JP3679830B2 - Work quantity supply device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a workpiece quantitative supply device that supplies a predetermined number of irregular workpieces such as dried foods to a place that requires workpieces.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, in the process of manufacturing processed foods such as instant noodles, the manufacture of processed foods by attaching ingredients called “Kayaku” such as dried eggs, dried meat, and salmon to main foods such as instant noodles There is a process. For example, the production of instant noodles, commonly called cup noodles, is performed in a process that automatically puts instant noodles, oysters, sealed bags containing soup and oil, etc. into a cup that is continuously fed by a conveyor. Yes.
[0003]
The oysters that are automatically put into the above cups are usually indeterminately shaped products having some differences in width, thickness, and overall shape even if they are the same type. A device that uses a parts feeder is generally used as an apparatus for automatically charging such a fixed amount of constant amount (constant) into a cup, and an example thereof will be described with reference to FIG.
[0004]
The parts feeder 21 shown in FIG. 3 vibrates the circular dish-shaped bowl 22 and the rectilinear feeder 23. Brightly accommodated in the bowl 22 (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece) 1 advances on the linear feeder 23 from the bowl 22 while being aligned in a row by the vibration of the bowl 22. When one bucket 25 of the bucket conveyor 24 is carried below the front end of the linear feeder 23, the fixed quantity of work 1 falls from the front end of the linear feeder 23 into the bucket 25. When the bucket 25 loaded with the workpiece 1 by driving the bucket conveyor 24 moves to a portion of the cup transfer conveyor 27, the bucket 25 rolls downward by about 180 ° with the hinge 26 as a fulcrum, and the inside fixed amount is determined. The workpiece 1 is put into the cup 20 on the conveyor 27.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When an irregularly shaped workpiece such as instant noodles is fed with a parts feeder and the fixed amount is automatically supplied to a cup or the like, the workpieces fed by the parts feeder are counted, and the workpiece is moved based on the count value. It is sufficient to supply a fixed amount, but the irregular workpieces fed in a line by the parts feeder cannot be accurately counted because they are not separated one by one but are overlapped. Therefore, the operation time of the parts feeder is controlled to be constant so that the supply amount of the work to the cup or the like is adjusted to be almost constant. However, this has a problem of the next excessive work supply.
[0006]
That is, there is inevitably some variation in the workpiece feeding amount and the supply amount (quantity) to the cup or the like by the operation time control of the parts feeder. For example, when four pieces of the same type of Kayaki are put into the cup, there are cases where three or five Kayaki are put into the cup due to variations in the workpiece feeding amount of the parts feeder.
[0007]
The commercial instant noodle product cups contain only 3 baked potatoes in 4 places, and consumers are dissatisfied with this baked lack, but there are as many as 5 baked potatoes. I will not be dissatisfied. Therefore, at the manufacturing stage, the workpiece feeder is adjusted so that five cups are added to the cup, so that even if the supply quantity decreases by one, it will be four. It prevents the shortage. However, such excessive loading of irregular shaped workpieces has a problem of increasing the running cost of products such as instant noodle products.
[0008]
In addition, it is difficult to speed up the delivery of irregular shaped workpieces with the parts feeder, and it is difficult to speed up the work quantitative supply to cups and the like. Furthermore, since the workpiece is not excessively added to the cup, etc., without counting the workpiece, the response when the workpiece supply amount is changed is poor, and the workpiece supply amount cannot be accurately monitored automatically. Depending on the type of workpiece, it may be necessary to monitor the workpiece supply amount on the processed food production line, making it difficult to fully automate and save labor on the production line.
[0009]
An object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece quantitative supply device that reliably counts even an irregular shaped work such as instant noodles and automatically supplies only a constant to a cup or the like.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is arranged so as to be able to rotate by tilting at a fixed angle at a fixed position, and a plurality of concentric circles are formed around the center of rotation of the disk having a tilted upward surface. A disk having a concave portion with a bottom into which one regular workpiece is inserted, and a workpiece holding means for holding the workpiece in a slidable contact with the surface in a substantially lower half of the surface of the disk and inserting the workpiece into the concave portion The rotating disk is fixedly arranged to face a part of the rotation trajectory of the recessed part of the rotating disk with a fixed interval that can be sucked at a thickness greater than the thickness of the work, and when the recessed part moves to a predetermined position by the rotation of the disk, detect a vacuum head for vacuum suction, a compressed air source for injecting the compressed air to blow off the workpiece fitted into the recess towards the vacuum head, the number of aspirated workpiece by the vacuum head Providing a photoelectric sensor, a configuration in which and a workpiece quantitative discharge means having a top and bottom 180 ° reversible escapement for temporarily holding the sucked workpiece by the vacuum head.
[0011]
The bottom of the recess of the disc, a configuration of forming the air jet hole for jetting compressed air to blow toward the workpiece fitted into the recess in the vacuum head.
[0012]
Also, a plurality of concavities are formed on each of a plurality of concentric circles having different radii around the center of rotation of the disc on the surface of the disc, and a vacuum head, a photoelectric sensor, It is good also as a structure which has arrange | positioned at least 1 unit of the workpiece | work fixed quantity carrying-out means.
[0013]
[Action]
When the tilted disk is rotated, the work held on the disk surface slides on the disk surface, and when the recess moves to the part of the work, one of the works is inserted into the recess and rotates with the disk, and the recess is the vacuum head. The workpiece in the concave portion is vacuum-sucked by the vacuum head and separated from the disk, and the workpiece sucked by the vacuum head is detected and counted by a photoelectric sensor and supplied to a cup or the like. By such work quantitative supply based on the work count value, the work supply amount can be accurately grasped, and automatic monitoring of work shortage and excessive supply becomes possible. Further, the workpiece supply amount can be changed easily and quickly only by changing the count value data.
[0014]
【Example】
Hereinafter, one embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The workpiece constant quantity supply device of FIG. 1 counts a fixed number of irregular shaped workpieces 1 such as instant noodles in a cup 20 such as instant noodles. This is an automatic loading device.
[0015]
1 and 2 includes a disk 2 that is tilted to a fixed position and arranged to be circumferentially rotatable, and a work holding means 6 that holds a plurality of works 1 on the disk 2 in a random state. , A vacuum head 8 for taking out the work 1 from the disk 2 by vacuum suction one by one, a photoelectric sensor 9 for detecting the work 1 sucked by the vacuum head 8, and a predetermined number of works 1 sucked by the vacuum head 8 Then, the work fixed quantity carrying-out means 12 for putting this into the cup 20 is provided.
[0016]
The disk 2 is inclined at a constant angle of about 40 ° with respect to the horizontal plane. By rotating the rotation shaft 15 at the center of the disk 2 by a motor 16 in a fixed direction, the disk 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. A plurality of recesses 3 are formed on the upward surface m of the inclined disk 2. Each recessed part 3 is a hollow with a bottom of the magnitude | size in which the one workpiece | work 1 is inserted.
[0017]
An air jet hole 4 as shown in FIG. The air jet hole 4 is a through-hole that reaches the back surface of the disk 2. When the concave portion 3 moves to the position of the compressed air source 5 installed at a fixed position along the back surface of the disk 2, the air jet hole 4 and the compressed air The source 5 communicates and compressed air is ejected from the air jet hole 4 toward the opening of the recess 3. The jet of compressed air surely blows off the work 1 in the recess 3 toward the vacuum head 8, and the work 1 is surely vacuum sucked by the vacuum head 8. The compressed air source 5 is a block having an air hole 17 that matches the air jet hole 4 with a minute gap, and the air hole 17 is connected to a compressor 19 via an electromagnetic valve 18.
[0018]
It is desirable to form a plurality of concave portions 3 on the surface m of the disk 2 on concentric circles centering on the rotation center of the disk 2 in order to speed up the work quantitative supply. Further, as shown in FIG. 2A, a plurality of recesses 3 are formed on each of a plurality of concentric circles having different radii around the rotation center of the disk 2, and this plurality of rows (five rows in FIG. 2) are formed. At least one vacuum head 8 is installed on each of the concentric concave rotating tracks L. Each of the vacuum heads 8 corresponding to the plurality of rows of recessed portion rotation trajectories L is independently operated, and each performs a work quantitative supply operation described later.
[0019]
The work holding means 6 holds the work 1 in a substantially lower half of the surface m of the inclined disk 2 so as to be slidable in contact with the surface m, and is, for example, a hopper 7 having a lower end opening as shown in FIG. The hopper 7 is attached to an arcuate guide 7 ′ that is fixed in the vicinity of the outer periphery of a substantially half of the lower part of the disk 2, and surrounds a substantially lower half of the surface m of the disk 2. While the disk 2 rotates and the recess 3 passes under the hopper 7, approximately one workpiece 1 is inserted into the recess 3. The workpiece 1 inserted into the recess 3 is rotated obliquely upward together with the recess 3 and comes out of the hopper 7.
[0020]
Each of the plurality of vacuum heads 8 is fixedly disposed at a fixed position above the inclination of the surface m of the disk 2 so as to be orthogonal to the surface m. The tip of the vacuum head 8 is opposed to a fixed position on the concave rotation path L aligned on the concentric circle of the disk 2 with a surface m of the disk 2 at a distance larger than the thickness of the workpiece 1 and capable of being sucked. The tip position of the vacuum head 8 is a workpiece separation position P at which the workpiece 1 is separated from the concave portion 3, and the workpiece separation positions P of the plurality of vacuum heads 8 are distributed and installed as shown in FIG. Is done. One compressed air source 5 is installed on the back side of the disc 2 at each of the plurality of workpiece separation positions P.
[0021]
Each of the plurality of vacuum heads 8 is fixed to one end of a pipe chute 10 having an inner diameter through which one workpiece 1 can pass. For example, an ejector 11 for evacuating the inside of the pipe chute 10 is attached to the other end of each pipe chute 10. By driving the ejector 11, the pipe chute 10 and the inside of the vacuum head 8 become negative pressure, and the vacuum head 8 vacuum sucks the work 1 from the concave portion 3 of the disk 2. Is conveyed to the workpiece fixed quantity carrying means 12 installed in each of the pipe chutes 10.
[0022]
Each of the plurality of vacuum heads 8 is provided with a photoelectric sensor 9 that detects the work 1 vacuumed by the vacuum head 8. The photoelectric sensor 9 is, for example, a transmission type in which a pair of a light projecting element 9 a and a light receiving element 9 b is installed in the diameter direction of the vacuum head 8, and detects the work 1 sucked from the vacuum head 8 to the pipe chute 10. The workpiece detection signal of the photoelectric sensor 9 is output to a workpiece quantitative supply controller having a counter (not shown). Here, the number of workpieces 1 sucked by the vacuum head 8 is counted, and when the count value becomes a constant value, the workpiece is compressed. The driving of the air source 5 is stopped. Then, a constant workpiece 1 is put into the cup 20 by the workpiece fixed amount carrying-out means 12 by a signal in which the cup 20 is arranged at the carry-out position.
[0023]
The workpiece fixed amount carrying-out means 12 temporarily holds a predetermined number of workpieces 1 inserted from the corresponding pipe chute 10, and carries out the predetermined number of workpieces 1 to the cup 20 in a lump. For example, a vertical guide cylinder 13 and an escapement 14 disposed so as to be able to invert 180 ° vertically. The escapement 14 is arranged at a fixed position directly above the conveyor 27 to which the cup 20 is intermittently fed horizontally.
[0024]
When the workpieces 1 are put into the guide cylinder 13 one by one from the pipe chute 10, the workpieces 1 are temporarily stopped and held in the escapement 14. By temporarily stopping the workpiece 1 at the escapement 14, the momentum of the workpiece 1 flowing from the pipe chute 10 at high speed is stopped. When the number of workpieces 1 in the escapement 14 reaches a predetermined number, the escapement 14 is turned up and down by 180 °, and the predetermined number of workpieces 1 drop onto the cup 20 under its own weight.
[0025]
In addition, it is conceivable that the workpiece 1 is thrown directly into the cup 20 from the pipe chute 10, but if this is done, the possibility of the workpiece 1 jumping out of the cup 20 due to the momentum of the workpiece 1 from the pipe chute 10 becomes large. , The reliability of workpiece quantitative supply is worsened. If the work 1 is stopped by the escapement 14 and then the work 1 is thrown into the cup 20 only by its natural drop due to its own weight, the work 20 does not jump out of the cup 20 and the reliability of the work quantitative supply is improved. In addition, by holding a predetermined number of workpieces 1 with the escapement 14, it is possible to set a work takeout time from the disk 2 with a margin.
[0026]
Next, a series of operations of the workpiece fixed quantity supply apparatus of the above embodiment will be described with an example of an operation of supplying four workpieces 1 to one cup 20, for example.
[0027]
When a large amount of work 1 is supplied randomly on the disk 2 in the hopper 7 and the disk 2 is rotated, the work 1 slides on the surface of the disk 2 with the hopper 7 being dammed and slips. However, one piece is inserted into the concave portion 3, and two workpieces 1 may enter the single concave portion 3 in rare cases. When the recess 3 is moved to the workpiece separation position P by the rotation of the disk 2, the compressed air source 5 is actuated to blow compressed air into the air jet hole 4 of the recess 3. When there is one workpiece 1 in the recess 3, the workpiece 1 is blown off to the vacuum head 8 with compressed air, vacuumed by the constantly operating vacuum head 8, and one is counted by the photoelectric sensor 9. .
[0028]
If there is no workpiece 1 in the recess 3 at the workpiece separation position P, the compressed air source 5 is activated, but the photoelectric sensor 9 does not count one workpiece. In rare cases, when two workpieces 1 are contained in the recess 3, the two workpieces are simultaneously blown off by the vacuum head 8 with compressed air and vacuum sucked into the vacuum head 8. At this time, two photoelectric sensors 9 are provided. Work 1 may be counted as one piece. Such a small miscount results in oversupply of the workpiece, but this rarely occurs and has a negligible effect on the running cost of the processed food.
[0029]
With the rotation of the disk 2, the recess 3 is forwarded to the workpiece separation position P, and vacuum suction is performed from the recess 3 to the vacuum head 8, and the workpiece 1 counted by the photoelectric sensor 9 falls to the escapement 14 through the pipe chute 10, It is temporarily stocked as it is. When the count value of the photoelectric sensor 9 reaches a predetermined value of 4, the operation of the compressed air source 5 stops when the electromagnetic valve 18 is switched, and the escapement 14 is reversed once during this stop period and stocked. The workpiece 1 is put into the cup 20. After one reversing operation of the escapement 14 is completed, the count value of the photoelectric sensor 9 is cleared, the electromagnetic valve 18 is switched, the compressed air source 5 starts to operate, and the cup 20 is intermittently fed by 1 pitch. The above-mentioned work quantitative supply operation is repeated.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, an inclined disk is rotated so that a workpiece is inserted into a recess on the surface of the disk, and when the recess moves in front of the vacuum head, the workpiece in the recess is vacuum-sucked by the vacuum head and separated from the disk. Furthermore, since the workpiece sucked by the vacuum head is detected and counted by the photoelectric sensor, even if the workpiece is indefinite, it can be supplied in a fixed quantity while counting it. It is easy to speed up the quantitative supply of workpieces, and it is possible to accurately and automatically manage and monitor the workpiece supply amount, thereby preventing the shortage and excessive supply of workpieces, improving the reliability of workpiece quantitative supply, It is possible to save labor on production lines for processed foods and reduce running costs. Further, the workpiece supply amount can be changed easily and quickly only by changing the count value data by the photoelectric sensor, and a workpiece quantitative supply device having excellent compatibility with workpiece type switching can be provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part showing an embodiment of the present invention.
2A is a view taken in the direction of the arrow Z in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main parts of a disk and a vacuum head in the apparatus of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a conventional workpiece quantitative supply device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Work 2 Disk 3 Concave 4 Air jet hole 6 Work holding means 8 Vacuum head 9 Photoelectric sensor 12 Work fixed quantity carrying means

Claims (2)

A plurality of concentric circles are formed around the center of rotation of the disk with the inclined surface facing upward, and one piece of an irregular shape is inserted into each. A disc having a concave portion with a bottom, a workpiece holding means for holding the workpiece in a slidable contact with the surface in a substantially lower half of the surface of the disc, and a rotational trajectory of the concave portion of the rotating disc A vacuum head that is fixedly arranged to face partly with a certain interval that can be sucked at a thickness greater than or equal to the thickness of the workpiece from a fixed direction, and vacuum-sucks the workpiece in the recess when the recess moves to a predetermined position by the rotation of the disk , the air jet hole formed in the bottom, the compressed air source for injecting the compressed air to blow toward the workpiece fitted into the recess in the vacuum head, the sucked by vacuum headworks A photoelectric sensor for detecting a workpiece dispensing apparatus characterized by comprising a workpiece quantitative discharge means having a top and bottom 180 ° reversible escapement for temporarily holding the sucked workpiece by the vacuum head .   A plurality of concavities are formed on each of a plurality of concentric circles having different radii centered on the center of rotation of the disc on the surface of the disc, and a vacuum head, a photoelectric sensor, and a work The work quantitative supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one unit of the quantitative carry-out means is arranged.

Images