JP5442513B2 - Article conveying device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article conveying apparatus that receives an article between a plurality of partition members provided on an endless cable body and conveys the article to a discharge position.

  As this kind of article conveying device, for example, Patent Document 1 includes an article holding member including a support member that supports the front and rear of the article, and accepts the article while the article holding member is swung upward from below the conveyor. A position is provided, and when each partition member at the receiving position is stopped, the articles are sequentially received between the partition members, and the conveyor is driven to intermittently move every time the articles are loaded. A configuration is adopted in which the holding member moves to the discharge position at a higher speed than during the receiving period. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to increase the processing speed and to improve the productivity. The partition member includes a partition surface and a bottom surface, and a partition member having an L shape in side view is connected to the chain via an attachment member, and an article holding space for supporting one article by each adjacent partition member. Is defined.

  In a conveyor that employs a partition member having such a configuration, when the article to be transported is thin and the article holding space defined by each partition member is narrow, the partition member is intermittently moved at a high speed from below the conveyor. In the middle of turning upward, each partition member swings back and forth in the transport direction to close the article receiving port, and the article cannot be fed between the partition members.

  Moreover, in embodiment described in patent document 2, in addition to the structure similar to patent document 1, the partition mentioned above by employ | adopting the structure which guides the roller provided in the both ends of the holding member connected with the chain with a guide rail. Although it is possible to suppress the deflection of the member, the same problem as in Patent Document 1 occurs due to the looseness of the chain. In addition, there is a problem that the running noise when the roller moves on the guide rail at high speed causes noise and adversely affects the work environment, and that many components such as components supporting the roller are required. be pointed out.

JP 2004-91160 A JP-A-11-208845

  As described above, in the above-described prior art, even when adjacent partition members do not come into contact with each other, as described above, the distance between the front end portions of the partition members serving as the article receiving ports is reduced due to the swing of each partition member. There is a problem that acceptance of articles into the article support space is hindered.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and even when an article is conveyed at high speed, the swinging of each partition member of the conveyor is prevented from moving back and forth, and the article is reliably received at the receiving position. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article conveyance device that can be received.

The present invention described in claim 1, an endless rope 10 forming the conveying path including a turning portion L2 and straight running portion L1, a plurality of partitions provided along the conveying direction of the endless rope Article 10 The article 11 is received between the partition members 11 at the receiving position P1 in the turning portion L2, and the article W is conveyed toward the discharge position P2 provided in the linear travel portion L1. In the article conveying apparatus 1, the partition member 11 includes a base portion 11a fixed to the endless cable body 10, and a support piece 11b standing from the base portion 11a, and the support piece 11b is a linear traveling portion. In L1, the side surface of the article W is supported by the support pieces 11b of the other adjacent partition members 11, and the turning portion L2 forms a receiving space whose tip is expanded in a letter C shape and is lined up and down. The base 11a of the partition member 11, Oite around one side of the conveying direction, a protrusion 11c that protrudes toward the front and rear direction of the conveying direction, Oite the other surface before and after the conveying direction, said projection A recess 11d that is recessed so as to open in a direction opposite to the protruding direction of the portion 11c, and in the adjacent partition members 11 and 11, the protruding portion 11c of one partition member 11 is the other partition member. 11 in the recessed portion 11d, and in the turning portion L2 of the endless strip 10, the protruding portion 11c and the recessed portion 11d are vertically overlapped so that the upper surface of the front end portion of the protruding portion 11c is the top surface of the recessed portion 11d. In this case, the support pieces 11b are configured to be restricted from swinging back and forth in the transport direction by locally contacting and engaging with each other.

  According to this, in the state where the protruding portion 11c of one partition member 11 is accommodated in the recess 11d of the other partition member 11 between the adjacent partition members 11, 11, a plurality of partition members 11, 11,. By being continuously engaged, the engaging portions of the partition members 11 support each other so that the partition members 11 do not swing back and forth during travel. Moreover, it is possible to prevent back-and-forth swinging with a simple structure in which the shape of each partition member 11 is changed. Therefore, there is no noise such as running sound of the guide portion of the guide means. In particular, in the turning portion L2, since the protruding portion 11c and the recessed portion 11d are in contact with each other to support each other, the back and forth swing of each partition member 11 is suppressed at the receiving position P1 provided in the turning portion L2. . Thereby, the clearance gap which receives the articles | goods W becomes narrow, and it does not inhibit that the articles | goods W are sent into each division, but the several articles | goods W supplied sequentially can be received between each partition member 11 smoothly and reliably. it can.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the article conveying apparatus 1 according to the first aspect, the protruding portion 11c is formed by a curved surface at a portion that contacts the concave portion 11d of the adjacent partition member 11. To do. According to this, the protrusion part 11c and the recessed part 11d smoothly contact in the turning part L2.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the article conveying device 1 according to the first or second aspect, the endless ridge 10 is an endless chain, and one end of the endless chain 10 is linked to the one end. The partition member 11 is detachably disposed. According to this, the turning radius in the turning part L2 of the partition member 11 can be set to the minimum, and a compact device can be obtained. Moreover, the arrangement | positioning pitch of the partition member 11 can be narrowed, and the apparatus suitable for the articles | goods W with thin thickness like a rice cracker or a biscuit can be obtained, for example. Moreover, if it is detachable, it is advantageous for maintenance.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the article transporting apparatus 1 according to the first or second aspect, the endless ridge 10 is an endless toothed belt, and two to one tooth portions 32 are provided. One partition member 11 is detachably disposed. According to this, in addition to the same advantage as that of the third aspect, noise due to the travel of the endless cable body 10 does not occur.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the article transporting apparatus 1 according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the endless cords 10 are provided in parallel on the left and right of the transport path of the article W. A first ridge body 10a and a second ridge body 10b are provided, and the first ridge body 10a and the second ridge body 10b travel independently by individual driving means 14r and 14l, respectively. The first partition member group 11l provided on the first strip body 10a and the second partition member group 11r provided on the second strip body 10b After the first partition member group 11l is intermittently traveled at the receiving position P1 and sequentially receives a predetermined number of the articles W in the receiving spaces of the respective articles. , While traveling to the discharge position P2, the second partition portion Intermittently traveling at the receiving position P1 followed by the group 11r moves to sequentially accept the article W of a predetermined number. According to this, the conveyance processing amount of the article W per unit time increases, and the productivity can be improved.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, although it is a simple structure, it can suppress that a partition member shakes back and forth in the acceptance position of the articles | goods in the turning part of an endless strip. Thereby, the several articles | goods supplied sequentially can be received smoothly and reliably between each partition member. Further, the noise of the article conveying device is not increased.

It is a top view of an article conveyance device. It is a vertical side view of an article conveyance apparatus. It is the partially broken schematic front view seen from the downstream of the article conveyance apparatus. It is a perspective view of a partition member. It is a side view of a turning part. It is a principal part enlarged side view which shows the modification of an endless cord. It is a side view which shows the modification 1 of a partition member. It is a side view which shows the modification 2 of a partition member. It is a side view which shows the modification 3 of a partition member.

(Example)
First, the basic configuration of the article transport device will be outlined. In addition, the article conveying apparatus of the present invention includes an endless cord forming a conveying path including a straight traveling portion and a turning portion, and a plurality of partition members that run along the conveying path in parallel with the endless measure. These basic configurations are not limited to the embodiments described below, and a wide range of known devices can be used.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the article conveying apparatus 1 includes a chain 10 as an endless cord wound around a conveying path including a straight traveling portion L <b> 1 and a turning portion L <b> 2, and a conveying direction of the chain 10. And a plurality of partition members 11 that travel along the transport path. The chain 10 is wound around a drive sprocket 12 disposed on the upstream side and a driven sprocket 13 disposed on the downstream side. A portion where the chain 10 is wound around each of the sprockets 12 and 13 is a turning portion L2, and a portion between the upstream and downstream turning portions L2 and L2 is an upper and lower linear traveling portion L1 and L1. The drive sprocket 12 is rotationally driven by a servo motor 14. Reference numeral 15 denotes a side cover. A guide rail 20 is provided along the transport path for gradually increasing the placement surface of the article W from a receiving position P1 to a discharge position P2 described later. Each link 17 of the chain 10 includes an attachment piece 18 formed by bending at the top of the link plate, and the partition member 11 is detachably fixed to each attachment piece 18 with an attachment screw 19.

  The article conveying device 1 is sequentially supplied with rice crackers, biscuits, and other thin articles W by a supply conveyor 30 including a belt conveyor provided adjacent thereto. The leading end of the supply conveyor 30 faces the upstream turning portion L2 in the article transport device 1, and the articles W are sequentially received in the receiving spaces defined by the partition members 11 at the receiving position P1 in the turning portion L2. It is done. The movement of the chain 10 at the receiving position P1 travels intermittently so as to stop at the timing when one article W is sequentially fed into one receiving space. When one article W is received in each receiving space of the partition member group, the front and back of each article W are supported by each partition member 11 and continuously travel to the discharge position P2 of the linear travel part L1 through the turning part L2. To do. Each article W is lifted so as to gradually protrude above each partition member 11 by the guide rail 20 in the straight traveling portion L1 beyond the turning portion L2. Then, when reaching the discharge position P2 at the terminal end of the straight traveling portion L1, all articles W in the partition member group are pushed out to one side of the straight traveling portion L1 by a discharge pusher (not shown). When all the articles W are discharged, the chain 10 and the partition member 11 continuously travel to the receiving position P1 again at a high speed. In this way, the chain 10 intermittently travels, so that a predetermined number of articles are repeatedly received, transported, and discharged.

  The chain 10 has a first chain 10a and a second chain 10b provided in parallel on the left and right sides of the transport path, and is individually connected to each of the drive sprockets 12 and 12 around which the chains 10a and 10b are wound. The servomotors 14l and 14r are driven and controlled so that the chains 10a and 10b travel independently. The same number of partition members 11 are provided on both the first chain 10a and the second chain 10b. In addition, the first partition member group 11l provided in the first chain 10a and the second partition member group 11r provided in the second chain 10b move back and forth in the transport direction while sharing the transport path. Is located.

  As described above, the first partition member group 11l sequentially receives the articles W at the receiving position P1 and travels to the discharge position P2, and the second partition member group 11r subsequently receives the same as the first partition member group 11l. A predetermined number of articles W are sequentially received in the respective receiving spaces of the second partition member group 11r at the position P1. As described above, the first partition member group 11l and the second partition member group 11r alternately receive, transport, and discharge, thereby increasing the transport processing amount per unit time.

Next, the partition member 11 will be described. The partition member 11 is made of synthetic resin, and as shown in FIG. 4, a base portion 11a screwed to the chain 10 and fixed to the chain 10, and a plate-like support piece 11b erected upward from the base portion 11a. And have. The female screw holes 25 are provided at two locations on the left and right sides of the bottom surface of the base portion 11a. The support piece 11b partitions a receiving space for the article W with another adjacent partition member 11. Further, in the straight traveling portion L1, the front and rear side surfaces of the article W are supported by the support pieces 11b of the other adjacent partition members 11. The support piece 11b is formed shorter than the length of the base portion 11a in the front-rear direction, and the bottom surface of the receiving space is partitioned by the base portion 11a. The base 11a and the support piece 11b are in a positional relationship shifted in the left-right direction. The partition member 11 is positioned and fixed to the left and right chains 10a and 10b in a state where the support piece 11b protrudes one side from the base portion 11a so as to coincide with the center of the transport line of the transport path. Accordingly, the first and second partition member groups 11l and 11r provided on the left and right chains 10a and 10b can be positioned so as to travel along one transport path (see FIG. 3).

  The base 11a has a protruding portion 11c that is formed to protrude horizontally from the front and rear one surface in the transport direction (front surface in this embodiment), and a recess 11d that is recessed in the other front and rear surface in the transport direction (rear surface in this embodiment) And have. The protrusion part 11c and the recessed part 11d are formed in the lower end part of the base part 11a, and are in the same height position. The protruding dimension of the protruding part 11c and the recessed dimension of the recessed part 11d are substantially the same. The upper surface of the tip of the protruding portion 11c is a curved surface formed in an arc shape. The partition member 11 is not limited to a synthetic resin, and a material such as aluminum or stainless steel can also be used. In the case where a synthetic resin is used, it is preferably formed of an engineering plastic such as a superhard molecular polyethylene having high wear resistance.

Such a partition member 11 is fixed to each link 17 of the chain 10 and provided in the transport direction. As shown in FIG. 5, the protruding portion of one (rear) partition member 11 between the adjacent partition members 11 and 11. 11 c is accommodated in the recess 11 d of the other (front) partition member 11. As a result, in the turning portion L2 around which the chain 10 is wound around the sprockets 12 and 13 and the linear travel portion L1 connecting the turning portions L2, the upper surface of the protruding portion 11c and the top surface of the recess 11d are in the vertical direction (inward and outward directions ), The protrusion 11c and the recess 11d come into contact with each other and engage with each other. As a result, the partition members 11 are supported by the adjacent front and rear partition members 11 and 11 so as to support each other at two points, thereby restricting the support pieces 11b of the partition members 11 from swinging back and forth.

  In the straight traveling part L1, the partition members 11 are arranged closely. At this time, the receiving space defined by each support piece 11 b is set to be slightly wider than the article W. Thereby, in the straight traveling part L1, the front and back surfaces of each article W are supported and conveyed by the support pieces 11b of the partition members 11. When each partition member 11 is in the straight traveling portion L1, the front and rear surfaces of the base portion 11a of each partition member 11, and the front end surface of the projecting portion 11c and the rear surface of the recess 11d facing the front end surface are in contact. A certain clearance is formed. Thereby, the expansion and contraction of the chain caused by the assembly accuracy of each partition member 11 to the chain 10 or the temperature difference of the use environment can be allowed by the clearance.

On the other hand, when each partition member 11 is in the turning portion L2, the front end of the support piece 11b in each partition member 11 is arranged in a receiving space that is expanded in a letter C shape at an angle corresponding to the radius of curvature of the transport path. At this time, the upper surface of the front end portion of each protrusion 11c is locally in contact with the top surface of the recess 11d, and the contact surface is a curved surface, so that the protrusion 11c and the recess 11d slide smoothly. The chain 10 travels along the winding arc of the chain 10 in the turning portion L2 and the chain 10 flutters in the turning portion L2. There will be no obstacles to driving. The protrusion 11c of the leading partition member 11 is pressed by a stopper 26 having a recess substantially the same as the recess 11d.

(Modification)
In the said Example, although the chain was used as an endless cable body, as shown in FIG. 6, the toothed belt 31 can also be used as an endless cable body. A plurality of teeth 32 are arranged at equal intervals on the inner surface of the toothed belt 31. In this case, a pedestal 33 for fixing the partition member 11 is formed on the outer surface of the toothed belt 31 so as to protrude upward. The pedestal 33 can be formed as a series of protrusions, but it is preferable that the pedestals 33 protrude independently from each other because they easily correspond to the curved surface of the turning portion L2. One partition member 11 is fixed to each pedestal 33 by a mounting screw 19 from above. One independent pedestal 33 is formed for at least two teeth 32. Preferably, one is formed for each tooth 32 as shown in FIG. That is, one partition member 11 is fixed to two or one tooth 32.

  Moreover, it is preferable to incline the top | upper surface of the recessed part 11d of each partition member 11 along the curved surface of the turning part L2. As a result, even in the soft intangible strip 10 like the belt 31, the turning portion L2 can reliably maintain the engaged state between the protruding portion 11c and the recessed portion 11d. Others are the same as in the embodiment, so the same members (parts) are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  The shape of the partition member is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and various other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, as in Modification 1 shown in FIG. 7, the upper surface of the protruding portion 11c can be a curved surface continuing from the base of the support piece 11b, and the top surface of the recess 11d can also be a curved surface. According to this, since the protrusion part 11c and the recessed part 11d will always be in a local contact state between curved surfaces, it can slide more smoothly in the turning part L2. Moreover, the protrusion part 11c and the recessed part 11d can also be formed in a bowl shape like the modification 2 shown in FIG. Also in this case, the tip of the protruding portion 11c is a curved surface. According to this, since the protrusion part 11c and the recessed part 11d will be in a joint state, it will be reliably prevented that the protrusion part 11c comes off from the recessed part 11d in the turning part L2. Furthermore, as in Modification 3 shown in FIG. 9, the protruding portion 11c and the recessed portion 11d can be formed in the upper and lower intermediate portions of the base portion 11a. According to this, since the upper and lower surfaces of the protruding portion 11c are in contact with and supported by the concave portion 11d, it is possible to further reduce the deflection of the support piece 11b in the linear travel portion L1 from front to back.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article conveying apparatus 10 Chain 11 Partition member 11a Base 11b Supporting piece 11c Protruding part 11d Recess 12 Driving sprocket 13 Driven sprocket 14 Servo motor 18 Mounting piece 20 Guide rail 26 Stopper 30 Supplying conveyor 31 Toothed belt 33 Base L1 Linear traveling part L2 Turning part P1 receiving position P2 discharging position W article

Claims (5)

An endless ridge that forms a conveyance path including a straight traveling portion and a turning portion; and a plurality of partition members provided along a conveying direction of the endless ridge, and each of the above-described receiving positions at the turning portion An article conveying apparatus that sequentially receives articles between partition members and conveys the articles toward a discharge position provided in the linear traveling unit,
The partition member has a base portion fixed to the endless cable body, and a support piece standing from the base portion,
The support piece supports a side surface of the article with a support piece of another adjacent partition member in the linear traveling portion, and the turning portion forms a receiving space whose tip is expanded in a C shape. ,
The base of each partition member has a protruding portion formed to protrude in one front and rear direction in the conveying direction on one front and rear surface in the conveying direction, and a direction opposite to the protruding direction of the protruding portion in the other front and rear surface in the conveying direction And a recess recessed to open to
In the adjacent partition members, the protruding portion of one partition member is housed in the recess of the other partition member,
In the turning portion of the endless cord, in the direction in which the protrusion and the recess overlap in the vertical direction, the upper surface of the front end of the protrusion is locally abutted and engaged with the top surface of the recess, An article transporting apparatus configured to regulate swinging of the support piece in the front-rear direction of the transporting direction.   The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the projecting portion is formed by a curved surface at a portion that comes into contact with the concave portion of the adjacent partition member. The endless cord is an endless chain;
3. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one partition member is detachably disposed on one link of the endless chain. The endless cord is an endless toothed belt;
The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one partition member is detachably disposed with respect to two or one tooth portion. The endless striated body includes a first striated body and a second striated body provided in parallel on the left and right of the conveyance path of the article,
The first striated body and the second striated body are configured to travel independently by individual driving means,
The first partition member group provided on the first strip body and the second partition member group provided on the second strip body are moved back and forth in the transport direction so as to share the transport path. Position
The first partition member group intermittently travels at the receiving position and sequentially receives a predetermined number of the articles in the receiving space of each article, and then travels to the discharge position, while the second partition member group The article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the article conveying device is moved intermittently at the receiving position so as to sequentially receive a predetermined number of the articles.

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