JP7244739B2 - Article conveying device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article conveying apparatus that reverses an article while conveying it.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an article conveying apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-300003 is known as an article conveying apparatus that reverses an article while conveying it. This device uses two conveyors to solve the problem that articles tend to break when they are turned over by dropping them from a conveyor with a relatively high conveying surface to a conveyor with a relatively low conveying surface. Instead of using the difference in height, the article is sandwiched between a pair of belt conveyors and turned over. That is, the pair of belt conveyors are arranged so as to form an arc-shaped curved conveying path centered on a horizontal axis, and articles are reversed by moving along the arc-shaped conveying path.

JP-A-6-80234

In the conventional article conveying apparatus described above, the width of the conveying path matches the height of the article to be conveyed. Therefore, when the height of the article is changed, the shape of the pair of belt conveyors must be changed in order to change the width of the conveying path, which raises the problem of increasing the cost of the apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an article conveying apparatus that prevents damage to conveyed articles and that can be used for articles of different heights.

In the present invention, an article is conveyed by inverting an article supplied from an upstream conveying means and having a substantially cylindrical body and a projecting portion projecting outward from an opening of the body by inverting it around a horizontal axis. An apparatus comprising an inner guide member having a pair of discs arranged in parallel and driven to rotate about a horizontal axis, and an outer guide member having an arc-shaped conveying surface along the outer peripheral edge of the inner guide member. and an article moving means for moving the article in synchronism with the rotation of the inner guide member, the article having a body portion positioned between the pair of discs and having the outer peripheral edge of the inner guide member and the conveying surface. It is characterized in that it is reversed by moving in a state in which only the protrusion passes through the gap between .

Preferably, a downstream conveying means is provided at a position where the article is discharged, which extends along the article discharging direction and has a pair of horizontal guide members that support the lower surface of the projecting portion. In this case, there is provided an article pick-up means for picking up an article supported by the downstream-side conveying means and picking it out from the downstream-side conveying means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an article conveying apparatus that prevents damage to articles to be conveyed and that can be used for articles of different heights.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a front view which shows the goods conveying apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 1 as seen along arrow A; It is a top view which shows a downstream conveyor.

A configuration of an article conveying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. In this apparatus, the container (article) C is filled with, for example, pulp-filled jelly in an upstream process (not shown in FIG. 1) (right side in FIG. 1), and then the opening is sealed with a lid so that the opening faces downward. It is conveyed by a supply conveyor (upstream conveying means) 10 in an inverted state. The container C has a substantially cylindrical body portion D that narrows on the bottom side, and a flange (protrusion) F projecting outward from the body portion D is formed at the opening. On the supply conveyor 10, the flange F of the container C is on the lower side, but as will be described later, by the action of the inner guide member 20 and the outer guide member 30, the container C is inverted around the horizontal axis so that the flange F is on the upper side. Ejected.

The inner guide member 20 has a pair of discs 21, 22 arranged in parallel. Sprockets 23 and 24 are provided outside the discs 21 and 22, and the discs 21 and 22 and the sprockets 23 and 24 are integrally fixed to a drive shaft 25 extending in the horizontal direction. The drive shaft 25 is rotationally driven by a driving motor 27 attached to a fixed frame 26, and the discs 21, 22 and the sprockets 23, 24 are rotationally driven around the horizontal axis.

The outer guide member 30 has an arc-shaped conveying surface 31 along the outer peripheral edge of the inner guide member 20 , and the lowermost surface of the conveying surface 31 is on the extension line of the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 10 . The supply conveyor 10 is gently inclined so that the downstream side is lower, and a fixed guide member 11 inclined at the same angle as the supply conveyor 10 is provided between the supply conveyor 10 and the upstream end of the conveying surface 31 .

A pair of endless chains 40 are provided for conveying the containers C received from the supply conveyor 10 (see FIG. 3), and push bars 41 are attached to the chains 40 at predetermined intervals along their longitudinal direction. . The distance between two adjacent push bars 41 is determined to match the pitch of the notches 28 formed in the discs 21, 22 of the inner guide member 20, and the push bars 41 engage the notches 28. .

Each chain 40 is wound around the sprocket 23 (or 24) and the pulleys 12, 13, 14 arranged above the supply conveyor 10, and the discs 21, 22 and the sprockets 23, 24 are driven via the chain 40. The rotational force of the motor 27 is transmitted. That is, the chain 40 is article moving means for moving the container C in synchronization with the rotation of the inner guide member 20 .

The uppermost pulley 12 among the pulleys 12 , 13 , 14 is at a height corresponding to the upper ends of the sprockets 23 , 24 , and the chain 40 extends horizontally between the sprockets 23 , 24 and the pulley 12 . A push bar receiving member 15 is provided between the sprockets 23, 24 and the pulley 12 to support the push bar 41 from below, where the push bar 41 moves horizontally.

On the supply conveyor 10, the containers C are conveyed in a state in which adjacent ones are in contact with each other. A push bar 41 is inserted between C. As a result, two adjacent containers C are separated by the pitch of the notches 28 of the discs 21 and 22 when transferring from the supply conveyor 10 to the fixed guide member 11 . Article detection sensors 71, 72 and 73 for detecting the containers C are provided at predetermined positions on the supply conveyor 10 in order to control the push bar 41 to enter between the two containers C. As shown in FIG.

The output signals of these sensors 71-73 are sent to the drive motor 27 and the control circuit of the supply conveyor 10. FIG. The sensors 71 and 73 detect the gap between the containers at a predetermined timing, and when the sensor 72 detects the container, the control circuit determines that the container is conveyed so that the push bar 41 enters the gap between the containers. judge. Further, the control circuit determines that the timing with the push bar 41 is off when the sensors 71 and 73 detect the container at a predetermined timing, or when the sensor 72 detects the gap, The movement of the push bar 41 is stopped.

In this manner, the container C is pushed by the push bar 41 to be conveyed on the fixed guide member 11 and transferred onto the conveying surface 31 of the outer guide member 30 . In FIG. 1, the conveying surface 31 is linear at the lowest position close to the fixed guide member 11, but has an arcuate shape along the outer peripheral edges of the discs 21 and 22, and the uppermost portions of the discs 21 and 22 It extends to a slightly lower height position. In the example of FIG. 1, the central angle of the arc of the conveying surface 31 is about 140°, but this size can be changed depending on the purpose.

A gap is formed between the outer peripheral edges of the discs 21 and 22 and the conveying surface 31 for the flange F of the container C to pass through. The container C is supported on the conveying surface 31 on the upstream side of this gap, that is, on the portion close to the fixed guide member 11, but the opening is shifted from the horizontal direction as the discs 21 and 22 rotate. The flanges F are supported by the outer peripheral edges of the discs 21 and 22 as they face upward, and are discharged to the flange receiving guides 50 described later at the uppermost portions of the discs 21 and 22 .

A flange receiving guide 50 extends horizontally from the top of discs 21 , 22 beyond pulley 12 . The flange receiving guides 50 are a pair of horizontal guide members extending in parallel as shown in FIG. 3 and provided between the pair of chains 40 . The distance between the pair of horizontal guide members is sized to support the lower surface of the flange F of the container C. As shown in FIG. That is, the flange receiving guide 50 is a downstream conveying means that extends along the discharge direction of the container C. As shown in FIG.

A container take-out mechanism (item take-out means) 60 is provided above the flange receiving guide 50 . The container take-out mechanism 60 sucks a plurality of (six in FIG. 1) containers C supported by the flange receiving guide 50 and takes them out from the flange receiving guide 50 . For this reason, the container take-out mechanism 60 has a plurality of suction parts 61 that stick to the lid of the container C, and a driving part 62 that makes these suction parts 61 follow the chain 40 and moves them in the horizontal direction. is housed in a case arranged on the side of the article conveying device.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
The container C, which is filled with contents such as pulp-filled jelly and whose opening is sealed with a lid, is conveyed by the supply conveyor 10 and transferred to 11 in an inverted state with the opening facing downward. During this delivery, the push bar 41 is fitted between the container C located at the most downstream end of the supply conveyor 10 and the container C adjacent to the upstream side, and the container C is pushed by the push bar 41 on the fixed guide member 11. pushed and transported.

The container C is transferred from the fixed guide member 11 onto the conveying surface 31 of the outer guide member 30 . When the container C approaches the discs 21 and 22, it comes to be positioned between the pair of discs 21 and 22, and is transported along the transport surface 31 while being pushed by the push bar 41. As shown in FIG. In this conveying operation, the container C moves with the flange F positioned between the outer peripheral edges of the discs 21 and 22 and the conveying surface 31. Initially, the container C is supported only by the conveying surface 31, but is turned over. When the opening faces upward, the flange F is supported by the outer peripheral edges of the discs 21 and 22 . When the container C reaches the tops of the discs 21 and 22, the container C stands upright and is transferred to the flange receiving guides 50. As shown in FIG.

On the flange receiving guide 50, when a predetermined number (for example, 6) of containers C are positioned directly below the container take-out mechanism 60, the suction part 61 of the container take-out mechanism 60 descends while following the conveying speed of the containers C to pick up the containers. It sticks to the lid portion of C and is lifted from the flange receiving guide 50 . Then, the container take-out mechanism 60 stores the container C in a case (not shown).

This article conveying apparatus can be used as long as the body D of the container C can be inserted between the pair of discs 23 and 24 even when the height of the container C to be conveyed is changed. . This is because the apparatus is constructed so that the flange F of the container C passes through the gap between the inner guide member 20 and the outer guide member 30, and as shown in FIG. The container X and the low-height container Y are also conveyed by the same action.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, it can be used for containers having different heights, and the cost of the device can be reduced. Further, in this embodiment, the container is turned over while supporting the flange of the container, so that the container is not damaged during the turnover operation.

10 supply conveyor (upstream conveying means)
20 inner guide member 21, 22 disk 30 outer guide member 31 conveying surface 40 chain (goods moving means)
50 flange receiving guide (downstream conveying means)
60 container take-out mechanism (item take-out means)
C container (goods)
D: Body F: Flange (Protrusion)

Claims (3)

An article conveying apparatus for inverting and discharging an article supplied from an upstream conveying means and having a substantially cylindrical body and a projecting portion projecting outward from an opening of the body , the article being reversed about a horizontal axis. ,
an inner guide member having a pair of discs arranged in parallel and driven to rotate about a horizontal axis;
an outer guide member having an arc-shaped conveying surface along the outer peripheral edge of the inner guide member;
an article moving means for moving the article in synchronization with the rotation of the inner guide member;
The article moves in a state in which the body is positioned between the pair of discs and only the projecting portion passes through the gap between the outer peripheral edge of the inner guide member and the conveying surface. An article conveying device characterized by being inverted. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a downstream conveying means having a pair of horizontal guide members extending along the discharge direction of the article and supporting the lower surface of the projecting portion at a position where the article is discharged. An article conveying device as described. 3. An article conveying apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising article pick-up means for sucking the article supported by the downstream conveying means and picking it out from the downstream conveying means.

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