JP6784076B2 - Container transport device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a container transport device that transports a container that is transported in a sideways state in an upright position.

There is known a container transporting device in which containers that are laid on the transport conveyor in the width direction of the conveyor are picked up one by one by a robot and put into a bucket of a discharge conveyor in an upright direction (Patent Document 1). reference). The containers put into each bucket fall and stand up while being supported by the buckets on their sides, and are aligned on the discharge conveyor located below the basket. After that, the container is conveyed to a filling device or the like downstream by a discharge conveyor.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-144891

By the way, it is difficult for a soft and lightweight container such as a container filled with ketchup or mayonnaise to stand on its own on a conveyor. Therefore, when a container that is difficult to stand on its own is conveyed on a conveyor in an upright state, a carrier is placed on the conveyor and the bottom of each container is fitted to the carrier to maintain the upright state of the container. In the configuration using a carrier, when the container size is changed due to a mold change or the like, the carrier must be changed accordingly, and it is necessary to secure a storage place for the unused carrier. Therefore, even in the case of transporting a container that requires a carrier and is difficult to stand on its own, there is a demand for neck transport in which the neck of the container is gripped by a gripper and transported.

In order to carry out neck transfer, it is necessary to deliver the container from the conveyor with a bucket to the star wheel with a gripper. However, the size of the bucket is slightly larger than the size of the container to facilitate the loading of the container. Therefore, the position of the container in the upright bucket varies, and the gripper does not always accurately grasp the neck of the container, which may cause a mistake in taking out.

An object of the present invention is to reduce mistakes in taking out a container from a transfer device with a bucket to a transfer device with a gripper.

The container transport device of the present invention is provided with a first transport means having a bucket provided with a take-out port and a gripper for gripping the container, and grips the container in the bucket with the take-out port. The bucket is provided with a guide member that can move between the contact position that abuts the container and the standby position that is separated from the container, and the guide member is moved from the standby position. A guide member moving means for moving the guide member to the contact position is provided, and when the gripper grips the container, the guide member is moved from the standby position to the contact position.

The tip of the guide member has a V shape and abuts on the shoulder of the container at the contact position to position the container in the bucket along the transport direction of the first transport means.

Further, an insertion port for inserting a container into the bucket is provided at the upper part of the bucket, and a container supply means for supplying the container into the bucket from the insertion port of the bucket is provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce an error in taking out a container in delivery of a container from a transfer device with a bucket to a transfer device with a gripper.

It is a top view which shows the structure of the whole container transport system of 1st Embodiment. It is a cross-sectional view along the line II-II of FIG. It is a cross-sectional view along the line III-III of FIG. It is an arrow view from the IV direction of FIG. It is a top view explaining the state which operates the container positioning mechanism and delivers a container V to an inlet star wheel. It is a top view which shows the structure of the whole container transport system of 2nd Embodiment. It is a cross-sectional view along the line VII-VII of FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the configuration of the entire container transport system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The container transport system 10 of the first embodiment includes a supply conveyor (supply means) 12, a transfer robot 14 (see FIG. 2), a bucket conveyor (first transport means) 16, and an inlet star wheel 18 (second transport) from the upstream side. Means) and the like, and the container V is conveyed to a device such as a filler on the downstream side via a relay star wheel 20 or the like. The container V handled in the container transport system 10 is a soft and lightweight container filled with, for example, ketchup or mayonnaise, and is generally a container that is difficult to stand on its own.

The container V is placed in a hopper (not shown) provided on the upstream side, and is transferred from the hopper to the supply conveyor 12 using a scraping-type conveyor or the like. The transport surface of the supply conveyor 12 is provided with crosspieces 12R extending in the width direction at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. The container V is placed between the crosspieces 12R in a sideways state along the crosspiece 12R, and is conveyed from left to right in FIG. At this time, the neck portion Vn of the container V is randomly directed to one of the left and right sides in the width direction depending on the state when the container V is scraped up.

A bucket conveyor 16 is arranged adjacent to the supply conveyor 12 in parallel, and a suction hand 14H is provided above the supply conveyor 12 and the bucket conveyor 16, for example, a parallel link type, an articulated type, and a scalar type. Etc. is arranged. Note that FIG. 1 shows the movable range C of the suction hand 14H.

A detection device 22 using a camera or the like is arranged on the upstream side of the movable range C of the supply conveyor 12, and the direction of the container V conveyed on the supply conveyor 12 is detected. The transfer robot 14 adsorbs the container V in the movable range C conveyed on the supply conveyor 12, and based on the detection result of the detection device 22 as described later, the bucket conveyor so that each container V stands upright. The container V is charged into each of the buckets 17 of 16.

The bucket conveyor 16 is a conveyor that circulates a large number of buckets 17 in a horizontal plane, and the container V is housed in each bucket 17 in an upright state. The bucket conveyor 16 is driven so that, for example, the bucket 17 adjacent to the supply conveyor 12 moves in the direction opposite to that of the supply conveyor 12. An inlet star wheel 18 is arranged adjacent to the bucket conveyor 16 on the opposite side of the bucket conveyor 16 from the supply conveyor 12.

The inlet star wheel 18 has a large number of grippers along the outer circumference and is rotated in synchronization with the bucket conveyor 16. Each gripper of the bucket conveyor 16 grips the neck portion Vn of the container V in the bucket 17 which is moved synchronously, and takes out the container from the bucket 17. The taken-out container V is handed over to a gripper (not shown) of the relay star wheel 20 and is neck-conveyed to a filler device (not shown) arranged on the wake side.

Next, a more detailed configuration of the entire bucket conveyor 16 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

The bucket conveyor 16 includes a belt 26 that is hung on a pair of pulleys 24A and 24B that rotate around a vertical axis. The inner peripheral surface of the belt 26 is supported by a belt receiver 30 provided on the support base 28 to prevent slack. Bucket holding portions 32 are attached to the outer peripheral surface of the belt 26 at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction of the belt (details will be described later).

A pair of upper and lower rails 34A and 34B arranged along the side sides of the belt 26 are provided above and below the belt 26, and the rails 34A and 34B are provided with rollers 36A pivotally supported above and below the bucket holding portion 32, respectively. , 36B are engaged. That is, the bucket holding portion 32 is movably held by the upper and lower rails 34A and 34B along the belt 26, and is moved along the rails 34A and 34B by the running of the belt 26. The rails 34A and 34B are supported by the support base 28.

As will be described later, the bucket 17 is surrounded by wall surfaces on three sides except the surface opposite to the belt 26, and the container V is charged from above, and the charged container V is supported by the bottom surface 38 of the bucket 17. In the bucket conveyor 16, in the area where the container V is charged by the transfer robot 14, that is, the area inside or near the movable range C, the engaging bars 40A are placed inside and outside the bucket 17 along the traveling direction of the conveyor, respectively. , 40B are arranged.

The engaging bars 40A and 40B engage with the container V that falls due to the suction release of the suction hand 14H so that the neck portion Vn of the container V always faces upward and is dropped into the bucket 17. Therefore, the engagement bars 40A and 40B are arranged at positions slightly higher than the bucket 17 and lower than the suction hand 14H. The transfer robot 14 controls the position where the container V is dropped according to the direction of the neck portion Vn of the container V (whether it faces outward or inward with respect to the bucket conveyor 16).

Further, in the section where the engagement bars 40A and 40B are arranged, the container V that falls in the bucket 17 is adjacent to the outside of the bucket 17 so as not to fall from the outer portion (the portion without the wall surface) of the bucket 17. An insertion guide 42 is provided. The insertion guide 42 serves as an outer wall of the bucket 17 in this section, and exhibits a cross-sectional shape substantially symmetrical to the inner side wall of the bucket 17. That is, both the inner side wall of the bucket 17 and the upper side of the insertion guide 42 facilitate the entry of the container V that spreads inward and outward and falls into the bucket 17. The engagement bar 40A is supported by, for example, a support base 28, and the engagement bar 40B and the insertion guide 42 are supported by a support member 44 arranged outside the bucket 17.

Further, between the installation section of the insertion guide 42 and the delivery section of the container V between the inlet star wheel 18 and the delivery section of the container V, a side guide 46 for preventing the container V from falling off from the outside of the bucket 17 is provided along the trajectory of the bucket 17. Is arranged and supported by the holding portion 48.

Further, the bucket conveyor 16 of the present embodiment includes a container positioning mechanism (guide member moving means) 50 for each bucket 17 as described later. Each of the container positioning mechanisms 50 is provided in the bucket holding portion 32 and operates in the delivery section of the container V to the inlet star wheel 18 to position the position of the neck portion Vn of the container V.

Next, the configuration of the container positioning mechanism 50 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an arrow view from the IV direction of FIG. Further, FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a state in which the container positioning mechanism 50 is operated to deliver the container V to the inlet star wheel 18.

As shown in FIG. 5, the container positioning mechanism 50 is held by a bracket 54 provided inside the plate 52 (belt 26 side) which is the main body of the bucket holding portion 32. The container positioning mechanism 50 is supported by a bracket 54 and includes a rail 56 orthogonal to the surface of the plate 52. The rail 56 extends inward of the bucket conveyor 16, and a pair of rollers 58 are engaged with each side of the rail 56. The roller 58 is pivotally supported by the guide member 60, and the guide member 60 is movable along the rail 56, that is, in the vertical direction of the plate 52.

At the position corresponding to the guide member 60 of the plate 52, an opening 52A for inserting the guide member 60 to the opposite side where the bucket 17 is located is provided, and the tip of the guide member 60 extends from the opening 52A to the opposite side of the plate 52. It protrudes and moves back and forth along the rail 56 toward the bucket 17 by the engagement of the guide member 60 and the cam 62 and the action of the spring 64.

More specifically, the plate 52 is provided with a guide rod 63 along the rail 56, and a spring 64 is wound around the guide rod 63. The spring 64 is installed in a compressed state between the guide member 60 and the plate 52, and urges the guide member 60 toward the inside of the conveyor along the rail 56. The guide member 60 is provided with a cam follower 66 that engages with a cam 62 extending in the belt traveling direction. That is, the guide member 60 compresses the spring 64 and moves toward the bucket 17 side according to the shape of the cam 62, or moves toward the inside of the conveyor by the urging force of the spring 64. In FIG. 3, the state of projecting in the bucket 17 direction is shown by a broken line.

The cam 62 is held by, for example, a support base 28. Further, a stopper 56S that regulates the movement (movable range) of the guide member 60 in the same direction is provided at the tip of the rail 56 inside the conveyor, and the guide member 60 is provided with an insertion hole 60A through which the guide rod 66 is inserted. Be done.

The bucket 17 has a bottom surface 38, and is placed and held on the bottom surface 38 of the charged container V. The peripheral side surface of the bucket 17 is surrounded by three side surfaces excluding the surface opposite to the plate 52 (the outer surface with respect to the bucket conveyor 16), and the outer surface of the bucket 17 is a container by the inlet star wheel 18. It is opened as an outlet 19. In this embodiment, the inner wall of the bucket 17 is attached to the plate 52 via, for example, a stud 68.

The gripper 70 of the inlet star wheel 18 is inserted into the bucket 17 from the container take-out port 19 side of the bucket 17, and grips the neck portion Vn of the container V. The container V whose neck portion Vn is gripped by the gripper 70 is withdrawn from the bucket 17 through the container outlet 19. In the present embodiment, when the gripper 70 is inserted or removed into the bucket 17, the front side wall 171 is prevented from interfering with the front side wall 171 on the front side in the transport direction and the rear side wall 172 on the rear side in the transport direction of the bucket 17. Notches 171A and 172A are formed at positions corresponding to the neck portion Vn of the rear side wall 172.

The drive mechanism of the gripper 70 has a conventionally known configuration. For example, an arm 71 is attached to one of the rotating shafts 75 of a pair of gripper pieces, a cam follower 72 is provided at the tip of the arm 71, and the cam follower 72 is engaged with the cam follower 72. The arm 71 is rotated by the contact between the cam 73 and the cam 73, and the rotation is transmitted to the rotation shaft 75 of the other gripper piece via the gear 74 to open and close the gripper 70 composed of the pair of gripper pieces. The rotating shaft 75 provided with the arm 71 is provided with an arm 77 to which the spring 76 is attached, and the rotating shaft 75 is urged in the direction of pressing the cam follower 72 against the cam 73 by the urging force of the spring 76.

Since the bucket 17 is configured to be slightly larger than the outer dimension of the container V so that the container V can be smoothly put into the bucket 17, the position of the container V in the bucket 17 after the filling is not necessarily the gripper 70. It is not always in the proper receiving position. The container positioning mechanism 50 of the present embodiment is a mechanism for moving the position of the neck portion Vn to an appropriate position and holding the neck portion Vn of the container V at an appropriate position when the neck portion Vn of the container V is gripped by the gripper 70.

As shown in FIG. 5, a plan view of the guide member 60 of the container positioning mechanism 50 has a V-shaped tip 60E. The bucket 17 of the first embodiment is composed of a holding portion 17A forming a region corresponding to the body portion of the container V and a guide portion 17B forming a region above the neck portion Vn of the container V. The guide portion 17B serves to guide the container V to the holding portion 17A when the container is put into the bucket 17.

In the present embodiment, for example, a slit-shaped opening 173 for inserting the guide member 60 is provided at a position (boundary with the guide portion 17B) located at the uppermost portion of the holding portion 17A on the inner side wall 170. The guide member 60 moves from right to left together with the bucket 17 in FIG. 5, and is pushed out into the bucket 17 by the cam 62 from a standby position separated from the container V, and the V-shaped tip 60E of the guide member 60 is a container. It is pressed against the shoulder of V. The guide member 60 is projected to a contact position where the gripper 70 reaches the position where the container V is received, whereby the neck portion Vn of the container V is moved to a position suitable for the gripper 70 to grip the neck portion Vn. The gripper 70 holds the neck Vn in that position until it is gripped.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the position of the container in the bucket can be moved and held at an appropriate position at the delivery position to the gripper, so that the container from the bucket conveyor to the star wheel with the gripper can be moved. It is possible to reduce take-out mistakes in the delivery of wheels.

Next, the container transport system of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. Note that FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the configuration of the entire container transport system of the second embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG.

In the container transfer system 10 of the first embodiment, the container V is put into the bucket 17 by using the transfer robot 14, but in the second embodiment, the aligned containers V are supplied in a plurality of rows, and a plurality of bucket conveyors are supplied. This corresponds to the case where a container supply device (for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2816568, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-292259, etc.) for simultaneously charging a plurality of rows of containers into a bucket is used. The same reference numerals are used for the same configurations as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The container supply device 82 used in the container transfer system 80 of the second embodiment directs the containers V whose orientations have already been adjusted as described above in N rows (N is an integer of 2 or more) toward the bucket conveyor 84. Transport in sequence. That is, in FIG. 6, the container supply device 82 supplies the containers V to the N buckets 86 of the bucket conveyor 84 moving from right to left in N rows from the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the bucket 84, and N containers V are supplied. The upright container V is put into the bucket 86 at the same time.

At this time, the bucket conveyor 84 does not need the engagement bars 40A and 40B of the first embodiment, and the bucket 86 does not need the guide portion 17B as in the first embodiment as shown in FIG. That is, the bucket 86 is composed of only the accommodating portion 17A in the first embodiment, and if the height of the bucket 86 is lower than that of the guide member 60, it is not necessary to provide an opening for inserting the guide member 60. ..

As described above, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained in the configuration of the second embodiment.

The insertion portion provided on the inner side wall of the bucket in the first embodiment is not limited to the shape of a hole such as a slit. For example, the guide portion and the accommodating portion are separated from each other with a gap between the two members. The guide member may be inserted by arranging the guide member.

Further, the cross-sectional shape of the bottom surface 38 with respect to the transport direction is L-shaped, and the bottom surface 38 is configured to be independent of the bucket 17 (inner side wall 170, front side wall 171, rear side wall 172, etc.), and is similar to the guide member 60, for example. It is also possible to use a cam mechanism or the like to allow the container V to move forward and backward toward the outside of the bucket conveyor 16 in synchronization with the guide member 60, and to push the container V toward the inlet star wheel 18. Further, if the bottom surface 38 and the guide member 60 are pushed out to a position where the container V is completely exposed to the outside of the bucket 17, the inlet star wheel 18 is positioned with respect to the bucket conveyor 16 so that the gripper 70 does not interfere with the bucket 17. Can be placed apart from each other. In that case, the notches 171A and 172A of the bucket 17 are unnecessary.

10 Container conveyor system 16 Bucket conveyor (first conveyor)
17 Bucket 18 Entrance star wheel (second transport means)
50 Container positioning mechanism (guide member moving means)
60 Guide member 70 Gripper 86 Bucket V container

Claims (3)

A first transport means that accommodates a container and has a bucket provided with an outlet,
A gripper for gripping the container is provided, and a second transport means for gripping the container in the bucket and taking it out from the bucket through the take-out port is provided.
The bucket is provided with a guide member that can move between a contact position that abuts on the container and a standby position that is separated from the container.
A guide member moving means for moving the guide member from the standby position to the contact position is provided, and when the gripper grips the container, the guide member is moved from the standby position to the contact position. A characteristic container transport device. The tip portion of the guide member has a V shape, and by abutting the container shoulder portion at the contact position, the container is positioned in the bucket along the transport direction of the first transport means. The container transport device according to claim 1. An insertion port for inserting a container into the bucket is provided at the upper part of the bucket.
The container transport device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a container supply means for supplying a container into the bucket from the insertion port of the bucket is provided.

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