JP6275910B1 - Suction head - Google Patents

Abstract

A suction head capable of sequentially sucking a plurality of articles is provided. An adsorption head 20 uses an internal space 23 connected to a suction blower 40 by a blower pipe 30 in the adsorption head 20 used in the stacking apparatus 1 that collects the articles 2 by attracting and transferring the articles 2. In a suction state in which the air in the internal space 23 is sucked, and a duct box 22 in which a plurality of suction openings 25 are formed, and an on-off valve 32 that opens and closes the suction openings 25. By opening and closing the on-off valve 32, the articles 2 can be selectively adsorbed to the plurality of adsorbing openings 25. [Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a suction head that sucks and holds an article for transfer.

  A product in which food is packaged with a soft packaging material is transported in a state in which a predetermined number is packed in an outer box such as a cardboard box, and the boxing operation is performed at a product manufacturing factory. An accumulating device is used for the boxing operation, and the accumulating device sucks and adsorbs the products conveyed on the belt conveyor to the adsorbing head in order, and transfers them to the accumulating unit where the outer box is placed.

  Such a suction head and a stacking apparatus are disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 below.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-60013

  However, the suction head disclosed in Patent Document 1 can only suck a single or a plurality of articles at the same time when sucking and sucking a product (article), and sequentially sucks a plurality of articles. I can't.

  In such a configuration, when a plurality of articles are adsorbed and transferred to a plurality of suction openings of the suction head, they are aligned in advance so that the articles are positioned at positions facing the respective suction openings at the time of suction. It is necessary to keep it.

  Usually, articles to be packed in a box are often conveyed in a line on a belt conveyor, and if a process for aligning the articles in advance is required, the apparatus cost increases and the production efficiency is also greatly reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object thereof is to provide a suction head capable of sequentially sucking a plurality of articles.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an adsorption head according to the present invention is an adsorption head used in an accumulation device that accumulates articles by adsorbing and transferring articles, and is connected to a suction blower by a blower pipe. A duct box having a space and formed with a plurality of suction openings; and an on-off valve that opens and closes the suction openings; and in the suction state in which air in the internal space is sucked, the opening and closing By opening and closing the valve, the article can be selectively adsorbed to the plurality of adsorption openings, and at least one adsorption opening among the plurality of adsorption openings is the opening and closing It has no valve and is normally open .

  According to the suction head according to the present invention, articles can be selectively sucked into the plurality of suction openings by appropriately opening and closing the plurality of suction openings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an integrated device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the suction head according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the suction head according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the duct box according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an air system diagram of the duct box according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an air system diagram of the air cylinder according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a suction state of the suction head according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, a suction head and a stacking apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, an adsorption head that sequentially adsorbs soft packaging materials (flexible packages) containing contents such as foods, which are articles to be adsorbed, and articles that are provided with the adsorption head and are adsorbed by the adsorption head. An example of a stacking apparatus that transfers and stacks the above will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of the integrated device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the suction head according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the suction head according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the duct box according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is an air system diagram of the duct box according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is an air system diagram of the air cylinder according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the stacking apparatus 1 includes a control device 5, a parallel robot 10, a suction head 20, and a suction blower 40. The control device 5 is a device for controlling the operation of members constituting the stacking device 1 such as the parallel robot 10, the suction head 20, and the suction blower 40, and is connected to these members.

  The parallel robot 10 is a robot using a parallel mechanism, and moves the suction head 20 between the suction place and the collection place of the article 2. In the present embodiment, the suction head 20 sucks three articles (soft packaging material) 2 conveyed in a row on the belt conveyor 50 and transfers them to the article stacking unit 55.

  Normally, cardboard boxes are sequentially installed in the article stacking unit 55, and a predetermined number of articles 2 are stacked in the cardboard box. The suction blower 40 is an air pump for sucking the interior space (chamber) 23 of the suction head 20.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the suction head 20 includes a duct box 22, a hanger 29, a blower pipe 30, and an on-off valve 32. The duct box 22 has a hollow rectangular parallelepiped shape having an internal space (chamber) 23 inside, and an opening 25 for suction for sucking and sucking the article 2 is formed on the lower surface thereof.

  The suction opening 25 includes a first suction opening 25a, a second suction opening 25b, and a third suction opening 25c that are sequentially formed in the longitudinal direction of the duct box 22. Each of the suction openings 25a to 25c is composed of two openings 26 formed in a row in the short direction of the duct box 22, and six openings aligned in a lattice form are formed on the lower surface of the duct box 22. 26 is formed.

  The suction opening 25 includes a suction pad 27 (a first suction pad 27a, a second suction pad 27b, and a third suction pad 27c) installed at each opening 26 portion. The suction pad 27 is a bellows-like pad that covers the opening 26 from the lower surface of the duct box 22 and projects vertically downward, and the article 2 is sucked into the opening 26 through the suction pad 27.

  Further, the duct box 22 includes a breaking air valve 24 for introducing breaking air into the internal space 23, and the breaking air valve 24 is installed in the breaking compressed air pipe 28. As shown in FIG. 5, the compressed air pipe 28 for destruction is connected to a compressor system disposed at the installation location of the stacking apparatus 1, and when the breaking air valve 24 is opened, the compressed air (breaking air) is stored in the internal space. 23. This breaking air is used when the article 2 adsorbed in the adsorption opening 25 is released.

  The hanger 29 is fixed to the upper side of the duct box 22 and is a connecting member for connecting and fixing the duct box 22 to the driving tip of the parallel robot 10.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the blower pipe 30 connects and connects the suction blower 40 and the internal space 23 of the duct box 22. When the suction blower 40 is driven, air in the internal space 23 is sucked. A suction state occurs. The blower piping 30 is provided with a blower switching valve 31 that is a solenoid valve, and the connection destination of the internal space 23 can be switched between the blower piping 30 and the air release.

  The on-off valve 32 includes a first on-off valve 32a and a second on-off valve 32b that can be controlled independently. The first on-off valve 32a opens and closes the first adsorbing opening 25a, and the first on-off valve 32a that is opened and closed synchronously is installed in each of the two openings 26 constituting the first adsorbing opening 25a. Yes.

  The second opening / closing valve 32b opens and closes the second suction opening 25b, and the second opening / closing valve 32b that is opened and closed in synchronization is installed in each of the two openings 26 constituting the second suction opening 25b. Yes. In addition, the opening part 25c for 3rd adsorption | suction is not installed in the on-off valve 32, but is a normally open state.

  The on-off valve 32 includes a valve body 33 and an air cylinder 34. Each valve body 33 is installed so as to open and close each opening 26 of the suction opening 25. The air cylinder 34 drives opening and closing of the valve main body 33, and one air cylinder 34 is installed in each valve main body 33.

  That is, the first on-off valve 32a including the two valve bodies 33 includes two first air cylinders 34a that are driven synchronously, and the second on-off valve 32b that includes the two valve bodies 33 is driven synchronously 2. Two second air cylinders 34b are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the air cylinder 34 is connected to a cylinder compressed air pipe 35. The cylinder compressed air pipe 35 is connected to a compressor system for supplying compressed air, and supplies compressed air for driving to the air cylinder 34. The first compressed air pipe 35a supplies compressed air to the two first air cylinders 34a, and the second compressed air pipe 35b supplies compressed air to the two second air cylinders 34b.

  Here, the air cylinder 34 is a double-acting cylinder and includes two air ports connected to the cylinder compressed air pipe 35. The first and second cylinder compressed air pipes 35a and 35b are provided with switching valves (solenoid valves) 36a and 36b that are independently driven.

  The switching valve 36 is a valve that switches which of the two air ports of the air cylinder 34 is supplied with compressed air. By switching the switching valve 36, the expansion and contraction of the air cylinder 34 is switched. With the double-acting air cylinder 34, both forward and backward movement can be driven at high speed, and by performing both opening and closing operations of the on-off valve 32 at high speed, Release switching can be performed at high speed.

  While the configuration of the stacking apparatus 1 has been described above, the article suction operation in the suction head 20 will be described. 7A and 7B are views showing the suction state of the suction head according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7A is a side view and FIG. 7B is a bottom view. In addition, in FIG.7 (b), the articles | goods are shown with the dashed-dotted line.

  Normally, the first and second on-off valves 32a and 32b of the suction head 20 are closed. When the stacking apparatus 1 starts to operate and the suction blower 40 starts to operate, the air in the internal space 23 in the duct box 22 is sucked through the blower pipe 30.

  At this time, the first adsorbing opening 25a and the second adsorbing opening 25b are closed by the on-off valve 32, but the third adsorbing opening 25c not provided with the on-off valve 32 is always open. ing. Therefore, when the internal space 23 is sucked, the air outside the duct box 22 is sucked into the internal space 23 through the third adsorption opening 25c.

  In this state, when the article 2 approaches the third suction opening 25c on the lower surface of the duct box 22, the article 2 is sucked into the third suction opening 25c, and is third sucked through the third suction pad 27c. It is adsorbed to the opening 25c. In the present embodiment, the third suction opening 25c is composed of two openings 26, and the article 2 is sucked into the third suction opening 25c at two points and firmly sucked and fixed to the suction head 20. The

  Subsequently, when the second opening / closing valve 32b is opened, the second suction opening 25b is opened, the first suction opening 25a is closed, and the third suction opening 25c is blocked by the sucked article 2. Therefore, outside air is sucked into the internal space 23 through the second suction opening 25b.

  In this state, when the article 2 approaches the second suction opening 25b on the lower surface of the duct box 22, the article 2 is sucked into the second suction opening 25b and is passed through the second suction pad 27b. It is adsorbed by the opening 25b. At this time, the suction head 20 is in a state where a total of two articles 2 are sucked into the third suction opening 25c and the second suction opening 25b.

  Further, when the first on-off valve 32a is opened, the first suction opening 25a is opened, and the second suction opening 25b and the third suction opening 25c are closed with the adsorbed article 2. Therefore, the outside air is sucked into the internal space 23 through the first suction opening 25a.

  In this state, when the article 2 approaches the first suction opening 25a, the article 2 is sucked into the first suction opening 25a and sucked through the first suction pad 27a. At this time, the suction head 20 is in a state in which the articles 2 are respectively sucked by all the first to third suction openings 25a to 25c, and a total of three articles 2 are sucked (see FIG. 7).

  Thus, the suction head 20 includes the first to third suction openings 25a to 25c, and the first and second suction openings 25a and 25b are made independent by the first and second on-off valves 32a and 32b. Since the first to third suction openings 25a to 25c are sequentially opened, the article 2 can be sequentially sucked to the predetermined suction openings 25a to 25c. .

  As described above, according to the suction head 20 according to the present embodiment, the articles 2 conveyed in a row can be sequentially and selectively sucked and transferred to the suction openings 25 as they are, and the working efficiency is remarkably improved. Can be made more efficient.

  Of course, the suction operation of the article 2 by the suction head 20 is not limited to the case of sequentially sucking the three articles 2, and a plurality of articles 2 may be sucked at the same time. One article 2 may be adsorbed, and can be changed as appropriate.

  Further, the order in which the articles 2 are adsorbed can be changed as appropriate, and the articles 2 may be adsorbed in the order of the first adsorption opening 25a and the second adsorption opening 25b after the third adsorption opening 25c. . However, the article 2 needs to be first adsorbed to the normally open opening (the third adsorbing opening 25c) where the on-off valve 32 is not installed.

  In addition, the number of the suction openings 25 of the suction head 20 and the installation location of the on-off valve 32 can be changed as appropriate. Although three sets of 25 are installed, the number of suction openings 25 may be two, or four or more.

  When there are two adsorption openings 25, the first on-off valve 32a is installed in the first adsorption opening 25a, and the on-off valve 32 is not installed in the second adsorption opening b and is always open. Then, the first opening / closing valve 32a can be selectively adsorbed by the first adsorption opening 25a and the second adsorption opening 25b.

  Further, each of the suction openings 25a to 25c is composed of two openings 26, but may be composed of one opening 26, or may be composed of three or more openings 26. If the number of the openings 26 increases, the article 2 is adsorbed at multiple points, and the adsorbed state is stabilized.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the opening / closing valve 32 is not installed in one adsorption | suction opening part 25c among the three adsorption | suction opening parts 25, it is always in the open state, The on-off valve 32 may be installed so that all the suction openings 25 can be opened and closed.

  However, if all the suction openings 25 are closed while the internal space 23 is being sucked, the suction blower 40 may be burned, so that at least one suction opening 25 is always open. If the opening / closing valve 32 is not required in the suction opening 25 that is normally open, the suction head 20 can be reduced in weight.

  Next, a transfer operation for transferring the articles 2 in the stacking apparatus 1 will be described. In this embodiment, on the belt conveyor 50, the three articles 2 are sequentially sucked by the suction head 20, and the articles 2 are transferred and stacked on the article stacking unit 55 three by three.

  When the driving of the stacking apparatus 1 is started and the articles 2 start to be conveyed in a line on the belt conveyor 50 which is an article conveyance path, the suction head 20 is driven by the parallel robot 10 to suck the first article 2. Is moved above the first article 2 of the belt conveyor 50.

  As described above, the suction of the article 2 to the suction head 20 is performed in the order of the third suction opening 25c, the second suction opening 25b, and the first suction opening 25a. When suctioning, the suction head 20 is moved so that the third suction opening 25c approaches the first article 2.

  When the first article 2 is adsorbed in the third adsorption opening 25c, the second article 2 continues to the second adsorption opening 25b, and the third article 2 sequentially to the first adsorption opening 25a. The suction head 20 is moved so as to be sucked.

  When the three articles 2 are sucked by the suction head 20, the suction head 20 is moved to the article stacking unit 55, and the sucked three articles 2 are released on the article stacking unit 55 and stacked on the article stacking unit 55. . For example, a cardboard box is installed in the article stacking unit 55, and the articles 2 can be stacked therein.

  When releasing the article 2 from the suction head 20, the blower switching valve 31 is switched to release the internal space 23 of the duct box 22 to the atmosphere, and the breaking air valve 24 is opened to supply breaking air to the inner space 23. To do. As a result, the article 2 that has been sucked by the suction head 20 is placed on the article stacking portion 55 away from the suction opening 25 by its own weight.

  The suction head 20 that has released the article 2 moves onto the belt conveyor 50 for the next suction. At this time, the blower switching valve 31 is switched to return the internal space 23 to the suction state, and the breaking air valve 24 is closed. Furthermore, the first on-off valve 32a and the second on-off valve 32b are closed in preparation for the adsorption of the next first article 2 to the third adsorption opening 25c.

  In this state, when the suction head 20 moves onto the belt conveyor 50, the next articles 2 are sequentially sucked and the above-described transfer operation is repeated.

  As described above, the suction head 20 and the stacking apparatus 1 according to this embodiment have been described in detail. However, according to this embodiment, the suction head 20 is provided with a plurality of suction openings 25 that can be selectively opened and closed. The articles 2 can be sequentially adsorbed to the predetermined adsorbing openings 25, and the articles 2 conveyed in a row can be efficiently adsorbed and transferred.

  Although the present embodiment has been described above, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the shape, size, number, and the like of each member constituting the accumulation device can be changed as appropriate.

  Further, in the above embodiment, one opening / closing valve and one air cylinder are installed in each opening, but any configuration may be used as long as a plurality of openings belonging to the same suction opening are opened and closed in synchronization. As a triangular shape or a diamond shape, a plurality of openings may be opened and closed with one on-off valve.

  When enlarging one valve body so that a plurality of openings can be opened and closed, it is desirable that one valve body be driven by a plurality of air cylinders so that the opening and closing operation can be performed stably.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Accumulation apparatus 5 Control apparatus 10 Parallel robot 20 Adsorption head 22 Duct box 23 Internal space 24 Destruction air valve 28 Decompression compressed air piping 25 Adsorption opening 26 Opening 27 Adsorption pad 29 Hanger 30 Blower piping 31 Blower switching valve 32 On-off valve 33 Valve body 34 Air cylinder 35 Cylinder compressed air piping 36 Switching valve 40 Suction blower 50 Belt conveyor 55 Article stacking unit 2 Article

Claims (3)

In a suction head used in a stacking apparatus that stacks the articles by sucking and transferring the articles,
A duct box having an internal space connected to the suction blower by blower piping, and having a plurality of suction openings;
An on-off valve for opening and closing the suction opening;
In the suction state in which the air in the internal space is sucked, the opening and closing valve is opened and closed to selectively adsorb the article to the plurality of suction openings ,
At least one suction opening among the plurality of suction openings is not provided with the on-off valve and is normally open . 2. The suction head according to claim 1 , wherein the on-off valve is driven to open and close by a double-acting air cylinder. The suction head according to claim 1 or 2 ,
A parallel robot that moves the suction head between a suction location of the article and a collection location of the article;
An integrated device comprising:

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