JP7130971B2 - Conveying device and conveying method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a conveying device and a conveying method, and more particularly to a conveying device and a conveying method used for conveying articles between a plurality of containers.

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a conveying device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been proposed for conveying various articles. In the conveying apparatus of Patent Document 1, a plurality of articles that are arranged and delivered to a delivery position are sandwiched by a pair of sandwiching members and transferred and placed on a tray. multiple items are lined up and delivered to each other.

By the way, in transporting goods such as rice balls, the goods are housed in containers of product number weight or the like in a state of being aligned in the front-rear and left-right directions at the distribution center. Then, in order to transport the articles within the product number weight to each store, the desired number of articles are packed in other containers such as shipping number weights. Here, when conveying by a device having three pairs of clamping members like the conveying device of Patent Document 1, three articles lined up in a product number weight are simultaneously clamped and packed in a shipping weight.

JP 2011-251761 A

For example, by increasing the number of sets of a pair of holding members in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200011 and forming a unit arranged side by side, it is conceivable to simultaneously hold and transport four or more articles arranged side by side. When such a unit is configured, when the rice ball is unloaded from the product weight or loaded into the shipping weight, the rice ball is gripped by any one of a plurality of holding members according to the position of the rice ball in the horizontal direction. and to be able to cancel it. For this reason, a device such as a robot is required to move the unit in the left-right direction, and a space wider than the width of each weight in the left-right direction is required to enable the movement by the robot, resulting in an increase in the size of the entire transport device. , there is a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveying apparatus and a conveying method that can avoid an increase in the size of the apparatus.

A conveying apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is a conveying apparatus that conveys an article contained in a first container in which a plurality of articles can be accommodated in rows in the thickness direction from the first container to a second container. 3, an aligning portion in which a plurality of articles contained in the first container can be placed in a row in the thickness direction thereof; and articles arranged in a row in the thickness direction of the first container. to the aligning unit, and a second transporting unit capable of transporting the articles from the aligning unit to the second container, wherein the aligning unit is arranged in the thickness direction A plurality of articles are placed on the upper surface, and a rotating member that is rotatable so as to move the placed articles in a thickness direction thereof; A plurality of partitions located on both sides of the article in the thickness direction and capable of regulating the fall of the article, and an elevating section capable of elevating the article between a lowered position and an elevated position , wherein the elevating section comprises the At the elevated position, the article has storage sections provided with walls positioned on both sides in the thickness direction of the article, and at the elevated position, the article is placed at a position that is not in contact with the partition section that is moved by the rotation of the rotating member. It is characterized by being able to ascend and descend independently corresponding to each of the plurality of articles placed on the aligning section .

According to such a configuration, by rotating the rotating member in the aligning section, the articles placed on the rotating member can be moved in the thickness direction. As a result, the first transfer section places an article on the alignment section and adjusts the position in the thickness direction, and the second transfer section transfers the article on the alignment section. The article can be transferred to a desired position in the thickness direction without moving in the direction. Therefore, it is not necessary to secure a space for moving each transfer section in the thickness direction of the article, and the size of the apparatus can be reduced in the same direction. Furthermore, it is not necessary to use a large-sized device for moving each transfer section by a distance greater than the width of each container, and installation work and maintenance can be facilitated. In addition, since the rotating member is provided with the partition, when the article is transferred by rotating the rotating member, the article can be maintained in an upright state without falling down.

Further, a conveying method of one aspect of the present invention is a conveying method for conveying a part of a plurality of articles stored in the first container to the second container using a conveying device, The articles stored in the container are transferred and placed so that the partitions are positioned on the upper surface of the rotating member of the alignment unit and on both sides in the thickness direction, and then the rotating member is rotated. It is characterized by moving and aligning the articles placed in the thickness direction.

According to the present invention, since the articles are moved in the thickness direction by rotating the rotating member in the aligning section, there is no need for a device or space for transferring the first transfer section and the second transfer section in the thickness direction. , it is possible to avoid an increase in the size of the device.

1 is a schematic plan view of a conveying device according to an embodiment; FIG. It is a schematic side view of the conveying apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the whole temporary mounting part. It is a schematic perspective view of a receiving part. It is a schematic perspective view of a receiving part. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the delivery section with side plates omitted; FIG. 7 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 6 showing a state in which a rice ball is placed on the delivery section; 8A and 8B are schematic perspective views of the elevator in the lowered position. FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a third transfer section; FIG. 11 is a side cross-sectional view of a third transfer section; Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a second holding device; It is sectional drawing which cut|disconnected a part of 2nd holding|maintenance apparatus at the ZX plane. It is sectional drawing which made the cutting surface the YZ plane of the anti-vibration mechanism. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the second holding device grips an article; FIG. 11 is an explanatory side view showing an example of a state in which the second holding device holds an article; It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the flow of the conveyance method by a conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the flow of the conveyance method by a conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the flow of the conveyance method by a conveying apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the flow of the conveyance method by a conveying apparatus. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section; It is explanatory drawing of the conventional conveyance method.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Below, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and can be modified appropriately without changing the gist of the present invention. In the following diagrams, part of the configuration may be omitted for convenience of explanation. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, "up", "down", "left", "right", "front", and "back" are based on directions indicated by arrows in each drawing. However, the orientation of each configuration in each of the following embodiments is merely an example, and can be changed to any orientation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the transport device according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the transport device according to the embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conveying device 1 is configured to convey rice balls (articles) W contained in a product weight T1 as a first container to a shipping weight T2 as a second container. be done. The conveying device 1 includes a base 2 having a mounting area 2a on which a product weight T1 is mounted, and a feeding device 3 disposed in front of the base 2 and on which a shipping weight T2 is mounted. have.

The feeding device 3 includes a plurality of rollers 3a for laterally transferring the shipping number T2, and a support frame 3b for supporting the plurality of rollers 3a at predetermined height positions. The feeding device 3 has positioning means (not shown) for temporarily pre-positioning the shipping number weight T2 so that the left and right positions of the product number weight T1 are aligned in front of the product number weight T1. In addition, the feeding device 3 supports the shipping number weight T2 on the rollers 3a at a height position substantially equal to the product number weight T1. The feeding device 3 may be replaced with a belt conveyor or the like as long as it can sequentially convey a plurality of shipping weights T2 and position them at the above-described positions.

Here, the rice ball W to be conveyed in the present embodiment is a triangular rice ball that is wrapped when viewed from the left and right direction, and is formed so that the sheet portion Wa (see FIG. 3) protrudes from the top vertex. be. At the product number weight T1, the rice balls W are accommodated in a state of being aligned in a matrix along two orthogonal directions of front and back and left and right. ing. In other words, the product weight T1 accommodates n (n is a natural number) (eight in this embodiment) rice balls W in a plurality of rows (five rows in this embodiment) in the thickness direction. It is The thickness direction of each rice ball W accommodated in a plurality of rows is oriented in the left-right direction, and in the following description, the thickness direction and the left-right direction will be referred to as "row direction". Each rice ball W is in an upright state with the vertex of the triangle facing upward. In addition, the rice balls W arranged in the front, rear, and row directions are in contact with or slightly spaced from the inner wall of the rice balls W or the product weight T1 adjacent in the row direction. Therefore, each rice ball W accommodated in the product weight T1 has a triangular side face oriented in the vertical direction, thereby preventing the side face from falling horizontally.

In the conveying apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, there are provided a temporary placing portion 4 on which the rice balls W accommodated in the product weight T1 are temporarily placed, and a rice ball placed on the temporary placing portion 4 from the product weight T1. A first transfer section 5 capable of transferring W and a second transfer section 6 capable of transferring rice balls W from the temporary placement section 4 to the shipping weight T4 are provided. The temporary placement portions 4 are arranged along the front and rear ends and the right end of the product number weight T1 placed on the placement area 2a of the base 2, and the specific configuration will be described later.

The first transfer section 5 includes a first holding device 5A that holds a plurality of rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction, and a first driving section 5B that can move the first holding device 5A. The second transfer section 6 includes a second holding device 6A that holds a plurality of rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction, and a second driving section 6B that can move the second holding device 6A. Specific configurations of the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A will be described later.

The first driving portion 5B supports the first holding device 5A from the side and moves it in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the first drive unit 5B moves from above the temporary placement part 4 positioned behind the placement area 2a of the base 2 in top view to the temporary placement part 4 positioned in front of the placement area 2a. The first holding device 5A is moved up. Therefore, the first drive unit 5B moves the first holding device 5A forward and backward, and the upper position of the entire area of the product number weight T1 and the upper position of the temporary placing unit 4 positioned before and after the product number weight T1. and the first holding device 5A is moved. As a result, the first transfer section 5 moves the first holding device 5A and the rice ball W held by it in a direction orthogonal to the left-right direction, which is the thickness direction of the rice ball W when viewed from above, that is, in the front-rear direction, thereby moving the product. It becomes possible to transfer the rice ball W from the weight T1 to the temporary placement section 4 .

The second driving portion 6B supports the second holding device 6A from the side and moves it in the front-rear direction. Specifically, the second driving section 6B extends from above the temporary placement section 4 located in front of the placement area 2a of the base 2 in top view to the front of the feeding device 3 (in front of the shipping weight T2). The second holding device 6A is moved. As a result, the second transfer section 6 moves the second holding device 6A and the rice ball W held thereon in a direction perpendicular to the left-right direction, which is the thickness direction of the rice ball W when viewed from above, that is, in the front-rear direction. It becomes possible to transfer the rice balls W from the placing section 4 to the shipping weight T2.

Here, as the first drive section 5B and the second drive section 6B, it is possible to employ a feed mechanism for linear movement such as a linear motor or a feed screw structure. The first drive section 5B and the second drive section 6B are provided with rail members 5Ba and 6Ba extending in the front-rear direction, and the rail members 5Ba and 6Ba are supported via a frame (not shown) or the like.

The front and rear ends of the rail member 5Ba of the first driving portion 5B protrude from the front and rear ends of the temporary mounting portion 4 on the base 2 by a predetermined amount in the front and rear direction. The rail member 6Ba of the second drive unit 6B has a front end protruded forward by a predetermined amount from the front end of the shipping number T2 placed on the feeding device 3, and a rear end positioned forward of the placement area 2a. It is a position protruded rearward by a predetermined amount from the rear end of the temporary placement portion 4 . The rail members 5Ba and 6Ba extend in the longitudinal direction, which is the extending direction of the tracks connecting the weights T1 and T2, and are arranged parallel to each other. are placed in

Next, a specific configuration of the temporary placement section 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 10. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire temporary placement section. As shown in FIG. 3, the temporary placement section 4 includes a receiving section 101 positioned along the rear end side of the product number weight T1 and a delivery section (alignment section) positioned along the front end side of the product number weight T1. 102 and a third transfer section 103 positioned along the right end side of the product number weight T1. The delivery unit 102 is arranged between the product number weight T1 and the shipment number weight T2, and the receiving unit 101 is arranged on the opposite side of the product number weight T1 from the delivery unit 102 (see FIG. 1). , the space before and after the product number weight T1 is effectively used.

The receiving part 101 and the delivery part 102 are arranged so that their left and right end sides protrude from the product number weight T1. Therefore, the receiving section 101, the delivery section 102, and the product weight T1 are arranged so as to have an overlapping region in a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the rice ball W when viewed from above, that is, in the front-rear direction, and the lateral width of the entire conveying device 1 becomes large. is suppressed.

The receiving portion 101 extends parallel to the thickness direction of the rice balls W accommodated in the product weight T1, that is, extends in the left-right direction. In addition, the receiving portion 101 is provided so that a plurality of rice balls W can be placed thereon, and the placed rice balls W are arranged in the same direction and at intervals as the rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction within the product number weight T1. provided in In this embodiment, more rice balls W than the number (eight) of rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction can be placed side by side on the product weight T1 and the shipping weight T2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the receiver. As shown in FIG. 4, the receiving portion 101 includes two endless loop-shaped belt members 105 that are arranged with a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction. A plurality of partition pieces 106 are continuously provided on the outer peripheral surfaces of the two belt members 105 . The partition piece 106 is formed so as to protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the belt member 105 in the orthogonal direction. In addition, the partition pieces 106 are provided at regular intervals in the extending direction of the belt member 105, and the intervals are substantially the same as the intervals in the horizontal direction of the partition members T1a (see FIG. 3) inside the product weight T1. is set. Thus, by placing the rice balls W between the two partition pieces 106, the interval between the rice balls W placed on the belt member 105 can be maintained at the interval between the rice balls W contained in the product weight T1. In addition, tilting of the rice ball W in the horizontal direction can be restricted.

The receiving portion 101 includes a pair of side plates 107 so as to sandwich the two belt members 105 from the front and rear. The distance between the side plates 107 is slightly larger than the front-rear width of the rice ball W (see FIG. 3) to guide the movement of the rice ball W in the horizontal direction. The upper end position of each side plate 107 is set higher than the upper end position of the partition piece 106 . Further, the upper end side of each side plate 107 is formed to be inclined so as to widen upward.

FIG. 5 is a front cross-sectional view of the receiving portion. As shown in FIG. 5, the receiving portion 101 includes a drive pulley 109 that is wound around the belt member 105 and positioned on the right side, and a driven pulley 110 that is positioned on the left side. In other words, the belt member 105 is inverted by the drive pulley 109 and the driven pulley 110 to form an elliptical shape, and two regions extending horizontally and in the left-right direction are arranged to overlap one another. The driving pulley 109 is rotatably provided via an output shaft 111 of driving means (not shown), and the rotation of the driving pulley 109 causes the upper half of the belt member 105 to rotate from left to right. Here, the drive means includes a stepping motor or the like, and intermittently drives the drive pulley 109 at each constant rotation angle, and intermittently drives the belt member 105 at each interval between the partition pieces 106 adjacent to each other on the left and right. Therefore, when the intermittent drive of the belt member 105 is stopped, the positions of the partition pieces 106 are kept constant.

The receiving portion 101 includes a tension adjusting roller 113 that contacts the inner peripheral surface of the lower half portion of the belt member 105 at the central portion in the left-right direction. The receiving unit 101 is provided so that the tension of the belt member 105 can be adjusted by moving the tension adjusting roller 113 up and down to adjust the contact pressure on the belt member 105 . The receiving portion 101 also includes a pressing member 114 that can come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the horizontal portion of the upper half of the belt member 105 . The pressing member 114 is formed in a plate shape, the upper surface of which the belt member 105 slides, and supports the belt member 105 from below. Thereby, even if the rice ball W is placed on the belt member 105, the vertical position of the rice ball W can be kept constant. Note that the upper surface of the pressing member 114 may be subjected to surface treatment to reduce friction with the belt member 105 .

Returning to FIG. 3, the transfer section 102 extends parallel to the receiving section 101, that is, extends in the left-right direction. Also, in the delivery section 102, a plurality of rice balls W can be placed side by side in the same direction and spacing as the rice balls W arranged in a row in the horizontal direction within the product weight T1. It is The transfer section 102 includes a pair of front and rear side plates 117, and the upper end sides of the side plates 117 are formed to be bent outward. The side plates 117 are formed so that the distance between them is slightly larger than the front-rear width of the rice ball W (see FIG. 3), and guides the movement of the rice ball W in the horizontal direction. The upper end position of each side plate 117 is set higher than the upper end position of the partition piece 116 (see FIG. 20).

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view omitting the side plate of the delivery section. FIG. 7 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 6 showing a state in which a rice ball is placed on the delivery section. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 , the transfer section 102 includes one endless loop-shaped belt member (rotating member) 115 . A plurality of partition pieces (partition portions) 116 are continuously provided on the outer peripheral surface of the belt member 115 in the same manner as the belt member 105 of the receiving portion 101 . The partition piece 116 is formed so as to protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the belt member 115 in the orthogonal direction. The partition pieces 116 are provided at regular intervals in the extending direction of the belt member 115 . Similar to the interval between the partition pieces 106 of the receiving portion 101, this interval is also set to be approximately the same as the interval in the horizontal direction of the partition member T1a (see FIG. 3) provided inside the product weight T1.

The delivery part 102 has a belt member 115 wound around it so as to have a rectangular shape that is horizontally long in the left-right direction. In the transfer section 102, a plurality of rice balls W (not shown in FIG. 6) arranged in a row in the thickness direction (horizontal direction) can be placed on the upper surface of the horizontal portion that is the upper side of the belt member 115. . Partition pieces 116 are positioned on both sides in the thickness direction of the rice ball W placed on the belt member 115 to restrict the rice ball W from falling down in the thickness direction (see FIG. 20). In addition, the rice balls W placed on the belt member 115 are arranged between the partition pieces 116 so as to be aligned in the same direction and at intervals as the rice balls W aligned in the horizontal direction within the product number weight T1. It's becoming In this embodiment, the number of rice balls W placed on the belt member 115 is set to be larger than the number (8) of the rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction in the product number weight T1 and the shipping number weight T2, and a maximum of 12. rice balls W can be placed side by side.

The transfer section 102 includes a driving pulley 119 that is wound around the lower right corner of a rectangular belt member 115 and driven pulleys 120 that are wound around the other three corners. The driving pulley 119 is rotatably provided via a driving means 121 shown in FIG.

The drive means 121 includes a drive source 123 including a motor or the like, an output pulley 124 rotated by the drive of the drive source 123, an intermediate pulley (not shown) connected to the rotation shaft of the drive pulley 119 (see FIG. 6), It has a belt 125 that is looped around the intermediate pulley and the output pulley 124 .

The drive source 123 can adjust the amount and direction of rotation of the output pulley 124 according to a command from a control unit (not shown). In the driving means 121, the driving force of the driving source 123 is transmitted to the belt member 115 (see FIG. 6) via the output pulley 124, the belt 125, the intermediate pulley and the driving pulley 119. FIG. As a result, the belt member 115 can be rotated by the driving means 121, and as shown in FIGS. move. By this rotation, the rice ball W placed on the belt member 115 and the partition piece 116 also move in the left-right direction, and the partition piece 116 can regulate the falling of the rice ball W during such movement.

The transfer section 102 includes a tension adjusting roller 126 that contacts the inner peripheral surface of the left side of the belt member 115 at the center in the vertical direction. In the transfer section 102 , the tension of the belt member 115 can be adjusted by moving the tension adjustment roller 126 left and right to adjust the contact pressure on the belt member 115 .

The delivery section 102 includes a plurality of lifting sections 127 for lifting and lowering the placed rice ball W. As shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, eight elevating units 127 are provided according to the number (eight) of rice balls W accommodated in the product weight T1 arranged in a row in the thickness direction. The plurality of lifting units 127 can be independently driven up and down corresponding to each of the plurality of rice balls W placed on the belt member 115 . Each elevating section 127 is arranged below the horizontal portion that is the upper side of the belt member 115 . Each elevating unit 127 is installed on a base plate 128 horizontally supported between side plates 117 (see FIG. 3) and arranged side by side in the left-right direction. The horizontal spacing of each lifting section 127 is substantially the same as the horizontal spacing of the partition piece 116 and the partition member T1a (see FIG. 3), and is set substantially the same as the horizontal spacing of the rice balls W in the product weight T1. be done.

FIG. 8A is a schematic perspective view of the lifting section in the raised position, and FIG. 8B is a schematic perspective view of the lifting section in the lowered position. As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the elevating section 127 includes a cylinder 130 for vertically advancing and retracting two rods 130a (not shown in FIG. 8B), and a connecting section 131 provided on the upper end side of the rods 130a. , and a housing portion 132 provided on the upper end side of the connecting portion 131 .

By driving the rod 130a up and down, the cylinder 130 vertically moves (lifts) the connecting portion 131 and the housing portion 132. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, when the storage portion 132 of the cylinder 130 is moved to the upper limit position, the storage portion 132 is positioned above the partition piece 116 projecting upward from the upper side of the belt member 115 (see FIG. 6). , such a position is referred to as the "raised position". The storage portion 132 at the raised position can keep the partition piece 116 and the rice ball W in the storage portion 132 out of contact even when the partition piece 116 moves in the left-right direction (see FIG. 25). When the storage portion 132 of the cylinder 130 is moved to the lower limit position, the storage portion 132 is positioned below the lower surface of the horizontal portion that is the upper side of the belt member 115 (see FIG. 6). ”. At this lowered position, the rice ball W on the belt member 115 and the storage portion 132 below it are not in contact (see FIG. 7).

The connecting portion 131 is formed by a plate-like member that is bent into a substantially U-shape. The connecting portion 131 includes a lower portion 131a connected to the upper end side of the rod 130a, and standing portions 131b standing from both front and rear ends of the lower portion 131a. The front upright portion 131b is provided forward of the front end of the belt member 115, and the rear upright portion 131b is provided rearward of the rear end of the belt member 115. As shown in FIG. Therefore, when viewed from the top, the belt member 115 is positioned between the front and rear standing portions 131b, and even if the cylinder 130 is driven, the connecting portion 131 (each standing portion 131b) does not come into contact with the belt member 115. FIG.

The housing portion 132 is formed in the shape of a container with an open top and has a space 132a at the center in the front-rear direction that allows the belt member 115 to pass therethrough. 8A and 8B, the housing portion 132 includes a bottom wall 132b, a front wall 132c and a rear wall 132d rising from the front and rear ends of the bottom wall 132b, and a right wall 132e and a left wall 132f rising from the left and right ends of the bottom wall 132b. and

The bottom wall 132b, the right wall 132e and the left wall 132f are divided into front and rear by a space 132a. The distance between the front wall 132c and the rear wall 132d is slightly larger than the width of the rice ball W (see FIG. 7), and the upper end sides of the front wall 132c and the rear wall 132d are bent outward. there is When the rice ball W is placed on the bottom wall 132b, the right wall 132e and the left wall 132f serve as areas located on both sides of the rice ball W in the thickness direction, thereby restricting the rice ball W from tilting in the left-right direction.

132 g of holes are formed in the lower part of the front wall 132c and 132 d of rear walls, respectively. The hole 132g is provided for passing a light beam from a light-emitting portion of the detection means, which will be described later.

Returning to FIG. 3, the side plate 117 is provided with detection means 134 for detecting the presence or absence of the rice ball W placed on the transfer section 102 (on the belt member 115). The detection means 134 is a sensor such as an optical sensor, and is constructed by arranging a light-emitting portion on one side plate 117 and a light-receiving portion on the other side plate 117 so as to face each other. The detection means 134 detects the presence or absence of the rice ball W between them based on the change in the amount of light received by the light receiving portion, which receives the light beam emitted from the light emitting portion. The delivery unit 102 controls the rotating operation of the belt member 115 according to the detection result of the detection means 134, and replenishes the rice ball W to the position on the belt member 115 where it is detected that there is no rice ball W, as will be described later. be transported.

The light-emitting part and the light-receiving part are provided as a set at the position of each rice ball W placed on the belt member 115. In this embodiment, 12 units are provided according to the maximum number of 12 rice balls W to be placed. A set of light emitters and light receivers is provided. Therefore, by predetermining each position of the rice balls W forming a line in the left-right direction in the state where the belt member 115 is stopped in the transfer section 102, the detection means 134 can detect the presence or absence of each rice ball W at that position. can be done. The height positions of the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion are set so that the light beam emitted from the light emitting portion passes through the hole 132g of the accommodation portion 132 at the raised position, and the presence or absence of the rice ball W inside the accommodation portion 132 is detected. Moreover, by setting to this height position, the presence or absence of the rice ball W placed on the belt member 115 can also be detected.

The third transfer portion 103 extends in the front-rear direction orthogonal to the receiving portion 101 and the delivery portion 102 extending in the left-right direction in top view. In addition, they may extend so as to intersect each other instead of orthogonally, and the angle thereof may be inclined with respect to the right angle. The third transfer section 103 transfers the rice ball W from the receiving section 101 on the rear end side, transfers the rice ball W forward while placing it in the extension direction, and transfers the rice ball W to the delivery section 102 on the front end side. Transfer W. That is, the third transfer section 103 can transfer the rice ball W from the receiving section 101 to the delivery section 102 .

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a third transfer section; As shown in FIG. 9, the third transfer section 103 includes one endless loop-shaped belt member 135 and a pair of side plates 137 provided so as to sandwich the belt member 135 from the left and right. The side plate 137 is installed on a support base 138 having a predetermined height.

FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view of the third transfer section. As shown in FIG. 10, the third transfer section 103 includes a drive pulley 139 that is looped around the belt member 135 and positioned relatively rearward, and a driven pulley 140 that is positioned forward. In other words, the belt member 135 is inverted by the drive pulley 139 and the driven pulley 140 to form an elliptical shape, and two regions extending horizontally and in the front-rear direction are arranged to overlap one another. The driving pulley 139 is rotatably provided via an output shaft 141 of driving means (not shown), and the rotation of the driving pulley 139 causes the upper half of the belt member 135 to rotate from rear to front. Here, the drive means adjusts the amount and direction of rotation of the drive pulley 139 according to a command from a control section (not shown), thereby controlling the rotation of the belt member 135 . The rotation of the driving pulley 139 causes the horizontal portion of the upper side of the belt member 135 to move forward, so that the rice ball W placed on the belt member 135 can be transported forward.

The third transfer section 103 includes a tension adjusting roller 143 that contacts the inner peripheral surface of the lower half of the belt member 135 in the center in the left-right direction. In the third transfer section 103 , the tension of the belt member 135 can be adjusted by moving the tension adjustment roller 143 up and down to adjust the contact pressure on the belt member 135 . The third transfer section 103 also has a pressing member 144 that can contact the inner peripheral surface of the horizontal portion of the upper half of the belt member 135 . The pressing member 144 is formed in a plate shape, the upper surface of which the belt member 135 slides, and supports the belt member 135 from below. Thereby, even if the rice ball W is placed on the belt member 135, the vertical position of the rice ball W can be kept constant. The upper surface of the pressing member 144 may be subjected to surface treatment to reduce friction with the belt member 135 .

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 9, each side plate 137 is provided with a plurality of guide rollers 145 aligned in the front-rear direction to smoothly guide the forward movement of the rice ball W on the belt member 135 . On the front end side of the right side plate 137, there are provided a stopper 147 for restricting the forward movement of the rice ball W, and a pushing portion 148 composed of a cylinder or the like. In the third transfer portion 103, the rice ball W transferred forward by the rotation of the belt member 135 comes into contact with the stopper 147 and stops. The stopper 147 is provided with a sensor (not shown), and when the sensor detects the stopped rice ball W, the pushing portion 148 is driven to push the rice ball W stopped by the stopper 147 leftward. By this pushing, the rice ball W is transferred to the right end side of the delivery section 102 .

As shown in FIG. 9, the left side plate 137 is formed so that the front end side and the rear end side of the side plate 137 are open so that the rice ball W can pass through. Connected.

Next, specific configurations of the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 15. FIG. Here, the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A can adopt the same structure, and in the following description with reference to FIGS. Description of 5A is omitted. In the description of the second holding device 6A, the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction indicated by arrows in each figure will be used as a reference. The Z direction is the direction and the vertical direction.

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a second holding device according to the embodiment. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along the ZX plane of a part of the second holding device according to the embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the second holding device 6A includes eight holding mechanisms 9, an upper fixing plate 7a and an intermediate fixing plate 7b which are arranged at predetermined intervals in the Z direction (vertical direction). and a lower fixing plate 7c. The eight holding mechanisms 9 have substantially the same configuration and are arranged side by side in the Y direction at regular intervals. The eight holding mechanisms 9 each include a first gripping portion 10, a second gripping portion 20, a support 30 for supporting the gripping portions 10 and 20, and a driving mechanism (driving portion) 40. ing. In this embodiment, the support 30 is formed in the shape of a quadrangular prism whose axis is oriented in the vertical direction (Z direction). The eight holding mechanisms 9 each have an elevation cylinder 60 extending in the Z direction, and a vibration prevention mechanism 70 supported by the intermediate fixing plate 7b and the lower fixing plate 7c.

The elevating cylinders 60 of the respective holding mechanisms 9 are connected to each other via the upper fixing plate 7a on the upper end side and connected to each other via the intermediate fixing plate 7b on the lower end side. Therefore, eight holding mechanisms 9 arranged in the Y direction are integrated via the upper fixing plate 7a and the intermediate fixing plate 7b. The elevating cylinder 60 has an output shaft that advances and retreats in the Z direction, and this output shaft is connected to the support 30 so that the support 30 and the grips 10 and 20 supported by the support 30 can advance and retreat in the Z direction. be done. The intermediate fixing plate 7b and the lower fixing plate 7c are formed in a rectangular shape in a plan view, and are connected at their four corners via connecting rods 7d extending in the Z direction.

The first gripper 10 includes a pair of first grippers 11a and 11b arranged in the X direction. A pair of first grippers 11a and 11b are swingably supported on the lower end side of the support 30. As shown in FIG. As a result, the lower ends of the first gripping bodies 11a and 11b are displaced in a direction (approximately X direction) toward and away from each other to enable opening and closing, thereby gripping and releasing the rice ball W (not shown in FIG. 11). It can be done. 11 and 12 show the state in which the first grippers 11a and 11b are open, and FIG. 14 shows the state in which the first grippers 11a and 11b are closed.

The second gripping part 20 includes a pair of second gripping bodies 21a and 21b (one of the second gripping bodies 21b is not shown in FIG. 12) arranged in the Y direction. The second gripping bodies 21a and 21b are also swingably supported on the lower end side of the supporting body 30, and the lower ends of the second gripping bodies 21a and 21b move toward and away from each other (approximately the Y direction). It can be opened and closed by being displaced. The gripping position of the first gripping portion 10 and the gripping position of the second gripping portion 20 are different in Z-direction position (height position). It should be noted that the second gripping portion 20 is capable of gripping an object to be transported from the Y direction, but in the present embodiment, the first gripping portion 10 grips and transports the object. The description of the case where the object to be conveyed is grasped and conveyed by the grasping portion 20 will be simplified or omitted.

The driving mechanism 40 includes a cylindrical moving body 41 into which the support 30 is inserted, and a driving source 42 attached to the moving body 41 . The drive mechanism 40 moves the moving body 41 in the Z direction by operating the drive source 42 , thereby opening and closing the first gripping section 10 and the second gripping section 20 (gripping drive).

As shown in FIG. 12, the anti-vibration mechanism 70 includes a pair of holding members 71 arranged in the X direction on both sides of the first grip 10, and each holding member 71 is arranged in the Z direction (vertical direction). A guide member 76 is also provided for movably supporting. Here, the pressing member 71 and the guide member 76 located on the right side in FIG. 12 and the pressing member 71 and the guide member 76 located on the left side have the same structure.

The pressing member 71 includes a shaft-shaped portion 72 formed in the shape of a cylinder (round bar) extending in the Z direction (vertical direction), and a contact body attached to the lower end of the shaft-shaped portion 72 to form a portion that contacts the rice ball W. 74. In the contact body 74, when the contact body 74 comes into contact with the inclined upper surface of the rice ball W that slopes like a mountain from the upper vertex, the hemispherical portion of the tip comes into contact with the substantially point-like shape.

13A and 13B are cross-sectional views of the anti-vibration mechanism taken along the YZ plane, and are explanatory diagrams of the operation procedure. As shown in FIG. 13A, a screw 75 is provided at the upper end of the shaft-like portion 72 . A head portion of the screw 75 is formed to have a diameter dimension larger than the outer diameter of the shaft-like portion 72 . Accordingly, the head portion of the screw 75 projects like a flange from the shaft-like portion 72 and functions as a retainer for the guide member 76 . The shaft-like portion 72 passes through a hole formed in the lower fixing plate 7c.

The guide member 76 has the shaft-like portion 72 inserted therein and is fixed to the lower fixing plate 7c. The guide member 76 guides the vertical linear relative movement with the shaft-like portion 72 , thereby guiding the vertical relative movement of the pressing member 71 . A hole through which the shaft-like portion 72 is inserted is formed in the upper surface of the guide member 76 , and the inner diameter of this hole is set smaller than the outer diameter of the head of the screw 75 . Therefore, the head of the screw 75 is placed on the upper surface of the guide member 76 by lowering the pressing member 71 by its own weight without applying an external force, thereby restricting the downward movement of the pressing member 71 including the screw 75 .

Next, the operation when the holding mechanism 9 grips and releases the rice ball W will be described. Here, first, the operation of the single holding mechanism 9 in the second holding device 6A will be described.

Before gripping the rice ball W, as shown in FIG. In this state, when the rice ball W is carried out from the transfer section 102 (see FIG. 2), the holding mechanism 9 in the second holding device 6A is moved above the rice ball W by a predetermined distance via the second driving section 6B. Move to a separate location.

Next, the output shaft of the elevating cylinder 60 is advanced, and the first gripper 10 is lowered until the sheet portion Wa of the rice ball W is positioned between the first grippers 11a and 11b. Then, as shown in FIG. 14, after the sheet portion Wa is sandwiched and gripped by the first gripping portions 10, the output shaft of the elevating cylinder 60 is retracted, and the rice ball W gripped by the first gripping portions 10 is removed. Ascending operation. Then, the contact member 74 of the pressing member 71 is placed in contact with the upper surface of the rice ball W in the middle of the ascent. By further rising after this contact, the holding member 71 rises through the rice ball W, and the weight of the holding member 71 acts on the rice ball W to hold the rice ball W downward.

When the rice ball W is released from the holding mechanism 9 in the state shown in FIG. 14, the output shaft of the elevating cylinder 60 is advanced, and the rice ball W gripped by the first gripping portion 10 is lowered and placed on the shipping weight T2. place. After that, the gripping is released by swinging the first gripping bodies 11a and 11b to the open state to release the pinching of the sheet portion Wa.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory side view showing an example of a state in which the holding device holds an article. In the second holding device 6A, a plurality of (eight in this embodiment) holding mechanisms 9 can independently hold rice balls W one by one (one body). For example, as shown in FIG. 15, the four holding mechanisms 9 on one side in the Y direction can hold the rice ball W in the manner described above. When gripping is performed by these four holding mechanisms 9, in the other four holding mechanisms 9, the elevating cylinder 60 is not driven, and the first gripping portion 10 is in a standby state without moving up and down. Become. Thus, in the second holding device 6A, the rice ball W can be held at any position and number of the holding mechanisms 9 out of the eight holding mechanisms 9, and the rice ball W can be brought into the non-holding state. can.

Returning to FIG. 1, the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A schematically shown in FIG. Therefore, among the rice balls W arranged in the front, rear, left, and right directions and accommodated in the product weight T1, all eight rice balls W in the same row arranged in the row direction (horizontal direction) can be held. In addition, since the second holding device 6A can hold the rice balls W at any position and number of holding mechanisms 9 as described above, it is possible to independently hold each of the eight rice balls W in the same row. becomes possible. Here, in the first holding device 5A, the lifting cylinder 60 (see FIG. 2) in the second holding device 6A may be omitted. In the first holding device 5A, as will be described later, all the eight holding mechanisms 9 hold and release the rice balls W at the same time. may be configured to move up and down.

Next, a method of transporting the rice balls W from the product number weight T1 to the shipping number weight T2 by the conveying device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 to 19. FIG. 16 to 19 are explanatory diagrams schematically showing the flow of the transporting method by the transporting device. Here, as shown in FIG. 16A, it is assumed that the rice balls W stand upright and are stored in a plurality of rows in the left-right and front-rear directions in a state in which the thickness direction is oriented in the left-right direction in the product weight T1. . Furthermore, as indicated by arrows in FIG. 16A, the case where the rice ball W is transported rightward by the receiving portion 101, forwardly by the third transporting portion 103, and leftwardly by the delivery portion 102 will be described.

First, the product number weight T1 is arranged so that the outer periphery thereof follows the temporary placement portion 4 which is U-shaped when viewed from above. A method of arranging the product number weight T1 will be described later. Next, the rice ball W is transferred from the product weight T1 to the receiving portion 101 by the first transfer portion 5 . In this transfer, the first holding device 5A is moved onto the rice balls W arranged horizontally in the last row of the product number weight T1, and the eight rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction are held by the first holding device 5A. be done. Then, as shown in FIG. 16B, the first holding device 5A is moved to a position above the receiving portion 101, and the rice ball W held by the first holding device 5A is placed on the receiving portion 101. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 16C, the rice ball W placed on the receiving portion 101 is transferred from left to right, which is the extending direction of the receiving portion 101, by the rotation of the belt member 105 (see FIG. 5). The rice ball W transported by the belt member 105 is sandwiched between the partition pieces 106 (see FIG. 5) so that it is prevented from falling down to the left and right, and can be maintained in an upright state.

After placing the rice balls W on the receiving portion 101, the first holding device 5A holds the rice balls W lined up in the last row of the product number weight T1 at that time, and is put into a standby state. FIG. 16C shows a state in which the first holding device 5A is on standby in the last row, but the first holding device 5A may be moved to a position above the receiving portion 101 and on standby.

By continuing the transfer of the rice ball W in the right direction in the receiving portion 101, the rice ball W is transferred from the right end side of the receiving portion 101 to the rear end side of the third transfer portion 103 as shown in FIG. 16D. be. As shown in FIG. 17A, the rice ball W placed on the third transfer section 103 is transferred forward by the rotation of the belt member 135 (see FIG. 10). In other words, in the third transfer section 103, the rice balls W can be transferred forward while the rice balls W are placed in rows in the front-rear direction. When all the rice balls W placed on the receiving portion 101 are transferred to the third transfer portion 103, the rice balls W are transferred to the receiving portion 101 in the same manner as described above by the first holding device 5A on standby. Then, as shown in FIG. 17B, the first holding device 5A holds the rice ball W lined up in the last row of the product number weight T1 at that time, and is put into a standby state again.

The rice ball W transferred to the front end side of the third transfer portion 103 is stopped from moving forward by the stopper 147 and then pushed leftward by the pushing portion 148 (see FIG. 9). By this pushing, the rice balls W on the front end side of the third transfer section 103 are transferred to the right end side of the delivery section 102 one by one. On the rear end side of the third transfer section 103, the rice ball W is transferred from the receiving section 101 in the same manner as described above.

As shown in FIG. 17C , in the delivery section 102 , the belt member 115 (see FIG. 6 ) is rotated to move from right to left, which is the extending direction of the delivery section 102 . The rice ball W transported by the belt member 115 is sandwiched between the partition pieces 116 (see FIG. 6) so that it is prevented from falling down to the left and right, and can be maintained in an upright state. In parallel with the sequential transfer of the rice balls W from the third transfer section 103 to the delivery section 102 , the rice balls W are transferred sequentially from the receiving section 101 to the third transfer section 103 . Then, when the predetermined number of rice balls W in the receiving portion 101 are exhausted, as shown in FIG. 17D, the rice balls W are transferred to the receiving portion 101 by the first holding device 5A on standby in the same manner as described above.

In the delivery section 102, the partition piece 116 is positioned between the rice balls W adjacent to each other in the left and right direction, so that the rice balls W are placed in a state of being aligned in the horizontal direction at equal intervals. After the rice ball W is transferred until it reaches the left end side of the delivery section 102, the transfer of the rice ball W in the receiving section 101, the third transfer section 103 and the delivery section 102 is temporarily stopped. At this time, the allowable upper limit number of rice balls W that can be placed is placed in the delivery section 102, and the rice balls W to be transferred to the shipping weight T2 by the second transfer section 6 as described later are placed.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 18A, the second holding device 6A of the second transfer section 6 is moved onto the delivery section 102, and the second holding device 6A is arranged horizontally on the delivery section 102. A predetermined number of rice balls W (in the present embodiment, eight from the left end side) are held at a predetermined position. 18A, after the second holding device 6A holding the rice ball W is moved to a position above the shipping weight T2, the held rice ball W is placed on the shipping weight T2. and transfer. After that, as shown in FIG. 18B, the transfer of the rice balls W in the receiving section 101, the third transfer section 103, and the delivery section 102 is resumed, and the delivery section is replenished with the rice balls W previously transferred to the shipping weight T2. A rice ball W is additionally placed on 102 . Then, as shown in FIG. 18C, even if all the rice balls W with the product number weight T1 are gone, a plurality of rice balls W are placed on the receiving portion 101, the third transfer portion 103, and the delivery portion 102 of the temporary placing portion 4. placed and stocked.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 19A, the lifter L forming the placing area 2a on which the product number T1 is placed is lowered, and the empty product number T1 is placed inside the base 2. be. Then, as shown in FIGS. 19B and 19C, the empty product number T1 is moved forward within the base 2 and transferred to the carry-out mechanism 3c provided below the rollers 3a in the feeding device 3. . In the carry-out mechanism 3c, the product weight T1 is transferred in the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 19C and carried out of the apparatus.

Here, returning to FIG. 19A, a new product weight T1 containing rice balls W is waiting behind the empty product weight T1 lowered by the lifter L. Therefore, the empty product number T1 is moved forward, and at the same time, a new product number T1 is moved forward and placed on the lifter L (see FIG. 19B). Then, as shown in FIG. 19C, the new product weight T1 placed on the lifter L is lifted by the lifter L, and the empty product weight T1 is changed to the new product weight T1 containing the rice balls W. exchange is completed. Therefore, from the new product weight T1, the rice balls W can be transferred via the temporary placement section 4 and the transfer sections 5 and 6 as described above.

Before the product number weight T1 is replaced as described above, rice balls W are placed on the temporary placing portion 4 as shown in FIG. 18C. Therefore, the rice ball W shown in FIG. 18C can be transferred to the shipping weight T2 while the product weight T1 is being replaced. Specifically, the rice balls W placed on the receiving portion 101, the third transfer portion 103, and the delivery portion 102 are sequentially transferred via the belt members 105, 115, and 135, and the second transfer is performed. In the unit 6, a predetermined quantity can be transferred from the delivery unit 102 to the shipment weight T2 a plurality of times. As a result, the time during which the transportation of the rice balls W to the shipping weight T2 is interrupted by the replacement of the product weight T1 can be shortened or eliminated, and the transportation time of the rice balls W due to the time to replace the product weight T1 can be shortened or eliminated. You can avoid getting too long.

Next, a method of transporting and aligning the rice balls W by the delivery unit 102 will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 to 23. FIG. 20 to 23 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of a method of arranging rice balls by the delivery section. Here, as described above, the rice balls W are transferred from the temporary placement section 4, and as shown in FIG. , waiting for transfer by the second transfer unit 6 (see FIG. 18A).

In the state shown in FIG. 20, a plurality of (12 in FIG. 20) rice balls W are placed on the belt member 115 of the transfer section 102, and the partition pieces 116 are arranged between the rice balls W adjacent to each other on the left and right. Also, in the transfer section 102, the elevating sections 127 are installed below the positions where the eight rice balls W are placed from the left side, and the storage sections 132 of all the elevating sections 127 are at the lowered position. At this time, the upper end position of the storage portion 132 is positioned lower than the lower surface of the belt member 115 on which the rice ball W is placed, and the rice ball W and the belt member 115 are out of contact with the storage portion 132 . Further, the point where the rice ball W is placed in the drawing indicates the light beam used by the detecting means 134 (see FIG. 3), and the presence of the rice ball W is detected when the light beam overlaps the rice ball W. FIG.

From this state, when four rice balls W are transferred from the left side of the transfer section 102 by the second transfer section 6 (see FIG. 18A), as shown in FIG. , the accommodation portion 132 is arranged in the raised position. As a result, the rice ball W placed on the belt member 115 is housed in the housing portion 132 and lifted. In this case also, the presence of the rice ball W is detected when the light beam from the detection means 134 overlaps the rice ball W through the hole 132g.

From this state, by taking out the rice balls W stored in the four storage portions 132 from the left side with the second holding device 6A (see FIG. 18A), the four storage portions 132 are shown in FIG. Become empty. After that, the cylinders 130 of all the raising/lowering parts 127 are driven, and as shown in FIG. Then, the rice balls W stored in the four storage units 132 from the right side are placed on the belt member 115 again. In FIGS. 22 and 23, when four rice balls W are taken out from the left side, the light beam of the detecting means 134 does not overlap the rice balls W, and it is detected that there is no rice ball W at that position.

By rotating the belt member 115 from the state shown in FIG. 23, the rice ball W on the belt member 115 is transported leftward, and another rice ball W is replenished to the place where the rice ball W was taken out, so that the transfer portion is moved. At 102 the rice balls W are aligned. Further, the rice balls W are sequentially transferred from the right side of the transfer section 102 by the third transfer section 103, so that the maximum number of rice balls W to be placed are arranged in the original state (see FIG. 20), and 2 can be set to a standby state for transfer in the transfer section 6 of No. 2.

24 to 26 are explanatory diagrams showing another example of the method of arranging the rice balls by the delivery section. Instead of transferring the rice balls W stored in the four storage units 132 from the left side as described above, the rice balls W stored in the third and fourth storage units 132 from the left are transferred as shown in FIG. will be described below.

After being transferred as shown in FIG. 24, as shown in FIG. 25, the first and second storage units 132 from the left are maintained in the raised position, and the other storage units 132 are moved to the lowered position. After that, the belt member 115 is rotated, and the rice ball W on the belt member 115 is transported leftward by the distance between the two rice balls W. As a result, as shown in FIG. 26, the rice ball W is transported above the third and fourth container portions 132 from the left, and in this state, the first and second container portions 132 from the left are moved to the lowered position. Thus, the maximum number of rice balls W to be placed are arranged in the original state (see FIG. 20). During transfer from the state shown in FIG. 25 to the state shown in FIG. 26, the rice balls W stored in the two storage portions 132 in the raised position are out of contact with the partition piece 116 moving leftward.

Regarding the alignment of the rice balls W by the transfer section 102, when the belt member 115 is rotated to transfer the rice balls W, all the storage sections 132 are in the lowered position, and some of the storage sections 132 are lowered. In some cases, the housing portion 132 other than the position is set to the raised position.

As the former case, the cases shown in FIGS. 20 to 23 can be exemplified, in which there is no rice ball W downstream of the position where the rice ball W is to be replenished in the moving direction of the belt member 115 .

As the latter case, the cases shown in FIGS. 24 to 26 can be exemplified, in which the rice balls W are present downstream in the moving direction of the belt member 115 from the point where the rice balls W are to be replenished. In this case, it is necessary to move the belt member 115 to transport the rice ball W to the place to be replenished while maintaining the horizontal position of the rice ball W on the downstream side. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the storage portion 132 on the downstream side in the movement direction of the belt member 115 from the portion to be replenished is maintained at the raised position (see FIG. 25), and the rice balls W stored in the storage portion 132 are separated. The belt member 115 is rotatable so that it is out of contact with the piece 116 . The rest of the container 132 is in a lowered position, and the belt member 115 can transfer the rice ball W to the left, so that the rice ball W can be transferred to the place to be replenished.

In this embodiment, the rice ball W downstream of the portion to be replenished or transferred in the movement direction is set to the raised position, so that the rice ball W desired to maintain the horizontal position with respect to the movement of the partition piece 116 is retracted without being an obstacle. The rice ball W can be transferred from the upstream side in the moving direction. As a result, even if the partition piece 116 regulates the falling of the rice balls W or equalizes the intervals between the rice balls W, the rice balls W can be aligned without moving the left and right positions of some of the rice balls W. .

In order to align the rice balls W at the transfer section 102, the rotation direction of the belt member 115 is set in the opposite direction, so that the rice balls W can be transported not only to the left but also to the right. . Therefore, when the belt member 115 is rotated to transfer the rice ball W, by switching the raised position and the lowered position of the storage section 132 according to the position of the already placed rice ball W, the rice ball can be transported at any left or right position. The presence or absence of W can be selected. Switching between the raised position and the lowered position of the rice balls W is performed by independently driving the cylinders 130 of the lifting section 127 corresponding to each of the plurality of rice balls W. As shown in FIG. When the rice balls W are transferred rightward as described above, a predetermined number of rice balls W are transferred from the right end side of the delivery section 102 to restrict the transfer of the rice balls W from the delivery section 102 to the third transfer section 103 . The condition is that W does not exist. This is because, in the present embodiment, the lifting section 127 is not installed below the position where the four rice balls W are placed from the right side of the delivery section 102, so that the rice balls W can be kept in the raised position. This is because it cannot be implemented. Therefore, before transferring the rice balls W to the right, the presence or absence of four rice balls W from the right side of the delivery section 102 is detected by the detection means 134, and depending on the detection result, the delivery section 102 determines whether or not the rice balls W can be transferred to the right. is determined by

By the way, in the conventional conveying method, the rice balls W accommodated in the product weight T1 are placed in the holding device 200 as shown in FIGS. A method is adopted in which the container is held by the weight and transported to the forward shipment weight T2. The holding device 200 is provided so as to be able to hold a plurality of rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction at the same time. Consider the case where the rice ball W stored at the rightmost position in the product weight T1 is transferred to the leftmost position in the shipping weight T2 by such a conventional transport method.

In this case, in FIG. 27A, the holding device 200 is moved to the right from the position where the holding device 200 is generally aligned with the left and right positions of the product number weight T1, and the rice ball W is held on the left end side of the holding device 200. As shown in FIG. Then, the holding device 200 is moved to a position substantially aligned with the left and right positions of the shipping number weight T2, and the held rice balls W are accommodated in the shipping number weight T2.

In FIG. 27B, the rice ball W is held at a position where the holding device 200 is generally aligned with the left and right positions of the product weight T1. Then, the holding device 200 is moved to the left from the position where the holding device 200 is generally aligned with the left and right positions of the shipping weight T2, and the held rice ball W is accommodated in the shipping weight T2.

As described above, in the transport method shown in FIGS. 27A and 27B, it is necessary to move the holding device 200 so as to largely protrude in one of the right and left directions of each weight T1 and T2. Therefore, there is a problem that a device such as a robot for moving the holding device 200 in the left-right direction is required, which complicates the configuration of the device. In addition, in order to realize such lateral movement, a space wider than the lateral width of each weight T1, T2 is required, which causes a problem of increasing the size of the transport apparatus as a whole.

In this regard, in the above-described embodiment, the rice ball W can be placed at either the left or right position by rotating the belt member 115 in the transfer section 102. Therefore, the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A can be omitted. This eliminates the need for a space for laterally moving the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A in the conveying device 1, and the size of the device can be reduced by that space. Moreover, a large-sized device for moving the first holding device 5A and the second holding device 6A to the left and right is not necessary, and the installation work and maintenance of the conveying device 1 can be facilitated.

According to this embodiment, before the rice balls W on the delivery section 102 are transported by the second transfer section 6, the states shown in FIGS. The rice balls W can be arranged side by side in the horizontal direction without creating an empty space above. As a result, when the rice balls W on the delivery section 102 are held and transferred by the second transfer section 6 , the rice balls W are held by all the holding mechanisms 9 of the second transfer section 6 . It is also possible to make the arrangement of rice balls W constant. As a result, it becomes possible to select whether or not to hold the rice ball W with all the holding mechanisms 9 of the second transfer section 6, and it is possible to simplify the drive control of the second transfer section 6 accompanying such selection. can.

In addition, since the receiving portion 101 extends in the horizontal direction, the rice balls W arranged in the horizontal direction with the product number weight T1 can be transferred to the receiving portion 101 in a row in a row by the first transfer portion 5. The rice balls W can be maintained in an aligned state without performing a process such as rearranging the rice balls W at 101 .

In addition, the rice ball W held by the holding devices 5A and 6A is transferred in the front-rear direction orthogonal to the left-right direction, which is the thickness direction of the rice ball W, when viewed from above. As a result, it is possible to prevent the rice ball W from being subjected to an external force that causes the rice ball W to sway in the horizontal direction during transportation, and the holding of the rice ball W by the holding devices 5A and 6A can be stabilized.

Furthermore, since the temporary placement section 4 is installed in a U-shape in top view so as to follow the outer circumference of the product number weight T1, the installation space for the temporary placement section 4 is suppressed from increasing. In other words, the temporary placement section 4 including the receiving section 101, the delivery section 102 and the third transfer section 103 can be created by securing a small space on the right side and on both front and rear sides of the position where the product number weight T1 is set. It can be installed, and it becomes possible to achieve space saving of the conveying apparatus 1 as a whole.

Moreover, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes, substitutions, and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the technical idea of the present invention. Furthermore, if the technical idea of the present invention can be realized in another way by advances in technology or another derived technology, the method may be used for implementation. Therefore, the claims cover all embodiments that can be included within the scope of the technical concept of the present invention.

In each of the above embodiments, the article to be gripped is the rice ball W, but any article that can be held by the holding mechanism 9 is not limited. For example, in addition to rice balls packed in non-triangular bags, other food items such as sandwiches, bread, lunch boxes, etc., or packed in boxes or trays may be used.

Also, the case where the weights T1 and T2 are used as the first container and the second container has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various containers can be used according to the articles to be accommodated. Furthermore, the number of items (rice balls) aligned in two orthogonal directions can be arbitrary as long as a plurality of items are aligned in each of the two directions.

Further, the holding mechanism 9 in each transfer section 5, 6 may be a suction pad that holds the rice ball W by suction, instead of holding the rice ball W as described above. The suction pad communicates with a negative pressure generator to generate a negative pressure, and by vacuum-sucking the outer surface of the rice ball W, the article can be held.

In the third transfer section 103, the belt member 135 is rotated to convey the rice ball W, but as long as the rice ball W can be transferred from the receiving section 101 to the delivery section 102, a roller or the like may be used. You can change it.

Also, the area in which the temporary placement section 4 is arranged is not limited to the illustrated configuration example, and various changes are possible. For example, the receiving section 101, the delivery section 102 and the third transfer section 103 may all be arranged in front of or behind the product number weight T1. In this case, a plurality of temporary placement units 4 may be installed or may be added to the above embodiment.

Further, the first transfer section 5 may directly transfer the rice ball W held at the product number weight T1 to the forward delivery section 102 . For example, as shown in FIGS. 16C and 16D, rice balls W may be transferred from the product weight T1 to the delivery section 102 by the first transfer section 5 when the delivery section 102 is empty. In this case, the rice balls W can be transferred to the delivery section 102 in a shorter time than when the rice balls W are transferred to the delivery section 102 via the receiving section 101 and the third transfer section 103 . As a result, the transfer of the rice balls W can be started quickly at the initial stage of transfer to the shipping weight T2. Further, assuming that the first transfer section 5 transfers the rice balls W from the product weight T1 to the transfer section 102 as described above, the receiving section 101 and the third transfer section 103 are omitted from the temporary placement section 4. Alternatively, the temporary placement section 4 may be composed of only the delivery section (alignment section) 102 .

Moreover, although the case where the first transfer section 5 and the second transfer section 6 are provided as separate devices has been described, a single device may have the functions of the transfer sections 5 and 6 . For example, either one of the rail members 5Ba and 6Ba may be extended so that either of the holding devices 5A and 6A can carry out the above-described transfer of both of them.

Also, although the partitioning portions are the partitioning pieces 106 and 116, various modifications such as a frame shape or a lattice shape are possible as long as they have the same function as the above embodiment. Furthermore, although the belt members 105 and 115 are used as the rotating members, they may be replaced with a plurality of cord members.

Further, the moving direction of the rice ball W by the first transfer section 5 and the second transfer section 6 is not limited to the linear direction, which is the front-rear direction, and may be changed. For example, the trajectory moved by the second transfer unit 6 may be a direction along an arc when viewed from above. With respect to the position, the position of the shipping number weight T2 may be shifted left and right, or the orientation may be changed.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 conveying device 4 temporary placement section 5 first transfer section 6 second transfer section 101 receiving section 102 delivery section 103 third transfer section 115 belt member (rotating member)
116 partition piece (partition part)
127 Elevating unit 132 Storage unit T1 Product weight (first container)
T2 shipping number weight (second container)
W Onigiri (goods)

Claims (4)

A conveying device for conveying an article contained in a first container capable of accommodating a plurality of articles in rows in a thickness direction from the first container to a second container,
an aligning section capable of placing a plurality of articles housed in the first container in a state of being aligned in the thickness direction thereof;
a first transfer section used for transferring the articles arranged in rows in the thickness direction in the first container to the aligning section by unloading the articles from the first container ;
a second transfer section capable of transferring articles from the alignment section to the second container;
a rotating member on which a plurality of articles arranged in the thickness direction are placed on the upper surface of the aligning section, and which can rotate so as to move the placed articles in the thickness direction;
a plurality of partitions provided on the rotating member and positioned on both sides in the thickness direction of the article placed on the rotating member and capable of regulating the fall of the article ;
an elevating unit capable of elevating the article between the lowered position and the raised position ;
The elevating section has an accommodating section having walls positioned on both sides of the article in the thickness direction at the elevated position, and at the elevated position, the partition section and the non-partition section move by the rotation of the rotating member. A conveying device capable of lifting an article to a contact position and capable of independently lifting and lowering each of a plurality of articles placed on the aligning section . 2. The aligning section comprises detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an article on the rotating member, and controls the rotating operation of the rotating member according to the detection result of the detecting means. The transport device according to . A position in the thickness direction of the articles placed on the alignment section when the rotating member is stopped is determined in advance, and the detecting means can detect the presence or absence of each of the plurality of articles at that position. 3. The conveying device according to claim 2 . A conveying method for conveying a part of a plurality of articles stored in the first container to the second container using the conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The articles contained in the first container are transported and placed so that the partitions are positioned on both sides in the thickness direction on the upper surface of the rotating member of the aligning unit, and then the rotating member is moved. A conveying method characterized by moving and aligning the articles placed by rotation in the thickness direction.

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