling path.
An article conveying device having a tactile sensor . 2. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article separating feeder piece is made of fluororesin.