JP6980274B2 - Goods supply device in packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article supply device in a packaging machine for collectively transporting a plurality of articles transported at irregular intervals toward a packaging machine.

Conventionally, when articles made of frozen foods such as croquettes are transported from a manufacturing machine, the distance between the articles in the front-back or left-right direction in the transport direction is not constant, and the directions of the articles are not uniform. Patent documents include a technique for collecting articles by aligning the directions of the articles so as to match the packaging specifications of a pillow packaging machine or the like arranged on the downstream side thereof, changing the articles into a group of articles arranged in an aligned state, and sending the articles to the packaging machine. It is shown in 1.

In Patent Document 1, when a specified number of articles enter any of a plurality of transport paths formed by a plurality of alignment guides provided on a transport surface of a belt conveyor for transporting articles in a flat position, those articles are described. The movement of each article is allowed all at once, and the posture of each article is twisted at the end of the transport path and passed to the belt conveyor to make it an upright posture. The technology for sending to the aircraft is disclosed.

Japanese Patent No. 5711915

However, in the device configured as described above, since the articles in the flat position are irregularly placed and transported on the transport path, it takes time for the specified number of articles to finish entering each transport path. There is a concern that the article group cannot be stably supplied to the packaging part of the packaging machine. In addition, there is a concern that the provision of a torsion belt conveyor or the like may increase the size of the device, such as increasing the overall length of the device.

An object of the present invention is to provide an article supply device in a packaging machine capable of stabilizing the time until a specified number of articles are prepared.

In order to solve the above problems, the article supply device in the packaging machine of the present invention takes the following means. First, the invention according to claim 1 comprises a transport means (C1) for sequentially transporting articles (P) in a flat position (PA) placed at irregular intervals.
An image pickup means (14) for sequentially photographing the article (P) moving in a photographing area set in the transport means (C1), and
A second transport means (C2) for transporting an article group (U) in which the articles (P) are gathered in predetermined numbers toward a packaging machine.
Based on the article position information including the orientation of each article (P) and the distance between adjacent articles (P) obtained by the imaging means (14) and the feed information of the article (P) by the transport means (C1). , A specified number of articles (P) from the articles (P) being moved by the transport means (C1) are moved in synchronization with each movement of each article (P), and each article (P) is moved. ) Is rotated by the driving force of the driving means (61) in a range of an angle smaller than 360 degrees to sequentially grip the articles in the transport direction of the article group (U) in the second transport means (C2). It is provided with a transfer means (M) that repeats an operation of collectively transferring to the transfer path (21) of the second transfer means (C2) along the line.
The transfer means (M) is
A rotary link mechanism (44), which is arranged on the upper side of the transport means (C1) and in which a plurality of links are rotatably connected to each other, and one end side of each of the rotary link mechanism (44) are provided. A parallel link robot (40) rotatably supported on the fixed frame body (42) side and rotatably connected to the moving frame body (46) on the other end side of each.
With the driving means (61) arranged in the moving frame body (46),
A support member (64) connected to the drive shaft (61A) extending in the vertical direction, and
A second driving means (62) disposed on the support member (64),
The second drive means (62) is rotatably supported by the support member (64) around the second shaft (62A) extending in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the drive shaft (61A). Holding mechanism (66) and
An air cylinder (68) disposed in the holding mechanism (66) and
The air cylinders (68) independently descend toward the article (P) in the flat position (PA), grab the article (P) from the left and right sides of the article (P), and grab the article. A plurality of gripping means (80) arranged in the holding mechanism (66) so as to be able to grip and ascend (P), and
The a, the comprises a flat posture (PA) may be changed to the grip to which the prescribed number of articles (P) are collectively standing position (PB) in the attitude changing means (S),
Each of the gripping means (80) is supported by the air cylinder (68) so as to be able to move up and down by the holding mechanism (66), and intersects the extending direction of the drive shaft (61A). It is arranged along a second axis (62A) extending in the direction, and is configured to be able to open and close along the second axis (62A) to grip the article (P).
The posture changing means (S) rotates each of the gripping means (80) that grips the article in the flat placement posture (PA) around the second axis (62A) by the second driving means (62). It is configured so that each article (P) can be changed to the standing posture (PB).

According to the invention according to claim 1, the transfer means (M) collectively puts a plurality of articles (P) placed on the transport surface (12) of the transport means (C1) into the second transport means (C2). Since it is transferred to the transport path (21) of the above, the transfer processing speed can be increased. Therefore, it is possible to provide an article supply device in a packaging machine capable of stabilizing the time until a specified number of articles (P) are prepared.

In addition, by adopting a parallel link robot (40) that specializes in transferring products by increasing the combined speed in the horizontal and vertical directions, the transfer processing speed can be increased compared to scalar robots and the like. Can be done. By adopting the parallel link robot (40), a device for transporting an article (P) that functions on the transport upstream side of the second transport means (C2), such as a device for changing the article (P) to an upright posture (PB). Alternatively, a device for changing the posture of the article can be simply configured.

Further, the gripping means (80) for holding the article (P) descends toward the transport surface (12) of the transport means (C1) at a position lower than the other gripping means (80) to hold the article (P). Therefore, it is possible to prevent the lowermost end portion of the other gripping means (80) from interfering with the article (P) placed on the transport means (C1), and the position of the article (P) based on the photographed information. Does not cause any deviation.

Next, in the invention according to claim 2, which is subordinate to claim 1, the transport surface (22) on which the article (P) is placed and travels on the second transport means (C2), and the transport surface. A transport path (21) composed of side guides (24) supporting the left and right sides of each article (P) changed to the standing posture (PB) above (22) is juxtaposed, and the transfer is described. The loading means (M) performs an operation of collectively transferring the specified number of articles (P) to the transport path (21) to form an article group (U) composed of the predetermined number of articles (P).

The invention according to the claim 2, in the second conveying means (C2), in forming an article (P) and formed by a set for every predetermined number of the group of articles (U), by a conveying means (C1) Even if the articles are transported irregularly in the front-back or left-right spacing and orientation, the articles (P) are transferred to one of the plurality of transport paths (21) of the second transport means (C2) without bias. The group (U) can be completed quickly, and the article group (U) can be stably supplied to a packaging machine such as a horizontal bag-making filling machine. Further, even when the packaging form is changed, such as the number of rows or columns of the article (P), which is different from the predetermined number, it is possible to flexibly cope with the change by simply changing the program of the parallel link robot (40).

Next, in the invention according to claim 1 or claim 2, the transfer means (M) is placed in the flat position (12) on the transport surface (12) in the transport means (C1). The specified number of articles (P) held in PA) are collectively changed to the standing posture (PB).

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the article (P) is placed in the upright posture (PB) above the transport surface (12) of the transport means (C1), so that the article (P) spills from the surface of the article (P), for example. By dropping the debris or the like onto the transport surface (12) of the transport means (C1) and then transferring the debris, the diffusion of the debris can be suppressed.

The present invention can provide an article supply device in a packaging machine capable of stabilizing the time until a specified number of articles are arranged by taking the means of each of the above inventions.

It is an overall perspective view which shows typically the article supply apparatus in the packaging machine which concerns on embodiment. (A) is a front view schematically showing the second conveyor and the transfer means, and (b) is a side view schematically showing the second conveyor and the transfer means. It is a perspective view which showed the posture changing means from the diagonal front side. It is a perspective view which showed the posture changing means from the diagonal back side. It is a perspective view which showed the state which the posture changing means changed the posture of an article to the standing posture.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the article supply device in the packaging machine of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the article supply device in the packaging machine of the present embodiment is a horizontal bag filling machine or the like in which a plurality of articles P made of frozen foods such as croquettes sent from a manufacturing machine or the like are collected one by one. It is a device to supply to the packaging machine (not shown). This article supply device is mainly composed of a first conveyor 10, a second conveyor 20, and a transfer mechanism 30.

The first conveyor 10 constituting the transporting means C1 is a conveyor that sequentially transports articles P in a flat placement posture PA placed at irregular intervals. When each of the articles P is sent from the manufacturing machine in a flat position PA, the articles P are delivered to the transport surface 12 of the first conveyor 10 in a state where the distance and orientation between the front and rear or the left and right in the transport direction are irregular. In the first conveyor 10, the transport surface 12 is composed of an endless belt, and the first conveyor 10 continuously travels to transport each article P. Each of the conveyed articles P is sequentially photographed by the camera 14 as an imaging means when moving in the photographing area set on the upstream side of the conveyed surface 12 of the first conveyor 10. Based on each photographed information, the control unit 16 obtains position information such as the orientation of each article P and the distance between adjacent articles P.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the second conveyor 20 constituting the second transport means C2 is a conveyor that transports the article group U, which is formed by collecting articles P in predetermined numbers, toward the packaging machine. The second conveyor 20 is arranged on the side intersecting the transport direction of the first conveyor 10. The second conveyor 20 has a transport surface 22 composed of an endless belt, and above the transport surface 22, the second conveyor 20 is arranged at intervals slightly longer than the thickness of the article P along the transport direction of the article P. By providing the provided side guides 24, a plurality of transport paths 21 for transporting the articles P are arranged side by side. The second conveyor 20 receives the article P in the standing posture PB between the left and right side guides 24 in each transport path 21, and conveys the article P while maintaining the posture of each received article P by the continuously traveling transport surface 22. .. On the terminal side of each transport path 21 separated from the article receiving position 25 in each transport path 21 of the second conveyor 20 by a set distance downstream, a stopper that blocks the article P that enters each transport path 21 and is transported. 27 is arranged so as to be able to move forward and backward with respect to each transport path 21. The stopper 27 transports the article receiving position 25 in each transport path 21 in order to form an article group U composed of articles P in N columns and M rows (N and M are arbitrary numbers) per package defined by the packaging specifications. The advance / retreat movement is performed based on the information obtained from the article detecting means 26 that detects the article P that has arrived at the detection position provided between the end portions of the road 21, and the article P is moved each time the article group U is completed. The dam is released and the article group U is allowed to be transported toward the downstream side of the transport path 21. The article group U for which transportation is permitted is delivered to a third conveyor (not shown) arranged at the downstream end of the second conveyor 20. Above the second conveyor 20, a transfer mechanism 30 constituting the transfer means M is arranged. The article P has a configuration in which the second conveyor 20 and the stopper 27 are operated based on information related to an operation command by a single or a plurality of control units (not shown) for exchanging information with the control unit 16 or the control unit 16 described above. Corresponds to the "second transport means C2" that transports the article group U, which is assembled at a predetermined number, toward the packaging machine.

The transfer mechanism 30 is from the article P moving by the first conveyor 10 in response to an operation command by a single or a plurality of control units (not shown) for exchanging information with the control unit 16 or the control unit 16 described above. A specified number of articles P are moved and sequentially held in synchronization with the movement of each article P, and when the specified number of articles P are moved toward the second conveyor 20, the specified number of articles P held in the flat position PA. Are collectively changed to the standing posture PB, and the operation of collectively transferring the articles to the transport path 21 of the second conveyor 20 along the transport direction of the article group U in the second conveyor 20 is repeated.

In this way, the transfer mechanism 30 performs an operation of collectively transferring a specified number of articles P to the transport path 21 by the control unit 16 or the like to form an article group U composed of a predetermined number of articles P. It corresponds to "means M". The transfer mechanism 30 has a parallel link robot 40. The parallel link robot 40 has a fixed frame body 42, a rotary link mechanism 44, and a moving frame body 46. The fixed frame body 42 is fixedly held above the second conveyor 20, and supports the moving frame body 46 via the rotary link mechanism 42. The fixed frame body 42 has an arm portion 43 protruding in three horizontal directions, and a rotation link mechanism 44 is connected to the arm portion 43. In the rotary link mechanism 44, one end side of a pair of parallel links is rotatably connected to the arm portion 43. Further, the other end side of the rotary link mechanism 44 is rotatably connected to the moving frame body 46 located below. The moving frame body 46 is configured to be freely movable in a three-dimensional space by the rotation of the arm portion 43 and the rotation of the rotary link mechanism 44. Below the moving frame 46, a hand H for holding the article P is supported.

The hand H is provided in the transfer mechanism 30 as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, and has a function of holding the article P in the flat placement posture PA and a flat placement when moving toward the second conveyor 20. It has two functions of collectively changing the specified number of articles P held by the posture PA to the standing posture PB.

The hand H is connected via a motor 61 (driving means) arranged on the moving frame body 46. The motor 61 is arranged at the center of the moving frame body 46 so that the drive shaft 61A rotated by the driving force of the motor 61 faces downward. A support bracket 64 (support member) is connected to the drive shaft 61A of the motor 61 extending in the vertical direction. A grid-like frame body 66 (holding mechanism) is supported by the support bracket 64 (support member). The grid-shaped frame 66 (holding mechanism) is rotated around the support bracket 64 (support member) so as to rotate around the second shaft 62A extending in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the drive shaft 61A. It is movably supported. A second motor 62 (second drive means) in which a drive shaft is arranged in a direction along the second shaft 62A is connected to the grid-shaped frame 66, and the second motor 62 surrounds the second shaft 62A. Rotates to. In the grid-shaped frame 66 (holding mechanism), a predetermined number of holding means 65 for holding the article P in the flat placement posture PA are arranged along the second axis 62A. The motor 61 (driving means) and the second motor 62 (second drive) are based on information related to an operation command by a single or a plurality of control units (not shown) that exchange information with the control unit 16 or the control unit 16 described above. Means), the support bracket 64 (support member), the holding means 65, and the grid-like frame 66 (holding mechanism) are held in a flat posture PA when moving toward the second conveyor 20. This corresponds to the "posture changing means S" that can collectively change the specified number of articles P to the standing posture PB.

The holding means 65 has a gripping member 80 (grasping means) that grips the article P, and a slider 67 (elevating mechanism) that allows the gripping member 80 to move up and down independently. The slider 67 is inserted through a shaft extending in the vertical direction of the grid-like frame body 66, and is configured to be able to move up and down by the driving force of the air cylinder 68. A pair of left and right gripping members 80 (grasping means) are pivotally supported on the support shaft 76 on the slider 67. The tip of the grip member 80 is supported downward in a hanging shape. A slide body 72 that slides in the vertical direction by the supply of air from the air supply unit 74 is arranged between the pair of left and right grip members 80. A link member 70 is arranged between the grip member 80 and the slide body 72. One end of the link member 70 is rotatably connected to the gripping member 80, and the other end is rotatably connected to the slide body 72. The pair of left and right gripping members 80 are configured to grip the article P by rotating around a support shaft 76 when the slide body 72 slides in the vertical direction due to the supply of air from the air supply unit 74. As a result, each of the gripping members 80 can be raised and lowered independently, and when gripping the article P being conveyed by the first conveyor 10, the gripping member 80 is lowered to a lower position among the gripping members 80. One of them is configured to grip the article P. Although not shown, the pair of left and right gripping members 80 are interposed with elastic members that urge them in directions close to each other so as to suppress rattling when the article P is gripped. Has been done.

Although not shown, the third conveyor is a supply conveyor that constitutes a part of the horizontal bag-making filling machine, and prevents the formation of the article group U from being disturbed and maintains the standing posture PB of each article P. Therefore, it is preferable to adopt a supply conveyor or the like having a pushing means for pushing the article group U from the rear side (upstream side in the transport direction) for each article group U while supporting both the left and right sides of the article group U. .. The article group U pushed from the supply conveyor is continuously sent out from the raw fabric roll and sent out into the film being molded which is formed into a cylinder by the bag making means. Then, the left and right ends of the tubular film are sealed at the overlapped portion by the vertical sealing means along the feeding direction of the tubular film, and the film portion between the front and rear article groups U in the transport direction is lateral. A pillow package is obtained by sealing along the left-right direction (width direction) intersecting the transport direction by the sealing means and cutting the film.

The overall flow of the transfer operation of the article P by the transfer mechanism 30 is as follows. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the parallel link robot 40 of the transfer mechanism 30 is an article obtained by the position information of each article obtained by the camera 14 as an image pickup means and the pulse of the encoder attached to the first conveyor 10. It operates by the command information about the transfer obtained by arithmetic processing by the control unit 16 based on the feed information of P.

The hand H is driven by a motor 61 to rotate (horizontally turn) around a vertical axis along the longitudinal direction of the article P so that the gripping member 80 grips both sides of the article P in the longitudinal direction. Here, the hand H does not rotate 360 ° around the vertical axis in order to prevent the air supply hose from twisting to the air supply unit 74 and the air cylinder 68. Further, the hand H holds the article P in the vicinity of the downstream, which is continuously conveyed so that the gripping member 80 does not come into contact with the other article P.

When the gripping member 80 grips the article P being conveyed by the first conveyor 10, the parallel link robot 40 moves in synchronization with the movement of each article P and sequentially holds the article P. In the gripping member 80 located above the article P among the gripping members 80, the slider 67 is lowered by the driving force of the air cylinder 68, and the slide body 72 is slid downward by the air supply of the air supply unit 74. The link member 70 rotates to expand the tip of the gripping member 80, and the slide body 72 slides upward to grip the article P. The other gripping member 80 also grips the article P in the same manner. After holding the article P, the gripping member 80 rises to the original height position by raising the slider 67 by the driving force of the air cylinder 68, and continues to hold the article P. In this way, since the gripping member 80 that holds the article P descends toward the transport surface 12 of the first conveyor 10 to a position lower than the other gripping member 80 and holds the article P, the other gripping member 80 The lowermost end does not interfere with the article P. When both gripping members 80 grip the article P, the hand H is held in a flat posture PA by rotating the grid-like frame 66 on the transport surface 12 of the first conveyor 10 by driving the second motor 62. The specified number of articles P are collectively changed to the standing posture PB. Here, the direction of rotation from the flat posture PA to the standing posture PB is always the same.

The hand H moves to the article receiving position 25 of the transport path 21 in the second conveyor 20 while holding the specified number of articles P together in the standing posture PB, and releases the holding of the gripping member 80 to release the article receiving position. The article P is transferred to 25. The second conveyor 20 receives the articles P in the standing posture PB in the transport path 21, and conveys the articles P in the standing posture PB while maintaining the postures of the received articles P by the continuously traveling transport surface 22. The transfer mechanism 30 repeatedly performs an operation of collectively transferring a specified number of articles P to the transport path 21 to form an article group U composed of articles P (predetermined number) per package specified in the packaging specifications.

The transport device as described above has the following effects.
-By adopting a parallel link robot 40 specialized in transferring products by increasing the combined speed in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, the transfer processing speed can be increased as compared with a scalar robot or the like.
Since the hand H collectively transfers the plurality of articles P placed on the transfer surface 12 of the first conveyor 10 to the transfer path 21 of the second conveyor 20, the transfer processing speed can be increased.
-By adopting the parallel link robot 40, a device that changes the article P to the standing posture PB, a device that conveys the article P that functions on the upstream side of the transfer from the second conveyor 20, or a device that changes the posture, etc. are simplified. Can be configured.
-In forming an article group U in which articles P are arranged in a specified number of rows and columns on the second conveyor 20, the front-back or left-right article spacing and orientation are irregularly conveyed by the first conveyor 10. Even if it arrives, it becomes possible to quickly complete the article group U by transferring the article P to one of the plurality of transport paths 21 of the second conveyor 20 without bias, and packaging such as a horizontal bag making machine. The article group U can be stably supplied to the machine.
-It is possible to flexibly respond to a change in the packaging form in which the number of rows or columns of the article P is different by simply changing the program of the parallel link robot 40.
Since the article P is placed in the upright posture PB above the transport surface 12 of the first conveyor 10, for example, the debris spilling from the surface of the article P is dropped onto the conveyor and then transferred, so that the diffusion of the debris is suppressed. can do.
Since the gripping member 80 that holds the article P descends toward the transport surface 12 of the first conveyor 10 to a position lower than the other gripping member 80 and holds the article P, the lowermost end of the other gripping member 80. It is possible to prevent the portion from interfering with the article P placed on the first conveyor 10, and the position of the article P based on the photographed information is not displaced.
When another gripping member 80 (grip means) holds the article P after the grip member 80 holds the article P, the article P is continuously held at the original height position. It is possible to avoid interfering with the article P placed on the conveyor 10, and the position of the article P based on the photographed information is not displaced.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the transport device of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and can be implemented in various other embodiments as follows.
Although the gripping member 80 (grasping means) for gripping the article P by the parallel link robot 40 has been described, the article P may be sucked and held depending on the article P to be handled.
The article group U includes an article group U configured by repeating a plurality of operations of collectively transferring a plurality of held articles P to one transport path 21 of the second conveyor 20.
As for the driving means of the air supply unit 74 of the slide body 72 and the air cylinder 68 of the slider 67 deployed in the parallel link robot 40, a drive source such as a motor may be adopted instead of the air cylinder. On the contrary, for the structure of the motor 61 (driving means) and the second motor 62 (second driving means) that employ a motor, a drive source such as an air cylinder may be adopted.
-Depending on the type to be packaged, the posture of the article P when transferred to the second conveyor 20 may be partially or completely changed to the flat posture PA instead of the standing posture PB. Further, a combination of the flat posture PA and the standing posture PB may be used.
-Although the packaging machine is shown as a horizontal bag-making filling machine, it may be a boxing device, a tray feeding device, or the like.

C1: Transport means C2: Second transport means M: Transfer means S: Posture changing means 10: First conveyor 12: Transport surface 20: Second conveyor 21: Transport path 22: Transport surface 24: Side guide 27: Stopper 30 : Transfer mechanism 40: Parallel link robot 42: Fixed frame body 44: Rotating link mechanism 46: Moving frame body 61: Motor (driving means)
61A: Drive shaft 62: Second motor (second drive means) 62A: Second shaft 64: Support bracket (support member) 65: Holding means 66: Lattice frame (holding mechanism)
80: Grip member (grip means) H: Hand P: Article PA: Flat posture PB: Standing posture U: Article group

Claims (3)

A transport means for sequentially transporting articles in a flat position placed at irregular intervals,
An imaging means for sequentially photographing the article moving in the photographing area set in the transport means, and an imaging means.
A second transport means for transporting a group of articles in which the articles are gathered at a predetermined number toward the packaging machine.
Based on the article position information including the orientation of each article and the distance between adjacent articles obtained by the imaging means and the feed information of the article by the transport means, it is defined from among the articles moving by the transport means. A number of articles are moved in synchronization with the movement of each article, rotated in a range of an angle smaller than 360 degrees by the driving force of the driving means according to the orientation of each article, and sequentially gripped . (2) The transfer means is provided with a transfer means that repeats an operation of collectively transferring to the transfer path of the second transfer means so as to be along the transfer direction of the article group in the transfer means.
The transfer means is
A rotary link mechanism, which is arranged on the upper side of the transport means and in which a plurality of links are rotatably connected to each other, and one end side of each of the rotary link mechanisms are rotatably supported on the fixed frame side. And a parallel link robot whose other end side is rotatably connected to the moving frame.
The driving means arranged on the moving frame and the driving means.
A support member connected to the drive shaft extending in the vertical direction,
A second driving means arranged on the support member and
A holding mechanism rotatably supported by the support member around the second shaft extending in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the drive shaft by the second driving means.
The air cylinder disposed in the holding mechanism and
The air cylinders are arranged in the holding mechanism so that each of them independently descends toward the article in the flat position, grasps the article from both the left and right sides of the article, and can grasp and ascend the article. With multiple gripping means
The a, comprises a posture changing means capable of changing the standing posture collectively the specified number of articles that are held by the flat posture,
Each of the gripping means is supported by the air cylinder so as to be able to move up and down by the holding mechanism, and is arranged along a second axis extending in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the drive shaft. It is configured so that it can be opened and closed along the second axis to grip the article.
The posture changing means is configured so that each of the gripping means for gripping the article in the flat position can be rotated around the second axis by the second driving means to change each article to the standing posture. Goods supply device in the packaging machine. The second transport means includes a transport surface on which the article is placed and travels, and a transport path composed of side guides that support the left and right sides of each article changed to an upright posture above the transport surface. Are lined up side by side,
The article supply device in the packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the transfer means performs an operation of collectively transferring the specified number of articles to a transport path to form an article group consisting of the predetermined number of articles. The packaging machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transfer means collectively changes the specified number of articles held in the flat position on the transfer surface of the transfer means to the upright position. Goods supply device.

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