JP5819101B2 - Article separation and supply device and transport system using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention receives a predetermined number of articles that are continuously conveyed in a state where they are arranged side by side from the front, and separates the received articles from the following articles and supplies them to the next conveyance line. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a transport system using the apparatus.

  For example, the second conveyor device is arranged on the carry-out side of the first conveyor device on the upstream side so that the conveying directions are orthogonal to each other, and a predetermined number from the front of the articles conveyed in a state of contacting the front and back on the first conveyor device. There is a transport system in which the direction of the article is changed by 90 degrees and the article on the subsequent upstream conveyor apparatus is moved away by transferring the minute article onto the second conveyor apparatus. As a patent document disclosing this type of conveyance system, for example, there is Patent Document 1.

  When the second conveyor device is a finger conveyor device, a belt-like opening for passing the push finger is formed on the transport surface that receives the article along the transport direction. Therefore, when the second conveyor device composed of the finger conveyor device is arranged in the carry-out portion of the first conveyor device, the articles carried out from the first conveyor device are temporarily arranged in the lateral direction (second conveyor) on the conveying surface of the second conveyor device. The entire article reaches the conveyance surface. Therefore, the front end side of the article moving in the lateral direction (the side surface side in the transport direction of the second conveyor device) is caught by the opening that is the passage of the push finger, and the smooth movement cannot be performed. There is a risk of falling.

  Therefore, a conveyance system in which an article separation and supply device including a side finger conveyor that swirls within a horizontal plane is interposed between the first conveyance conveyor device and the second conveyance conveyor device is conceivable. In the side finger conveyor, a plurality of pushing fingers are attached to an endless chain that swivels in a horizontal plane so as to protrude outward in the horizontal direction, and the pushing fingers are arranged in a horizontal plane at a predetermined height above the conveying surface. It becomes the structure which turns. Therefore, the conveyance surface which receives articles | goods can be made into a flat plate, and the predetermined number of articles | goods carried out from a 1st conveyance conveyor apparatus can be smoothly transferred on the said conveyance surface.

JP-A-10-120167

  For example, the product is a food such as biscuits and baked confectionery, and the shape of the product is not a rectangular parallelepiped at the time of manufacture, but the surface is uneven, the peripheral surface is inclined, or irregularly irregular There are some shapes. In the case of such an article, when the pushing finger of the side finger conveyor comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the article and tries to push forward, the posture of the article to be conveyed is not fixed. For example, the front end side of the article conveyed by the pushing finger is the first conveyor. The product protrudes from the apparatus side, contacts an article waiting on the first conveyor apparatus, disturbs the alignment of the article on the first conveyor apparatus, or the article moving on the side finger conveyor is moved from the conveyance surface. There is a risk of separation or a significant shift in the transport posture. As a result, there is a risk of causing problems such as clogging in the downstream process.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an article separation and supply device according to the present invention is (1) arranged between an upstream first conveyor device and a downstream second conveyor device having different conveying directions, and the first conveyor with receive articles being conveyed on the device from the transported the first conveyor device in contact with the back and forth, a thing article separating feeder you conveyed toward the second conveyor device, the transport path of the articles And a plurality of push fingers attached to an endless chain that swivels in a horizontal plane so as to protrude outward in the horizontal direction. The push fingers move above the bottom plate, and the bottom plate and in an article that is above those pusher in different directions in the conveying direction and perpendicular direction of the first conveyor device, the contact surface to the article of the pusher fingers, the endless Ji An inclined surface located in front towards the tip than over down side in the running direction of the endless chain, the force toward the diagonally forward on the article being pressed into the pusher finger has to act.

  In this way, the contact surface of the push finger with the article is an inclined surface whose front end is positioned forward rather than the endless chain side. Therefore, the article pushed by the push finger is biased toward the inside diagonally forward. Therefore, the conveying posture of the article is also the direction in which the inclined surface faces. Therefore, it can be separated and supplied without being brought into contact with the subsequent articles waiting on the first conveyor device located outside.

  (2) It is preferable that the rear surface of the pushing finger in the traveling direction is positioned more forward than the end chain side. If it does in this way, the position of the 1st conveyor apparatus side will move to the front end side of the surface of the back side of the advancing direction of a push finger, that is, the article entrance, and the article waiting on the first conveyor apparatus will be moved forward. Since the push finger is removed from the front and the timing at which the first conveyor device is empty can be supplied earlier, high-speed processing becomes possible, and even when the speed is increased, the articles carried out from the first conveyor device The possibility of collision with the front end side of the pushing finger is reduced as much as possible.

  (3) The conveying system of the present invention is arranged on the first conveyor device and the unloading side of the first conveyor device, and the article separating and supplying device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveying direction is different from that of the first conveyor. And a second conveyor device disposed on the carry-out side of the article separation and supply device. Articles conveyed by the first conveyor device are transferred to the article separation and supply device by a predetermined number from the top, where the conveyance direction is changed and separation conveyance is performed. At this time, since the articles conveyed on the article separation and supply apparatus are conveyed in a posture that is inclined obliquely inward (on the opposite side to the first conveyor apparatus), the subsequent items waiting on the first conveyor apparatus Contact with an article is suppressed as much as possible, and can be reliably separated and supplied.

  (4) The first conveyor device conveys the article in a state where it is in contact with the front and back, pushes out n articles from the top with the subsequent article, supplies the article to the article separation and supply device, and then the subsequent article It is good to comprise so that it may move backward and may separate with the articles | goods supplied on the said articles | goods separation supply apparatus. n is an integer of 1 or more. In this case, since the supply from the first conveyor device to the article separation and supply device uses the extrusion of the articles conveyed on the first conveyor device, for example, the first conveyor such as an extruding means such as a separate pusher is used. Since it is not necessary to provide a mechanism for transferring the articles on the apparatus onto the article separation and supply apparatus, the first conveyor apparatus can have a simple configuration. Then, after the articles are supplied, the subsequent articles are moved backward and separated, so that a predetermined space is formed between the articles on the first conveyor device and the articles on the article separation and supply device. Therefore, even if the length of the pushing finger of the article separating and feeding apparatus is longer than the width of n articles on the article separating and feeding apparatus, the leading finger protrudes outside the article. It is suppressed as much as possible that the front-end | tip of this touches the subsequent article | item waiting on the 1st conveyor apparatus.

  The article fed by the pushing finger of the article separation and supply device is reliably and smoothly separated from the subsequent article without being brought into contact with the waiting article on the first conveyor device, and is conveyed in the next stage. Can be passed to 2 conveyor devices.

It is a top view which shows suitable one Embodiment of the conveyance system which concerns on this invention. It is the front view. It is a top view which shows the principal part. It is a front view which shows the principal part. Indicates the main part It is a figure explaining a modification.

  1 and 2 show a preferred embodiment of a transport system according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 5 show an enlarged main part thereof. The transport system according to the present embodiment is arranged in a front stage of a pillow packaging machine or other packaging machine body 4 and supplies articles 5 to be packaged to the packaging machine body 4 at regular intervals. The conveyance system is arranged between the first conveyor device 1 on the upstream side, the second conveyor device 2 on the downstream side, and the articles conveyed from the first conveyor device 1, and the second conveyor There is provided an article separation and supply device 3 that changes the transport direction of transport toward the device by 90 degrees.

  The first conveyor device 1 is a pool conveyor, and conveys a substantially rectangular parallelepiped article 5 in a two-row column in a state where it is in contact with the front and rear, and two articles from the top, that is, a total of four articles 5 of 2 × 2. Is delivered to the next-stage article separation and supply apparatus 3 in units of articles. As shown in FIG. 5, the first conveyor device 1 includes an endless belt 11 that is stretched around a pulley 10, and an upper restraining guide 13 and a lateral restraining guide 14 are disposed above the endless belt 11. A predetermined pulley that applies a rotational force to the endless belt 11 rotates forward and backward. As a result, the endless belt 11 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 5 (forward rotation) to move the article 5 forward, and rotates in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5 (reverse rotation) to move the article 5 backward. Take the process.

  Further, a separation roller 12 is disposed above the carry-out side of the endless belt 11. The separation roller 12 is freely attached to the tip of the arm 15. The other end of the arm 15 is attached to the pedestal 16 so as to be rotatable forward and backward. The arm 15 is biased so that the tip moves downward (rotates in the radial direction in FIG. 5) under the weight of the separation roller 12, and the lower end is stopped by a stopper 17 (bolt) attached to the arm 15. The position is restricted. FIG. 5 shows a state where the arm 15 and the separation roller 12 are at the lower end positions. As shown in the figure, at the lower end position, the lower end of the separation roller 12 is located slightly below the upper surface of the article 5, and the two articles 5 at the front and rear of the tip are prevented from returning onto the endless belt 11. doing.

  As a result, the article 5 placed on the endless belt 11 moves forward with the forward rotation of the endless belt 11 in a state where it is in contact with the front and rear, and moves backward with the reverse rotation. For example, as in the third article 5 from the top shown in FIG. 5, the article 5 positioned on the upstream side of the separation roller 12 is moved forward when the endless belt 11 rotates forward. It moves forward while pushing 12 upward. In other words, when the article 5 passes under the separation roller 12, the separation roller 12 moves upward according to the height of the article 5 to allow the passage, and as shown in FIG. In a state in which no article exists below, the article 5 enters between the articles 5 positioned in the front and rear, and is prevented from returning from the article 5 that is unloaded from the first conveyor device 1 and to which the conveying force from the endless belt 11 is not transmitted.

  The 2nd conveyor apparatus 2 is a finger conveyor in which a pushing finger turns in a vertical plane, conveys the goods group which consists of 4 articles | goods 5 of 2x2 for every predetermined space | interval, and the packaging machine main body 4 of the next stage Are supplied at a predetermined timing. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the second conveyor apparatus 1 includes an endless chain 22 that is stretched over a sprocket 21, and push fingers 23 are attached to the endless chain 22 at a predetermined pitch. Further, a bottom plate 24 that forms a conveyance surface is provided, a belt-like opening 26 extending in the front-rear direction is provided at a predetermined position of the bottom plate 24, and the push finger 23 that moves along the conveyance surface moves in the opening 26. . That is, the upper part of the push finger 23 protrudes upward from the opening 26, contacts the rear surface of the article 5 placed on the bottom plate 24, and urges forward. A pair of side guide plates 25 are disposed at a predetermined position above the bottom plate 24. The distance between the side guide plates 25 is substantially equal to the width of the two articles 5 to prevent the article 5 in the middle of conveyance from shifting laterally. The 1st conveyor apparatus 1 and the 2nd conveyor apparatus 2 which were mentioned above can take the structure similar to a conventional thing fundamentally.

  The article separation and supply device 3 is a side finger conveyor in which a push finger turns in a horizontal plane. As shown in an enlarged view in FIGS. 3 to 5, the driving sprocket 31 and the driven sprocket 32 are arranged at a predetermined interval in the front and rear directions, and the endless chain 33 is spanned between the two sprockets 31 and 32. Pushing fingers 34 are attached to the endless chain 33 at regular intervals. The rotating shafts of both the sprockets 31 and 32 are oriented in the vertical direction, whereby the end chain 33 and consequently the pushing finger 34 attached thereto are swiveled in a horizontal plane. The drive sprocket 31 is linked to a drive motor and receives a rotational force.

  The push finger 34 is attached to the endless chain 33 via the attachment plate portion 36. Here, the pushing finger 34 and the mounting plate 36 are integrally formed by bending a metal plate having an appropriate shape. The mounting plate portion 36 is connected to the endless chain 33 by a first pin 37 so as to be able to rotate forward and backward. Further, the mounting plate portion 36 includes an arcuate slit 36 a centering on the mounting position of the first pin 37. The second pin 38 attached to the endless chain 33 is inserted into the slit 36a. As a result, the attachment plate portion 36 and the pushing finger 34 integrated therewith can be rotated forward and backward about the first pin 37, and the rotation is stably performed by the cooperation of the second pin 38 and the slit 36a. The rotation angle range is defined by the center angle of the slit 36a. By a predetermined guide mechanism, at least in a section in which the push finger 34 conveys the article 5, the push finger 34 protrudes to the outside of the endless chain 33, and the push finger 34 falls down when turning along the drive sprocket 31. The endless chain 33 is approached. It is a conventionally known mechanism that the push finger 34 rises or falls in this manner, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  A bottom plate 35 that constitutes a conveyance surface is disposed in a section in which the push finger 34 conveys an article. The pushing finger 34 moves in a horizontal direction at a predetermined position above the bottom plate 35. Therefore, the bottom plate 35 is not provided with an opening along the transport direction unlike the second conveyor device 2. A side guide 39 is provided at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the bottom plate 35 in parallel with the transport direction. The side guide 39 regulates the lateral side on the endless chain 33 side (inner side) so that the article 5 does not approach the endless chain side any more.

  The lateral width W ′ in the vicinity of the carry-in entrance 35 a facing the upstream side of the bottom plate 35, that is, the carry-out side of the first conveyor device 1, is narrower than the lateral width W of the portion constituting the other normal conveyance path. . Here, it is almost equal to twice the width d of the article 5 (for two articles). Thereby, the end position of the endless belt 11 of the first conveyor device 1 is arranged in the vicinity of the side edge of the carry-in entrance portion 35a, so that the endless belt 11 is rotated in the normal direction and the following (third and subsequent) articles 1 The second and second articles can be pushed out to the back and moved to the state where the leading (first) article 5 hits the side guide 39 or approaches. At this time, the third and subsequent articles 5 from the top remain on the endless belt 11, so that the third and subsequent articles are moved backward by rotating the endless belt 11 in the reverse direction. Can be separated from other articles.

  In addition, the four articles 5 carried in from the carry-in entrance 35 a and transferred onto the bottom plate 35 are pushed by the pushing fingers 34 and conveyed on the bottom plate 35 toward the second conveyor device 2. That is, the conveyance direction of the article 5 is converted by 90 degrees.

  The conveyance path of the article separation and supply device 3 is positioned substantially in line with the conveyance path of the second conveyor device 2, the downstream end of the bottom plate 35 of the article separation and supply device 3, and the bottom plate of the second conveyor device 2. 24 upstream end portions are arranged close to each other. Furthermore, the conveyance path of the article separation and supply device 3 partially overlaps with the conveyance path of the second conveyor device 2. That is, the article 5 pushed by the pushing finger 34 initially moves on the bottom plate 35, but then moves on the bottom plate 24 of the second conveyor device 2. When the feed finger 34 is pushed by the fixed section push finger 34, the push finger 34 falls and the conveying force with respect to the article 5 disappears. However, the feed finger 23 of the second conveyor device 2 that has moved from the push finger 34 with a delay is the article 5. Continue to push in contact with the rear surface. Thereafter, the article 5 is conveyed at the finger pitch of the push finger 23.

  In addition, a guide portion (not shown) is provided at a predetermined position in a section where the article is fed by the pushing finger 34 of the article separation and supply device 3 to guide the article 5 by the center in the lateral direction (moving outward). Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, when an article is received by the article separation and supply device 3, the article moves forward at a position from the inside that contacts the side guide 39. 5 moves forward at a position from the center.

  The surface of the push finger 34 that contacts the article 5 is an inclined surface with the tip side positioned forward. In this embodiment, since the pushing finger 34 is formed in a bar shape, it is inclined as a whole. Thereby, since the article 5 is pushed along the inclined surface of the push finger 34, the article 5 is biased obliquely forward toward the side guide 39 (inner side). Accordingly, the article 5 is generally oriented inward (side guide 39 side) and conveyed on the article separation and supply device 3 without contacting the article 5 on the first conveyor device 1 waiting on the outside. Can be supplied separately. Even if the shape of the article 5 has irregularities on the surface, the peripheral surface is an inclined surface, or an irregular indefinite shape, each article as a whole is oriented obliquely inward as described above. Therefore, even if it protrudes, the amount is small and there is no possibility of coming into contact with the article 5 on the first conveyor device 1.

  In the embodiment described above, the pushing finger 34 is entirely inclined, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. It is also possible to use a plane that is generally trapezoidal with a surface orthogonal to the direction and an inclined surface that is in contact with the article 5 on the front side in the traveling direction.

  However, since the bar-shaped fingers are inclined obliquely as in the above-described embodiment, there is no push finger member in the region surrounded by the two-dot chain line in FIG. The conveyance start of the next article can be made earlier. That is, in the apparatus shown in the embodiment, the supply can be started if the part shown by the solid line in FIG. 6 passes in front of the article 5 waiting on the first conveyor apparatus 1, but the shape shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. In this case, it is necessary to wait until the portion indicated by the two-dot chain line passes, and the start of conveyance of the first conveyor device 1 is delayed by the width.

In the embodiment described above, the article separation and supply device 3 receives the articles 5 conveyed in a two-row column on the first conveyor device 1 from the front in units of four articles in total, and separates and supplies the articles. The apparatus 3 changes the conveyance direction by 90 degrees, separates and conveys the following articles, and supplies them to the second conveyor apparatus 2. However, the unit of the articles to be separated is limited to 4 of 2 × 2. Rather, it can be any number. It may be a one-row column or it may be conveyed in three or more rows. Further, the number received from the top is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more. In other words, the number of articles received at one time is m × n, and m and n are integers of 1 or more and do not prevent taking the same value. M is a column, and n is a row (number from the top). Therefore, the minimum number is 1 for both.
In addition, the transport direction is changed by 90 degrees, but an angle other than 90 degrees may be used. The shape of the article is also arbitrary.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1st conveyor apparatus 2 2nd conveyor apparatus 3 Article separation supply apparatus 4 Packaging machine main body 5 Article 31 Drive sprocket 32 Driven sprocket 33 Endless chain 34 Pushing finger 35 Bottom plate

Claims (4)

Articles arranged between an upstream first conveyor device and a downstream second conveyor device having different conveying directions , conveyed in a state of contacting the front and rear on the first conveyor device, and unloaded from the first conveyor device together they receive, a thing article separating feeder you conveyed toward the second conveyor device,
A bottom plate constituting the conveyance path of the article;
A plurality of pushing fingers attached to an endless chain that swivels in a horizontal plane so as to protrude outward in the horizontal direction;
The feeding finger moves above the bottom plate and feeds the article on the bottom plate in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the first conveyor device ,
The contact surface of the push finger with respect to the article is an inclined surface in which the tip is positioned in front of the endless chain in the traveling direction of the endless chain, and obliquely forward to the article being pushed by the push finger. An article separating and supplying apparatus characterized in that a force acts on the article.   2. The article separation and supply device according to claim 1, wherein a front surface of the pushing finger in a moving direction is positioned forward in front of the end chain. A first conveyor device;
The article separation and supply device according to claim 1, wherein the article separation and supply device is disposed on a carry-out side of the first conveyor device, and a conveyance direction is different from that of the first conveyor device .
A transport system comprising: a second conveyor device disposed on a carry-out side of the article separation and supply device.   The first conveyor device conveys the article in a state where it is in contact with the front and back, pushes out n articles from the top with a subsequent article, supplies the article to the article separation and supply device, and then moves the subsequent article backward. The conveyance system according to claim 3, wherein the conveyance system is configured to be separated from the articles supplied onto the article separation and supply device.

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