JP4251271B2 - Article counting supply device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an article counting and supplying apparatus that collects articles conveyed continuously by a supply conveyor in a plurality of units and delivers them to the next process.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, a supply device disclosed in Patent Document 1 exists as an apparatus for delivering articles such as bag-packed articles that have been conveyed by a conveyor to a downstream conveyor at regular intervals. This supply device is provided with a supply port provided with a shutter on the downstream end side of a supply conveyor for conveying articles, and the tray moved by the turntable is positioned and stopped below the supply port. It has become. When the article discharged from the downstream end of the supply conveyor falls and is stored in the tray through the supply port with the shutter opened, and the count sensor that counts the article counts the specified number, The shutter is closed to prevent the article from falling and to store the article in the supply port. When the next tray arrives below the supply port, the shutter is opened so that articles stored in the supply port are dropped and stored in the tray.
[0003]
In the configuration of the supply apparatus, when collecting articles at a fixed number for high-speed processing, it is not possible to simply store the articles in the supply port by the shutter, but the supply conveyor after counting a predetermined number of articles. It is necessary to respond by stopping the operation of, and stopping the acceptance of the articles sequentially conveyed from the previous process into the supply port. That is, it is necessary to cope with this by stopping the processing machine in the previous process or installing a bypass device or the like for preventing the inflow of articles to the supply conveyor. This causes a problem that the production efficiency is lowered.
[0004]
Therefore, a weighing device is provided in each of a plurality of loading portions into which articles are loaded, and the total weight of articles for a predetermined set number obtained from the weight of each article is measured by the weighing device. There is one that collects articles without stopping the operation (for example, Patent Document 2).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2002-308217 A [Patent Document 2]
JP-A-9-169314 [0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, when the weighing device is provided and the articles are aggregated for each desired number, if the articles are foods or the like and the article weight per unit varies, the aggregated state is larger than the specified number. There are many problems that lead to manufacturing loss for the producer. In addition, it is pointed out that providing weighing devices for a plurality of input parts not only increases the cost of the apparatus but also requires a large installation space.
[0007]
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-described problems related to the prior art, and provides an article counting and supplying apparatus that can cope with high-speed processing with a simple configuration. For the purpose.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to overcome the above-described problems and achieve the desired purpose suitably, the article counting and supplying apparatus according to the present invention includes:
An article counting and supplying apparatus that collects articles conveyed continuously from the previous process in units of a plurality and delivers them to the next process,
A first conveyor that is set to have a small frictional resistance with the article on the article conveying surface and is capable of receiving the article fed from the previous step when the operation is stopped in a slip state on the article conveying surface;
Connected to the downstream side of the first conveyor, the articles are fed from the conveyor, and the friction resistance with the articles on the article conveying surface is set to be large so that the articles being conveyed are moved downstream when the operation is stopped. A second conveyor that can inhibit
A plurality of articles dropped and released from the conveyance end of the second conveyor are received by the hopper, and when the number of receipts reaches a specified number, the aggregated articles are moved downward by opening a shutter that opens and closes the lower opening of the hopper. and discharging means for supplying to the next step is discharged,
A count sensor for obtaining a count value by detecting the passage of an article before being received by the first conveyor,
Before hear count value reaches a specified number, the obtaining the timing of articles counting sensor specified number eyes detected in is received in the hopper, said first and second carrying conveyor operation was stopped in accordance with the said timing Te second stop dropping of the article from the conveying end of the conveyor to the hopper, with articles to be fed continuously from the previous step to obtain a count value by being detected through the counting sensor, stop sequentially receiving by stopping the articles in the first on the article conveying surface of the conveyor in a slip state, after the falling supplied aggregate article in said hopper and discharged by opening the shutter at the timing when the shutter is closed The first and second transport conveyors are controlled to resume operation.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, the article counting and supplying apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by giving a preferred embodiment.
[0010]
1 to 3 show an article counting and supplying apparatus according to an embodiment, and the article counting and supplying apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a supplying apparatus) 10 was obtained by a bag making and filling machine (not shown). A first transport conveyor 16 and a second transport conveyor 18 arranged in series are provided on the downstream side of the supply conveyor 14 as a pre-process for transporting the articles 12 such as the packed products at predetermined intervals. The article conveyance levels of the supply conveyor 14, the first conveyance conveyor 16, and the second conveyance conveyor 18 are set to coincide with each other so that the articles 12 can be smoothly transferred between the conveyors. Further, the supply device 10 has a discharge device (discharge means) 20 disposed on the downstream side of the second transfer conveyor 18, and the regulation discharged from the transfer terminal end of the article 12 in the second transfer conveyor 18 to the discharge device 20. A number of collective articles are discharged from the discharge device 20 toward a bucket 22 (described later) in the next process.
[0011]
As shown in FIG. 3, the supply conveyor 14 is a belt conveyor formed by winding an endless belt 26 around a plurality of pulleys 24 so that the endless belt 26 can be driven by a drive motor (not shown) capable of speed control. Driven. An upstream side of the supply conveyor 14 is provided with a detection sensor 27 for detecting the article 12 conveyed by the conveyor 14, and an article detection signal from the detection sensor 27 is input to a control device (not shown). ing. Then, in the control device, when it is determined by the input interval of the article detection signal from the detection sensor 27 that the article interval before and after is not more than a predetermined allowable value, the pressurized air that is ejected from the exclusion nozzle 28 described later. Is configured to exclude the corresponding article 12 outside the conveyor.
[0012]
An exclusion nozzle 28 serving as an exclusion means for ejecting pressurized air from the side toward the article 12 conveyed by the supply conveyor 14 is arranged on one side of the conveyor downstream from the position where the detection sensor 27 is disposed. An article chute 30 is disposed on the other side of the conveyor. That is, based on the article detection signal of the detection sensor 27, the corresponding article 12 (following-side article) for which the article interval is determined to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined allowable value arrives at the exclusion position by the exclusion nozzle 28. Pressurized air is ejected from the exclusion nozzle 28, and the article 12 is excluded from the system through the article chute 30 before being received by the first conveyor 16.
[0013]
A count sensor 32 that counts the number of articles 12 that are conveyed on the conveyor 14, that is, the number of articles 12 that are accepted by the first conveyor 16, on the downstream side of the supply conveyor 14 from the disposition position of the exclusion nozzle 28. The count signal of the sensor 32 is input to the control device. In this control device, the count value of the article 12 obtained from the count sensor 32 reaches a preset specified number, and the specified number of articles 12 (for example, when the specified number is 6, the number of articles 12). Is set so as to stop the operation of the first and second conveyors 16 and 18 and stop the feeding of articles from the second conveyor 18 to the discharger 20 in accordance with the timing at which the discharger 20 is received. . Further, at a timing at which the collective articles are discharged from a first hopper 42 (to be described later) of the discharge device 20 and the next article 12 can be accepted into the hopper 42, the control device has the first and second conveyors 16. , 18 is set to resume. As the detection sensor 27 and the count sensor 32, a sensor of a type in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are opposed to each other across an article conveyance path in the supply conveyor 14 is used. Other types of sensors can be employed if available.
[0014]
The first conveyor 16 is a belt conveyor formed by winding a first endless belt 36 around a plurality of pulleys 34, and the first endless belt 36 is driven by a servo motor (not shown). The article 12 fed from the supply conveyor 14 is configured to be conveyed downstream. The first endless belt 36 is fed from the supply conveyor 14 when the friction resistance between the article conveying surface and the article 12 is set to be small, and the conveyor 16 is stopped by the rotation of the servo motor. The article 12 is configured to be received on the article conveyance surface in a slip state and temporarily stopped.
[0015]
The second transport conveyor 18 is a belt conveyor formed by winding a second endless belt 40 around a plurality of pulleys 38 so that the second endless belt 40 can run freely. Driven and configured to convey the article 12 fed from the first conveyor 16 downstream. The second endless belt 40 is set to have a large frictional resistance between the article conveying surface and the article 12, and when the conveying conveyor 18 is stopped due to the rotation of the servo motor being stopped, the second endless belt 40 is downstream of the article 12 being conveyed. It is configured to prevent movement to the side. That is, even when the operation of the second conveyor 18 that is transporting the articles 12 is stopped, the articles 12 that are being transported stop without overrun on the article transport surface toward the downstream side, and exceed the specified number. The article 12 is configured to be prevented from being discharged to the discharge device 20.
[0016]
The article conveying speed of the first conveying conveyor 16 and the second conveying conveyor 18 is set to be the same, and the article conveying speed of the supply conveyor 14 is set to be lower than that of both conveying conveyors 16 and 18. However, the ratio of the article conveyance speeds of the three conveyors 14, 16, and 18 is not limited to the above example, and is appropriately set according to the length of the conveyance path of each conveyor, the processing speed, and the like. The operation timing of the exclusion nozzle 28 and the operation stop timing of the first and second conveyors 16 and 18 in the control device are generated from the control device based on the signals of the sensors 27 and 32. A timer method is employed in which a timing signal is output when the clock pulse reaches a set value. In place of the timer method, a rotation amount detecting means such as an encoder is disposed on the rotation shaft of each conveyor 16 or 18, or a pulse signal obtained from a rotation amount detecting means such as an encoder attached to a servo motor is received. Various methods such as a method to be used and a method to use speed detection means can be adopted. Further, the stoppage of the operations of both conveyors 16 and 18 is performed by stopping the servomotor as in the embodiment, and by rotating the power transmission system without stopping the servomotor. This may be done by blocking the transmission.
[0017]
The discharge device 20 that receives the articles 12 discharged from the conveyance end portion of the second conveyance conveyor 18 includes two hoppers 42 and 44 that are spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction. Since the basic configuration of both the hoppers 42 and 44 is the same, the configuration of the first hopper (another hopper) 42 disposed above will be described, and the second hopper 44 (the predetermined The same members of the hopper) are only given the same reference numerals. That is, in the first hopper 42, as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, a shutter 48 composed of a pair of opening and closing members that open and close the lower opening is arranged at the lower end of a cylindrical main body 46 that opens in the vertical direction. The shutter 48 is opened and closed by operating means such as a pneumatic cylinder (not shown). In the embodiment, the articles 12 discharged from the second transport conveyor 18 are received by the first hopper 42, and when the number of the received articles reaches a specified number, the aggregated articles in the first hopper 42 are moved to the first hopper 42. The second hopper 44 is dropped and temporarily held in the hopper 44. Note that a chute member 50 (shown only in FIG. 3) is disposed at the upper end of the second hopper 44 to reliably receive the article 12 falling from the first hopper 42.
[0018]
Below the second hopper 44, a bucket conveyor 52 as a next process is disposed, and the plurality of buckets 22 provided on the conveyor 52 travel at a constant speed, and below the second hopper 44. It is set to arrive at the set delivery position continuously. The second hopper 44 is configured such that the shutter 48 is opened and the aggregated articles are dropped onto the bucket 22 at a timing when detection means (not shown) detects that the bucket 22 has arrived at the delivery position.
[0019]
[Effect of the embodiment]
Next, the operation of the article counting and supplying apparatus according to the above-described embodiment will be described. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the case where six articles | goods 12 are gathered by the supply apparatus 10 and delivered to the bucket 22 of the bucket conveyor 52 is demonstrated. In FIG. 4, (1) indicates the operation state of the supply conveyor 14, (2) indicates the operation state of the first transfer conveyor 16, and (3) indicates the operation state of the second transfer conveyor 18. , {Circle over (4)} indicates the open / closed state of the shutter 48 in the first hopper 42, and {circle over (5)} indicates the open / closed state of the shutter 48 in the second hopper 44.
[0020]
Articles 12 conveyed at predetermined intervals by the supply conveyor 14 are sent to the first conveyance conveyor 16 set at a higher speed than the conveyor 14 after being counted by the count sensor 32. The article 12 is subsequently sent to the second transfer conveyor 18 set at the same speed as the first transfer conveyor 16, and then the shutter 48 is closed from the transfer end of the conveyor 18. The hopper 42 is discharged (see FIG. 4A).
[0021]
When the count value obtained from the count sensor 32 reaches the specified number of “6”, the control device transfers the sixth (specified number) article 12 from the second conveyor 18 to the first hopper 42. The first and second conveyors 16 and 18 are deactivated at a timing at which the seventh article 12 is received and not discharged from the second conveyor 18 (see FIG. 4B). At this time, since the article conveyance surface of the second endless belt 40 in the second conveyance conveyor 18 is set to have a large frictional resistance, the article 12 being conveyed is overrun toward the downstream side when the operation of the conveyor 18 is stopped. Stop without doing. In other words, the seventh article (outside the specified number) of articles 12 is reliably prevented from overrunning on the article conveying surface and discharged to the first hopper 42, and the articles 12 are reliably classified in a specified number of units. As a result, they can gather in the first hopper 42 to prevent production loss.
[0022]
In addition, even when the operation of the first and second conveyors 16 and 18 is stopped, the supply conveyor 14 is continuously operated, and the subsequent articles 12 conveyed by the conveyor 14 are stopped in the first conveyance. It is sent to the conveyor 16 (see FIG. 4C). In this case, since the article conveyance surface of the first endless belt 36 in the first conveyance conveyor 16 is set to have a small frictional resistance, the article 12 has a problem in a slip state on the article conveyance surface of the first conveyance conveyor 16. Not accepted. That is, when high-speed processing is required, the articles 12 are stopped on the first conveyor 16 while the articles 12 are continuously fed by the supply conveyor 14, so that the division of the specified number of units can be reliably performed. it can. In addition, since the construction is simply a change in the frictional resistance between the article conveying surface of the endless belts 36 and 40 and the article 12 in both conveying conveyors 16 and 18, the apparatus cost can be reduced and the apparatus can be made compact. Can be summarized.
[0023]
When the six articles 12 are received by the first hopper 42, the shutter 48 of the hopper 42 is opened, and as shown in FIG. 4C, the aggregated articles in the first hopper 42 are the shutters. 48 is dropped and received by the closed second hopper 44. Then, at the timing when the bucket 22 of the bucket conveyor 52 arrives at the delivery position, the shutter 48 of the second hopper 44 opens, and the aggregated articles fall into the bucket 22 and are stored and transferred downstream (see FIG. 4 (d)).
[0024]
At the timing when the fall of the aggregated articles from the first hopper 42 to the second hopper 44 is completed and the shutter 48 of the first hopper 42 is closed to allow the next article 12 to be accepted, The operation of the first and second conveyors 16 and 18 is resumed. Accordingly, the articles 12 are discharged toward the first hopper 42 from the conveyance end portion of the second conveyance conveyor 18, and the articles 12 stopped on the first conveyance conveyor 16 are sent to the second conveyance conveyor 18. It is. That is, even before the bucket 22 arrives at the delivery position and the aggregated articles can be dropped from the second hopper 44 to the bucket 22, if the shutter 48 is closed, the first hopper 42 is moved. Can be started, and the operation stop time of both the conveyors 16 and 18 can be shortened to improve the processing efficiency.
[0025]
The interval between the articles 12 and 12 conveyed by the supply conveyor 14 is monitored by the input interval of the article detection signal by the detection sensor 27, and the article interval is equal to or less than a predetermined allowable value by the control device. If determined, the corresponding article 12 is excluded from the system by the pressurized air ejected from the exclusion nozzle 28 before being received by the first transport conveyor 16. That is, it is possible to prevent the articles 12 and 12 having a short article interval from being fed into the first transfer conveyor 16 and the second transfer conveyor 18. Accordingly, when the operation is stopped after the specified number of articles 12 are discharged from the second transport conveyor 18, the interval between the specified number of articles 12 and the next article 12 is short, so that the next article 12 is It is possible to prevent accidental discharge to the first hopper 42. In addition, since the article 12 having a short interval is excluded from the system before the article 12 is counted by the count sensor 32, a count error by the count sensor 32 can be prevented.
[0026]
[Example of change]
The present application is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and other configurations can be appropriately employed.
1. The discharge device 20 has been described in the case of the configuration in which the hoppers 42 and 44 are arranged in two upper and lower stages. This is because the next process on the collective article receiving side is continuously performed at a constant speed like the bucket conveyor 52. Applicable to buckets 22 that move (buckets that require a waiting time for delivery after assembly), and buckets 22 that have arrived at the delivery position can wait in a paused state (delivery after assembly) If the waiting time does not occur sometimes), the lower second hopper 44 can be omitted.
2. The discharge device 20 is not limited to a configuration in which the hoppers 42 and 44 are installed in two upper and lower stages, and a plurality of hoppers are arranged on the left and right so as to receive the articles 12 discharged from the second transport conveyor 18. It may be configured to select and switch the position of each hopper so as to face. Further, the delivery position of the collective article from the discharge device 20 to the bucket 22 is not limited to the lower side of the discharge device 20, but is set to the side of the first hopper 42 or the second hopper 44, for example, to push the pusher or the like. Various other methods, such as pushing the assembled articles in the hopper in the left-right direction and delivering them to the bucket 22 by means, can be adopted.
3. The exclusion means is not limited to the exclusion nozzle 28 of the embodiment, and various other methods such as a method of directly pushing the article 12 out of the conveyor by a mechanical pusher or the like can be adopted.
4). For the supply conveyor 14 as a pre-process, various other conveyors such as a roller conveyor or a conveyor in which a plurality of attachments for pushing the article 12 to an endless chain are arranged at predetermined intervals are used instead of the belt conveyor shown in the embodiment. can do.
5. The next process is not limited to the bucket conveyor of the embodiment, and various other means such as a conveyor that directly conveys a cardboard box that receives the aggregated articles can be adopted.
6). The article 12 to be assembled is not limited to a packaged article, and various articles can be used as long as the posture change during transportation and collection, the alignment state during collection, and the like are not questioned.
[0027]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the article counting and supplying apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, the articles conveyed by the two conveying conveyors having different frictional resistances with the articles on the article conveying surface are counted and used as the discharging means. Since it is configured to be released, the articles can be reliably divided and assembled in a plurality of units, and the apparatus cost can be reduced with a simple configuration. In addition, since the friction resistance between the article conveying surface and the article in the first conveyor is set to be small, and it is configured to accept the article from the previous process even when the operation is stopped, even when high speed processing is required It is possible to respond without stopping the sending of articles from the previous process, thereby enabling production management in a plurality of units and performing efficient processing without producing a manufacturing loss. Furthermore, it is possible to save space with respect to the device space when a conventional weighing device is provided.
[0028]
According to the article counting and supplying apparatus of the second aspect, since the discharging means has a plurality of hoppers, the operation stop time of the conveyor can be shortened and the processing capacity can be improved. Further, in the article counting and supplying apparatus according to claim 3, since the article having a short article interval is configured to be excluded from the system by the exclusion unit, even if the article interval conveyed from the previous step is disturbed, A reliable sorting supply of collective goods is achieved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an article counting and supplying apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing an article counting and supplying apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing an article counting and supplying apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 4 is an operation process diagram of the article counting and supplying apparatus according to the embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
12 goods 14 supply conveyor (pre-process)
16 1st conveyance conveyor 18 2nd conveyance conveyor 20 Discharge device (discharge means)
28 Exclusion nozzle (exclusion means)
32 Count sensor 42 First hopper ( upper hopper)
44 Second hopper ( lower hopper)
48 Shutter 52 Bucket conveyor (next process)

Claims (3)

An article counting and supplying apparatus that collects articles (12) continuously conveyed from the previous process (14) in a plurality of units and delivers them to the next process (52),
The first conveyance in which the friction resistance with the article (12) on the article conveyance surface is set to be small and the article (12) fed from the previous step (14) can be received on the article conveyance surface in a slip state when the operation is stopped. Conveyor (16),
Connected to the downstream side of the first transfer conveyor (16), the article (12) is fed from the conveyor (16), and the friction resistance with the article (12) on the article transfer surface is set large, and the operation is stopped. A second conveyor (18) capable of inhibiting the downstream movement of the article (12) being conveyed,
When a plurality of articles (12) dropped and discharged from the transfer terminal end of the second transfer conveyor (18) are received by the hopper (42) and the number of received articles reaches a specified number, the lower opening of the hopper (42) is opened. and by discharging the set article downwardly by opening the shutter (48) for opening and closing the discharge means for supplying to the next step (52) (20),
A count sensor (32) for detecting the passage of the article (12) before being received by the first conveyor (16) and obtaining a count value ;
Before hear count value reaches a specified number, the count sensor (32) with the detected specified number th article (12) to obtain a timing that is received in the hopper (42), the first to fit the timing and falling of the article (12) to stop the second conveyor (the 16, 18) from the transfer terminal end portion of the deactivated to the second conveyor (18) into the hopper (42), wherein before step (14) together to obtain the count value by the article fed continuously (12) is detected through the counting sensor (32), an article in a slip state on the article conveying surface of the first carrying conveyor has been stopped (16) (12) sequentially parked accept, after dropping supplied aggregate article in said hopper (42) and discharged by opening the shutter (48), at the timing at which the shutter (48) is closed, the first Control to resume operation of first and second conveyors (16, 18) Article counting supply device according to claim <br/> be. A plurality spaced apart the hopper (42, 44) up and down, the lower part of the hopper (44) shutter during discharging opening to the set article shutter (48), its upper part of the hopper (42) (48) The article counting and feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article counting and feeding apparatus is configured to allow the article (12) falling from the conveyance end portion of the second conveyance conveyor (18) to be received. When the interval between the articles in the previous step (14) received by the first transport conveyor (16) is less than a predetermined value, the target article (12) is received before the first transport conveyor (16) is received. 3. The article counting and supplying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an exclusion means (28) for exclusion.

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