JP5372465B2 - Alignment transport device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately align a carrying object having a plane shape of a rectangular shape or a square shape in the predetermined direction at a high seed by a placed carrier conveyor. <P>SOLUTION: A direction adjusting conveyor 2 is continuously connected for adjusting the direction in a carrying plane by imparting a speed difference on the right and left in the carrying direction, while placing and carrying the carrying object A on and to the downstream side of the carrier conveyor 1 for changing the direction while placing and carrying the carrying object A having the plane shape of a rectangular shape. A two-dimensional CCD camera 3 is arranged above the direction adjusting conveyor 2 for hourly imaging the carried carrying object A. An inclination in the predetermined direction of the carrying object A hourly imaged by the two-dimensional CCD camera 3 is detected, and a lateral speed difference is hourly imparted to the direction adjusting conveyor 2 so as to reduce the inclination of the detected carrying object A. The carrying object A can be accurately aligned in the predetermined direction at a high speed by aligning the carrying object A carried from the carrier conveyor 1 in the predetermined direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an aligning / conveying device that aligns a rectangular or square transport object in a predetermined direction.

  As the conveyor, a belt conveyor or a roller conveyor that simply loads and conveys a conveyed product is often used. In such a loading type transport conveyor, a transport object having a substantially flat bottom surface is often transported in the same orientation.

  Some of the above-described transfer conveyors have a speed difference between the left and right of the transport direction while transporting the transported object, and the transported object is rotated in the transport surface to change the direction (for example, patents). Reference 1). In addition, a turntable is disposed between the two conveyors to detect the posture of the conveyed object conveyed on the upstream conveying conveyor, and the conveyed object is placed on the turntable in a predetermined direction based on the detection result. Some have changed direction and passed to a downstream conveyor (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent No. 3828108 JP-A-5-231778

  When transporting a rectangular or square transport object with the above-described mounting-type transport conveyor, even if the transport object is supplied to the supply end in a predetermined direction, vibration during transport and friction on the transport surface There is a problem that the direction of the conveyed product is inclined during conveyance due to non-uniformity of the coefficient and the like, and the discharge end cannot be aligned in a predetermined direction. For example, if the transported item is a corrugated cardboard sheet or a bundle of boxes in which a belt-like corrugated sheet is folded in a ring shape with a folder gluer and glued at both ends, the transported item is relatively light and the lower surface of the overlap margin Is formed, the inclination is more likely to occur during conveyance.

  In addition, as described in Patent Document 1, a transport conveyor that changes the direction while transporting a transported object can continuously change the direction of the transported object at a high speed. Therefore, it is difficult to align the direction of the transported object in a predetermined direction without tilting. In addition, as described in Patent Document 2, a turntable disposed between two conveyors that changes the direction of a conveyed item improves alignment accuracy, but directs the conveyed item in a batch manner on the turntable. Since it is converted, it is impossible to align the conveyed items at high speed.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to align a rectangular or square transported object in a predetermined direction at high speed with high accuracy using a placement-type transport conveyor.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the aligning and conveying apparatus according to the present invention places and conveys the conveyed product on the downstream side of a conveying conveyor that places and conveys a rectangular or square conveyed item. However, a direction adjusting conveyor that gives a speed difference between the right and left of the conveying direction and adjusts the direction in the conveying surface is continuously connected, and the conveying is carried on the direction adjusting conveyor above the direction adjusting conveyor. A two-dimensional CCD camera for picking up images of the object is provided, and the inclination of the conveyed object picked up by the two-dimensional CCD camera with respect to a predetermined direction is detected, so that the inclination of the detected conveyed object is reduced. By adopting a configuration in which a speed difference between right and left is given to the orientation adjusting conveyor every time, and a transported object transported from the transport conveyor is aligned in a predetermined direction, a planar transport conveyor The conveyance of the rectangular or square, and to be aligned accurately predetermined orientation at high speed.

  The means for detecting the inclination of the conveyed object with respect to a predetermined direction detects at least two adjacent corner points of the conveyed object, and detects the inclination of the side of the conveyed object connecting the two corner points with respect to the predetermined direction. By doing so, it is possible to efficiently perform image processing of the conveyed object imaged by the two-dimensional CCD camera.

  When the planar shape of the transported object is a rectangle, at least three corner points of the transported object are detected, and from the distance between two adjacent corner points of the detected three corner points. It is preferable that the long side and the short side of the transported object are discriminated and the inclination of the discriminated long side or short side with respect to a predetermined direction is detected.

  In the above-described alignment transport device, the transport conveyor changes the direction in the transport plane in units of 90 ° while transporting the transported object, and the orientation adjusting conveyor moves the transported object whose direction has been changed. It is suitable for those aligned in a predetermined direction.

  The aligning and conveying apparatus described above is suitable for a case in which the conveyed product is a corrugated cardboard sheet or a bundle of corrugated cardboard sheets in which a strip-shaped corrugated cardboard sheet is folded in a ring shape with a folder gluer and glued at both ends.

  The aligning and conveying apparatus according to the present invention sets a speed difference between the right and left in the conveying direction while placing and conveying a conveyance object on the downstream side of a conveyance conveyor that places and conveys a rectangular or square conveyance object. A two-dimensional CCD camera is provided above the orientation adjusting conveyor, which is connected to the orientation adjusting conveyor for adjusting the orientation in the conveying surface. In order to detect the tilt of the transported object captured every moment by the two-dimensional CCD camera with respect to a predetermined direction and to reduce the tilt of the detected transported object, a speed difference between the left and right is constantly measured on the orientation adjusting conveyor. Since the transported goods conveyed from the transport conveyor are aligned in a predetermined direction, the transported transport conveyor of a rectangular shape or a square shape can be placed in a predetermined direction at high speed with high accuracy. Alignment Rukoto can.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This aligning / conveying apparatus aligns and conveys a bundle of corrugated cardboard sheets for a box formed by folder gluer as a conveying object having a rectangular planar shape, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. In addition, the transported object A is placed and transported on the downstream side of the transport conveyor 1 that changes the direction in the transport plane in units of 90 ° while transporting the transported object A. A two-dimensional CCD camera 3 that continuously connects an orientation adjustment conveyor 2 that gives a speed difference between the left and right sides and adjusts the direction in the conveyance plane, and images the conveyed object A being conveyed above the direction adjustment conveyor 2. Is arranged. The two-dimensional CCD camera 3 is connected to a controller 4 having a built-in image processing apparatus, and the controller 4 controls the speed difference between the left and right sides of the orientation adjusting conveyor 2 in the procedure described later.

  The transport object A having a rectangular planar shape is supplied from a roller table 5 disposed on the upstream side of the transport conveyor 1 in a lateral orientation of 0 ° with the longitudinal direction being orthogonal to the transport direction. It is transported as it is, or the direction is changed to a vertical orientation of ± 90 ° or a lateral orientation of 180 ° with the longitudinal direction in the transport direction. The direction adjustment conveyor 2 adjusts so as to eliminate the inclination of the conveyed product A conveyed in these postures, and sends it to the roller table 6 on the downstream side. A side guide 7 is provided on the roller table 6 to correct the inclination of the conveyed product A with respect to the transport direction to zero.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the conveyed product A in each posture with the inclination with respect to the conveying direction being zero on the roller table 6 is sent to the palletizing device 20 and has postures of 0 °, ± 90 °, and 180 °. Things are combined in a single-column pattern as one stage, and the combination of the cross-beams in each stage is rotated by 90 ° and stacked on the pallet 21.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the orientation adjusting conveyor 2 projects a large number of balls 11a and 11b from the upper and lower surfaces of the conveyor belts 10a and 10b divided into left and right at the center in the width direction. The ball drive belts 12a and 12b, which are also divided into left and right at the center in the width direction, are arranged on the inner surface side of the respective conveyor belts 10a and 10b so that the balls 11a and 11b are in rolling contact with each other. It is. Each conveyor belt 10a, 10b is wound around the same drive roller 13 and driven at a constant speed, and each ball drive belt 12a, 12b is wound around a separate drive roller 14a, 14b and can be driven at different speeds. It is said that.

  When the direction adjusting conveyor 2 drives the ball driving belts 12a and 12b slower than the conveying belts 10a and 10b or drives or stops in the opposite direction to the conveying belts 10a and 10b, the ball driving belt 12a, Balls 11a and 11b that are in rolling contact with 12b rotate forward so that the conveyance speed of the conveyed product A placed on the balls 11a and 11b becomes larger than the speed of the conveyance belts 10a and 10b. When the driving speed is made higher than that of the conveyor belts 10a and 10b, the balls 11a and 11b rotate in reverse to make the conveyance speed of the conveyed product A smaller than the speed of the conveyor belts 10a and 10b. Accordingly, by driving the ball drive belts 12a and 12b divided into the left and right at different speeds or in opposite directions, the rotation speeds of the left and right balls 11a and 11b that come into contact with the belts differ, A speed difference is given to the transport speed of the transported object A determined by the speed of the belts 10a and 10b and the rotation speed of the balls 11a and 11b.

  For example, the drive speed of the right ball drive belt 12a is slower than the drive speed of the left ball drive belt 12b (stopped or stopped in the opposite direction) in the transfer direction of the transfer object A indicated by the arrow in FIG. (Including driving), the rotation speed of the ball 11a held on the right conveyor belt 10a (forward rotation is positive) becomes faster than the rotation speed of the ball 11b held on the left conveyor belt 10b. The conveyance speed of A increases on the right side, and the conveyed product A rotates counterclockwise. Conversely, when the drive speed of the left ball drive belt 12b is slowed down, the rotation speed of the ball 11b held on the left transport belt 10b increases, and the transport speed of the transported object A increases on the left side. Object A rotates clockwise. In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, the conveyance conveyor 1 is also set as the same structure, and changes direction while conveying the conveyed product A by giving a speed difference to right and left at a conveyance speed.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of an imaging screen 3 a of the conveyed product A being imaged by the two-dimensional CCD camera 3. The imaging area of the two-dimensional CCD camera 3 is set to almost the entire conveyance surface of the orientation adjusting conveyor 2. The conveyance surface of the direction adjustment conveyor 2 is dark blue, and the light ocher A that is a bundle of box corrugated cardboard sheets is processed as a light point, and the conveyance surface of the direction adjustment conveyor 2 is processed as a dark point. . The controller 4 detects three corner points P, Q, and R on the leading end side in the conveyance direction of the conveyed product A from the image-processed image, and two of these three corner points P, Q, and R are detected. The long side m and the short side n of the conveyed product A are discriminated from the distances between the adjacent corner points P, Q and Q, R, and the inclination angle θ of the long side m with respect to a predetermined direction is detected. In this example, the predetermined direction of the conveyed product A is a direction in which the long side m is directed in the conveyance direction.

  FIG. 6 shows a control procedure for aligning the conveyed product A in a predetermined direction by the controller 4. The controller 4 checks the imaging screen 3a captured by the two-dimensional CCD camera 3 every moment, and determines the long side m of the conveyed product A when the entire conveyed product A enters the imaging screen 3a. The controller 4 is preliminarily inputted with a predetermined direction of the conveyed product A, and the controller 4 detects the inclination angle θ of the long side m with respect to the predetermined direction every moment so as to reduce the detected inclination angle θ. Each ball drive belt 12a, 12b is driven, and a speed difference ΔV between right and left is given to the direction adjusting conveyor 2 every moment. In the example of the imaging screen 3a in FIG. 5, the speed on the right side of the direction adjustment conveyor 2 is made larger than that on the left side in the conveyance direction indicated by the arrow, and the conveyed product A is rotated counterclockwise. When the inclination angle θ of the long side m becomes smaller than the preset threshold value θs, the controller 4 ends the control of the left / right speed difference ΔV. In this embodiment, the speed difference ΔV is controlled by proportional control obtained by multiplying the inclination angle θ by a proportional gain, and the threshold θs is set to 7 °.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the control result of the tilt angle θ by the controller 4. In this example, the control cycle of proportional control is 0.03 seconds, and the inclination angle θ is 6 ° which is equal to or smaller than the threshold θs in 17 control cycles.

  In the embodiment described above, the orientation adjusting conveyor divided into the left and right is provided with the ball driving belt on which the balls are in contact with the inner surface of the conveying belt holding a large number of balls. The belt conveyor or the roller conveyor may be divided into right and left, and the speed difference may be given to the conveyance speed on the left and right.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the upstream conveyor is configured such that the ball driving belt is disposed on the inner surface side of the conveyor belt that holds the same number of balls as the orientation adjusting conveyor, and the direction of the conveyor while conveying the conveyed object. Although it is assumed to be converted, the upstream conveyor may be a normal belt conveyor or a roller conveyor that conveys the conveyed product as it is.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the transported object is a bundle of rectangular corrugated cardboard sheets having a planar shape, and the three corner points are detected to detect the inclination angle of the long side. The shape may be rectangular or square, and may be a single block or box container. When the planar shape of the conveyed product is a square, two adjacent corner points may be detected to detect the inclination angle of the side.

Front view showing an embodiment of an alignment transport device Plan view of FIG. The perspective view which shows the concept which supplies the palletizing apparatus with the conveyed product aligned with the alignment conveyance apparatus of FIG. a is a partially omitted front sectional view showing the orientation adjusting conveyor of FIG. 1, and b is a plan view of a. The top view which shows the example of the picked-up image of the conveyed product imaged with the two-dimensional CCD camera of FIG. The flowchart which shows the control procedure by the controller of FIG. The graph which shows the example of the control result of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

A Conveyed object 1 Conveying conveyor 2 Orientation adjusting conveyor 3 Two-dimensional CCD camera 3a Imaging screen 4 Controller 5, 6 Roller table 7 Side guide 10a, 10b Conveying belt 11a, 11b Ball 12a, 12b Ball driving belt 13, 14a, 14b Driving roller 20 Palletizing device 21 Pallet

Claims (4)

While placing and transporting the transported object on the downstream side of the transport conveyor for placing and transporting a transported object having a rectangular or square planar shape, a speed difference is given on the left and right in the transport direction within the transport surface. A two-dimensional CCD camera that continuously connects a direction adjustment conveyor for adjusting the direction of the image, and images the transported object conveyed on the direction adjustment conveyor is provided above the direction adjustment conveyor. Detecting the inclination of the transported object picked up by the CCD camera with respect to a predetermined direction, and applying a speed difference on the left and right to the orientation adjusting conveyor so as to reduce the inclination of the detected transported object, Arrange the conveyed items conveyed from the conveying conveyor in a predetermined direction ,
An aligning / conveying apparatus, wherein the conveyed product is a corrugated cardboard sheet for a box or a bundle of corrugated cardboard sheets for which a belt-like corrugated sheet is folded in a ring shape with a folder gluer and glued at both ends.   The means for detecting the inclination of the conveyed object with respect to a predetermined direction detects at least two adjacent corner points of the conveyed object, and detects the inclination of the side of the conveyed object connecting the two corner points with respect to the predetermined direction. The aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 1.   The planar shape of the transported object is a rectangle, and at least three corner points of the transported object are detected, and the transport from the distance between two adjacent corner points among the detected three corner points. The aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a long side and a short side of an object are discriminated and an inclination of the discriminated long side or short side with respect to a predetermined direction is detected.   The transport conveyor changes the direction in the transport plane in units of 90 ° while transporting the transported object, and the orientation adjusting conveyor aligns the redirected transported object in a predetermined direction. The aligning and conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

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