JPH02258094A - Pallet cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To mechanically clean a pallet having water and dust adhered thereto within a short time by providing brushes for removing the water and dust adhered to the pallet advancing on a moving route and a rollers for wiping off the upper and under surfaces of the pallet. CONSTITUTION:Each of pallets stored in open air and exposed to rain or dust is placed on rollers 11 to be moved on a pallet moving route 12. Each pallet passes between roll brushes 13 arranged up and down at first and, at this time, the roll brushes are slid with the upper and under surfaces 14a, 14b of the pallet 14 to sweep out the water or dust adhered to the pallet 14 by the rotation of the roll brushes 13 and the movement of the pallet 14. Thereafter, the pallet 14 passes between a pair of upper and lower wiping rollers 19, 20 and the soft urethane foams 19a, 20a constituting the outer peripheral parts of the respective wiping rollers 19, 20 are brought into contact with the upper and under surfaces 14a, 14b of the pallet 14 under pressure and wipe off the upper and the under surfaces 14a, 14b of the pallet 14 under rotation. Thereafter, the wiping rollers return to a washing position to squeeze the absorbed water of the rollers by press rollers 27 and stand by until the next pallet 14 advances.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a pallet cleaning device, and more particularly to a device for simultaneously cleaning the top and bottom surfaces of a pallet.

(Prior Art) It is well known that pallets are used when carrying out cargo handling work using a forklift. Pallets are often piled up in the open when not in use. Pallets that have been stacked in the open in this way are exposed to rain and dust, and if they are used directly, the packaging cardboard on the outside of the cargo may get wet or get dusty, causing damage or stains. It causes. Therefore, in order to prevent damage to outer packaging boxes, prevent contamination, and maintain hygiene, the top and bottom surfaces of pallets that have been stored in the open should be brushed or clothed with a cloth before being used. There is. Conventionally, all such cleaning of pallets has been done manually.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) As mentioned above, in the past, all the cleaning of pallets was done by humans, which required a lot of manpower, was difficult to secure the workers, and was difficult to clean. There are problems in terms of economy and labor as the cleaning may not be sufficient in some cases, and there is also the problem of lack of reliability in terms of the integrity of cleaning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for mechanically cleaning wet or dusty pallets in a short period of time.

(Means for Solving tJM) The pallet cleaning device of the present invention has a pallet moving path provided with a drive conveyance mechanism, and is located at least on either the upper or lower side of the pallet moving path, and A brush that removes water and dust adhering to the advancing pallet, and a pair of wiping rollers that are arranged at the upper and lower parts of the pallet moving path behind the brush in the pallet traveling direction and wipe both the upper and lower surfaces of the pallet. It is composed of:

(Function) According to the pallet cleaning device of the present invention, a pallet is placed on a pallet movement path that includes a drive conveyance mechanism such as a conveyance roller, a conveyance chain, a conveyance belt, etc., and is moved within the pallet cleaning device. The pallet is first moved directly below and/or directly above the pallet so that the brush comes into sliding contact with the upper or lower surface of the pallet, and water and dust adhering to the pallet are swept out and removed by the brush. The pallet from which water and dust have been removed in this manner then passes between a pair of wiping rollers while moving along the pallet's first movement path, and its upper and lower surfaces are wiped off.

(Embodiments) Hereinafter, the pallet cleaning device of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

1 to 4 show a pallet cleaning bag ff1o according to an embodiment of the present invention. The pallet cleaning device 10 of this embodiment includes a pallet moving path 12 configured by arranging a large number of conveying rollers 11, and the upper and lower parts of the pallet supply side of this pallet moving path 12 are shown in FIG. A roll brush 13 like this is arranged. Each roll brush 13 has a pallet moving path 12
The upper surface 14a and the lower surface 14 of the pallet 14 that moves above
It is fixed at a height position where it can slide into contact with b.

Only one roll brush 13 may be installed with its width approximately equal to the width of the pallet 14 as shown in FIG. 2, but preferably two to four narrow roll brushes are installed in parallel. Alternatively, they may be arranged in a staggered manner, whereby water and dust adhering to the upper surface 14a and lower surface 14b of the pallet 14 are swept away as the pallet 14 moves.

As the material of the wire of each roll brush 13, nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, etc. can be used. Further, the material, diameter, length, etc., rotation speed of the brush, etc. must be selected so as to be able to completely remove dirt and not to affect the pallet 14 itself or the printing surface. The conditions for this differ depending on the material of the pallet 14, etc., and it is desirable to prepare various types of brushes and use them interchangeably depending on the pallet 14 to be cleaned.

For example, when the pallet 14 is made of polyolefin plastic such as polyethylene or polypropylene, the preferable conditions are that the wire material of the brush 13 is nylon and the wire diameter is 0.5.
~1.5 w+, wire length is 40~1501Iff
l.The outer diameter of the brush is 100~200m, the density of the wire is close winding or pitch winding with a pitch interval of 10~30mm, the brush rotation speed is 200~700 times/min, brush 13 and pallet 1.
4 relative speed 2-25m/min, brush wire and pallet 1
The contact length with 4 is 5 to 30 m. The direction of rotation of the roll brush 13 is the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.

Further, this pallet cleaning device 10 includes a pair of wiping rollers 19 and 20 arranged at the upper and lower portions of the pallet moving path 12 behind each of the roll brushes 13 described above in the pallet traveling direction. The upper and lower wiping rollers 19 and 20 each have a water-absorbing material 19 such as sponge or soft urethane foam on the outer peripheral surface of a metal cylindrical body.
a.

20a, and its urethane foam 19
a, 20a are placed in pressure contact with the upper surface 14a and lower surface 14b of the pallet 14 being moved.

The upper wiping roller 19 is supported by having both ends rotatably attached to an arm 23 whose one end is rotatably supported by a bearing 22 provided on a pedestal 21. An air cylinder device W24 in which a piston rod 24a is connected to a shaft supporting the wiping roller 19 (rear wiping roller 19 described later in FIG. 1)
(only shown in the figure), it is possible to rotate about 1/4 turn. That is, at the position where the upper wiping roller 19 comes into pressure contact with the pallet 14, the arm 23 is horizontal as shown in FIG. When rotated by 24, the wiping roller 19 is lifted above the pallet pressing position as shown by arrow 25. The position of the wiping roller 19 lifted upward is conveniently referred to as the cleaning position. A water sprinkling pipe 26 for sprinkling water on the wiping roller 19 is disposed at this cleaning position, and below the wiping roller 19. In order to squeeze out the water contained in the urethane foam 19a, a pressure roller 27 made of a hard material such as hard rubber or metal is rotatably supported at both ends by arms 28.
Further, the arm 28 is also connected to the piston rod 29a of the air cylinder device 29 so that the pressing roller 27 approaches and moves away from the wiping roller 19. Further below the pressing roller 27, there is a tray 30 that receives the water squeezed out from the urethane foam 19a of the wiping roller 19 by the pressing roller 27 and discharges the water out of the pallet cleaning device 1°. It is located.

On the other hand, the lower wiping roller 20 is rotatably supported at both ends by the pedestal 21 of the pallet cleaning device 10, and therefore does not move from that position. The same water sprinkling pipe 26, pressure roller 27, and water tray 30 as provided at the washing position are arranged. Each of these wiping rollers 19, 20
As shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, the rotation of the output shaft of the motor 31 located at the bottom of the device 10 is transmitted to each wiping roller 19, 20 via a chain 32, gear 33, etc. is transmitted to the shaft that supports it and rotated.

Another pair of such wiping rollers 19 and 20 is provided at the rear of the pallet moving path 12 in the pallet traveling direction, and accordingly, the upper wiping roller 19 is in the cleaning position and the lower wiping roller 20 is in the cleaning position. Exactly the same sprinkler pipe 26, pressure roller 27, and water tray 30 are arranged.

Note that the entire pallet cleaning device 10 is surrounded by a cover 34.

Next, the operation of the pallet cleaning device 10 of this embodiment will be explained.

For example, pallets 14 that have been piled up in the open and exposed to rain and dust are placed on conveyance rollers 11 and moved along a pallet movement path 12. At this time, the moving force can be applied to the pallet 14 by using some of the many transport rollers 11 as drive rollers. The pallet 14 first passes between the roll brushes 13 arranged above and below, and its W,
The roll brush 13 comes into sliding contact with the upper surface 14a and the lower surface 14b of the pallet 14, and as the roll brush 13 rotates and the pallet 14 moves, water and dust adhering to the pallet 14 are swept away. 14 passes between a pair of upper and lower wipe rollers 19 and 20, and at this time, soft urethane foams 19a and 20a forming the outer periphery of each wipe roller 19 and 20 touch the upper surface 14a of the pallet 14.
and the lower surface 14b, and wipes the upper surface 14a and lower surface 14b of the pallet 14 while rotating. After wiping the upper and lower surfaces 14a and 14b of the pallet 14, the wiping rollers 19 and 20 return to the cleaning position, squeeze the absorbed water with the suppression roller 27, and wait until the next pallet 14 advances. The operation does not have to be performed every time for each pallet, and can be changed as appropriate depending on the water-wetting condition of the pallet.Furthermore, the pallet 14 is connected to another pair of pallets arranged at the rear in the direction of movement. The pallet cleaning device 10 passes through the wiping rollers 19 and 20, the upper surface 14a and the lower surface 14b are wiped again, and is then discharged from the pallet cleaning device 10.

In this embodiment, the pair of wiping rollers 19 and 20 are
&Il is arranged to ensure thorough wiping of the upper surface 14a and lower surface 14b of the pallet 14, and 2All is not necessarily required.

However, when the pallets 14 are to be conveyed continuously without any gaps, two pairs of wiping rollers (front and rear wiping rollers) are set alternately in the wiping position and the cleaning position to operate continuously and efficiently. can do.

When the pair of wiping rollers 1920 wipes the upper surface 14a and lower surface 14b of several pallets 14 in this way, the urethane foam 19a of the wiping rollers 19, 20,
20a becomes dirty. At that time, the upper wiping roller 19 is moved to the arm 2 by the operation of the air cylinder device 24.
2 is rotated and moved to the cleaning position, where it is cleaned by a jet of water coming out of the water spray pipe 26, and then the pressure roller 27 is pressed against the wiping roller 19 to compress the urethane foam 19a and remove the water contained in the urethane foam 19a. The lower wiping roller 20, which squeezes out, is cleaned in that position in exactly the same way as the wiping roller 19.

Although the pallet cleaning device of the embodiment described above uses a large number of conveyance rollers 11 as means for conveying the pallet 14, the present invention is not limited to this, and rollers 11 are arranged at intervals. Alternatively, the pallet may be conveyed by two or more chains or belts, as long as the lower surface of the pallet is exposed while being conveyed. Further, although a roll brush is used in this embodiment, a fixed brush that does not rotate itself, such as a so-called fly or a brush, can also have the same effect.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the pallet cleaning device of the present invention, for example, the upper and lower surfaces of pallets that have been piled up in the open and exposed to rain and dust can be cleaned mechanically and in an extremely short period of time without manual intervention. , can be cleaned automatically, and as a result, the completeness of the cleaning is improved, and it is highly reliable in terms of hygiene management and prevention of damage to packaging materials, and also eliminates the problem of difficulty in securing workers. resolved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a pallet cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a roll brush, and Fig. 3 is taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the pallet cleaning device; FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the pallet cleaning device of FIG. 1 viewed from above with the upper cover removed;
The figure is a structural explanatory diagram schematically showing the drive mechanism of the wiping roller in the pallet cleaning device of FIG. 1. 10... Pallet cleaning device, 11... Conveyance roller,
12...Pallet movement path, 13...Roll brush, 19.20...Wiping roller. Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] a pallet moving path including a drive conveyance mechanism; a brush located at least on either the upper or lower part of the pallet moving path to remove water and dust attached to pallets traveling along the pallet moving path; A pallet cleaning device comprising: a pair of wiping rollers that are disposed above and below the pallet moving path behind the brush in the pallet traveling direction and wipe both upper and lower surfaces of the pallet.