JP6371494B2 - Goods transshipment device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article transshipment apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an apparatus that conveys an article by a conveyor and reloads the article on another conveyor using a robot. For example, in the container transport device of Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-213812), the alignment robot sucks and holds the container with the suction head, rotates the link arm, and moves from the entrance conveyor to the adjacent intermediate conveyor. And transship the container.

  As described above, a device that uses a robot to transfer an article on a conveyor to another adjacent conveyor is known, but since the operation speed of the robot is limited, the overall processing capability is limited by the robot's capability. May end up. In order to solve this problem, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-213812) that needs to rotate nearly 180 degrees in order to change the posture of the container placed on the entrance-side conveyor to the posture to be placed on the intermediate conveyor. 2) employs two robots instead of one. This ensures a processing capacity that exceeds the capacity of the bag-making machine installed upstream of the production line.

  However, if it is necessary to transpose the articles flowing in one row on the conveyor so that the articles are arranged in two or more rows on another conveyor, it is assumed that the processing capacity of the robot will be insufficient. The To avoid this shortage of processing power, it is possible to use multiple robots or high-speed robots with high processing power, but this raises another problem that the cost of the device itself and the running cost will increase. It will be.

  In addition, when the articles flowing in a row on the conveyor are transposed so that the articles are arranged in a row on another conveyor, it is desired to increase the processing capacity of the article transshipment apparatus.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for transferring goods from a conveyor to another conveyor using a robot and having a high processing capacity.

An article transshipment apparatus according to the present invention is an article transshipment apparatus that is arranged on the upstream side of a boxing apparatus that packs a package, which is an article in which the contents can be biased, into a cardboard box. One second conveyor and a parallel link robot are provided. One first conveyor conveys N (N is an integer of 1 or more) rows of packages . One second conveyor conveys M (M is an integer equal to or greater than N + 1) rows of packages . The parallel link robot is a robot having a suction gripping part that sucks a package, and the suction gripping part moves to an arbitrary position in a fixed three-dimensional space. Parallel link robot, a package that has been conveyed by one of the first conveyor, reloaded into one second conveyor. Then, one of the second conveyor, the upstream end thereof is disposed adjacent to the downstream end of one of the first conveyor. The transport direction of the one of the second conveyor is the same as the conveying direction of one of the first conveyor. Parallel robot is one package that has been conveyed by the first conveyor, adsorbed by the adsorption gripper, a path along the conveying direction, the packaging material is parallel to the M columns on one second conveyor as parallel beauty and 2 or more packages in each column stacked vertically, reloaded into one second conveyor.

In the article transshipment apparatus that stacks articles, the first conveyor and the second conveyor are preferably arranged so that the article placement surface of the second conveyor is lower than the article placement surface of the first conveyor. In this way, the distance in the height direction between the article placement surface of the first conveyor and the upper surface of the article on the article placement surface of the second conveyor at a position lower than that is reduced. The transfer route by the operation of the robot that further stacks the articles on the article becomes shorter, and the processing capability is further improved. Moreover, the goods transshipment apparatus which concerns on this invention acts especially effectively with respect to the goods in which the fluid is contained in the bag of a flexible packaging material. When a package containing fluid such as liquid products or snacks is transferred from the first conveyor to the second conveyor, the direction of movement of the package should not change significantly when the package is transferred by the robot. Is desirable. This is because if it becomes necessary for the robot to resist the inertial force of the fluid in the bags conveyed by the first conveyor, it is necessary to strengthen the grip of the package by the robot, thereby increasing the power consumption and shifting the power. This will lead to a reduction in loading speed. However, in the article transshipment apparatus according to the present invention, the second conveyor is aligned with the first conveyor, and the robot conveys the package that has been conveyed by the first conveyor along the path along the conveyance direction. Can be transshipped to. For this reason, even if it is a package in which a fluid entered the bag, the N-row package B of the first conveyor can be efficiently transferred to the second conveyor in the M-row.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the robot of the article transshipment apparatus which concerns on this invention has a holding part which holds an article. The gripping unit lifts the article that is being conveyed and moved by the first conveyor, moves above the second conveyor, and places the article on the second conveyor. As described above, when the gripping unit of the robot lifts the article being transferred (moved) by the first conveyor and transfers it to the second conveyor, an inertial force acts on the article when the article is lifted. However, in the present invention, since the article conveyed by the first conveyor by the robot can be transferred to the second conveyor along a path along the conveyance direction, the conveyance direction of the first conveyor of the article having inertia can be achieved. It is no longer necessary to perform a robot operation that suddenly stops the movement along the line. As a result, adverse effects on the article can be suppressed, and it is not necessary to secure an extra gripping force of the robot, thereby making it possible to optimize the article gripping force of the robot.

Further, in the article transshipment apparatus according to the present invention, when the articles are transferred from the first conveyor to the second conveyor, the moving distance of the articles in the conveyance direction of the first conveyor is perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the first conveyor. It is preferable that the robot moves the article so as to be longer than the movement distance of the article .

  According to the article transshipment apparatus according to the present invention, the robot can transship the articles conveyed by the first conveyor to the second conveyor along a path along the conveyance direction. As a result, the speed of reloading of articles by the robot is increased, and the processing capability of the article reloading apparatus is improved.

It is a plane schematic diagram of the article transshipment apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side schematic diagram of an article transshipment apparatus. FIG. 10 is a state diagram of an article reloading operation by the parallel link robot. FIG. 10 is a state diagram of an article reloading operation by the parallel link robot. FIG. 10 is a state diagram of an article reloading operation by the parallel link robot. It is one state figure of the operation | movement of goods reloading by the parallel link robot of the goods reloading apparatus which concerns on a 1st modification. It is one state figure of the operation | movement of goods reloading by the parallel link robot of the goods reloading apparatus which concerns on a 1st modification. It is one state figure of the operation | movement of goods reloading by the parallel link robot of the goods reloading apparatus which concerns on a 1st modification. It is a plane schematic diagram of the goods transshipment apparatus which concerns on a 5th modification. It is a plane schematic diagram of the goods transshipment apparatus which has taken the conventional conveyor arrangement | positioning.

(1) Overall configuration and front / rear configuration of article transshipment apparatus FIGS. 1 and 2 show an article transshipment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This article transshipment apparatus is an apparatus installed in a line of a food factory that produces and packs a package B in which, for example, potato chips are filled in a bag, and includes a first conveyor 10, a second conveyor 20, and a robot 30. Consists of

  In this food factory line, a package B is generated in a bag making and packaging machine (not shown) arranged upstream of the article transshipment apparatus, and after undergoing a weight inspection and a foreign matter contamination inspection, the first conveyor of the article transshipment apparatus. 10 is placed. In the article transshipment apparatus, the package B is transshipped from the first conveyor 10 to the second conveyor 20 by the robot 30, and the second conveyor 20 conveys the package B downstream. A boxing device (not shown) is provided on the downstream side of the article transshipment device, and the package B is packed into the cardboard box.

(2) Detailed Configuration of Article Reloading Device (2-1) First Conveyor The first conveyor 10 is a transfer device for transferring the package B from the upstream side of the item transfer device to the picking range of the robot 30. Here, a belt conveyor in which an endless belt is stretched around a driving roller and a driven roller is employed as the first conveyor 10, but a roller conveyor in which a large number of rollers are arranged without using a belt may be employed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3C, on the first conveyor 10, the packages B are arranged in a line along the transport direction A (see FIG. 1), and in that state, the packages B are sent in the transport direction. . Here, the 1st conveyor 10 is sending the package B continuously.

(2-2) Second Conveyor The second conveyor 20 is a transfer device that is arranged so that its upstream end (front end) is adjacent to the downstream end (rear end) of the first conveyor 10, and the robot 30 is placed thereon. It plays a role of transporting the packaged product B to the downstream side. Here, as with the first conveyor 10, a belt conveyor is employed as the second conveyor 20, but a roller conveyor may be employed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the package B is arranged in two rows along the transport direction on the second conveyor 20. The conveyance direction of the second conveyor 20 is the same as the conveyance direction A of the first conveyor 10. If it demonstrates in detail, the center line 21 along the conveyance direction of the 2nd conveyor 20 will correspond with the center line 11 along the conveyance direction A of the 1st conveyor 10, and the 2nd conveyor 20 is the 1st conveyor. 10 on the downstream side in the transport direction A so as to be aligned with the first conveyor 10.

  Further, the packages B arranged in two rows on the second conveyor 20 are placed so as to overlap vertically as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. When the package B is placed so that the two packages overlap vertically, the second conveyor 20 sends the package B downstream by a predetermined feed amount. That is, the 2nd conveyor 20 conveys the package B intermittently.

(2-3) Robot As shown in FIG. 2, the robot 30 is a parallel link robot having three sets of links. The robot 30 includes a base 32, three servo motors 33a, 33b, and 33c that are attached to the lower side of the base 32 at equal intervals, and parallel link arms 34a that are driven by the servo motors 33a, 33b, and 33c, respectively. 34b, 34c. As shown in FIG. 1, the base 32 is arranged so as to overlap the downstream end of the first conveyor 10 and the upstream end of the second conveyor 20 in a plan view. The upper ends of the parallel link arms 34a, 34b, 34c are connected to the output shafts of the servomotors 33a, 33b, 33c, and the lower ends are connected to the suction gripping portion 38. Each parallel link arm 34a, 34b, 34c extends from each output shaft of the servo motors 33a, 33b, 33c to the suction gripping portion 38, respectively. During the operation of the robot 30, the rotation amount and the rotation direction of each output shaft of each servo motor 33a, 33b, 33c are appropriately controlled, and the lower end of each parallel link arm 34a, 34b, 34c moves in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. Thus, the suction gripping portion 38 is moved to an arbitrary position in a fixed three-dimensional space.

  The suction gripping portion 38 of the robot 30 has a plurality of suction pads (not shown) in the lower part thereof. Each suction pad is connected to a suction tube 36 extending from a vacuum pump or a vacuum blower (not shown), and the suction grip state and suction release state of the package B are switched. The suction gripping part 38 grips or separates the package B by the suction and release of the package B by the suction pad. Specifically, the suction gripping portion 38 grips the package B on the first conveyor 10, the parallel link arms 34a, 34b, and 34c lift the suction gripping portion 38 that grips the package B, and move it to the plane. 2 The package B by the suction gripping portion 38 is released on the conveyor 20. Thereby, package B leaves | separates from the adsorption | suction holding part 38, and is mounted on the 2nd conveyor 20 (refer FIG. 3A-FIG. 3C).

  In FIG. 1, both the package B near the downstream end of the first conveyor 10 and the packages B in both rows near the upstream end of the second conveyor 20 )

(3) Operation of Article Reloading Device Here, the operation in which the package B that has been conveyed in one row by the first conveyor 10 as described above is transferred in two rows on the second conveyor 20 by the robot 30 will be described. To do.

  The package B that has been carried on the article placement surface 13 of the belt of the first conveyor 10 is positioned near the downstream end of the first conveyor 10 and above the vicinity of the upstream end of the second conveyor 20. It is gripped by robot 30 (see package B6 in FIG. 3A) and lifted. The suction gripping portion 38 of the robot 30 that sucks and grips the package B6 moves in the horizontal direction in a state where the package B6 is lifted from the first conveyor 10 (see FIG. 3B), and moves upward of the second conveyor 20. The package B5 reloaded prior to the package B6 is already placed on the second conveyor 20, but as shown in FIG. 3C, the robot 30 moves the package B6 diagonally above the package B5. Move to position. From the state shown in FIG. 3C, the robot 30 releases the suction gripping of the package B6 by the suction gripper 38, and the package B6 is placed on the package B5 and the second conveyor 20.

  In addition, the packages B1 and B2 that are placed on the article placement surface 23 of the second conveyor 20 so as to overlap in the vertical direction shown in FIG. 3A are packages B that are reloaded before the package B5. Later, it was intermittently transported once. Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, the first conveyor 10 is continuously moving during the reloading operation of the package B by the robot 30, and the package B7 following the package B6 being reloaded is positioned at that position. Gradually move downstream.

  Moreover, about the movement distance at the time of transshipment (packaging) of the package B by the robot 30 from the 1st conveyor 10 to the 2nd conveyor 20, arrow A31 which shows the moving direction and movement locus | trajectory of the package B of FIG. As apparent from A32, the moving distance of the package B in the conveying direction A of the first conveyor 10 is longer than the moving distance of the package B in the conveyor width direction W orthogonal to the conveying direction A of the first conveyor 10. It has become.

(4) Characteristics of article transshipment device (4-1)
The article transshipment apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a first conveyor 10 that conveys the package B in one row, a second conveyor 20 that conveys the package B in two rows, and a package that has been conveyed by the first conveyor 10. And a robot 30 for transshipping the object B onto the second conveyor 20. The second conveyor 20 is arranged on the downstream side in the transport direction of the first conveyor 10 and is arranged so as to be aligned with the first conveyor 10. That is, in this article transshipment apparatus, the robot 30 transposes the package B that has been conveyed in one row on the first conveyor 10 so that the package B is arranged in two rows on the second conveyor 20.

If the second conveyor 520 is provided adjacent to the side of the first conveyor 510 as in the conventional article transshipment apparatus shown in FIG. 6 , the robot 530 that performs the transshipment operation is the second conveyor. When the package B51 is transferred from the first conveyor 510 to the second row, which is the row farther from the first conveyor 510 among the rows of 520, the first row in which the package B52 to be transferred next is placed. Transshipment must be performed on a route passing the place (see arrow A531 in FIG. 6 ).

  In contrast, in the article transshipment apparatus according to the present embodiment, the robot 30 can transfer both the first row of packages B and the second row of packages B arranged on the second conveyor 20 along a short path. is made of. That is, since the second conveyor 20 is aligned with the first conveyor 10 (refer to the center lines 11 and 21 in FIG. 1), the robot 30 removes the package B transported by the first conveyor 10. The articles on the first conveyor 10 can be transferred to the second conveyor 20 through a long path that can be transferred to the second conveyor 20 along a path along the conveyance direction A and pass over the package B in the other row of the second conveyor 20. There is no need to reload.

  Thus, in this article transshipment apparatus, the speed of transshipment of the package B by the robot 30 is increased, and the processing capability is improved as compared with the conventional one. Further, since the transfer path of the package B by the robot 30 is shortened, a small parallel link robot can be employed.

(4-2)
In the article transshipment apparatus according to the present embodiment, not only one row of packages B of the first conveyor 10 becomes two rows on the second conveyor 20, but also two packages B are stacked vertically on the second conveyor 20. In addition, the robot 30 transships the package B from the first conveyor 10 to the second conveyor 20. Accordingly, the robot 30 is required to have high speed, but since the transfer path of the package B by the robot 30 is shortened as described above, the processing capacity of the article transshipment apparatus is sufficiently ensured. Yes.

(4-3)
In the present embodiment, the package B, which is a product filled with potato chips in a bag, is the object to be transported and transshipped, and thus an article in which a fluid is contained in a bag of soft packaging material is the object. In this case, the article transshipment apparatus in which the first conveyor 10 and the second conveyor 20 are arranged in a straight line functions particularly effectively.

If the second conveyor 520 is provided adjacent to the side of the first conveyor 510 as in the conventional article transshipment apparatus shown in FIG. 6 , the first conveyor 510 moves along the conveyance direction A. The moving direction of the package B being conveyed is suddenly changed by the robot 530 by about 90 degrees. Then, even if the package B is a product filled with potato chips in a bag or a product filled with a viscous liquid such as curry in a retort bag, the potato chips and curry flow in the bag, and the packaging The center of gravity of the object B changes. Thereby, there exists a possibility that the attitude | position of the stacking of the package B may collapse | crumble. Further, in the package B that has started to move from the first conveyor 510 to the side second conveyor 520 by sucking and gripping the surface of the packaging bag by the robot 530, the conveyance direction A of the fluid such as potato chips and curry However, the inertial force may act on the portion that is sucked and gripped, and the robot 530 may unravel the suction and gripping state of the package B. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to increase the suction and gripping force of the robot 530 at an increased cost.

  On the other hand, in the article transshipment apparatus according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3A to 3C, the moving direction of the package B when the package B is transferred by the robot 30 (arrow A31 in FIG. 1). , A32) is a direction along the conveyance direction A of the package B of the first conveyor 10, and the moving direction of the package B is not changed abruptly. That is, the inertial force along the conveyance direction A of the fluid such as potato chips or curry is caused by the robot 30 picking up the package B from the first conveyor 10 and placing the package B on the second conveyor 20. It is sufficient to perform the process step by step, and the burden on the suction gripping portion 38 is small. Moreover, since there is no sudden change in the direction of movement of the package B, the unevenness of the contents in the package B can be suppressed, and the stacking posture of the packages B on the second conveyor 20 can be properly maintained. ing.

(5) Modification (5-1) First Modification In the above embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 3C, the article placement surface 13 of the first conveyor 10 and the article placement surface of the second conveyor 20. The conveyors 10 and 20 are installed so that the height position of the conveyor 23 is the same. It can be said that such an arrangement is suitable when using the second conveyor 20 without placing the package B on it.

  However, if it is often used in such a manner that a plurality of packages B are stacked on top of each other on the second conveyor 20, as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, the height positions of the article placement surfaces of both conveyors It is also effective to change

  4A to 4C, instead of the second conveyor 20 in which the height position of the article placement surface 23 of the above embodiment is high, the height position of the article placement surface 123 is that of the first conveyor 10. A second conveyor 120 that is lower than the article placement surface 13 is employed. That is, a step is provided between the article placement surface 13 of the first conveyor 10 and the article placement surface 123 of the second conveyor 120. The height of this step is substantially the same as the height of one package B. Since both the conveyors 10 and 120 are arranged in this manner, the package B8 on the article placement surface 13 of the first conveyor 10 and the article placement surface 123 of the second conveyor 120 located at a lower position than the article placement surface 13 of the first conveyor 10. The distance in the height direction from the upper surface is reduced, and the transfer path due to the operation of the robot 30 (see FIGS. 4A to 4C) for further stacking the package B9 on the package B8 of the second conveyor 120 is shortened. The time required for transshipment is shortened. Specifically, it is not necessary to lift the package B6 high as in the above embodiment (see FIGS. 3B and 3C), and the second conveyor is lifted slightly as shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C. When horizontally moved onto 120, the package B9 comes to be located above the package B8 placed on the second conveyor 120, and the transfer path of the operation of the robot 30 for transferring the package B9 is established. The time required for transshipment is shortened by shortening the level difference between the conveyors 10 and 120.

(5-2) Second Modification In the above embodiment, the change in the planar posture of the package B when the package B is transferred by the robot 30 is not mentioned. The conveyor 20 may be reloaded without changing the planar posture of the package B, or the robot 30 may be rotated in a plane and reloaded. Even when the package B is rotated during the transshipment operation, the movement direction at the time of transshipment of the package B is along the transport direction A of the first conveyor 10. It is effective in terms of handling.

(5-3) Third Modification In the above-described embodiment, the first conveyor 10 is constantly moved to perform the transshipment operation by the robot 30 while continuously transporting one row of packages B. Depending on the conveyance speed of the conveyor 10 and the operation status of the robot 30, the package B may be dropped from the downstream end of the first conveyor 10.

  When there is such a possibility, it is preferable to arrange an air jet device that blows a jet stream from the side of the first conveyor 10 and distributes the package B near the downstream end of the first conveyor 10. As a result, the package B that could not be processed by the robot 30 can be distributed outside the line and returned to the upstream side of the line again.

(5-4) Fourth Modification In the above embodiment, the first conveyor 10 continuously sends the package B, and the second conveyor 20 intermittently conveys the package B. Also, the present invention can be applied to an article transshipment apparatus in which the conveyors 10 and 20 convey articles intermittently, and to an article transshipment apparatus in which the conveyors 10 and 20 continuously convey articles.

(5-5) Fifth Modification In the above embodiment, the package B is transshipped from the first conveyor 10 that conveys the package B in one row to the second conveyor 20 that conveys the package B in two rows. In the present invention, an article that has been conveyed in N rows (N is an integer of 1 or more) on the first conveyor is transferred to the second conveyor. If it is an article transshipment device that transposes in an (integer) row, the above-described effect of improving the processing capability can be achieved by application.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, in an article transshipment apparatus in which a robot 30 performs transshipment of a product P from a first conveyor 210 that conveys the product P in two rows to a second conveyor 220 that conveys the product P in three rows. In addition, by arranging the conveyors 210 and 220 so as to be aligned in a straight line, the transfer path of the product P by the robot 30 is shortened, and the processing speed of the article transshipment apparatus is improved. In the article transshipment apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the center lines 211 and 221 along the conveying direction of both conveyors 210 and 220 are made to coincide.

(5-6) Sixth Modification In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the second conveyor 20 that conveys the package B in two rows from the first conveyor 10 that conveys the package B in one row. However, in the present invention, the robot transfers the articles that have been transported in N rows on the first conveyor so that the articles are arranged in the N rows on the second conveyor. The present invention can also be applied to an article transshipment apparatus. For example, even when the present invention is applied to an apparatus for transferring by a robot from a first conveyor that conveys packages in one row to a second conveyor that conveys packages in one row, the reloading speed by the robot is high. And the processing capacity of the device is improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 1st conveyor 13 Article mounting surface 20 2nd conveyor 30 Robot 38 Adsorption | suction grip part (grip part)
120 Second conveyor 123 Article placement surface B Packaging bag (article)
P product (article)

JP 2011-213812 A

Claims (4)

An article transshipment device arranged on the upstream side of a boxing device that packs a package, which is an article that can cause a content bias, into a cardboard box,
One first conveyor for transporting the package of N (N is an integer of 1 or more) rows;
One second conveyor for transporting the package of M (M is an integer equal to or greater than N + 1) rows to the boxing device ;
Has a suction gripping unit for adsorbing the package, said a robot to move to an arbitrary position of the suction gripper is a fixed three-dimensional space, said package having been transported by the one first conveyor A parallel link robot for transshipment to the one second conveyor,
With
The one second conveyor is
The upstream end is disposed adjacent to the downstream end of the one first conveyor,
The conveying direction is the same as the conveying direction of the one first conveyor,
The parallel link robot, wherein one of said package which has been conveyed by the first conveyor, the adsorbed by the adsorption gripper, a path along the conveying direction, the packaging on the one second conveyor things as two or more of the package of parallel beauty and each column parallel to the M columns stacked vertically, reloaded into said one second conveyor,
Goods transshipment device. Wherein the mounting face of one of the second conveyor, said to be lower than the mounting face of one of the first conveyor, wherein one of the first conveyor and said one second conveyor is arranged,
The article transshipment apparatus according to claim 1 . The parallel link robot is
Without suddenly stopping the movement along the conveying direction of the one first conveyor of the package with inertia,
Wherein a straight line path along the conveying direction, reloading the package which has been conveyed by the one first conveyor to said one second conveyor,
The article transshipment apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . The parallel link robot, during transshipment of the package from said one first conveyor to said one second conveyor, said package, towards the moving distance of the conveying direction of the one of the first conveyor the one Move so as to be longer than the moving distance in the conveyor width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the first conveyor,
The article transshipment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .

Images