JPH0379513A - Method and apparatus for transferring article - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To conduct the operation of taking articles in an accumulating box efficiently by taking articles in an accumulating box, then returning a transport machine to a designated position on the first transport conveyer for holding the next articles, and returning the accumulating box onto the second transport conveyer. CONSTITUTION:Articles A1, A2 on the first transport conveyer 1 are held by a transport machine 12 and lifted up to be moved to a relay place RP. Subsequently, an accumulating box 3 for accomodating articles is moved to the relay place RP by a moving means provided on the second transport conveyer 2. The articles A1, A2 are taken in the accumulating box 3 by the transport machine 12, and after the articles are taken in the accumulating box 3, the transport machine 12 is returned to a designated position on the first transport conveyer 1 in order to hold the next articles. Further, after the articles are taken in the accumulating box 3, the accumulating box 3 is returned onto the second transport conveyer 2 by the moving means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an article transfer method and apparatus used when loading articles conveyed on a conveyor into a collection box in which the articles are to be stored. .

[Prior Art] Such an article transfer method and apparatus are often used when loading articles, such as a plurality of beverages, conveyed on a conveyor into a collection box such as a cardboard box. 8th
The figure shows an overview of a conventional method and apparatus for transporting such articles.

In Figure 8, a plurality of containers (hereinafter referred to as "
), i.e., article A (Al, A2)...
is being conveyed on the first conveyor 1.

On the other hand, a collection box 3 for accommodating the articles is placed on the second conveyor 2 and conveyed.

At position ff1P1 above conveyor 1 of ml, a plurality of articles Al (only one is shown in FIG. 8) arranged in a row are held by transfer machine 4, and transfer machine 4 moves to position P2 indicated by a dashed-dotted line. Rise. Next, the transfer machine 4 moves to the left in FIG. 8 to a position P3 indicated by a dashed line, and then descends to a position P4 to load the articles A1 into the collection box 3. When the loading is completed, the transfer machine 4 moves in the order of P4 → P3 → P2 → P1 in the opposite direction to the above, and loads the next article A.
2 and then repeat this series of operations.

Here, the collection box 3 in which the articles are stored is stopped at a predetermined position by a means (not shown), and each time the series of operations described above is completed, it is sent a distance corresponding to one article by another means (not shown). After the articles are accommodated, they are conveyed on the second conveyor 2 (toward the left in the figure).

Note that the symbol M in FIG. 8 indicates the locus along which the transfer machine 4 moves.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Here, particularly when the article is a beverage container, it is necessary to prevent impact from being applied to the article in order to prevent bubbles from being mixed in the beverage. Then, when severe vibrations act on the beverage or the beverage container, or when the beverage container is moved at a relatively high speed, an impact is applied to the article. Therefore, the moving speed of the transfer machine that holds and moves the beverage containers also increases.
The lower the speed, the more desirable.

However, as shown by reference numeral M in FIG. 8, in the conventional transfer method or transfer device, articles are transferred one row at a time, so the number of times a series of transfer operations is performed becomes extremely large. Furthermore, the trajectory of the transfer machine is relatively long. Therefore, if the impact is not applied to items such as drinks, a great deal of time is consumed in loading the drink containers into the collection box, which is inefficient.

Along with this, the running (conveyance) of the first and second conveyors
The speed must also be slow to accommodate the loading of the beverage containers into the bins, and the speeds of other members in the line must also be slow. the result,
There is a problem in that the throughput of the entire line is significantly reduced, which is extremely inconvenient.

On the other hand, if the moving speed of the transfer machine is increased, the time spent loading beverage containers into the collection box will be shortened, but the possibility of impact on beverages and other items will increase, so it is not appropriate. isn't it.

Furthermore, there is also the problem that the bins are jammed on the second conveyor due to the low speed loading of the beverage containers into the bins.

For these reasons, there has been a demand for the development of a method and device that can quickly load beverage containers into a collection box without impacting beverages to the goods. Nothing has been proposed yet.

The present invention was proposed in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and is an article transfer method and apparatus that can quickly load articles (for example, beverage containers) into a collection box without applying impact to the articles. The purpose is to provide

[Means for Solving the Problem] The article transfer method of the present invention includes a step of holding and raising an article on a first conveyor by a transfer machine and then moving it to a relay point, and a step of moving the article on a second conveyor to a relay point. a step of moving a collection box containing articles to the relay point by means of a moving means provided at the transfer device; a step of loading the goods into the collection box using the transfer machine; and a step of loading the next article after loading the goods into the collection box. a step of returning the transfer device to a predetermined position on the first conveyor for holding the article, and a step of returning the accumulation box to the top of the second conveyor by the moving means after loading the articles into the accumulation box. A series of tasks including:

Further, the article transfer device of the present invention has a first device for conveying the article.
a second conveyor that conveys a collection box containing the articles; a transfer machine that holds and raises the articles on the first conveyor and then moves them to a relay point; and a moving means that is provided on the conveyor and moves the collection boxes to the relay location.

In carrying out the present invention, it is preferable to use a transfer machine that is of a type that is equipped with a suction hand as a means for holding the articles, and that is capable of simultaneously transferring multiple rows of articles.

Here, in order to raise the transfer machine holding the articles, it is preferable to provide an air cylinder having a movement stroke in the vertical direction.

Preferably, a rodless cylinder is provided as means for moving the transfer machine holding the articles to the relay location.

In addition, the moving means for moving the collection box containing the articles to the relay point has a movement stroke in the vertical direction, can stop at the relay point, and furthermore, the descending speed decreases as it approaches the lowest position (landing point). It is preferable to use an air cylinder with a brake that has the function of a shock absorber.

In carrying out the invention, it is preferable to provide a stop at a predetermined position of the second conveyor and a cylinder for lateral position correction in order to accurately position the bins at the moving means.

Furthermore, when carrying out the present invention, a guideline is provided on the first conveyor for dividing the articles into a number of lines corresponding to the structure of the stacking box, so that the distance between articles flowing in adjacent separate lines (lateral keep the interval) constant,
The distance between the guide lines is made slightly smaller than the width of the article to create a frictional resistance between the guide line and the outside of the article, which is advanced by a protrusion provided on the first conveyor, and the distance between the protrusions is reduced. By making the distance between the articles flowing on the same line constant (vertical distance), the distance between the guideline and the article is slightly widened downstream of the point where the horizontal and vertical distance has become constant. It is preferable to configure it so that the frictional resistance between it and the outside disappears.

In addition to this, 1. Preferably, if the longitudinal spacing of the articles on the conveyor is not the same as the longitudinal spacing of the article storage locations of the bins, the longitudinal spacing can be corrected during transport of the articles.

For example, the transfer machine has a shaft, each of the shafts has a plurality of arms that are equipped with suction hands and correspond to the arrangement of article storage locations in the collection box, and a spring coil is wound around the shaft portion between the arms. It is preferable that the spring coil is provided with an air cylinder for compressing the spring coil, and includes a cylindrical ring that controls the spacing between the arms to be constant.

Note that the collection box is preferably a box made of cardboard, for example.

[Operation] According to the article transfer method and apparatus of the present invention having the above-described configuration, not only the transfer machine but also the collection box are moved to the relay location by the moving means, and at the relay location, the article is transferred to the collection box. It is now ready to be loaded into. and,
The trajectory that the transfer device moves between the point where the article is held on the first conveyor and the transfer point is much shorter compared to the trajectory that the transfer device moves in the prior art. Therefore, the time lag between movements of the transfer machine is reduced, and the time required for one work cycle can be shortened.

Furthermore, if the transfer machine is of a type that can hold and move multiple rows of articles at the same time, the time required for one work cycle will be further shortened and work efficiency will be further improved.

According to the present invention, the time spent loading articles into a collection box can be reduced to two thirds compared to the conventional method without increasing the moving speed of the transfer device faster than the conventional method. be shortened. Therefore, it is possible to improve work efficiency without applying impact to the article.

This also prevents the inconvenience of congestion of stacking boxes on the conveyor.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the same members as shown in FIG. 8 are represented by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows an article transfer device (generally designated by the reference numeral 10) embodying the present invention, and the device 10 transports articles A (Al, A2) on a first conveyor 1 to a relay point RP. A moving transfer device 12, a moving means 14 that moves the cardboard collection box 3 into which the article A is to be loaded between the relay point RP and the second conveyor 2, and a moving means 14 that moves the cardboard collection box 3 into which the article A is to be loaded between the relay point RP and the second conveyor 2; It also includes a stopper 15 for reliably stopping the conveyor 2 at a predetermined position. And transfer machine t2
2 and 3, and the moving means 14 is shown in detail in FIG. 4, respectively.

The transfer machine 12 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is for simultaneously transferring 20 articles A distributed in 5 lines and 4 columns. The transfer machine 12 has four arms 20...
Each arm 20 is equipped with five suction hands 22. The four arms 20... are integrated via a shaft 24.

The arm 20 and sleeve 24 are moved up and down (in the direction perpendicular to the paper in FIG. 2 and in the direction of arrow UD in FIG. 3) by an air cylinder 28 built into the housing 26.

Further, this housing 26 is connected to a slider 32 of a rodless cylinder 33 via a guide member 30. The housing 26 and the guide member 30 move in the horizontal direction as the slider 32 of the rodless cylinder 33 slides in the horizontal direction (the direction indicated by H in FIG. 2, the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 3). Move to. Here, the guide member 30 slides on the guide rail 34 and the rodless cylinder 33
This guides the rodless cylinder 33 from sliding in the horizontal direction, and prevents the load of the adsorption member connected to the housing 26 from being applied directly to the rodless cylinder 33.

On the other hand, in FIG. 4, the moving means indicated by the reference numeral 14 includes a base member 38 and an air cylinder 40 with a brake connected thereto. The base member 38 is provided with cylinders 44.44 on both sides through side members 42.42, and the cylinders 44.44 extend in the lateral direction of the collection box 3 (
Adjust the position in the direction of arrow Y in Fig. 4). That is, the vertical position (conveyor conveyance direction) of the stacking boxes conveyed on the second conveyor 2 is determined by the stopper 15 shown in FIG. 1, and the horizontal position is determined by the cylinders 44, 44. be. Moreover, the air cylinder 40 with a brake moves the collection box 3 in the vertical direction (fourth direction) by expanding and contracting it.
the direction of arrow tJD in the figure). Here, the brake provided on the air cylinder 40 is for temporarily fixing the moving means 14 at the relay position RP.

The air cylinder 40 also has an additional function as a shock absorber.

Note that reference numerals 46 and 46 in FIG. 4 indicate guide rods for guiding movement in the vertical direction UD. And the code 48 is
A fixing member is shown for fixing the position of the stacking box 3 after the vertical and horizontal positions of the stacking box 3 have been adjusted until a series of article transfer operations are completed.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the operation of the illustrated embodiment will be described.

At a position PEA near the upper left end of the first conveyor, the transfer machine 12 transports 20 articles Al distributed in 5 lines and 4 columns.
(only four are shown for simplicity of illustration).

Then, the transfer machine 1.2 is raised together with the article A1 to a position P2A indicated by a dashed line using the air cylinder 28 (FIG. 2).

This rise ff1S may be a distance that does not allow the bottom of the article A1 to interfere with a protrusion 52 (FIG. 6), which will be described later, provided on the first conveyor 1, and is set to about 3 cm, for example. Next, it is moved to the relay point RP by the rodless cylinder 33 (FIG. 2) and reaches the position P3A.

On the other hand, the collection box 3 is transferred to the second conveyor 2 from the right side in FIG.
The stopper 15 is stopped at the position of the moving means 14.
It is stopped at , and the vertical position is determined. Next, with the cylinders 44, 44 (Fig. 4) positioning the cylinder 44, 44 (Fig. 4) in the lateral direction, and the position in the vertical and lateral directions being determined, the air cylinder 40 with a brake (Fig. 4) of the moving means 14 moves the second is moved from the position PIB of the conveyor 2 to the position P2B of the relay point PR. Then, at the relay point, the collection box 3 is fixed by the brake of the air cylinder 40 with a brake, is loaded with articles A1 from the transfer machine 12, and is lowered to positions PI and B. At this time, since the plurality of rows of articles A... held by the transfer machine 12 and the stacking box 3 are positioned in the vertical and horizontal directions, each of the plurality of rows of articles A... The position matches the article storage position of the collection box 3.

Furthermore, in order to prevent shock from being applied to the articles due to sudden descent, as the collection box 3 descends, a cushioning action is generated in the air cylinder 40 with a brake equipped with a shock absorber function, so that the collection box 3 can be lowered quietly. .

After returning to the first flPIB, the collection box 3 is transferred to the second conveyor 2.
It is transported again at the top.

After the article A1 is loaded into the collection box 3, the transfer machine 12 returns to the position PIA via the position P2A, holds the article A2 that has been conveyed to the left end of the first conveyor 1, and returns to the relay point again. Move to RP.

Then, the transfer device 12 and the moving means 14 repeat the above-described operation cycle thereafter.

In FIG. 1, the moving locus of the transporter 2 is marked
The locus along which the moving means 14 moves is indicated by the symbol MB. Since this trajectory MA is shorter than the conventional trajectory M shown in FIG. 8, the amount of movement of the transfer machine 12 is small in the illustrated embodiment.

Therefore, the work of loading the articles A into the collection box 3 can be carried out efficiently in a short time without increasing the moving speed and therefore without giving any impact to the articles.

5 and 6 show a preferred embodiment of the first conveyor 1. FIG. The first conveyor 1 is configured such that a transfer device 12 moves while holding the article A near the left end, and six guidelines 50 are provided. This guideline 50 ... is a guideline 50 that allows a plurality of articles A to be
This is to equalize the horizontal (direction of arrow M in FIG. 5) and vertical (direction of arrows in FIG. 5) spacing. The articles A are held and moved by the transfer device 12 between the center and the downstream end (the left end in FIG. 5).

The dimensions between the guidelines 50 are set so that the interval W near the upstream end is smaller than the interval 2 at the center, and if the width of the article A is expressed as a, then W≦a<Z. It is set as follows. Therefore, frictional resistance occurs between the guideline 50 and the article A in the region between the upstream end and the center. On the other hand, the first conveyor 1 is provided with a protrusion as shown by the reference numeral 52 in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the article A is pushed out by the protrusion.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a suitable mechanism for expanding and contracting the distance between the arms 20 of the transfer machine 12.
A cylindrical ring 53 and springs 54, 56, 58 are interposed on the shaft 24 that connects the... Here, the strengths of the springs are selected to increase in the order of 54, 56, and 58. A stopper ring 62 is provided on the shaft 60 provided below the shaft 24.

The arm 20... and the springs 54, 56, 58 are
By contracting the cylinder 64, the cylindrical ring 53 is compressed until it is held between the arms, and when the cylinder 64 is uncontracted, the arm is extended until it comes into contact with the stopper ring 62 by the reaction force of the springs 54, 56, 58.

Therefore, by appropriately setting the lengths of the cylindrical ring 53 and the stopper ring 62 and contracting or releasing the cylinder 64, the distance between the arms 20 can be expanded or contracted.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show an overall article transfer apparatus which combines the preferred mechanisms and means described above. Although the individual parts are as described above, detailed explanations will be omitted. Note that the reference numeral 72 in FIG. 9 indicates a button for extruding articles.

[Effects of the Invention] The effects of the article transfer method and apparatus of the present invention described above are listed below.

(1) No impact is applied to the item and no damage is caused.

(2) The efficiency of loading goods into the collection boxes is improved2.

(3) A plurality of conveyors can be arranged three-dimensionally.

(4) Labor saving in the production line is achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram for explaining the present invention in detail, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a transfer machine used in the present invention, FIG. 3 is a side view of the transfer machine, and FIG. The figure is a front view of the moving means used in the present invention, Figure 5 is a plan view showing the guideline used in the present invention, Figure 6 is a side view also showing the guideline, and Figure 7 is the transfer machine used in the present invention. FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a conventional article transfer system; FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the entire preferred article transfer apparatus embodying the present invention; FIG. FIG. 10 is a side view thereof. 1... First transfer conveyor 2... Second transfer conveyor 3... Collection box 4.12... Transfer machine A
SAl, A2... Goods Pl, P2, P3, P4,
PIA, P2ASP3A...Transfer machine position PIB, P
2B... Location of transportation means RP... Relay point
M, MA...trajectory of the movement of the transfer machine MB...trajectory of the movement of the transportation means D Fig. 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A step in which the articles on the first conveyor are held and raised by a transfer machine, and then moved to a relay point, and a collection box for storing the articles is moved by a moving means provided on the second conveyor. A process of moving to a relay point,
a step of loading the articles into a collection box by the transfer machine; a step of returning the transfer machine to a predetermined position on the first conveyor to hold the next article after loading the articles into the collection box; A method for transferring articles, the method comprising repeatedly carrying out a series of operations including the step of: loading the articles into the accumulation box and then returning the accumulation box to the top of the second transport conveyor by the moving means. (2) A first conveyor that conveys articles, a second conveyor that conveys a collection box that stores the articles, and a first conveyor that conveys the articles.
a transporter that holds and raises the articles on the second transport conveyor and then moves them to the relay point; and a moving means that is provided on the second transport conveyor and moves the stacking boxes to the relay point. equipment for transporting goods.