JPH0311968B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to fruits such as citrus fruits and persimmons, and onions,
In a fruit sorting facility that mechanically sorts vegetables such as potatoes (hereinafter referred to as "fruits and vegetables to be sorted"), automatically packs them into fixed-quantity boxes, and then automatically seals them, the fruit is sorted according to the number of classification standards for each grade. This invention relates to a device for transferring boxed containers from the outlet of a boxing machine to a merging conveyor in order to shorten the distance between installed automatic fixed-quantity boxing machines compared to the conventional one.

[Prior art] A plurality of automatic cartoning machines corresponding to the number of sorting classes are installed in parallel at predetermined intervals, and the cardboard boxes that are sent out as soon as the amount of material to be sorted is reached are placed perpendicular to the transport direction of the automatic cartoning machines. In the conventional fruit sorting facility, the first,
As shown in Figures 2 and 8, the cardboard box a packed by the automatic boxing machine 1 is sent out in a rectangular orientation with its long sides parallel to the conveyance direction (hereinafter referred to as the vertical orientation). The transfer method for merging onto the merging conveyor 2 is that the cardboard box a gradually rotates while drawing an arc around the cylindrical cardboard 3 installed at the inner corner of the T-shaped intersection of the automatic cartoning machine and the merging conveyor as the rotation axis, and then moves onto the merging conveyor 2. This is a method of transfer.
Therefore, the cardboard boxes _a1 are conveyed in a vertically long position on the merging conveyor 2 and connected to the sealing line.

In this conventional method, when transferring from the automatic cartoning machine 1 to the merging conveyor 2, the cardboard boxes a sent out from the automatic cartoning machines 1 and 1 on both sides installed in parallel and the cardboard boxes conveyed on the merging conveyor 2 are transferred from the automatic cartoning machine 1 to the merging conveyor 2. In order to prevent a collision with box _a1 , a stop device 4 and its activation switch 5 are provided to control the discharge. Therefore, the interval (distance) corresponds to the time required for the tip of the cardboard box a to plunge onto the merging conveyor 2 from the automatic cartoning machine 1, and then gradually change direction while sliding on the merging conveyor 2 and complete the transfer. x is required as the distance between the automatic cartoning machines 1.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As shown in FIG. 8, in this conventional case, the tip aa of the cardboard box a slides backward from the first grounding point ca where it plunges onto the merging conveyor 2, and gradually shifts backward. Change direction (at this time, the first grounding point ca is
ca ₁ , and the tip aa of cardboard box a is located at aa ₁ ), and the transfer is completed onto the merging conveyor 2 (when the transfer is completed, the first grounding point ca is located at ca ₂ , and the tip aa of cardboard box Tip aa is located at aa ₂ )
Since the distance La, which is the sum of the distance da by which the tip of the cardboard box a slipped and shifted by the long side dimension ll of the cardboard box a, is long, the center distance between the automatic cartoning machines 1 and 1 is conventionally at least 1.3 meters. However, there was a drawback that it could not be reduced any further.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and can shorten the distance between automatic boxing machines to 1 meter or less. For example, in the case of 3 grades and 5 classes and 15 automatic boxing machines grounded in parallel, the total length of the fruit sorting line can be reduced. A device for shortening the mutual spacing between automatic cartoning machines during fruit sorting and relocation, which can be shortened by 4.5 meters or more (1 span shortened between building pillars) and, in turn, reduce fruit sorting facility costs and building construction costs. The purpose is to provide

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention arranges a plurality of automatic boxing machines in parallel at predetermined intervals according to the number of sorting classes, and provides a In a fruit sorting facility, the cardboard boxes in which the sorted products are packed into quantitative boxes and sent out are conveyed by joining a single-line merging conveyor that is conveyed in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the automatic cartoning machine, and then automatically sealed. At the end of the outlet of the automatic cartoning machine, the cardboard box sent out from the automatic cartoning machine in a vertical position is conveyed at a speed of 1.5 times or more of the speed of the merging conveyor, and the cardboard box is placed in the same position on the merging conveyor. This device is configured to shorten the distance between automatic cartoning machines in a fruit sorting facility, characterized in that each automatic cartoning machine is equipped with a high-speed feeding device that rapidly feeds The cardboard box A, which is rapidly fed without changing its orientation while remaining in a vertical position, completes the approach transfer when the tip of the cardboard box a shifts only slightly backward from the first contact point that plunges onto the merging conveyor. It is possible to shorten the distance (merging space) that is the sum of the distance by which a is slightly misaligned and the length of the short side of the cardboard box a, and the mutual spacing between automatic cartoning machines is greatly shortened. It has been made possible to do so.

[Example] Figures 3 to 7 and 9 showing examples of the present invention will be described below.

I is a manual grading machine, and it is manually graded into excellent, excellent, etc.
A classification of good and good quality is performed. A, B, C are excellent;
This is a fruit sorting machine for each grade of excellent and good, and the materials to be sorted are:
Each fruit sorting machine classifies the fruit according to its size, and each class is transferred from the drawer conveyor 26 to the quantitative box supply device 27 of the automatic cartoning machine 1, and then delivered to the cardboard box in a vertically long position on the automatic cartoning machine 1. It is supplied to a ₀ and packaged in fixed quantities (see Figures 3 to 5). A plurality of the drawer conveyors 26 and the automatic cartoning machine 1 are used in accordance with the number of sorting classes, and are arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals. Then, when the material to be sorted is packed in a fixed amount into the cardboard box a ₀ , the empty box distribution device 2 at the rear is loaded.
8 operates and pushes from the rear, thereby pushing the packed cardboard box forward to the automatic box packing machine 1.
It is sent out on the box conveyor 21. Up to the discharge control stop device 24 provided at the outlet of the cartoning conveyor 21 is almost the same as the conventionally known system, but in the present invention, the outlet of each cartoning conveyor 21, that is, the discharge control stop device 24 of each automatic cartoning machine 1. A high-speed feeding device 29 having a length shorter than the length of the cardboard box is provided at the end of the outlet. A single line of merging conveyor 22 is connected to the exit side of each high-speed feeding device 29 and conveys in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the automatic cartoning machine 1. The operation switch 25 detects the presence or absence of the cardboard box a ₁ being conveyed on the merging conveyor 22, and after confirming that there will be no collision at the merging section, the cardboard box a 1 that is being sent out from the automatic cartoning machine 1 in a vertical position is activated. The high speed feeding device 2
At step 9, the user is rapidly transferred onto the merging conveyor 22 without changing the orientation while maintaining the vertical posture. That is,
As shown in FIG. 9, the present invention completes the approach transfer from the first grounding point cb at which the tip ab of the cardboard box a enters onto the merging conveyor 22 (at this time, the first grounding point cb is located at cb ₁₎ . , the tip ab of the cardboard box is located at ab 1), and the distance Lb is made smaller by adding the distance db of the positional deviation up to (the tip ab of the cardboard box is located at ab ₁ ) and the length ls of the short side of the cardboard box a. According to experiments, if the speed of the high-speed feeding device 29 that rapidly feeds and transfers the conveyor is about twice the speed of the merging conveyor 22, the transfer will not be oblique, but if it is less than about 1.5 times, the transfer will be slightly oblique. So, about
It is 1.5 times or more, preferably 2 times or more.

As described above, the present invention transports cardboard boxes a randomly sent out in a vertically long position from the boxing conveyor 21 of the automatic boxing machine 1 to the high-speed feeding device 2.
9, the cardboard box a is conveyed at a speed of 1.5 times or more than the speed of the merging conveyor 22, and the cardboard box a is rapidly conveyed onto the merging conveyor 22 while maintaining its vertical position, and transferred in a straight line. Instead of rotating in a circular arc and transferring, the tip of the cardboard box a shifts a very small amount backwards from the position where it first touched the ground, completing the approach transfer. Because the distance (merging space) is short, the time it takes to complete the transfer and the merging conveyor 2 when the transfer is completed
The distance between the cardboard boxes _a1 on 2 can be shortened, and the mutual distance _x1 between the automatic box packing machines 1 can be reduced to 1 meter or less.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, an intermittent feeding device 210 composed of a roller conveyor is provided at the tip of the merging conveyor 22, and several rollers on the entrance side of the device 210 are moved to the cylinder 213 by detection switches 211 and 212 that detect the presence or absence of boxes. Alternatively, the cardboard boxes _A1 can be temporarily stopped by moving up and down with a cam (not shown), and the boxes can be separated and fed one by one, but the several rollers 214 on the exit side of the device 210 can rotate at high speed and rapidly feed in a straight line. It is configured as follows. Above, at the end of the intermittent feeding device 210 that carries the cardboard box A ₁ in a horizontally long position, the feeding device 21
An unloading conveyor 215 is provided that conveys the cardboard in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the cardboard boxes. The boxes A ₁ are separated one by one, and without changing the direction in the horizontal position, they are rapidly moved straight (sliding) onto the carry-out conveyor 215, and the cardboard boxes A ₂ are placed in the vertical position again and transferred to the automatic box sealing machine 216. It was designed to be transported.

[Operations and Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention includes a plurality of automatic boxing machines that are arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals according to the number of sorting classes, and each automatic boxing machine packs a fixed amount of the material to be sorted and sends it out. At the fruit sorting facility where the cardboard boxes are conveyed together on a single merging conveyor that is conveyed in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of the automatic cartoning machines, and the boxes are automatically sealed, the exit section of each automatic cartoning machine is First, a high-speed feeding device was installed to convey the cardboard boxes sent out from the automatic boxing machine in a vertical position at a speed of 1.5 times or more than the speed of the merging conveyor, and rapidly feed the cardboard boxes onto the merging conveyor in that same position. Because the cardboard boxes are sent out from each automatic boxing machine in a vertical position, they are sent out in that position, rather than rotating in an arc and being transferred, and the transfer can be completed in a short merging space. In addition, the distance between the cardboard boxes on the merging conveyor in the advancing direction can be shortened, which has the effect of greatly shortening the mutual distance between automatic cartoning machines, and by extension, the fruit sorting machines in fruit sorting facilities. The economic effect is significant by shortening the overall length of the line, reducing the cost of fruit sorting facilities, and reducing building construction costs by reducing the building area.

Further, according to the present invention, since the distance between the automatic cartoning machines can be shortened, each automatic cartoning machine can be easily monitored by one supervisor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 2, and 8 show a conventional method. FIGS. 1 and 8 are explanatory views of a combination of a conventional automatic box packing machine and a merging conveyor, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view thereof. Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 all show embodiments of the present invention, with Figure 3 being a schematic overall plan view, and Figures 4 and 9 showing the automatic cartoning machine and the high-speed feeding device. An explanatory diagram of linear transfer using a combination of conveyors, FIG. 5 is a schematic side sectional view thereof, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic side sectional views of the intermittent feeding device. 1... Automatic boxing machine, 21... Boxing conveyor,
2, 22... Merging conveyor, 3... Cylindrical ball, 4, 24... Discharge control stop device, 5, 25... Operation switch, 6, 26... Drawer conveyor, 7, 27... Quantitative packaging Supply device, 28... Empty box distribution device, 29... High speed feeding device, 210... Intermittent feeding device, 211,
212...Detection switch, 213...Cylinder, 214...High speed rotating roller, 215...Outgoing conveyor, 216...Automatic sealing machine, A...Grade manual sorting machine, A, B, C...Each grade fruit sorting machine,
a, a ₀ , a ₁ , a ₂ ... Cardboard box, x, x ₁ ... Automatic cartoning machine spacing, aa, aa ₁ , aa ₂ , ab, ab ₁ ... Tip of cardboard box, ca, ca ₁ , ca ₂ , cb, cb ₁ ... grounding point, da, db ... distance shifted from the grounding point,
ll, ls...Length dimension of one side of the cardboard box, La,
lb...Distance that is the sum of the misalignment distance and the length of one side of the cardboard box.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of automatic boxing machines corresponding to the number of sorting classes are installed in parallel at predetermined intervals, and the cardboard boxes into which the items to be sorted are packaged in quantitative boxes and sent out by each automatic boxing machine are
Transporting in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the automatic boxing machine 1
In a sorting facility where fruit is conveyed by merging it onto a merging conveyor and then automatically sealed, the cardboard boxes sent out in a vertically long position from the automatic cartoning machine are placed at the end of the outlet of each automatic cartoning machine on the merging conveyor. of the speed of
To shorten the distance between automatic cartoning machines in a fruit sorting facility, characterized in that each carton box is equipped with a high-speed feeding device that conveys at a speed of 1.5 times or more and rapidly feeds the cardboard boxes in the same position onto a merging conveyor. equipment for.