JP3393044B2 - Article extraction equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an article cutting facility. For more details, such as books and videotapes,
The present invention relates to an item cutting facility that collects small items such as CD cases into arbitrary numbers and types and sends them to a packaging station or the like. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, type A (example: book)
And B type (example: video), C type (example: CD),
The present invention relates to a cutting device including a cutting device that cuts out an arbitrary number of these, and a transfer conveyor that reads a product type and quantity and distributes and transfers them to each packaging station.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional article cutting device, articles are vertically or obliquely stacked on a stack and cut from the bottom. Therefore, the weight of the upper article is applied to the article to be cut out, and a large force is required to cut out the article.
Moreover, since a great deal of force is applied, the article and its packaging may be damaged. In particular, the soft surface had remarkable scratches.

Further, in the conventional example described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-20230, a cutting device is connected in series with the base end of a conveyor belt, that is, with the same longitudinal direction, and the cutting device is a screw. The slider is attached to the tip of the rod, and the article stored in the storage space is pushed out by the slider and placed on the conveyor belt. However, in this conventional example, since the screw rod projects rearward of the storage space, the total length of the device becomes long, and the cutting pitch is performed by the movement amount of the slider. There is a problem that you cannot cut out with an accurate number.

Further, in the conventional example disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 51-99381, an article (thin plate) extruded by a slider is slid on an inclined plate and sent to a belt conveyor, and the article is not detected. It is configured to be performed by the sensor attached to the inclined plate. However, in this conventional example, since the detection of the article is performed after the cut-out, the cut-out of the article cannot be accurately controlled.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide an article cutting equipment which is compact, does not damage articles, and is capable of accurately controlling the cutting timing and the number of cuts of articles. .

[0006]

An article slicing equipment according to claim 1 is an article slicing equipment comprising a conveyor and a slicing device for supplying an article to the conveyor, wherein the slicing device is a stock plate on which an article is placed. A push plate that advances and retreats between the base end side and the tip end side of the stock plate to push up the article on the stock plate, and a drive device for the push plate. A first sensor, which is installed so as to be inclined downward so that the front end side is located in the conveyor, and a first sensor for detecting that the article has reached the cutting position at the cutting portion at the tip of the cutting device; Is equipped with a detector for an article, which comprises a second sensor for detecting that the item has reached the position immediately before the cutout position. The article slicing equipment according to claim 2, wherein the slicing device is connected to the transport conveyor such that the feed direction thereof is perpendicular to the feed direction of the transport conveyor, and a plurality of the slicing devices are connected in parallel to the transport conveyor. It is characterized by The article cutting facility according to claim 3, wherein the cutting position of the tip of the stock plate is
The cutting roller is rotatably attached, and the cutting roller is rotated by a driving device.
The article cutting out equipment according to claim 4 is the first in the detector.
The mounting positions of the sensor and the second sensor are movable in the article feeding direction. The article slicing equipment according to claim 5, wherein the drive device includes a nut attached to the lower surface of the push plate, a screw rod attached to the lower surface of the stock plate along the article feed direction, and the nut screwed together, and the screw. And a drive motor for rotating the rod. The article slicing facility according to claim 6, wherein the conveyor comprises a roller conveyor on which the sliced article is placed, and a belt conveyor for feeding the article, wherein the roller conveyor has one end in the width direction of the slicing device. The belt conveyor is located immediately below the cutout portion and is inclined with the other end side in the width direction directed obliquely downward, and the belt conveyor has its conveyance surface along the other end side of the roller conveyor. It is characterized by being installed orthogonally to. The article cutting facility according to claim 7, wherein the article detector is replaced by a detector for the article.
A stepping motor is used as a drive device for the push plate, and the cutting position and the immediately preceding position of the article are detected by the rotation speed of the stepping motor.

According to the first aspect of the invention, since the cutting device is installed so as to be inclined, the whole equipment becomes compact, and since the article detector is attached to the cutting portion, before cutting the article. The product type and number can be detected, and cutting control can be performed accurately. According to the invention of claim 2, since the cutting device is connected at right angles to the conveyor, it is possible to connect a plurality of cutting devices, and the plurality of cutting devices are connected to the conveyor. It is possible to handle different types of products, and the quantitative processing capacity is also increased. According to the third aspect of the invention, since the cutting roller is rotated to drop the article downward, the article can be reliably cut out with little change in the falling speed due to catching the article or variation in the friction coefficient. According to the invention of claim 4, even if the thickness of the article is changed, the cutout of the article can be accurately controlled by adjusting the mounting position of the detector. According to the invention of claim 5, since the screw rod is installed on the lower surface of the push plate, the overall length is shorter than that in the case where the screw rod is installed on the rear side, and the device can be made compact. In the invention of claim 6, the feed resistance is reduced by the roller conveyor,
Moreover, since the goods are fed by the belt conveyor, there is no change in speed due to friction and the like, and constant sorting enables reliable sorting. According to the invention of claim 7, the push-out position of the push plate can be detected by the rotation amount of the stepping motor, so that accurate cutting-out control of the article can be performed without using the article detector.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an article cutting equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the article cutting equipment, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a cutting apparatus, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the cutting apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of the cutting unit of the cutting device and a conveyor, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of the cutting unit of the cutting device.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the article detector, and FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of the cutting device.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the article slicing equipment of this embodiment, two slicing apparatuses 1 and 2 are connected to a conveyor 3 at a right angle. That is, the feeding directions of the cutting devices 1 and 2 are orthogonal to the feeding direction of the transport conveyor 3. By arranging the cutting devices at right angles as described above, a plurality of cutting devices can be connected to each other, so that several kinds of articles can be cut out. Further, the quantitative processing capability is also improved, and it is necessary to replenish the articles when one cutting device 1 finishes cutting, but there is an advantage that another cutting device 2 can cut out during this period. The conveyor 3
Is composed of a roller conveyor 4 and a belt conveyor 5, the details of which will be described later.

Next, details of the cutting devices 1 and 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. The two cutting devices 1,
Since 2 has the same configuration, only one cutting device will be described. In FIG. 2, 6 is a mount for the cutting devices 1 and 2, and 7
Is a stand for the transport conveyor 3.

2 to 4, 10 is a cutting device 1,
The second frame is a long member having a rectangular cross section.
The central portion of the upper surface member is notched in the longitudinal direction, and is a space through which a slider 16 described later passes. A stock plate 11 is arranged on the upper surface of the frame 10. The stock plate 11 is a member having a width slightly smaller than that of the frame 10 and substantially the same length, and is supported by the frame 10 at both ends in the longitudinal direction.

A screw rod 12 is arranged in the frame 10, and both ends thereof are supported by bearings (not shown). A pulley 13 is fixed to the lower end of the screw rod 12, and a chain or the like is wound between the pulley 13 and a pulley 15 of a motor 14 attached to the lower end of the frame 10. Reference numeral 16 denotes a slider. A slide portion 18 is attached to the lower surface of a frame-shaped upper member 17 surrounding the stock plate 11, and a nut 19 is attached to the lower surface of the slide portion 18. The slide portion 18 is slidably fitted to two rails 21 installed in the frame 10, and the nut 19 is screwed to the screw rod 12. A push plate 22 is erected on the upper surface of the slider 16. Reference numeral 23 is a side plate that is erected along one side edge of the frame 10. With the structure described above, the drive device in the claims is constructed. When the motor 14 is driven, the push plate 22 moves from the lower end (the position shown by the solid line) to the upper end (the position shown by the chain line) as shown in FIG. It is possible to reciprocate up to the cutout part of (position).

Reference numeral 23 is a side plate which is erected along one side edge of the frame 10 and is provided to stand up one side edge of the article.

Next, details of the cutout portion will be described with reference to FIGS. A cutting roller 25 is rotatably supported at the tip of the stock plate 11, and the height of the upper surface of the cutting roller 25 is set to be the same as or slightly higher than the height of the stock plate 11. A pulley 26 is attached to one end of the cutting roller 25. A motor 27 is attached to the lower surface of the upper end of the frame 10, and a chain 29 is wound around the pulley 28 of the output shaft of the motor 27 and the pulley 26. Therefore, when the motor 27 is driven, the cutting roller 25 rotates.

A detector 30 is provided on the side plate 23 at the cutout portion.
Is attached. The detector 30 includes a first sensor 31 and a second sensor 32, both of which are optical sensors. The first and second sensors 31, 32 are slidable on a mounting bar 33 fixed to the side plate 23, and the mounting position thereof can be variably adjusted according to the thickness of the article to be cut out. The first sensor 31 is attached to a position where the article can be detected when it reaches the cutting position where the article is placed on the cutting roll 25, and the second sensor 32 can detect the article in a state immediately before the cutting position. Is installed in position.

Next, details of the conveyor 3 will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be explained based on. Transport surfaces of the roller conveyor 4 and the belt conveyor 5 are orthogonal to each other and are arranged in a V shape in a side view. The roller conveyor 4 is composed of a large number of rollers 41 rotatably supported and arranged, one end in the width direction thereof is positioned directly below the lower end of the cutting roller 25, and the other end in the width direction is directed obliquely downward. It is installed at an angle. The belt conveyor 5 is formed by winding a belt 52 around a pair of front and rear rollers 51, and its transporting surface is arranged orthogonal to the transporting surface of the roller conveyor 4, and its lower ends are arranged adjacent to each other.

Therefore, the article dropped from the cutting roller 25 slides down on the roller 41, and its end surface hits the belt 52 of the belt conveyor 5 and stops. Then, it is fed by the belt conveyor 5, slides on the roller conveyor 4, and is conveyed toward a packaging station (not shown).

Next, the operation of cutting out articles by the cutting out devices 1 and 2 will be described. FIG. 8 (I) shows a state in which the articles, ... Are pushed out to the cutout portion by the push plate 22 on the stock plate 11. Then, when it is detected by the second sensor 32 that the leading article has arrived at the position immediately before cutting, the cutting preparation is completed. When the cutting out is started, the push plate 22 pushes out the articles, ... As shown in FIG. 2 (II), the first article is detected by the first sensor 31, and the second article is detected by the second sensor 32. Then,
The feeding is stopped. Then, as shown in (III) of the figure, when the cutting roller 25 is rotated, only the leading article drops onto the roller 41. If the cutting roller 25 is not provided, the article slides down only by gravity, so that the speed changes greatly due to the fluctuation of the friction coefficient. However, when the cutting roller 25 is rotated, any article can be surely dropped.
Can be cut out accurately. The cutting roller 25 may be constantly rotated. When the first sensor 31 is turned off by the above cutting, the feeding of the cutting device is started again, and as shown in FIG. 4 (IV), the next article is fed until it can be detected by the first sensor 31. After this,
By repeating the above (I) to (IV), the articles can be sequentially cut out.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. Although the cutting roller 25 is provided in the above-described embodiment, this is not essential and may not be provided. In this case, the article drops directly from the tip of the stock plate 11 onto the roller conveyor 4, but it is possible if the article smoothly drops onto the roller conveyor 4 due to the inclination angle of the roller conveyor 4, the coefficient of friction, and the coefficient of friction of the article. is there.

In the above embodiment, the detector for the article is attached to the cutout portion. However, this is not used for an article whose shape is relatively large and the accumulation of the gaps between the articles does not affect the cutout. Alternatively, a stepping motor may be used as the drive motor 14 for the push plate 22, and the cutting position and the position immediately before the cutting position of the article may be indirectly detected by the rotation amount or the rotation position of the stepping motor. Even with such a configuration, the same accurate cutting control as in the case of using the article detector is possible. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the roller conveyor 4 is provided on the transport conveyor 3, but a plate having low friction may be used instead of the roller conveyor 4.

[0021]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the cutting device is installed at an inclination, it is compact, and since the article detector is attached to the stock plate, the cutting control can be accurately performed. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the cutting device is connected to the plurality of conveyors, different kinds of products can be handled, and the quantitative processing capacity can be increased. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the cutting roller is rotated to drop the article downward, it is possible to reliably cut out the article. According to the invention of claim 4, even if the thickness of the article changes, the cutout of the article can be accurately controlled by adjusting the attachment position. In the invention of claim 5, since the screw rod is installed on the lower surface of the pressing plate, the overall length is shortened and the device can be made compact. In the invention of claim 6,
The roller conveyor reduces the feeding resistance and the belt conveyor feeds the articles, which enables reliable sorting by constant speed feeding. According to the invention of claim 7, it is possible to accurately cut out the article based on the rotation amount and the rotation position of the stepping motor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an article cutting out facility according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the article cutting out facility.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a cutting device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a cutting device.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view of a cutting unit of the cutting device and a conveyor.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of a cutting portion of the cutting device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the article detector.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of the cutting device.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of an item cutting operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cutting device 2 cutting device 3 Conveyor 4 roller conveyor 5 Belt conveyor 10 frames 11 stock plates 12 screw rods 16 sliders 22 push plate 23 Side plate 25 cutting roller 31 First sensor 32 Second sensor

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-8-20433 (JP, A) JP-A-9-40181 (JP, A) Actual development Sho-58-20230 (JP, U) JP-B-50-18669 (JP , B2) S. 56-29306 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 59/02 B65G 59/08 B65G 47/06-47/10

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. An article slicing facility comprising a conveyor and a slicing device for supplying an article to the conveyor, wherein the slicing apparatus has a stock plate on which an article is placed, and a base plate and a tip plate on the stock plate. A push plate that moves back and forth between the stock plate and pushes up the article on the stock plate, and a drive device for the push plate,
The stock plate is installed so as to be inclined so that the base end side is on the lower side and the front end side is located on the transport conveyor, and it is detected that the article has reached the cutting position at the cutting portion at the tip of the cutting device. And a second sensor for detecting that the article has reached a position immediately before the cutting position. 2. The cutting device is connected to the carrying conveyor so that the feeding direction thereof is perpendicular to the feeding direction of the carrying conveyor, and a plurality of the cutting devices are connected in parallel to the carrying conveyor. The article cutting out facility according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 3. The article slicing equipment according to claim 1, wherein a slicing roller is rotatably attached to a slicing position at a tip of the stock plate, and the slicing roller is rotationally driven by a driving device. 4. The article cutting facility according to claim 1, wherein the mounting positions of the first sensor and the second sensor in the detector are movable in the article feeding direction. 5. The drive device rotates a nut attached to the lower surface of the push plate, a screw rod attached to the lower surface of the stock plate along the article feeding direction, and screwed with the nut, and the screw rod. The article slicing equipment according to claim 1, comprising a drive motor. 6. The conveyor comprises a roller conveyor on which the cut-out article is placed and a belt conveyor for feeding the cut-out article. The belt conveyor is positioned so that the other end side in the width direction is inclined obliquely downward, and the belt conveyor is arranged along the other end side of the roller conveyor with its conveying surface orthogonal to the conveying surface of the roller conveyor. The article slicing equipment according to claim 1, which is installed. 7. A stepping motor is used as a driving device for the push plate instead of the article detector, and the cutting position and the immediately preceding position of the article are detected by the rotation speed of the stepping motor. The article cutting facility according to claim 1.