JP7094645B2 - Article alignment device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article aligning device for aligning articles, and in particular relates to an article aligning device suitable for collecting and aligning relatively soft and elongated articles.

As a device for arranging elongated rod-shaped articles, for example, there is a device described in Patent Document 1. In the apparatus of Patent Document 1, an elongated rod-shaped article is slid and moved along an array chute having a throat extending downward while being slid and moved, and is accommodated in an alignment tray in a desired tilted posture by changing its posture. do. By sliding open the gate at the bottom of the alignment tray horizontally, the contained rod-shaped articles are dropped and discharged while maintaining the accommodated posture.

Patent Document 2 describes a rod-shaped article aligning device including an alignment container having openings at the upper and lower portions and a gate for opening and closing the lower opening, and a vibration source for vibrating the container. In the apparatus of Patent Document 2, the length dimension of the opening of the alignment container is longer than the length dimension of the rod-shaped article, and the width dimension is shorter than the length dimension of the rod-shaped article. Rod-shaped articles that do not fit in the alignment container because the orientations are not aligned are changed in direction by vibrating and swinging the alignment container so that they are aligned and stored in the alignment container in a predetermined posture.

Patent Document 3 describes a combination weighing device for an elongated rod-shaped article. In the apparatus of Patent Document 3, a rod-shaped article that has been combined and weighed is guided to a collecting chute formed in a vertically constricted vertical cylinder shape through a collecting funnel, and then supplied to a swing guide cylinder and a guide cylinder. .. The supplied rod-shaped article is housed and held in a vertical posture with the swing guide cylinder and the guide cylinder inserted, and the swing guide cylinder is swung to eliminate the overlap of the articles. After that, the shutter plate provided at the lower end of the guide cylinder is opened horizontally so that the article in the vertical posture can be dropped and discharged downward.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-273112 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-55615 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-271327

Patent Document 1 is intended for a hard rod-shaped article such as a stick pan, and it is difficult to align and discharge a relatively soft and elongated article. That is, for example, an elongated article that is relatively soft and has a high slip resistance, such as cheese cod, which is cut into strips by sandwiching cheese between dry sheets made mainly of ground cod, is directed downward. It is difficult to align and change posture while sliding down along an array chute with a throat that extends while narrowing.

Further, Patent Document 2 also targets stick-shaped confectionery that is damaged when an irregular force is applied. For example, a soft and elongated article such as cheese cod or jerky is caught in the upper opening of the alignment container. At that time, it is difficult to align the directions only by rocking.

Further, Patent Document 3 targets a combination weighing of a hard rod-shaped article that does not bend or break due to a slight impact, and is applied to a relatively soft and elongated article such as cheese cod or jerky. Is difficult. That is, when an attempt is made to weigh a relatively soft and elongated article with the device of Patent Document 3, when the article is dropped and accommodated in the guide cylinder of the final stage in a vertical posture, the article may be bent or broken due to the drop impact. be. For this reason, it is difficult to suitably discharge the weighed articles in an aligned state.

In particular, foods such as cheese cod are often sold by being sealed in a transparent packaging bag or the like so that they can be seen from the outside, and if they are mixed with bent or broken foods, the commercial value will drop.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to such a situation, and is an article aligning device capable of carrying out a relatively soft and elongated article in an aligned state without bending or folding. The purpose is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.

(1) The article aligning device according to the present invention is an article aligning device that vibrates and drives an collective trough to align articles supplied to the collective trough, and includes a plurality of the collective troughs. The collecting trough is arranged along the transporting direction of the article, and the gathering troughs other than the gathering trough on the lowermost side in the transporting direction of the article have a recessed and curved bottom. In the lowermost collective trough, a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction of the bottom plate, and the lowermost collective trough moves back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the lowermost collective trough in the lowermost collective trough. A pusher capable of pressing the article is provided, the pusher is provided at the lower end of a stay connected to an upper electric slider and extended downward, and the article to the lowermost collecting trough is the article. It is supplied from above the pusher provided at the lower end portion to the lowermost collecting trough .

According to the present invention, the elongated articles are laminated and aggregated along the recessed and curved bottom of the vibrating collective trough, and their longitudinal directions are aligned in a stable orientation along the longitudinal direction of the aggregate trough. This makes it possible to align relatively soft and elongated items such as cheese cod and jerky without bending or breaking.
Further, by moving the pusher forward, the articles in the collective trough can be extruded and discharged at once while being assembled and aligned.
Further, the articles can be aligned in stages by a plurality of collective troughs, and the lowermost collective trough in the transport direction of the articles can bring the articles into a well-ordered alignment state.

(2) In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a vibration exciter for vibration-driving the collective trough to vibrate and transport the article is provided, and the collective trough is provided at the end of the collective trough in the transport direction of the article. A shutter that opens and closes the transport path is provided.

According to this embodiment, the article to be vibrated and transported is received by the shutter, so that the articles are aligned so that their tips are aligned.

( 3 ) In still another embodiment of the present invention, the collective trough other than the collective trough on the lowermost side in the transport direction of the article has a U-shaped cross section.

According to this embodiment, the articles supplied to the aggregate trough are laminated and aggregated along the U-shaped cross section in the aggregate trough having a U-shaped cross section, and the longitudinal direction thereof is the posture along the longitudinal direction of the aggregate trough. It receives vibration action and aligns smoothly.

( 4 ) In still another embodiment of the present invention, among the plurality of collective troughs, the collective trough on the uppermost side in the transport direction of the articles is supplied with the articles discharged from the combination scale.

According to this embodiment, elongated articles in a predetermined weight range discharged from the combination scale can be aligned and carried out to a subsequent packaging processing step or the like.

According to the present invention, relatively soft and elongated articles can be aligned.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a combination weighing device including an article aligning device according to a reference example of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic front view schematically showing the combination weighing device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view schematically showing the combination weighing device of FIG. FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the upper straight feeder of the alignment supply unit. FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional side view of the end portion of the straight feeder in the upper stage of the alignment supply portion. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the upper straight feeder of the alignment supply unit. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the lower straight feeder of the alignment supply unit. FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the article aligning device. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the collective trough of the article aligning device. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a combination weighing device including the article aligning device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view of the combination weighing device of FIG. FIG. 12 is a side view of the combination weighing device of FIG. FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a sorting unit and an article aligning device. FIG. 14 is a vertical sectional side view of the article aligning device. FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing an aggregate trough in the upper stage of the article aligning device. FIG. 16 is a front view showing the upper collective trough of the article aligning device. FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing a collective trough in the middle stage of the article aligning device. FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a collective trough at the bottom of the article aligning device. FIG. 19 is a vertical sectional front view showing a collective trough in the lower stage of the article aligning device. FIG. 20 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a lower collective trough of another embodiment of the combination weighing device provided with the article aligning device according to the second embodiment. FIG. 21 is an exploded perspective view of the collective trough in the lower part of FIG. 20. FIG. 22 is a vertical sectional side view showing the collective trough in the lower part of FIG. 20. FIG. 23 is a front view showing the collective trough in the lower part of FIG. 20.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, a reference example as a reference of the present invention will be described prior to the description of the embodiment of the present invention.

[ Reference example ]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a combination weighing device provided with an article aligning device according to a reference example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic front view schematically showing the combination weighing device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic front view. , Is a schematic side view schematically showing the combination weighing device of FIG. 1.

In the following, for convenience of explanation, the left-right direction in FIG. 2 and the front-back direction of the paper surface in FIG. 3 are referred to as the left-right direction, and the front-back direction of the paper surface in FIG. 2 and the left-right direction in FIG. 3 are referred to as the front-back direction. I will do it.

The combination weighing device of this reference example is used to weigh and carry out relatively soft and elongated articles such as cheese cod or jerky, which is cut into strips by sandwiching cheese between dry sheets made from minced fish paste as the main ingredient. It is a suitable combination weighing device. In this combination weighing device, the combination scale 1 that combines and weighs and discharges articles such as cheese cod and the articles discharged from the combination scale 1 are transported to one side (left in this example) and are collectively aligned. It is equipped with a collective alignment and unloading device 2 for unloading.

The combination scale 1 arranged at the upper part includes a large number of systems in which articles are arranged side by side in the left-right direction, in this example, an alignment supply unit 3 for aligning articles while transporting them forward along an alignment transfer path of 14 systems, and each of the alignment supply units 3. It is provided with a multi-unit (14 stations in this example) weighing units 4 arranged side by side in one direction, in this example, along the lateral direction, so as to receive articles transported from the aligned transport route.

One aligned transport route in the aligned supply unit 3 is configured by arranging three straight feeders 5 in a parallel parking manner in a front-down step along the transport direction of the article. The articles transported in each aligned transport route are supplied to the corresponding measuring units 4, respectively.

Each weighing unit 4 receives and temporarily holds the articles transported in each aligned transport path in the aligned supply unit 3, and receives the articles w discharged from the supply hopper 6 and measures the weight thereof. It is equipped with a hopper 7. In this embodiment, the hoppers 6 and 7 are not shown, but are embossed in order to reduce friction with the article.

In the combination scale 1, the combination weighing is performed as in the conventional case. That is, in the control device (not shown) of the combination scale 1, the combination weight in which the weights of the articles weighed by the plurality of weighing hoppers 7 are variously combined is equal to the target combination weight or the predetermined weight closest to the target combination weight. A combination operation is performed to select an appropriate amount combination, which is a combination of the weighing hoppers 7 in the range. The article w of the weighing hopper 7 selected as an appropriate amount combination in this combination calculation is discharged downward.

As shown in FIG. 3, the measuring hopper 7 is provided with a pair of front and rear gates 7a and 7b that independently open and close in opposite directions. By selecting and opening any one of these gates 7a and 7b, 7a (7b), the held article can be discharged along the two front and rear routes.

4 to 7 are views showing the structure of the straight feeder 5 constituting the aligned supply unit 3. Of the three straight feeders 5, the upper and middle straight feeders 5 have the same structure. Therefore, FIGS. 4 to 6 typically show the upper straight feeder 5. Further, in FIGS. 6, 7 and 9 described later, only one article w is typically shown.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view showing the upper straight feeder 5, which is the best side in the transport direction of the article, FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional side view showing the end portion in the transport direction, and FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view. It is the perspective view. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the lower straight feeder 5 which is the lowermost side in the transport direction of the article among the three straight feeders 5.

Each of the straight feeders 5 in each stage has a structure in which a transport trough 10 in which a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction of the bottom plate and a connecting plate 11 on the lower surface of the bottom plate of the transport trough 10 are provided. ing. As shown in FIG. 4, the connecting plate 11 is positioned and locked to the vibration head portion 12a of the vibrating machine 12, and is detachably connected by a buckle-shaped fastener 13.

Further, the bottom surface 10a, which is the transport surface of the transport trough 10, is formed in a continuous corrugated shape having a pitch of, for example, about 15 mm and a depth of, for example, about 2 mm in the transport direction (front-back direction) of the article w. The corrugated pitch of the bottom surface 10a is a pitch corresponding to the width of one article w so that one article w enters the corrugated recess and is oriented sideways.

The elongated article w placed on the bottom surface 10a of the transport trough 10 is vibrated so as to be aligned in a lateral posture along a corrugated shape, that is, a posture in which its longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the transport direction of the article w. , It is designed to be vibrated forward. That is, the elongated article w is vibrated and transported by the transport trough 10, and is aligned in a lateral posture along the corrugated shape by repeatedly passing through the corrugated concave portions and convex portions that are continuous at a constant pitch in the transport direction. Be transported.

Since the transport direction of the article w by the transport trough 10 is forward and the arrangement direction of the plurality of measuring units 4 is the lateral direction, the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the article w is the arrangement direction of the plurality of weighing units 4. It becomes a certain horizontal direction. Therefore, the transport trough 10 vibrates and transports the article w while its longitudinal direction is aligned laterally, which is the arrangement direction of the plurality of measuring units 4.

The transport trough 10 in the upper and middle straight feeders 5 is provided with a movement restraining plate 14 that suppresses the transport movement of articles while the tip end side of the bottom surface 10a is inclined forward. The movement restraining plate 14 is made of a wide flat plate material on which the article w can be stably placed in a sideways posture. The movement restraining plate 14 extends horizontally from the bottom surface 10a of the transport trough 10 in the transport direction, and has an inclined rising portion 14a at the tip thereof, which is slightly upright and inclined upward.

Therefore, the article w that has been vibrated and conveyed by the corrugated bottom surface 10a is pushed onto the movement suppressing plate 14, and then pushed by the subsequent article w to move on the movement suppressing plate 14, and the end portion is inclined and rises. The movement is suppressed in the portion 14a, and the article is carried out little by little over the inclined rising portion 14a by the subsequent extrusion transfer. In this way, the movement restraining plate 14 imparts an appropriate transport resistance to the article w in the sideways posture, and suppresses the posture from being distorted due to a large amount of the article w being sent out at once from the end of the trough. In addition, by giving transport resistance to the article immediately before it is carried out, there is also an effect of adjusting the posture of the article with insufficient alignment.

The movement suppressing plate 14 is not limited to a flat plate shape, but may be a comb-shaped shape or the like.

As shown in FIG. 7, a transport trough shutter 15 that can be swung up and opened around the upper fulcrum p is provided at the tip of the transport trough 10 in the lower straight feeder 5, which is the final stage. In the transport trough shutter 15, the end of the transport path of the transport trough 10 is controlled to open and close by an air cylinder 16.

In this reference example , elongated articles are collectively supplied to the transport trough 10 of the upper straight feeder 5 by using a robot hand (not shown) or the like. The articles supplied to the upper straight feeder 5 are vibrated and conveyed to the middle straight feeder 5 and the lower straight feeder 5 in order to be vibrated and aligned sideways.

In this reference example , the vibration amplitude of the upper straight feeder 5 to which the articles are collectively supplied is the largest and the vibration time is the shortest, and the vibration amplitude of the lower straight feeder 5 is the smallest and the vibration time is the longest. There is.

As a result, the articles supplied in the state of being gathered in the upper straight feeder 5 are vibrated and conveyed to the middle straight feeder 5 and the lower straight feeder 5 in an appropriate amount in order, and the articles are scattered in the lower straight feeder 5. The article w can be arranged sideways so as to enter the corrugated recess of the bottom surface 10a of the transport trough 10.

The drive of each straight feeder 5 is started when the article is discharged from the supply hopper 6 and the supply hopper 6 becomes empty.

The step between the upper straight feeder 5 and the middle straight feeder 5 and the step between the middle straight feeder 5 and the lower straight feeder 5 are when the article falls and is transferred to the next straight feeder 5. In addition, a small size is preferable in order to prevent the alignment state from being disrupted.

The corrugated shape of the bottom surface 10a of the transport trough 10 may be, for example, a sine corrugated corrugated shape, or a serrated corrugated shape having a steeply inclined rising surface directed in the transport direction. ..

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the collective well-ordering and unloading device 2 below the combination scale 1 receives the articles w discharged from the plurality of measuring hoppers 7 of the combination scale 1 and arranges the plurality of measuring units 4 in the arrangement direction. It is provided with a transport conveyor 21 for transporting along the lateral direction. In this example, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, two transport conveyors 21 for transporting the article w to the left are provided, and each transport conveyor 21 is composed of a belt conveyor.

Each conveyor 21 is supported so as to be movable back and forth along the guide rail 22 shown in FIG. 1, and is individually moved back and forth by an actuator 23 such as an air cylinder with a predetermined stroke.

As shown in FIG. 3, the rearward moving position of the transport conveyor 21 on the front side (right side in FIG. 3) is the receiving position (a) of the article facing the discharge path to the front of the measuring hopper 7. Further, the forward moving position of the conveyor 21 on the rear side (left side in FIG. 3) is the receiving position (a) of the article facing the discharge path to the rear of the measuring hopper 7.

A pair of front and rear guides 24 along the conveyor path are erected on both sides of each conveyor 21 in the width direction. These guides 24 guide the article w discharged from the measuring hopper 7 onto the belt without spilling.

As shown in FIG. 2, an article aligning device 40 for collecting and aligning articles w discharged from the conveyor 21 is provided on the lower side of the conveyor 21 in the transport direction. The article aligning device 40 includes a collecting trough 25 into which the article w discharged from the conveyor 21 is charged, a vibration exciter 26 for vibrating the collecting trough 25, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the collecting trough 25 is located at the receiving position (a) for receiving the articles discharged from the measuring hopper 7 and the evacuation position (b) deviating from the receiving position (a), as shown in FIG. Four conveyors are provided in a line in the front and rear so as to face the end of each conveyor 21.

Therefore, the articles discharged from the measuring hopper 7 of the combination scale 1 are conveyed by the two conveyors 21 at the receiving position (a) or the retracting position (b), and the four collecting troughs are carried along the four conveyor routes. It is put into 25 respectively.

In this way, the articles discharged from the measuring hopper 7 of the combination scale 1 are aligned with the four articles in the four transport routes by the two conveyors 21 at the article receiving position (a) or the retracted position (b). It is sent to the device 40.

The conveyor 21 is driven for a certain period of time when the article is loaded into the collective trough 25.

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an article aligning device 40 that collects and aligns articles carried out from a conveyor 21, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a collecting trough 25 portion of the article aligning device 40.

The collective trough 25 of the article aligning device 40 has a structure in which a trough body 25a having a U-shaped cross-sectional shape with an open upper part is surrounded by a support plate 25b and reinforced and supported. It has become. In this embodiment, the trough body 25a is embossed, although not shown, in order to reduce friction with the article.

The support plate 25b has a structure in which a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction of the bottom plate. The connecting base 25c connected to the lower surface of the support plate 25b is positioned and locked to the vibration head portion 26a of the exciter 26, and is detachably connected by the buckle-shaped fastener 27.

At the tip of the collective trough 25 in the transport direction, vertical rail portions 28 connected to the support plate 25b are arranged so as to face each other inward. A shutter 29 for collective trough is guided and supported on the facing rail portion 28 so as to be vertically movable. As shown in FIG. 8, the collective trough shutter 29 is connected to an air cylinder 30 fixedly arranged in a vertical posture above the trough via a stay 31. The collective trough shutter 29 opens and closes the transport path in the collective trough 25. The collective trough shutter 29 can receive the tip of the article w loaded from the conveyor 21.

The assembled articles w are aligned and aligned by the vibration transporting action of the collecting trough 25 and the blocking action of the collecting trough shutter 29.

Further, a pusher 33 that can move forward and backward in the longitudinal direction of the trough by an air cylinder 32 is provided on the inner back portion of each collective trough 25.

Next, the operation of the combination weighing device including the article aligning device 40 will be described.

An elongated article w is timely supplied to the starting end of the upper straight feeder 5 in the aligned supply unit 3 in the transport direction by using a robot hand or the like (not shown).

The article w supplied to the starting end of the straight-moving feeder 5 in the upper stage first receives the vibration-carrying action of the straight-moving feeder 5 and moves forward while being aligned in a posture along the corrugated shape of the bottom surface 10a of the transport trough 10, that is, in a lateral posture. Will be sent to. The article w that has reached the end of the transport trough 10 of the upper straight feeder 5 is transferred to the middle straight feeder 5 over the movement restraining plate 14 while maintaining the sideways posture. Similarly, in the straight feeder 5 in the middle stage, the feed trough 10 is sent forward while being aligned in a lateral posture along the corrugated shape of the bottom surface 10a of the transport trough 10, and is sent to the straight feedr 5 in the lower stage.

In the lower straight feeder 5, the feeder 5 is sent forward while being aligned in the lateral posture, and is received and held by the shutter 15 for transport trough.

When the supply hopper 6 in the measuring unit 4 becomes empty, the shutter 15 for transport trough is controlled to open for a predetermined time, and a small amount of articles are supplied to the supply hopper 6 in a sideways posture. Then, when the article w is discharged from the weighing hopper 7 which is weighed by the weighing hopper 7 and selected as an appropriate amount combination by the combination calculation and becomes empty, the supply hopper 6 is opened and a new article w is supplied to the weighing hopper 7. To.

One of the gates 7a and 7b in the plurality of weighing hoppers 7 selected for the appropriate amount combination in the predetermined weight range by the combination calculation is selectively opened and controlled, and the article w in the predetermined weight range is moved forward or. It is dropped and discharged to the rear discharge path. The aligned state of the plurality of articles w that are dropped and discharged from the measuring hopper 7 is not significantly broken, and the articles are dropped and discharged in a substantially sideways posture.

When the article is dropped and discharged from the measuring hopper 7, at least one of the transport conveyors 21 on the front side and the rear side, which is the discharge path of the article from the measuring hopper 7, is placed at the article receiving position (a). exist. The article w discharged from the measuring hopper 7 is dropped and supplied to a plurality of places in the transport direction of the conveyor 21 at the receiving position (a) in a lateral posture in which the longitudinal direction of the article is substantially along the transport direction of the conveyor 21. Will be done.

The transport conveyor 21 that has received the article w selects either the receiving position (a) or the retracting position (b) as the carrying-out position of the article according to the situation of the collective trough 25, and moves back and forth for each transport conveyor 21. Transport is performed toward the collective trough 25 arranged corresponding to the carry-out position of the two systems. The entire amount of the article w discharged from the weighing hopper 7 and dropped and supplied to a plurality of places in the transport direction of the conveyor 21 is charged into the collective trough 25, so that the article w in a predetermined weight range is carried into the collective trough 25. Be housed.

Basically, the discharge of articles in a predetermined weight range from the measuring hopper 7 is alternately performed with respect to the front conveyor 21 and the rear conveyor 21. Further, the transport conveyor 21 basically alternately carries out the collective trough 25 corresponding to the receiving position (a) and the collective trough 25 corresponding to the retracted position (b) in a predetermined weight range. ..

The above operation is repeated according to the article discharge status in the four collective troughs 25. As a result, the articles in the predetermined weight range are sequentially transferred to the four collective troughs 25 by the two front and rear transfer conveyors 21.

The article w in a predetermined weight range loaded into the collective trough 25 of the article aligning device 40 is subjected to a vibration transporting action in a posture along the longitudinal direction of a recessed and curved bottom surface, and is transported while being aligned in parallel with each other, and is transported in the collective trough. It is received by the shutter 29. Further, at the time of loading the articles from the conveyor 21, the pusher 33 is retracted to a position that does not interfere with the loading of the articles. When the loading of the article is completed, the pusher 33 repeats advancing and retreating to the predetermined position (c) shown in FIG. 8 a predetermined number of times at a low speed so as to tap the rear end of the article w subjected to the vibration transport action. Press to align the rear edges and wait at the predetermined position (c). The predetermined position (c) in which the rear end of the article w is aligned and the pusher 33 stands by is a position slightly rearward of the rear end position of the article w that is received and laminated by the shutter 29 for collecting trough. , The rear end of the article w received by the collective trough shutter 29 is not forcibly pressed.

When the shutter 29 for the collective trough is opened, the pusher 33 advances from the standby position at a higher speed in conjunction with the shutter 29, and the aligned articles w in a predetermined weight range are extruded and discharged from the collective trough 25 at once.

According to the article aligning device 40 of this reference example , the articles w supplied to the aggregate trough 25 having a U-shaped cross section are laminated and aggregated along the U-shaped cross section, and the longitudinal direction thereof is the longitudinal direction of the aggregate trough 25. It receives vibration action in a posture along the direction and aligns smoothly. Further, the article w to be vibrated and transported is received by the shutter 29 for collective trough, so that the tip thereof is aligned, while the rear end is aligned by the pusher 33, so that both ends in the longitudinal direction are aligned in a good manner. It becomes a state.

This makes it possible to align and eject even relatively soft and elongated articles such as cheese cod and jerky without bending or breaking.

The articles w discharged from the collective trough 25 of the four article aligning devices 40 are appropriately conveyed to the packaging process. For example, a tray-shaped transport tool supported by a robot arm or the like is made to stand by at a discharge point of the collective trough 25, and the articles w discharged from the collective trough 25 in an aligned state are received by the transport tool. Next, the transport tool is moved to the conveyor line of the packaging container, the article is transferred and loaded from the carrier into the packaging container transported at a constant pitch, and then the packaging container containing the article is sent to the sealing process. , Etc. are processed.

The conveyor 21 is configured to be reversible. For example, when an excessive amount of articles that are difficult to be selected for an appropriate amount combination is supplied to the measuring hopper 7, the excessive amount of articles is discharged from the measuring hopper 7 to the conveyor 21 and the conveyor 21 is driven in reverse. As a result, the excess article is discharged to the collection box 35 arranged on the opposite side of the collecting trough 25 as shown in FIG.

[ Embodiment]
10 is a perspective view of the combined weighing device including the article aligning device according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 11 is a front view of the combined weighing device of FIG. 10, and FIG. 12 is a front view of FIG. It is a side view of the combination weighing device.

The left-right direction in FIG. 11 and the front-back direction of the paper surface in FIG. 12 are referred to as the left-right direction, and the front-back direction of the paper surface in FIG. 11 and the left-right direction in FIG. 12 are referred to as the front-back direction.

This combination weighing device is a combination weighing device suitable for weighing and carrying out relatively soft and elongated articles such as cheese cod or jerky.

This combination weighing device has a combination scale 41 that combines and weighs and discharges articles such as cheese cod, and a distribution unit 42 that distributes articles in a predetermined weight range discharged from the combination scale 41 to a plurality of locations (4 locations in this example). And, while aligning each of the articles distributed to the plurality of places by the distribution unit 42, the plurality of articles (4 in this example) are vibrated and carried out along the routes of a plurality of systems (4 systems in this example). The device 43 is provided.

The combination scale 41 is installed on a base 44 which is erected so that an operator can climb up and down, and the sorting unit 42 and the article aligning device 43 are installed on the floor surface below the distribution unit 42.

The combination scale 41 is a conical distributed feeder 46 that radially disperses and conveys the articles that are dropped and supplied from the center of the upper part by the supply device 45, and the articles that are distributed and conveyed by the distributed feeder 46 linearly outward. It is equipped with a large number of linear feeders 47 (14 units in this example) that carry vibrations, and a large number of measuring units 48 (14 units in this example) arranged in a circular shape in a plan view below the end of each linear feeder 47. ..

The weighing unit 48 includes a supply hopper 49 that receives articles from the linear feeder 47 and temporarily holds them, and a weighing hopper 50 that receives articles discharged from the supply hopper 49 and measures the weight thereof. Below these multiple weighing units 48 arranged in a circle around the distributed feeder 46, a collecting chute 51 and a collecting chute 51 that guide the articles discharged from each weighing hopper 50 downward toward the center of the device. A collective funnel 52 that collects the articles that have flowed down along the line in one place, and a collective hopper 53 that receives and temporarily accommodates and holds the articles collected by the collective funnel 52 are deployed. In this embodiment, the feeders 46, 47, the collective chute 51, the collective funnel 52, and the respective hoppers 49, 50, 53 are not shown, but are embossed in order to reduce friction with the article. ing.

In the combination scale 41, combination weighing is performed as in the conventional case. That is, in the control device (not shown) of the combination scale 41, the combination weight in which the weights of the articles weighed by the plurality of weighing hoppers 50 are variously combined is equal to the target combination weight or the predetermined weight closest to the target combination weight. A combination calculation is performed to select an appropriate amount combination, which is a combination of the weighing hoppers 50 in the range. The article of the weighing hopper 50 selected as an appropriate amount combination in this combination calculation is discharged. As a result, articles in a predetermined weight range are temporarily accommodated and held in the collecting hopper 53.

As shown in FIG. 13, the collective hopper 53 includes a pair of left and right gates 53a and 53b that independently open and close in opposite directions. By selecting and opening one of the gates 53a and 53b, 53a (53b), the temporarily held article in a predetermined weight range is selected for the left and right discharge paths and discharged.

The distribution unit 42 has a left and right distribution chute 54 for guiding the articles in a predetermined weight range distributed and discharged by the collecting hopper 53 to two locations further separated to the left and right, and a predetermined weight range guided by each distribution chute 54. It is equipped with a pair of sorting hoppers 55 that receive and temporarily hold the articles.

Like the collective hopper 53, each distribution hopper 55 also selects and opens the left and right gates 55a and 55b that open and close independently, so that the held article can be selected for the left and right discharge paths and discharged. can. That is, the articles in the predetermined weight range distributed and discharged from the collecting hopper 53 of the combination scale 41 are further distributed by the distribution unit 42 and supplied to the distribution chutes 56 fixedly arranged at four locations in the left-right direction. ing.

Four article aligning devices 43 arranged in parallel in the left-right direction are provided corresponding to the four distribution chute 56s of the distribution unit 42, and these article aligning devices 43 constitute four systems of aligned transport routes. Each article alignment device 43 comprises three collective troughs 61, 62, 63 with a downwardly curved bottom.

As shown in FIG. 14, the three collective troughs 61, 62, 63 of each article aligning device 43 are arranged in parallel in a step-down manner in the direction of transporting the articles. The aggregate troughs 61, 62, 63 are detachably connected to the electromagnetic exciters 64, 65, 75, respectively, and the aggregate troughs 61, 62, 63 are individually attached to each of the aggregate troughs 61, 62, 63 with an arbitrary vibration amplitude and vibration time. It can be driven by vibration.

It should be noted that while the upper stage on the uppermost side in the transport direction of the article and the collective troughs 61 and 62 in the next middle stage are installed in a slightly downwardly inclined posture, they are installed on the lowermost side in the transport direction of the article. The lower collective trough 63 is installed in a front-rear horizontal posture.

15 is a perspective view showing the upper collective trough 61 of the article aligning device 43, FIG. 16 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing the middle collective trough 62 of the article aligning device 43. be. Further, in FIGS. 15 and 17, only one article w is typically shown.

These collective troughs 61 and 62 have a recessed and curved bottom of the lower constriction, and the trough bodies 61a and 62a having a U-shaped cross section with an open upper part are surrounded by support plates 61b and 62b to reinforce and support them. It has a structure. The support plates 61b and 62b have a structure in which a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction of the bottom plate. The connecting bases 61c and 62c connected to the lower surfaces of the support plates 61b and 62b are positioned and locked to the vibration head portions 64a and 65a of the vibrating machines 64 and 65 shown in FIG. 14, and can be attached and detached by the buckle-shaped fastener 66. It is designed to be connected to. Wall plates 61d and 62d are provided at the rear ends of the upper and middle collective troughs 61 and 62 (the ends on the upper side in the transport direction of the articles), and the supplied articles spill out from the rear ends of the troughs. Is prevented.

At the front end of the collective trough 61, 62 (the end on the lower side in the transport direction of the article), the vertically oriented rail portions 67, 68 connected to the support plates 61b, 62b are arranged facing each other inward to the left and right. ing. Shutters 69 and 70 that open and close the transport paths in the collective troughs 61 and 62 are guided and supported on the rail portions 67 and 68 so as to be vertically movable. The outer shape of the front surface of the shutters 69 and 70 is a shape that follows the U-shaped outer shape of the collective troughs 61 and 62.

The shutters 69 and 70 are connected to the air cylinders 71 and 72 fixedly arranged in a vertical position on the side of the trough via stays 73 and 74, and are opened and closed up and down.

The collective troughs 61 and 62 are basically constantly vibration-driven, and the discharge of the article w is controlled by opening and closing the shutters 69 and 70.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the lower collective trough 63 of the article aligning device 43, and FIG. 19 is a vertical sectional front view thereof.

In the trough body 63a of the collective trough 63, a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction (left-right direction) of the bottom plate, and a low partition wall 63e extending along the transport direction is provided in the center of the left and right of the flat bottom plate. I have.

Further, the connecting base 63c attached to the lower surface of the trough main body 63a is positioned and locked to the vibration head portion 75a of the vibrating machine 75 shown in FIG. 14, and is detachably connected by the buckle-shaped fastener 76. It has become.

A vertical rail portion 77 is provided at the front end portion of the trough main body 63a (the end portion on the lower side in the transport direction of the article). A shutter 78 that opens and closes a transport path in the collective trough 63 is guided and supported on the rail portion 77 so as to be vertically movable. The outer shape of the front surface of the shutter 78 is a rectangle along the outer shape of the collective trough 63. The shutter 78 is connected to an air cylinder 79 erected and fixed in a vertical posture on the side of the trough via a stay 80, and is opened and closed up and down.

Further, above the lower collective trough 63, an electric slider 82 is arranged horizontally in the front-rear direction via a support frame 81 fixedly arranged in a cantilever shape toward the front (transport direction). A pusher 84 that can move back and forth along the bottom of the trough body 63a is provided at the lower end of the stay 83 that is connected to the slide portion 82a of the electric slider 82 and extends downward. A slit 84a straddling the partition wall 63e of the collecting trough main body 63a is formed in the left and right intermediate portions of the pusher 84.

The collective trough 63 is basically constantly vibrated, and the article w is ejected at once by moving the pusher 84 forward in conjunction with the opening of the shutter 78.

In this embodiment, the trough main bodies 61a, 62a, 63a, the shutters 69, 70, 78 of the collective troughs 61, 62, 63 of the article aligning device 43, the shoots 54, 56 of the distribution unit 42, and the distribution hopper 55 are Although not shown, it is embossed to reduce friction with the article.

Next, the operation of the combination weighing device including the article aligning device 43 will be described.

Articles in a predetermined weight range discharged from the collecting hopper 53 of the combination scale 41 are sorted by the sorting unit 42 into one of four locations in the left-right direction according to the discharging status of the articles of the four article aligning devices 43. It is supplied to the starting end of any of the four article aligning devices 43.

The articles in a predetermined weight range supplied to the article aligning device 43 are first subjected to a vibration action in the upper collective trough 61, and the elongated articles are forward-carried and closed while being vibrated and aligned in a posture in which the longitudinal direction is oriented in the front-rear direction. It is received by the shutter 69 at the position, and the advance is stopped with the front ends aligned.

Next, when the shutter 69 is opened, the article is oscillatedly conveyed and supplied to the collective trough 62 in the middle stage. The article supplied to the middle-stage collective trough 62 is subjected to a vibration action, is forward-carried while being aligned, and is received by the middle-stage shutter 70 in the closed position, and the forward movement is stopped with the front ends aligned.

Next, when the shutter 70 is opened, the article of the collective trough 62 is oscillatedly conveyed and supplied to the lower collective trough 63. The article supplied to the lower collective trough 63 is further subjected to a vibration action, is forward-carried while being aligned, and is received by the lower shutter 78 at the closed position to stop the forward movement. At this time, the article transferred to the lower collective trough 63 is prevented from being laterally oriented in the longitudinal direction by the partition wall 63e, and the longitudinal direction of the article is held in an aligned state toward the front-rear direction.

Next, the lower shutter 78 is opened, and the pusher 84, which has been waiting at the start end of the collective trough 63, operates forward, whereby the article is simultaneously extruded from the lower collective trough 63 in an aligned state. ..

For example, a transport tool supported by a robot arm or the like is waiting at the discharge point of the lower collective trough 63, and the articles discharged from the collective trough 63 are once received by the transport tool in an aligned state. After that, it is carried to a predetermined packaging line, supplied and loaded into a shallow box-shaped package or the like, and then sealed in the packaging process.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12 and the like, the distribution chute 54 in the distribution unit 42 is configured to be movable back and forth by the electric slider 58, and the reject chute 57 is connected to the back of the distribution chute 54. ing. For example, when an excessive amount of articles that are difficult to be selected for an appropriate amount combination is supplied to the measuring hopper 50, the excessive amount of articles is discharged from the weighing hopper 50 to the collecting hopper 53. Further, as shown by the virtual line in FIG. 12, the distribution chute 54 and the reject chute 57 are integrally moved forward so that the reject chute 57 faces the collective hopper 53 in the combination scale 41, which is excessive from the collective hopper 53. The article is discharged to the reject chute 57 and collected in a collection container or the like via the reject chute 57.

In the article aligning device 43 of the present embodiment, the articles discharged from the collecting hopper 53 can be arranged in stages while being vibrated and conveyed by the collecting troughs 61, 62, 63, and the collecting troughs 61, 62, Since the tips of the articles can be aligned by the shutters 69, 70, 78 of 63, the articles when they are carried out from the final stage collective trough 63 are in a good alignment state with the orientation and the ends aligned.

[Other embodiments]
The present invention can also be carried out in the following forms.

(1) In the article aligning device 43 of the above embodiment, for example, the lower collective trough 63 may be configured in the form shown in FIGS. 20 to 23. That is, in this embodiment, the trough main body 63a in which a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction (left-right direction) of the bottom plate is transported to the front half portion, which is higher than the bottom surface of the second half portion and narrower than the width of the second half portion. A front half bottom plate 63f having a passage is provided. Further, a partition wall 63e extending from the bottom plate 63f in the front half portion and the bottom surface in the second half portion is erected in the central portion on the left and right. The upper end of the partition wall 63e is set higher than the front half bottom plate 63f, and the upper end side of the partition wall 63e in the front half bottom plate 63f is inclined so as to be gradually higher in the transport direction. As a result, the article supplied to the transport passage of the front half bottom plate 63f is vibrated and transported rearward while being smoothly distributed and guided to the left and right by the inclined upper end side of the partition wall 63e.

Further, the pusher 84 is divided into left and right sides of the partition wall 63e at a position lower than the front half bottom plate 63f. The divided pusher 84 is connected and supported to the left and right lower ends of the stay 83 which is driven and moved back and forth by the electric slider 82. The pusher 84 divided into left and right is provided with a side plate portion 84b along the side plate of the trough main body 63a and a bottom plate portion 84c along the bottom surface of the trough main body 63a. As a result, the pusher 84 advances and operates, so that the article in the latter half of the trough is extruded and discharged while being scooped up.

In addition, notches k are formed in the left and right positions at the rear end of the front half bottom plate 63f to allow the stay 83 that has moved backward to enter, and the retracted pusher 84 sneaks below the rear end of the front bottom plate 63f and stands by. It has become like.

(2) Only the upper collective trough 61 in the article aligning device 43 of the above embodiment has a U-shaped cross section, and the middle collective trough 62 is formed in the width direction of the bottom plate in the same manner as the lower collective trough 63. A pair of side plates may be erected from both ends, and a partition wall may be provided at the center of the left and right sides of the bottom plate.

( 3 ) The vertical cross-sectional shape of at least the upper aggregate trough 61 in the article aligning device 43 of the above embodiment may be formed into a V-shape that is recessed and curved, and is open to the upper side.

( 4 ) A gate that simply opens and closes is provided at the lower end of the distribution chute 54 in the distribution unit 42 of the above embodiment so that the articles can be distributed and discharged to two places, and the articles distributed and discharged by the distribution unit 42 are vibrated. It can also be carried out in the form of having two systems of article aligning devices 43 for transporting.

( 5 ) When particularly high-speed processing is not required, the sorting unit 2 of the above embodiment is omitted, and the articles discharged from the combination scale 41 are supplied to a single article aligning device 43. It is also possible.

( 6 ) The number of collective troughs constituting the article aligning device 43 of the above embodiment is not limited to three, and may be less than three or four or more.

( 7 ) The measuring unit 48 of the above embodiment is not limited to the configuration including the supply hopper 49 and the measuring hopper 50, and the article weighed by another hopper, for example, the measuring hopper 50 and discharged from the measuring hopper 50. It may be configured to include a memory hopper for storing and discharging. In this case, the weighing hopper 50 and the memory hopper are targeted for the combination operation, and the memory hopper can also be selected as an appropriate amount combination.

( 8 ) The present invention is particularly suitable for aligning elongated articles such as relatively soft and elongated cheese cod, but can also be used for aligning relatively hard and elongated articles such as stick bread.

1,41 Combination scale 4,48 Weighing unit 25,61,62,63 Collective trough 29,69,70,78 Shutter 33,84 Pusher 40,43 Article alignment device 42 Sorting unit 53 Collective hopper

Claims (4)

An article aligning device that vibrates and drives an aggregate trough to align articles supplied to the aggregate trough.
A plurality of the aggregate troughs are provided, and the plurality of the aggregate troughs are arranged along the transport direction of the article.
Collective troughs other than the lowermost collective trough in the transport direction of the article have a recessed and curved bottom.
In the lowermost collective trough, a pair of side plates are erected from both ends in the width direction of the bottom plate.
It is provided with a pusher capable of moving back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the lowermost collective trough and pressing the article in the lowermost collective trough.
The pusher is provided at the lower end of a stay that is connected to an upper electric slider and extends downward.
The article to the lowermost collective trough is supplied from above the pusher provided at the lower end portion to the lowermost collective trough.
Article alignment device. A vibration exciter that vibrates and conveys the article by vibrating the collective trough is provided.
A shutter for opening and closing the transport path of the collective trough is provided at the end of the collective trough in the transport direction of the article.
The article aligning device according to claim 1. The collective trough other than the lowermost collective trough in the transport direction of the article has a U-shaped cross section.
The article aligning device according to claim 2. Among the plurality of collective troughs, the collective trough on the uppermost side in the transport direction of the article is supplied with the article discharged from the combination scale.
The article aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .

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