JP4556480B2 - Article guide apparatus and conveying apparatus provided with the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article guide device that regulates the conveyance position (position in the width direction of the conveyance path) of an article conveyed by the conveyance device, and a conveyance device including the article guide device.

Conventionally, for example, a guide member disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known as a guide member that regulates a conveyance position of an article conveyed by a conveyance device (a belt conveyor, a roller conveyor, or the like).
The guide member is formed by bending a bar or plate into a substantially plane shape, and is arranged in a non-contact state on the transport path in the transport direction. And the bending angle of the square shape is an obtuse angle and is gently inclined, thereby preventing the conveyed article from being caught by the guide member and stopping the conveyance, and restricting the position while ensuring the flow of the article. .

However, if the inlet side (front end opening) of the guide member is gently inclined, the guide member itself becomes longer, and the conveying section required for position regulation (width adjustment) also becomes longer. As a result, the conveying device must be lengthened. There's a problem.
If the bending angle is set to an acute angle in order to shorten the guide member and the entrance side (front end opening) is suddenly widened, the article to be conveyed may be caught by the guide member and the conveyance may be stopped. There was a problem that it could not be made shorter than necessary.

JP 2004-26351 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a guide device capable of reliably regulating (squeezing) the flow of articles with a short guide member.

The technical means taken by the present invention in order to achieve the above object is provided on the side in the width direction of the conveying path of the conveying apparatus or on the conveying path , and the article conveyed is brought into contact with the width of the conveying path. the article the article guide apparatus for performing the centering direction, rotatable toward the center of the conveying path about a support shaft perpendicular to the conveying surface, on the upstream side of the conveying path from the position of the support shaft, which is transported A guide body having a contact surface with a predetermined angle that contacts the contact surface, and a return means for rotating the guide body to an initial state when an article is separated from the contact surface of the guide body. However, when the article is moved, the guide body rotates, and the article is moved in the width direction of the conveyance path orthogonal to the conveyance direction.
The guide body is rotatably supported in a non-contact state with respect to the transport surface, and the return means is configured by a coil spring, a leaf spring, or the like. The spring force of the return means is a strength that does not stop the flow of the article being conveyed, and the repulsive force of the return means is accumulated by the rotation of the guide body accompanying the movement of the article, and when the article leaves the contact surface, What is necessary is just to be able to return to the initial state by the repulsive force.
According to the above means, when the article conveyed by the conveying device (belt conveyor, roller conveyor, etc.) contacts the contact surface (outer peripheral surface) of the guide body, the guide body rotates around the support shaft by the movement of the article. Then, due to the displacement of the contact surface due to the rotation, the article moves in the width direction, that is, is brought closer to the conveyance path perpendicular to the conveyance direction while being conveyed. In addition, the guide body is not limited to complete rotation, and may be such that the support shaft moves during rotation.

The guide body rotates about the support shaft as the article to be conveyed moves while abutting, but the position where the article is separated from the contact surface of the guide body is a vertical connection between the center of the support shaft and the center of the conveyance path. When the contact surface passes on the line, a rotation restricting means for restricting the rotation operation of the guide body to a predetermined rotation angle may be provided (claim 2). The rotation restricting means includes an arc guide hole of a predetermined angle centered on the support shaft and a guide pin fitted to the arc guide hole. One of the arc guide hole or the guide pin is formed in the guide body, and the other Is formed on the fixing member.
According to the above means, the rotation angle of the guide body is always restricted to a constant angle by the rotation restricting means, so that the width adjustment position of the article can be made constant.

For the purpose of width adjustment, the contact surface of the guide body generally has a change in dimension from the center of the support shaft to the contact surface. The tip of the arc is a circular arc surface centered on the support shaft. In this case, the range of the arc surface is set to a range of substantially the same angle as the rotation angle restricted by the rotation restricting means.
According to the above means, since the position where the article passes through the perpendicular does not change regardless of the position on the contact surface of the guide body, the article can always be brought to the same position.

As a specific configuration of the guide body, for example, it has a substantially fan-shaped plane, the contact surface is formed on a side surface facing the center of rotation, and the guide body rotates when an article contacts the side surface. (Claim 4).
The contact surface may be formed only by an arc surface centered on the above-described support shaft, or may be a form in which a linear surface is continuous with the arc surface. In addition, the straight surface continuously provided on the circular arc surface may be one straight surface or a plurality of straight surfaces.
According to the above means, the guide body rotates as the transported article is moved while abutting against the contact surface, so that the angle of the contact surface forming the side surface of the guide body becomes gradually smaller with rotation. Therefore, it is not necessary to loosen the inclination angle from the front end portion (in the transport device center direction) of the guide body in the initial state to the rear end portion (in the width direction of the transport device) of the contact surface. The inclination can be a steep angle. As a result, even if the length of the guide body along the transport direction is shortened, the articles can be reliably aligned.

Furthermore, the guide body described above is installed at a predetermined position in the width direction of the transport path in the transport device, but it is necessary to change the position of the width adjustment according to the transported article. Therefore, you may support a guide body with the support means which can change the installation position in the width direction of a conveyance path (Claim 5).
According to the said means, the position of a guide body can be freely adjusted within the width of a conveyance path according to the magnitude | size of a conveyance article.

  As a specific configuration of the support means, for example, a support frame for fixing the guide device to the transport device and a parallel link mechanism for supporting the guide body on the support frame so that the installation position can be changed are configured. (Claim 6).

Further, the article guide device configured as described above may be disposed so as to face each other on both sides of the conveyance path of the conveyance device.
According to the transport apparatus having the above-described configuration, the articles can be regulated to the correct position at all times because they can be brought closer by the guide bodies from both sides in the width direction of the transport path. In addition, since the width can be reduced by the rotation of the guide body, the conveyance distance necessary for the width adjustment may be short, and the length of the width adjustment conveyance device can be shortened.

In the article guide device according to the present invention, when the article hits the guide body, the guide body rotates to the inner side of the conveyance path at that position to guide the article and reduce the width. Therefore, it is not necessary to lengthen the guide body as in the prior art, and it can be configured to be short and compact.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the rotation angle of the guide body rotated by contacting the article is always kept constant, and the article can always be brought closer to a fixed position.
Further, according to the configuration of claim 3, no matter which position of the side surface of the guide body abuts, the tip position in the central direction of the conveying device when the guide body rotates does not change. Can be widened.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the guide body rotates as the article is moved while abutting against the contact surface. Therefore, the angle of the contact surface forming the side surface of the guide body becomes gradually smaller as the rotation is performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to loosen the inclination angle from the front end portion (in the transport device center direction) of the guide body in the initial state to the rear end portion (in the width direction of the transport device) of the contact surface. The inclination can be a steep angle. Therefore, the length of the guide body along the conveyance direction can be shortened, and the width of the article can be reliably achieved.

Furthermore, according to the configurations of the fifth and sixth aspects, the position of the guide body on the conveyance path can be freely changed according to the size of the article to be conveyed.
Further, according to the configuration of the seventh aspect, since the width can be adjusted by the guide body from both sides in the width direction of the conveyance path, the article can always be regulated at a correct position. In addition, since the width can be reduced by the rotation of the guide body, the conveyance distance necessary for the width adjustment may be short, and the length of the width adjustment conveyance device can be shortened.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a conveying device in which an article guide device A is arranged on both sides of a conveying path on the upstream side of a conveying device B composed of a belt conveyor, and is connected to the upstream side of the conveying device B. The article W conveyed from the conveying apparatus B ′ is configured so that the article guide apparatuses A and A can bring the article W closer to a substantially central position in the width direction of the conveying path of the conveying apparatus B.

  The article guide device A is composed of a guide body A1 for narrowing an article transported by the transport device B, and a support means A2 for supporting the guide body A1 at a predetermined position on the transport path of the transport device B.

The guide body A1 is made of a synthetic resin material having a substantially fan-shaped planar shape, and the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 ′ having the same shape face each other at a predetermined interval in parallel, and the outer peripheral edges of the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 ′. The gap is closed and connected by a side member 1 ″, and the cross section is formed in a substantially U shape.
The side member 1 "is formed across the substantially arc-shaped outer peripheral surface of the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 'and one linear surface continuous to the outer peripheral surface, and the other linear surface side is opened and supported. The shaft hole 2 is formed so as to be connected to the means A2, and a shaft hole 2 for penetrating and attaching the support shaft 3 serving as the center of rotation is formed inside the intersection of the two linear surfaces of the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 ′. It has been established.
Further, an arc guide hole 4a that constitutes a rotation restricting means 4 that restricts the rotation angle of the guide body A1 is formed inside the substantially arc-shaped peripheral edges of the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 ′.

  The opening angle of the circular arc guide hole 4a opened in the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 ′ is such that the straight surface a2 continuous with the circular arc surface a1 constituting the contact surface a described later is substantially parallel to the center line O of the conveying device B. The rotation restricting means 4 is configured by inserting and supporting the guide pin 4b attached to the supporting means A2 across the arc guide holes 4a of the upper surface member 1 and the lower surface member 1 ′.

  In addition, the closed portion of the substantially arc-shaped portion of the side surface member 1 ″ functions as a contact surface a with the article W. The contact surface a is predetermined from the front end portion facing the center direction of the transport device to the outer side of the transport device. The range of the angle is an arc surface a1 centered on the shaft hole 2 (support shaft 3), and the two linear surfaces a2 and a3 are formed in a generally plane shape from the end of the arc surface a1 to the end of the contact surface a. The surface of the contact surface a is formed so as to generate a frictional force that rotates the guide body A1 together with the movement of the article W when the article W abuts. In addition, surfaces other than the circular arc surface in the contact surface a may be formed by one straight surface.

The support means A2 for supporting the guide body A1 includes a support frame 5 for fixing and fixing the article guide device A to a frame or the like of the transport device B, and a parallel link mechanism for connecting the guide body A1 to the support frame 5. 6.
The support frame 5 is formed in a U-shaped cross section using a metal plate, and is configured to be fitted and fixed to the frame or the like of the transport device B from above. A guide body A1 is provided on the horizontal piece 5a. The base end side of the parallel link mechanism 6 to be supported is fixed, and a fixing tool (not shown) such as a screw for fixing the support frame 5 to the frame or the like is attached to the vertical piece 5b. The support frame 5 is not limited to the U-shaped cross section shown in the figure, but may be an L-shaped cross section provided with an attaching portion of the parallel link mechanism 6 and an attaching portion to the conveying device B.

  The parallel link mechanism 6 includes a link rod 6a for supporting the support shaft 3 inserted through the shaft hole 2 of the guide body A1, a link rod 6b for supporting the guide pin 4b of the rotation restricting means 4, and the support shaft 3 and the guide. A link rod 6c for holding the pins 4b at a predetermined interval and a link rod 6d having one end connected to the support shaft 3 are fixed to the support frame 5 with screws 7 and 8 at the bases of the link rods 6a and 6b. Yes. The link rods 6a and 6b are fixed to the support frame 5 at the same interval as the mounting interval of the link rods 6c connecting the other ends of the link rods 6a and 6b. It arrange | positions so that the shape which tied the bis | screw 7 and the bis | screw 8 may become a parallelogram.

In addition, a long hole 9 is opened on the other end side of the link rod 6d having one end connected to the support shaft 3, and the long hole 9 is inserted into a screw 8 for fixing the base portion of the link rod 6b to the support frame 5, The link rod 6d can be slid by loosening the screw 8, and the link rod 6d cannot be slid by tightening the screw 8, and the position of the guide body A1 with respect to the transport device B is fixed.
Since the screw 8 is loosened / tightened when the position of the guide body A1 is changed as described above, a knob 10 is attached so that the turning operation can be easily performed, and it can be performed without using a tool. This is convenient.

The guide body A1 supported by the parallel link mechanism 6 rotates within the range of the circular arc guide hole 4a around the support shaft 3, but the article W comes into contact with the contact surface a of the guide body A1 to convey the conveying device B. Returning means 11 for rotating and returning the guide body A1 rotated in the transport direction (arrow direction) to the initial state is provided around the support shaft 3.
The return means 11 is constituted by a coil spring, the coil spring is wound around the support shaft 3, one end 11a of the coil spring 11 is engaged with the link rod 6c, and the other end 11b of the coil spring is a rotating guide body. It is engaged with the side member 1 ″ of A1. Thereby, when the guide body A1 rotates in the transport direction (clockwise direction), it rotates in the direction to wind the coil spring and accumulates the elastic force, When the article W moves away from the guide body A1, it is rotated in the reverse direction (counterclockwise direction) by the accumulated elastic force, automatically returns to the initial state, and waits for the next conveyance article to be narrowed. To do.

Next, the width adjusting operation by the article guide apparatus A will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, an article W is transported from a transport apparatus B ′ that is continuously arranged with the center shifted to the upstream side of the transport apparatus B that includes the article guide apparatus A. Suppose that it hits the contact surface a of the guide body A1 of the article guide apparatus A arranged on the left side (upper side in the drawing) in the transport direction.
With the contact of the article W, the left guide body A1 is rotated in the conveyance direction (arrow direction) as the article W moves, and as shown in FIG. 4, the article W is rotated in the opposite direction (conveyance direction). Toward the article guide device A arranged on the right side) and abuts against the contact surface a of the guide body A1 of the article guide device A on the right side.
Then, the article W is reduced in width by the rotation of the guide body A1 of the article guide device A disposed on the left and right sides of the transport device B, and the transport direction is corrected.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the width and direction of the article W are regulated by a linear surface a <b> 2 (in a virtual line state) continuous with the circular arc surface a <b> 1 in the contact surface a of the guide body A <b> 1, as shown in FIG. 6. The width of the article W is adjusted so that the center line of the article W matches the center line of the conveying device B.
When the width-adjusted article W is separated from the guide bodies A1 of the left and right article guide devices A, the guide body A1 is rotated and returned to the initial state by the resilient force of the return means 11 accumulated during the width adjustment rotation, and then conveyed. Wait for incoming goods W.

  FIG. 7 shows a state in which the position of the guide body A1 in the article guide apparatus A is changed according to the article W ′ to be conveyed. When the position of the guide body A1 is changed, that is, when the position in the width direction of the transport path of the transport device B is changed, the screws 8 that fix the link rod 6b and the link rod 6d in the parallel link mechanism 6 that supports the guide body A1 are used. The knob 10 is rotated and loosened so that the base ends of the link rods 6 a and 6 b rotate with respect to the support frame 5. Then, the guide rod A1 is moved and adjusted to a predetermined position (a position on the outer side in the width direction as compared with the embodiment of FIG. 3) by the long hole 9 in the link rod 6d, and then the knob 10 is rotated to tighten the screw 8. The parallel link mechanism 6 that supports the guide body A1 is fixed to the support frame 5. In FIG. 7, the width of the article W ′ is larger than the width of the article W in the previous embodiment, and thus the position of the guide body A1 is moved in the outer direction of the conveyance path. However, when the width of the article is small, the conveyance path Move and adjust in the center direction.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of use of the article guide device according to the present invention. When a label is affixed to the bottom surface of an article (those accommodated in a tray and packaged with a film), the article needs to be conveyed in accordance with the label affixing position. is there. For this purpose, the article guide device A is arranged facing the both sides of the conveyance path on the upstream side of the conveyance apparatus B ″ equipped with the label underlay apparatus 12 so that the article to be conveyed is reliably attached under the label. It can be transported with its width aligned on the line of the device 12.

In addition, the article guide device A according to the present invention is not limited to the use form in which the two guide devices are arranged so as to face each other as shown in the previous embodiment, and can be used alone. It is. An example of its use is shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 shows an article to be conveyed when a side wall 13 is formed on one side in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction on the downstream side of the conveying apparatus B ′ and a label lowering apparatus 14 is provided below the conveying path. Is arranged to face the side wall 13 on the conveyance path. Thereby, the article W can be brought closer to a position with the side wall 13 as a reference.

  The guide body A1 in the above-described embodiment has been described with respect to the form in which the upper surface member 1, the lower surface member 1 ′, and the side surface member 1 ″ are bonded together, but of course, an integrally molded product made of a synthetic resin material may be used. 3 to 6 show an example in which the article W is transported from the transport device B ′ whose center is shifted, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the transport device B ′ is arranged at a position where the center is aligned. Even if it is, the conveyance position of the article W may be shifted due to the article W slipping on the conveyance device B ′.

The partially notched top view which shows the state which has arrange | positioned the article | item guide apparatus which concerns on this invention on the both sides of a conveyance path. The expansion perspective view which shows an article | item guide apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows width-shifting operation | movement, and is a top view in which articles | goods are carried in to a guide apparatus location. The same top view which shows the state which articles | goods contact | abut to the guide body in the guide apparatus of the conveyance path both sides, and are brought near. The enlarged plan view which shows rotation of the guide body in width alignment operation | movement. The same top view which shows the state just before a width alignment operation is completed. The top view which shows the state which changed the position of the article | item guide apparatus according to the magnitude | size of an article | item. The top view which shows the usage example of an article | item guide apparatus. The top view which shows the other usage example of an article | item guide apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

A ... article guide device A1 ... guide body A2 ... support means B, B ', B "... conveying device
W ... Article a ... Contact surface
3 ... support shaft 4 ... rotation restricting means
5 ... Support frame 6 ... Parallel link mechanism 11 ... Return means

Claims (7)

In the article guide device that is provided on the side in the width direction of the conveyance path of the conveyance apparatus or on the conveyance path, and that brings the article into the width direction of the conveyance path by bringing the article to be conveyed into contact,
Rotatable toward the center of the conveying path about a support shaft perpendicular to the conveying surface, on the upstream side of the conveying path from the position of the support shaft, to form a contact surface having a predetermined angle of contact with conveyed articles A guide body,
A return means for rotating and returning the guide body to an initial state when the article is separated from the contact surface of the guide body;
The article guide device is characterized in that the guide body rotates by moving the article while contacting the contact surface, and moves the article in the width direction of the conveyance path perpendicular to the conveyance direction. 2. The article guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide body includes a rotation restricting means for restricting a rotation operation around the support shaft to a predetermined rotation angle. The article guide device according to claim 2, wherein at least a tip portion of the contact surface of the guide body in a center direction of the conveying device is an arc surface centering on the support shaft. The guide body is substantially fan-shaped in a plane, and the contact surface is formed on a side surface facing the center of rotation, and the guide body rotates when an article contacts the side surface. Item guide device of any one of claim | item 1 thru | or 3. The article guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the guide body is supported by a support means capable of changing an installation position in a width direction of the conveyance path. The article guide apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the support means includes a support frame and a parallel link mechanism. 7. The conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article guide apparatus according to claim 1 is disposed so as to face each other on both sides of the conveying path of the conveying apparatus.

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