JPH0313134B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a device that automatically feeds sheet foods such as seaweed (hereinafter referred to as sheet materials) to be processed one by one to a processing machine. be.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in the process of processing seaweed, in order to take out seaweed one by one from a laminated body of seaweed and automatically feed it mechanically to a processing machine, the inventor of the present application has proposed the method No. 9 previously proposed. The automatic seaweed feeding device (Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-2743) shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 10 is used.

The feeding device includes a support frame 11 for storing a stack 9 of sheet-like materials (seaweed) on a machine base 1, and a sheet-like material take-out opening 18 at the bottom of the support frame.
A stacked body receiving device 4 equipped with a pair of receiving claws 41, 41 that can be opened and closed is provided, and the receiving device 4
Below is a suction box 2 that vacuum suctions the sheet-like material 91 at the bottom of the stack one by one and pulls it down;
It includes a delivery device (not shown) that receives the sheet-like material 91 from the suction box 2 and discharges it to a processing machine for the next process.

According to the supply device, by sequentially replenishing the laminate 9 from above the accommodation space 13 formed by the support frame 11, the sheet-like materials 91 are sequentially discharged below the support frame 11. (Problem to be solved) However, in the above supply device, the storage space 1
The work of supplying the laminate 9 to the stack 3 still has to be done manually, and for this reason, it is necessary to have one worker stationed at the supply device at all times.

In particular, if the pre-process leading up to the supply device, for example the process of laminating a large number of sheet materials to form the laminate 9, is automated, the automatic process will be interrupted before the supply device and the entire process will be interrupted. There were problems that hindered the automation of the process.

However, this problem can be solved by simply connecting a belt conveyor that horizontally conveys the laminate to the support frame 11,
This problem cannot be solved by a method of continuously and automatically supplying the laminate 9 to the storage space 13. The first stacked body sent into the storage space 13 by the horizontal conveyance of the conveyor is directly pushed by the following stacked bodies, and the sheet-like objects of both stacked bodies are interlocked with each other. This is because separation becomes difficult.

Furthermore, in order to avoid this, if the stacked bodies are arranged on the conveyor with large intervals, the production efficiency will be reduced.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above problems by equipping the supply device with a conveyor for carrying out the stacked body and controlling the drive of the conveyor.

That is, the supply device according to the present invention provides an inlet 19 on the side surface of the support frame 11 disposed on the machine stand 1 above the take-out opening 18 through which the laminate can pass. A conveyor 5 for horizontally conveying the body was connected.

The support frame 11 is provided with a gate mechanism 3 that receives the stack 9 within the frame at the same support height as the stack on the conveyor.

The operations of the conveyor 5 and the gate mechanism 3 are controlled by a sequence control circuit 7, and the control circuit 7 includes a first detection device 71 that detects the completion of replenishment of the laminate into the support frame 11, A second detector 72 that detects when the amount of sheet-like material remaining on the device 4 is below a predetermined amount, and both detectors 71 and 72.
and a signal processing circuit 73 that creates a control signal based on the output signal of.

When the laminated body 9 is sent into the support frame 11 by the normal rotation operation of the conveyor 5, and the laminated body 9 is detected by the first detector 71, the conveyor 5 switches to the reverse rotation operation for a short time. It will stop after the elapsed time.

The gate mechanism 3 switches from the closed state to the open state substantially simultaneously with the stop of the conveyor 5, and feeds the stacked product 9 onto the receiving device 4.

After that, the stack on the receiving device 4 is consumed by the opening/closing operation of the receiving claws 41, 41 of the receiving device 4 and the lifting/lowering operation of the suction casing 2, and the sheet-like material remaining on the receiving device 4 is The second detector 72 detects that the amount has fallen below the predetermined amount, and as a result, the conveyor 5 resumes normal rotation.

(Function) A plurality of stacked bodies 9 arranged in a line on the conveyor 5 are conveyed toward the accommodation space 13 formed by the support frame 11 by the forward rotation of the conveyor 5. At this time, the gate mechanism 3 is set to the closed state, and the leading stacked body 9a passes through the entrance 19 of the support frame 11 and is transferred from the conveyor 5 onto the gate mechanism 3. Even after the stacked body 9a leaves the conveyor 5, the subsequent stacked body 9b fills the accommodation space 13.
It is pushed inward and is housed in the space 13 as a whole in a state where it is in contact with the back wall of the support frame 11.

The first detector 71 detects the completion of replenishment of the stacked body 9a, and the sequence control circuit 7 causes the conveyor 5 to operate in reverse for a short period of time. As a result, the succeeding stacked body 9b on the conveyor 5 is slightly separated from the leading stacked body 9a, and the engagement caused by mutual contact is released.

Thereafter, the gate mechanism 3 is opened under the control of the sequence control circuit 7. At this time, the leading stacked body 9a
As described above, since the engagement with the succeeding stacked body 9b is released and vertical movement is free, the gate mechanism 3 falls simultaneously with the opening of the gate mechanism 3 due to its own weight and is sent onto the receiving device 4.

By opening and closing the receiving claws 41, 41 of the receiving device 4 and raising and lowering the suction housing 2, the sheet-like material 91 at the bottom of the stacked body 9a is sequentially discharged to the next process.

Thereafter, when the amount of the laminate remaining on the receiving device 4 falls below a certain amount, this is detected by the second detector 7.
2 is detected, and the sequence control circuit 7 causes the conveyor 5 to operate in normal rotation after closing the gate mechanism 3.
As a result, the subsequent stacked body 9b is filled into the accommodation space 13 at the top.

Thereafter, the above operation is repeated, thereby continuously supplying the sheet-like material 91.

(Effects of the invention) According to the sheet-like material feeding device according to the present invention,
By arranging a large number of laminates 9 on the conveyor 5, the laminates 9 are automatically fed into the device, so there is no need for a worker to be stationed at the feeding device at all times.

Furthermore, by connecting the inlet of the conveyor 5 to the entire process and continuously supplying the laminate 9 onto the conveyor 5, the entire process can be automated.

(Example) FIGS. 1 to 4 show an example in which a sheet-shaped material feeding device according to the present invention is implemented in the above-mentioned seaweed automatic feeding device (Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-2743).

Openings 18, 18 with a width corresponding to the area of seaweed to be processed are provided on the top surface of the machine base 1 where the sheet feeding device 10 is installed, and the four corners of each opening 18 are
In the two left corners of FIG.
12a, and a strip-shaped frame material 12b on the two right corners,
12b are arranged vertically, respectively, to accommodate the accommodating space 1 for the laminate 9.
3, 13 are formed. A pair of strip frame members 12
b and 12b are arranged at a distance that allows the laminate 9 to pass through, so that the entrance 19 of the laminate 9 is formed at the bottom portion between them.

The stacked body 9 is located above the opening 18 of the support frame 11 and faces toward the entrance 19 of each accommodation space 13, 13.
A pair of belt conveyors 5 for horizontally conveying the conveyor are equipped, and the conveyor tips are connected to the inlet 19, respectively. The conveyor 5 has an endless conveying belt 55 stretched between a driving roller 53 connected to a drive motor 51 via a belt 52 and a driven roller 54 disposed near the support frame 11. The drive motor 51 is controlled to rotate forward or reverse by a sequence control circuit 7, which will be described later.

Further, each support frame 11 is provided with a gate mechanism 3 that supports the stacked body within the frame at the same height position as the stacked body on the conveyor. The gate mechanism 3
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, two rotating shafts 37, 39 are supported on both sides of the storage space 13, and extend parallel to the stack conveyance method.
A pair of flat receiving claws 32, 32 are attached to the housing space 13, respectively, to receive or open both ends of the lower surface of the stack, and both rotating shafts 37, 39 are driven by solenoids 33. It is connected to the device 31. In addition, there is a pair of receiving claws 3 in the left half of Figure 2.
2 and 32 are shown, and illustration of the drive device 31 is omitted. Although various well-known mechanisms can be selectively implemented as the drive device 31, the illustrated example uses a solenoid 33 and a link mechanism. That is, the first link 34 is caused to swing in a vertical plane by the solenoid 33, the free end of the link 34 is connected to the second link 35, and the swing of the link 35 drives the outer rotating shaft 37. In addition, the second link 35 is connected to the third link 38 via a transmission shaft 36, and the rotation of the third link 38 is reversed by a gear and transmitted to the inner rotating shaft 39, whereby both rotations are The shafts 37 and 39 are simultaneously driven in opposite directions to rotate the receiving claws 32 and 32 within a range of 90 degrees.

The operation of the solenoid 33 of the gate mechanism 3 is controlled by a sequence control circuit 7, which will be described later.

A first detector 71 is provided at the upper end of the frame member 12a on the left side of FIG. 1 to detect the completion of filling the stacked body onto the gate mechanism 3. Further, a second detector 72 is provided on the side of the opening 18 of the support frame 11 to detect when the remaining amount of sheets of the stacked body 9 on the receiving device 4 has become below a certain value. Both detectors 71, 72 can be constructed, for example, by photoelectric switches.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first and second detectors 71, 7
2 is connected to a signal processing circuit 73 that creates control signals c and d for the drive motor 51 of the conveyor 5 and the solenoid 33 of the gate mechanism 3 based on these output signals a and b, and controls the sequence control circuit 7. It consists of The operation of the signal processing circuit 73 will be described later.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheet feeding device 10 has the same configuration as the conventional device, and is provided with a stacked pair of receiving devices 4 in the opening 18 of the support frame 11. A hollow casing-shaped suction casing 2 is provided below with a suction surface 21 for sheet-like objects on its surface.
is connected to the lifting device 25, and the suction box 2
A delivery device 6 for receiving the sheet-like material from the suction box 2 and discharging it to the processing machine 8 is provided in correspondence with the lowered position of the processing machine 8.

The suction housing 2 is a semi-cylindrical hollow housing with a rectangular planar shape having a smaller area than the opening 18 of the machine base 1, and the upper part of the suction housing 2 has a curved suction surface with the upper surface sloped low to both sides. 21 and a plurality of suction holes are opened in each suction surface 21, and a connecting housing 23 is provided protruding from the lower part of the suction housing 2 and is connected to the suction device 20 via a flexible pipe 24.

As the suction casing 2 rises, the lowermost sheet-like object 91 in the support frame 11 is suctioned and held on the suction surface 21. At this time, the sheet-like object 9
1 protrudes from the suction housing 2, and as the suction housing 2 descends, the front portion rests on the delivery device 6.

A pivot shaft 1 extending parallel to the left and right side walls of the machine base 1
4 and 15 are installed vertically, and the base ends of a pair of support arms 16 and 17 are pivotally supported on each shaft 14 and 15, respectively, and the tips of each arm 16 and 17 are pivoted at two locations above and below on both sides of the suction housing 2. In addition to supporting the lower part of the suction cabinet 2, the lifting device 2
Connect to 5.

The elevating device 25 has a rotating disk 26 connected to a motor power shaft 28 disposed below the suction housing 2. The rotating disk 26 has a rotating disk 26 located at a position offset from the center by the vertical height of the suction housing 2. The base end of the crank 27 is pivotally supported, and the distal end of the crank 27 is pivotally connected to the lower surface of the suction housing 2. When the rotary disk 26 rotates once, the suction housing 2 descends and returns to the upper position.

Below the support frame 11, when the suction casing 2 suctions and holds the sheet-like material 91 at the bottom of the stack and descends,
A catch device 4 is provided to stop the lowering of the upper laminate.

The receiving device 4 has two rotating shafts 43 , 43 supported in parallel on both sides of the opening 18 of the support frame 11 , and a flat plate-like structure that supports both ends of the lower surface of the laminate 9 on each rotating shaft 43 . It is equipped with receiving claws 41, 41,
Both receiving claws 41, 41 are arranged so that the suction casing 2 is a sheet-like object 91.
When the two shafts 43, 43 are supported, they hang below the rotation shaft 43 as shown in FIG. Opening 1 of support frame 11
8 and emerges to support the lower surface of the laminate 9.

The mechanism for moving the receiving claws 41, 41 into and out of the opening 18 of the support frame 11 transmits the rotation of a power shaft 28 provided in the elevating device 25 of the suction housing 2 to the transmission shaft 29 via a cam mechanism (not shown). At the same time, the transmission shaft 2
9 and an operating piece 42 fixed to the rotating shaft 43 are connected by a link 40, thereby opening and closing the receiving claws 41, 41 in conjunction with the rise and fall of the suction housing 2.

A delivery device 6 is disposed on the side of the suction housing 2, corresponding to the lowered position of the suction housing 2. The feeding device 6 has a rotary shaft 62 connected to the power shaft 28 and supported on the side wall of the machine base 1, and a hollow roller 65 having a large number of intake holes on the outer circumferential surface is fitted into the shaft 62. The inside of the roller is connected to the air intake device 20 via a communication duct 61 and a flexible pipe 60. Furthermore, a roller 63 that is paired with the hollow roller 65 is disposed in a position close to the processing machine 8, and a permeable endless belt 6 is disposed between the rollers 65 and 63.
4 is stretched, thereby applying a vacuum suction force to the circumferential surface of the roller 65.

The operation of the above-mentioned supply device will be explained below.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of laminates 9 arranged in a line on the conveyor 5 are moved into the storage space 1 formed by the support frame 11 by the normal rotation of the conveyor 5.
It is transported to 3. At this time, the gate mechanism 3
The receiving claws 32, 32 are set in the closed state as shown in FIGS.
from there onto the receiving claws 32, 32. The laminate 9a
Even after leaving the conveyor 5, the subsequent stacked body 9b
The support frame 1 is pushed into the accommodation space 13 by
The entire body is accommodated in the space 13 while in contact with the back wall of the housing 1.

The first detector 71 sends a signal a shown in FIG. 4a to the signal processing circuit 7 by detecting the stacked body 9a.
Based on the signal, the signal processing circuit 73 creates a control signal c shown in FIG. 4c and sends it to the conveyor drive motor 51. As a result, the conveyor 5 switches from forward rotation to reverse rotation after a certain period of time T ₁ (approximately 0.1 seconds) has passed after the detection signal a turns ON, and then switches from forward rotation to reverse rotation for a further specified period of time T ₂ (approximately 0.1 seconds). or more), then it will stop.

Within the period _T1 , the leading stacked body 9a is completely filled in the accommodation space ₁₃ as shown in FIGS. Subsequent stacked product 9b on the conveyor 5
are separated by a small distance G (approximately 20 to 30 mm) from the leading stacked body 9a, and the meshing due to mutual contact is released.

At the same time as the conveyor 5 stops, the signal processing circuit 73
creates the control signal shown in FIG. 4d and sends it to the solenoid 33 of the gate mechanism 3. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 7a and 7b, the receiving pawl 3 of the gate mechanism 3
2,32 opens. At this time, the leading stacked body 9a
As mentioned above, since the engagement with the succeeding stacked body 9b is released and vertical movement is free, it falls due to its own weight at the same time as the receiving claws 32, 32 are opened.
It is received by the receiving claws 41, 41 of the receiving device 4.

Thereafter, similarly to the conventional apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the sheet-like materials 91 are sequentially pulled down from the bottom of the stack by the lifting and lowering operations of the suction housing 2 and the opening and closing operations of the receiving claws 41, 41. The sheet-like material 91 is
After being adsorbed by the circumferential surface of the roller 65 of the delivery device 6, it is conveyed by the endless belt 64 and supplied to the processing machine 8.

As shown in FIG. 8, the laminated body 9 on the receiving device 4
a is consumed by the sheet feeding device 10 and the remaining sheet amount, that is, the stacking height becomes below a certain value,
The second detector 72 detects this. As a result, the second detector 72 sends the signal b shown in FIG. 4b to the signal processing circuit 73. Based on this, the signal processing circuit 73 creates control signals c' and d' shown in FIG. 4c and d, and controls the conveyor drive motor 51 and the solenoid 33, respectively. As a result, the gate mechanism 3
closes the receiving claws 32, 32, and the conveyor 5 resumes normal rotation.

As a result, the subsequent stacked body 9b is filled into the accommodation space 13 at the top.

Thereafter, the above operation is repeated, and as a result, the next laminate 9 is automatically placed on the receiving device 4 before all the sheets 91 of the laminate 9a are sent out.
b is supplied, the sheet feeding device 10 can be operated continuously, and the sheet material 91 is continuously automatically fed to the processing machine 8.

The above-mentioned feeding device enables the automatic feeding of the laminate 9 to the sheet feeding device 10 by driving and controlling the conveyor 5 connected to the support frame 11 using a simple control circuit 7. The structure is significantly simplified.

Note that the configuration of each part of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Of course, various modifications are possible within the technical scope of the claims. For example, the conveyor 5 may be a roller conveyor. Further, the sequence control circuit 7 includes a first detector 7
It is also possible to configure it by a relay circuit in which 1 is a limit switch.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the inside of the supply device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a left side view, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electric circuit, and FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the electric circuit. Figures 5 to 8 are a series of diagrams illustrating the operation of the feeding device, in which Figure 5 shows the state in which the stack has been completely loaded into the support frame, and Figure 6 shows the state in which the conveyor has performed a reverse operation. Fig. 7 shows the state when the gate mechanism is opened, Fig. 8 shows the state just before the replenishment of a new stack starts, and Figs. 9 and 10 respectively show the main parts of the conventional device. FIG. 9 shows the state where the suction casing is in the raised position, and the first
Figure 0 is a diagram showing a state in which the suction housing is in the lowered position. 1... Machine base, 10... Sheet feeding device, 11
...Support frame, 13...Accommodation space, 18...Opening,
19... Entrance, 3... Gate mechanism, 32... Receptacle claw, 5... Conveyor, 51... Drive motor, 7...
...Sequence control circuit, 71...First detector, 7
2...Second detector, 9...Laminated body, 91...Sheet-like material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A support frame 11 for storing a stack of sheet-like materials is disposed on the machine base 1, and a take-out opening 18 at the bottom of the support frame is provided with receiving claws 41, 41 that can be opened and closed. A laminate receiving device 4 is disposed below the receiving device 4, and a hollow casing-shaped suction casing 2 having a suction surface 21 for sheet-like objects on its surface is disposed in conjunction with an elevating device 25. , the suction housing 2 is connected to the suction device 20, and
Corresponding to the lowering position of the suction housing 2, a delivery device 6 is provided that receives the sheet-like material from the suction housing 2 and then discharges it to the next process, and the receiving device 4 is linked to the lifting and lowering of the suction housing 2. An inlet 19 is provided on the side surface of the support frame 11 at a position above the opening 18 through which the laminate can pass, and a conveyor 5 for horizontally conveying the laminate is connected to the inlet 19 for support. The frame 11 is equipped with a gate mechanism 3 that receives the stack filled into the frame at the same support height as the stack on the conveyor, and the conveyor 5 and gate mechanism 3 are operated by a control circuit 7. The control circuit 7 includes a first detector 71 that detects the completion of replenishment of the laminate into the support frame 11, and a first detector 71 that detects the completion of replenishment of the laminate into the support frame 11, and a first detector 71 that detects when the amount of sheet-like material remaining on the receiving device 4 is below a certain amount. The conveyor 5 is equipped with a second detector 72 that detects the detection of the The normal rotation operation for feeding the stacked body into the support frame 11 is switched to the reverse rotation operation, the subsequent stacked body is separated from the leading stacked body and stopped, the gate mechanism 3 is switched from the closed state to the open state, and the gate mechanism 3 is switched from the closed state to the open state, and the A sheet-like material feeding device in which the stack is consumed by the opening and closing of the receiving claws 41 and 41 and the lifting and lowering of the suction casing 2, and the conveyor 5 resumes normal rotation operation due to the detection operation of the second detector 72. 2. The gate mechanism 3 includes a pair of receiving claws 32, 32 that are arranged so as to be retractable into the housing space of the stacked body and that receive or open both ends of the lower surface of the stacked body, and the receiving claws 32, 3.
2. The supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a drive device 31 for reciprocating the supply device.