JPH0431975B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Field to which the present invention pertains> The present invention relates to a conveying device.

Items such as confectionery and fruit that have different weights (hereinafter referred to as lumps) are gathered into a predetermined amount using a measuring device, etc., and placed in a container being transported, and then processed during the packaging process (for example, automatically). It is generally transported to a packaging machine) and packaged.

<Problems to be Solved by the Present Invention> However, usually, the lumps put into the container are not evenly stored in the container, but are often piled up. This tendency is particularly noticeable when the lumps are fed from a combination weighing machine, as the lumps are randomly thrown into containers from a plurality of selected weighing hoppers via the chute.

However, in this state, the container cannot be transported to the packaging process using an automatic packaging machine, etc., so conventionally, the container was manually shaken or lumps were leveled to make it uniform. , and transported to the packaging process.

However, such manual work has to be carried out depending on the type of lumps, and is very complicated and inefficient, as the lumps may spill out of the container. Also, due to work during container transportation,
It involved considerable danger.

<Object of the present invention> The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyance device that can easily and safely rock a container to uniformize lumps while conveying the container.

<An embodiment of the present invention> Fig. 1 shows a conveyance device which is an embodiment of the present invention.
It is combined with a combination weighing machine and shows a schematic diagram of transporting containers to the packaging process.

In the figure, 1 is a combination weighing machine, and the combination weighing machine 1 is equipped with a plurality of weighing hoppers 2 for supplying lumps W such as sweets and weighing them. Further, 3 is a collection hopper, which collects the lumps W from the selected weighing hopper 2.

10 is a conveying device, and a chute 11 is provided above the conveying device 10.
is for storing the lumps W introduced from the collection hopper 3 into a container 12 that is transported to the transport device 10. Further, a swinging section 13 is provided on the unloading side of the conveying device 10, and the container 12 is swung while passing between the swinging sections 13.

Further, on the unloading side of the conveying device 10, a conveying device 1 is provided.
A packaging conveyor 15 is provided for packaging the containers 12 carried out by the robot.

Next, the structure of the transport device 10 will be explained in detail. FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the conveying device according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a conveyor, which intermittently conveys the container stands 21 in the A direction at a predetermined pitch by means of a chain drive unit (not shown) provided therein. The container stand 21 is the container 12
Container 1
The container 12 is formed by bending a metal plate into a concave shape so that when the container 12 is placed on the conveyor 20, it does not move in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 20 and the container 12 can slide only in the width direction. The container 12 constitutes a regulating means that cannot move relative to the conveyor 20 in the longitudinal direction, but only in the width direction. Further, both sides of the container stand 21 are locked to the chain drive part of the conveyor 20, thereby causing the containers 1
2 is being transported.

Further, drive section covers 22 and 23 are provided on both sides of the conveyor 20 so as to cover the chain drive section.

Furthermore, upper surface portions 22a, 2 of drive unit covers 22, 23 are provided on both sides of the carry-in side of the conveyor 20.
Through the L-shaped mounting plate 24 attached to 3a,
Container guide plates 25 and 26 are arranged at a predetermined interval,
It is provided along the conveyance direction. The container guide plates 25 and 26 are formed by bending metal plates into a prismatic shape, and on the carry-in side there is a plate that is curved outward in order to align the containers 12 that are carried in in a misaligned manner to the center of conveyance. Guide plates 25a and 26a are provided. Furthermore, a container detector 27 (for example, a photo sensor) for detecting that the container 12 has been conveyed below the chute 11 is provided at a predetermined position on the side surface 26b of one of the container guide plates 26.

Next, a swinging device for swinging the container moving in the transport direction will be explained.

A hinge 2 is provided on the unloading side of the container guide plates 25 and 26.
8, 28 are attached, and this hinge 28, 2
Swing plates 29 and 30, which are rotatably attached as swing members via 8, are arranged parallel to each other along the transport direction. At the upper ends of the rocking plates 29, 30 on the unloading side, there are pins 29a, 30a that protrude upward.
are respectively provided, and the interlocking plate 31 is fitted into both ends of the pins 29a, 30a and is rotatably attached.

Further, bent portions 29b and 30b which are horizontally bent outward are provided on the unloading sides of the swinging plates 29 and 30, and in order to prevent the swinging plates 30 from tilting due to their own weight, the bent portions of the swinging plates 30 are An L-shaped bent support plate 32 slidably supports 30b from below.
It is attached to the side surface portion 23b of the drive section cover section 23.

The bending portion 29b of the rocking plate 29 is provided with a connecting pin 29c that projects upward.

Further, a motor 34 attached to the side surface 22b of the drive unit cover 22 via a motor mounting plate 33 is arranged near the bent portion 29c, and the motor shaft 334a has a disc-shaped A rotating plate 35 is attached.

At a position on the upper surface of the rotary plate 35 that is not the center of rotation,
A swing pin 35a that projects upward is provided, and a connection plate 36, whose both ends are fitted into the swing pin 35a and the connection pin 29c of the swing plate 29, is rotatably attached.

In addition, in order to prevent the swing plate 29 from tilting, the connecting plate 3
An L-shaped bent support plate 37 that slidably supports the drive unit cover 22 from below is attached to the side surface 2 of the drive unit cover 22.
It is attached to 2b.

Therefore, when the motor 34 is driven and the rotary plate 35 rotates, this rotational motion is transmitted as a rocking motion to the rocking plate 29 by the connecting plate 36, and at the same time, this rocking motion is transmitted via the interlocking plate 31 to the rocking plate 29. , is transmitted to the swing plate 30, causing both swing plates 29, 30 to swing in the same direction.

Also, the lumps W from the collection hopper 3 are transferred to the container 12.
The chute 11 for storing the containers is attached above the container guide plates 25 and 26 by attachment members 38 and 39.

As shown in FIG. 4, the opening surface of the bottom of the chute 11 is formed to be slightly narrower than the opening of the container 12, so that the lumps W stored in the container 12 can be
In order to prevent spillage to the outside, the chute 11 is attached with the opening surface of the chute 11 close to the opening of the container 12. Therefore, the container 12 containing the piled-up lumps W is placed in the chute 1.
When being transported in the direction A from below the container 1 , the lump W may hit the chute 11 and spill out of the container 12 . Therefore, the lower end 11a of the side surface of the chute 11 on the delivery side is made of a flexible rubber or nylon material, and has a structure that can be pushed open in the C direction.

Next, the operation of the conveying device having the above structure will be explained.

First, in the combination weighing machine 1, each weighing hopper 2
A lump W is supplied to the weighing hoppers 2, and a selection circuit (not shown) of the combination weighing machine 1 selects a combination of weighing hoppers 2 so as to have a weight closest to the target weight. From this selected weighing hopper 2,
The lumps W are collected in a collection hopper 3 (in FIG. 1).

On the other hand, on the carry-in side of the conveyor 20, containers 12 made of a soft material such as cardboard and formed into a box shape are sequentially supplied to the container stand 21, and the containers 12 are intermittently placed at a pitch equal to the interval between the container stands 21. It is conveyed in the direction of guide plates 25 and 26.

As shown in FIG. 5, during transportation, the container 12 is slid to the center of transportation by the guide portions 25a, 26a of the container guide plates 25, 26.
26 and are conveyed toward the chute 11.

When the container 12 is conveyed below the chute 11, the container detector 27 detects this, and the lumps W collected from the weighing hopper 2 to the collection hopper 3 are
It is stored in a container 12 via a chute 11.
At this time, the lumps W are piled up in the container 12.

The above operations are sequentially performed in synchronization with the combination weighing machine 1, and the container 12 containing the lumps W is
are conveyed one after another toward the rocking plates 29 and 30.

Next, the swing plate 2 driven by the motor 34
When the container 12 is transported between 9 and 30, the sixth
As shown in the figure, both sides of the container 12 are connected to the rocking plate 2.
9 and 30, the container 12 is swung in the width direction on the container stand 21. Furthermore, when the container 12 is conveyed to the discharge side, the container 12 has a larger amplitude.
be swayed. That is, since the lumps W immediately after being stored in the container 12 from the chute 11 are in a heaped state, the container 12 is rocked with a small amplitude to prevent the lumps W from spilling out of the container. After the condition has been relaxed to some extent, the container 12 is rocked with a large amplitude, and the lumps W in the container 12 are made uniform.

Further, since the material of the container 12 is soft, the container 12 during rocking is pressed by the rocking plates 29 and 30 and distorted into a substantially parallelogram shape, so that the uniformity of the lumps W in the container 12 is promoted. .

The container 12 in which the lumps W are evenly stored is conveyed from between the rocking plates 29 and 30 and transferred to the conveyor 2.
0 to the packaging conveyor 15, and is also packaged by an automatic packaging machine (not shown) or the like (see FIG. 7).

In the above embodiment, lumps were put into the container 12, but the present invention can be similarly applied to powder or granular materials. Further, depending on the articles to be put into the container 12, the rotational speed of the motor 34 can be varied to increase or decrease the rocking speed, or the position of the rocking pin 35a of the rotary plate 35 can be changed to increase or decrease the rocking amplitude. It's okay.

In the embodiment described above, the swinging device has a pair of swinging members (swinging plates 29, 30), but in another embodiment, as shown in FIG. The protruding piece 21a is provided, and the rocking plate 29' is formed into a U-shape as shown in the figure, and swings in the width direction while engaging the engaging protruding piece 21a of the container stand 21 being conveyed. You may let them. The container table 21 is provided with a bearing at the bottom or a sliding member that is easy to slip so that the container table 21 can be moved in the width direction on the conveyor 20. In this embodiment, since only one rocking plate is required, the space on the opposite side of the conveyor 20 is reduced, and the structure is also simplified.

Further, as another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, a guide plate 40 having a fixed rocking device may be used. The pair of guide plates 40a and 40b are respectively attached along the conveyance direction so as to cover the top of the conveyor 20, and a meandering wide passage is formed in the center. The containers 12 are placed so as to be slidable in the width direction on the container stand 21 and are sequentially advanced in the conveying direction, but since the side walls of the containers 21 are formed to abut against the guide plates 40, the left and right guide plates 40a, 40b and receives the force of movement in the width direction, and as it advances, it swings with a large amplitude. This embodiment has the advantage that the swinging device does not require movable mechanisms such as the motor 34 as a power source, the motor mounting plate 33, and the swinging plates 29 and 30.

<Effects of the Present Invention> As is clear from the above description, the conveyance device according to the present invention includes a conveyor for conveying containers, and a conveyor provided on the conveyor to convey the containers conveyed by the conveyor. a regulating means for regulating the movement of the conveyor relative to the conveyor in the longitudinal direction; and a container moving in the conveying direction with the relative movement of the conveyor in the longitudinal direction being restricted by the regulating means; rocking means for swinging the container in the width direction of the conveyor with a gradually larger amplitude as the container advances in the conveyance direction by applying a force in the width direction of the conveyor; Therefore, the container 12 on the conveyor 20 is
It is transported in a state where it can freely slide only in the width direction of 0, and during this transport a force in the width direction is applied by the swinging means, so it automatically swings in the width direction while moving in the transport direction. , and it gradually sways more and more as it progresses. For this reason, even if a pile of articles of different sizes are loaded into the container 12, while traveling on the conveyor 20, it will start from zero and swing weakly and small, so even if the articles are piled up in a heap, container 1
The articles do not spill out from the container 12, and as the piled-up condition subsides to some extent, the articles are gradually swung more and more evenly in the container 12.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a process including a conveyance device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conveyance device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along line B-B in FIG. 2. 4 is a schematic view from the side showing the structure of the chute, FIGS. 5 and 6 are schematic views from the top showing the operation of the conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1... Combination weighing machine, 2... Weighing hopper, 3
... Collection hopper, 10 ... Conveyance device, 11 ... Chute, 12 ... Container, 13 ... Swinging section, 15 ...
...Packaging conveyor, 20...Transportation conveyor, 21...
...Container stand, 22, 23...Drive unit cover, 24...
...Mounting plate, 25, 26...Container guide plate, 27...
... Container detector, 28 ... Hinge, 29, 30 ... Rocking plate, 31 ... Interlocking plate, 32 ... Support plate, 33 ...
...Motor mounting plate, 34...Motor, 35...Rotating plate, 36...Connection plate, 37...Support plate, 38,3
9...Mounting plate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A conveyor for conveying containers; and a device provided on the conveyor to restrict movement of the containers conveyed by the conveyor relative to the conveyor in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor. and a regulating means for applying a force in the width direction of the transport conveyor to the container that is moving in the transport direction with relative movement in the longitudinal direction of the transport conveyor being restricted by the restricting means, A conveyance device comprising a swinging means for swinging the container in the width direction of the conveyor with a gradually larger amplitude as the container advances in the conveyance direction.