JPH0448713B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a printed matter collation packaging system for packaging a plurality of different kinds of printed matter into one bag.

<Conventional technology> For example, when shipping various products such as electrical products, it is common practice to bundle various printed materials such as instruction manuals, warranties, flyers, etc. into a bag and attach it to the product. ing. However, such printed materials are often not uniform in shape, size, thickness, material, etc., and it is quite difficult to automatically collate them without making mistakes. For this reason, an apparatus has been proposed that detects the fed state of collation and automatically eliminates a group of printed matter that has been improperly collated (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-6874).

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the above proposal only detects the thickness of the supplied collates and eliminates a group of printed matter with abnormalities, but also detects abnormalities in conveyance by the conveyor system. The device was not designed to automatically package only perfect items, and was an incomplete collating and packaging device.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems and aims to automate everything from collation to packaging.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above-mentioned problems, the printed matter collation packaging system of the present invention includes a conveyor, a plurality of supply stations arranged upstream of the conveyor along the conveyor, and a conveyor. The conveyor includes a removal station disposed midstream of the conveyor, a packaging station disposed downstream of the conveyor, and a control section for controlling each of these stations. And this control section is
By feeding printed matter from each feeding station to the conveyor according to the speed of the conveyor and the spacing between each feeding station, each feeding station In addition, the feed sensor detects the feeding status of printed matter from the feeding station, and the rejecting station operates to remove from the conveyor a group of printed matter at a position where an abnormality in the feeding of printed matter is detected. The removal operation is controlled, and the wrapping operation of the wrapping station is also controlled so that each group of printed matter that has not been removed by the removal station is individually wrapped. Furthermore, the above-described abnormality in the supply of printed matter can be detected by means of detecting that the printed matter has been sent out from the supply station, means for detecting that the delivered printed matter is one copy, and means for detecting that the printed matter has been delivered to a predetermined position on the conveyor. This is carried out by means for detecting that the printed matter has been placed on the conveyor and means for detecting that the printed matter is properly placed on the conveyor.

<Operation> As configured as described above, in the system of the present invention, as the conveyor moves, each of the printed matter is sequentially supplied from each supply station to obtain a group of printed matter of a predetermined combination.
Then, the supply status of the printed matter from the supply station to the conveyor is detected, and those that are not normally supplied and correctly placed on the conveyor are removed along the way.
Only the correct combinations of prints are sent to the final packaging station to be properly packaged.

<Example> Next, an illustrated example will be specifically described.

Figure 1 shows a conceptual diagram of the system. In the figure, 1 is an automatic collation device, 2 is a defective product removal device,
3 is an automatic packaging device, 4 is a control device, and these devices are connected to the respective conveyors 1a, 2a, 3a.
are connected to form a series of conveyor systems,
It is designed to be organically controlled by a control device 4. In this conveyor system, the right end of the figure is the most upstream side, a plurality of supply stations 1b are arranged along the conveyor 1a, a removal station 2b is arranged along the conveyor 2a, and
A packaging station 3b is arranged along the conveyor 3a.

Each supply station 1b is in charge of supplying different printed matter, and is equipped with a paper feed section on which the printed matter is stacked. Then, the printed matter is sent one copy onto the conveyor 1a from above or below the paper feeding section by a paper feeding mechanism such as a vacuum suction cup, and a well-known structure can be used as appropriate. .

The removal station 2b is equipped with a discharge gate 21 provided at the starting end of the conveyor 2a, and by opening this discharge gate 21 in synchronization with the passage of defective products, the defective products fall from the conveyor 2a into the defective product receiver 22. It is something that makes you The discharge gate 21 and its opening/closing mechanism used here can be constructed using well-known gates as appropriate.

The packaging station 3b is for making bags from the raw vinyl fabric 3c and packing the good products sent through the exclusion station 2b into bags, and can be configured using any well-known device as appropriate.

The control device 4 comprehensively controls the operations of each supply station 1b, removal station 2b, and packaging station 3b as described above, and includes a control unit 4 that includes a central CPU 41a.
1, a keyboard 42, a display 43,
It is equipped with a printer 44 and the like. These hardwares themselves can be constructed using well-known hardware as appropriate.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the main part of the supply station 1b, that is, the part where printed matter is supplied from the paper feed section to the conveyor.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a paper feed section on which the printed matter 60 is placed in a stack, 12 a feeder on which several narrow belts 12b hung around rollers 12a are lined up, and 13 a feeder under the feeder 12. The printed matter 60 is sent out from the paper feed section 11 by an appropriate means, is sent to the belt 12b of the feed stand 12, and falls onto the stand 13. The pedestal 13 has a structure in which two bar members are lined up in the moving direction of the conveyor 1a, and hook-shaped push members 14 provided at regular intervals on the conveyor 1a can pass between them. . Therefore, the printed matter 60 placed on the pedestal 13 is pushed by the pushing member 14 according to the movement of the conveyor 1a, and is transferred from the pedestal 13 to the conveyor 1a.
and is transported by the conveyor 1a. Note that the feed table 12 may be of a roller conveyor type that does not use a belt.

Each supply station 1b is provided with a push member sensor 14a that detects the position of the push member 14, and the conveyor 1a is provided with a rotary encoder 1c that outputs a position signal of the conveyor 1a. The detection signal and the position signal of the rotary encoder 1c are sent to the control unit 41.
Then, the CPU 41a causes the above-described operation of feeding out the printed matter 60 from each supply station 1b at a timing corresponding to the speed of the conveyor and the interval between each supply station 1b.

Therefore, predetermined printed matter 60 is sequentially sent out from each supply station 1b at the above-mentioned timing, and is pushed by the pushing member 14 and collected from the receiving table 13 onto the conveyor 1a. A group 60a of printed matter in which predetermined printed matter is stacked one after another is obtained, and collation work is automatically performed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of a paper feeding mechanism provided for each feeding station 1b using a suction cup. In the figure, 11a is the paper feed section 1
1 is a suction cup provided at 1, 15 is an on-off valve that opens and closes the vacuum pipe of the suction cup 11a, and 16 is a control knob provided on the outer surface of the side wall 1d of the conveyor 1a. rod 16a
are directly connected. 17 is a hydraulic actuator equipped with a piston 17a; 18 is a three-position electromagnetic valve that drives the actuator 17;
The solenoid valve 18 is controlled by a control section 41. The piston 17a and the operating rod 16a are connected to a connecting plate 17.
b, so that they can move simultaneously in the left and right directions in the figure, and either by manually operating the control knob 16 when the solenoid valve 18 is in the neutral position, or by using the solenoid valve 18 to move the air tank (not shown) of the actuator 17. By switching the connection to the on-off valve 15, the on-off valve 15 is opened and closed, and the operation of the suction cup 11a is turned on and off.

In this embodiment, when starting or stopping the collating work using this device, the start and stop of the operation of the solenoid valve 18 of each supply station 1b is determined based on the interval between each supply station 1b and the distance between the conveyor 1a. The control unit 41 controls the timing to be sequentially delayed from upstream to downstream at a timing corresponding to the speed. This is to prevent the production of a group of printed matter 60a in which necessary printed matter is not available due to the supply stations 1b starting or stopping their operations all at once.

Now, the printed matter 60 from supply station 1b
If the feeding of the printed materials is not carried out properly for some reason, collation errors such as missing pages, two sheets being inserted, or collation of foreign objects will occur, and the group of printed matter 60a will not be of the predetermined combination. In order to prevent such collation errors, in this embodiment, various sensors 51 to 55 are used as supply sensors as shown in FIG. 2.

51 is a first feed sensor using a micro switch, and a detection lever 51a made of wire.
is arranged near the end of the feed table 12 so that the tip thereof protrudes into the path through which the printed matter 60 passes. Then, when the printed matter 60 moves from the feeding table 12 to the receiving table 13, the detection lever 51a is rotated by being pushed by the printed matter 60, the switch opens and closes, and the signal is sent to the control unit 41, so that the printed matter 60 is It is detected whether it has passed.

52 is a thickness sensor using a micro switch, and the tip of a detection lever 52a made of wire is
It is arranged at the end of the feed table 12 so as to contact the surface of the roller 12a in a portion where the printed matter 60 passes. When the printed material 60 passes through the feed table 12, the tip of the detection lever 52a is pushed up by the thickness of the printed material 60, so that when the printed material 60 that has actually passed is larger than the preset thickness, the tip of the detection lever 52a is pushed up by the thickness of the printed material 60. The switch is opened and closed, and the signal is sent to the control section 41. Thereby, it is detected whether only one copy of the printed matter 60 has been sent out.

53 is a second delivery sensor using a reflective photoelectric sensor. The pedestal 13 has at least one upper surface in the form of a wide plate with high reflectance, and the sensor 53 is placed on the top of the pedestal 13, and the operating angle of the input/output section is covered by the pedestal 13. This prevents reflections from surrounding metal parts, so that it operates only by reflections from the pedestal 13. That is, the printed matter 60 is
When the print material 60 is moved from there to the pedestal 13, the input decreases because the reflectance of the print material 60 is low, thereby detecting the passage of the print material 60, and this detection signal is sent to the control section 41.

Reference numeral 54 denotes a foreign object sensor disposed on the upper part of the pedestal 13, and uses a laser barcode reader. A barcode is always printed on at least important printed matter such as an instruction manual or a warranty card, and the foreign object sensor 54 is provided at the supply station 1b that is responsible for supplying the printed matter 60 with the barcode. That is, pedestal 1
The type of printed material 60 is confirmed by reading the bar code of the printed material 60 sent to step 3, and the signal is sent to the control section 41.

55 is a jam sensor placed immediately after passing the pedestal 13, and includes a light projecting section 55a and a light receiving section 55.
A photoelectric sensor consisting of b is used. This jam sensor 55 detects, for example, when the printed matter 60 is not placed properly on the conveyor 1a, the end of the printed matter gets caught on the push member 14 and becomes slanted, or the printed matter is lifted for some reason during conveyance. It is used to detect abnormalities such as cases. Therefore, the light projecting section 55a and the light receiving section 55b are connected to the conveyor 1a so that the optical axis connecting them crosses the upper surface of the conveyor 1a.
An abnormality is detected depending on whether light reception is interrupted, and the signal is sent to the control unit 4.
Sent to 1.

The control unit 41 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred based on the detection results from the various sensors described above using logic on a program, and determines and executes countermeasures.
FIG. 4 is a basic flowchart regarding these abnormality detections, and each step 51 to 55 is as follows:
The same number corresponds to the detection result of each sensor 51 to 55, respectively. These measures include emergency shutdown and removal of defective products, and are selected depending on the nature of the abnormality.

In other words, ~ in each determination step in Fig. 4 are all determination results of an abnormality, but in the case of a one-time occurrence, for example, only defective products are excluded in each case. Good too,
If this is important, a single occurrence may result in an immediate emergency stop.
If , for example, occurs three times in a row, it is assumed that the remaining amount of printed matter has become zero, or if , for example, occurs three times in a row, it is assumed that the printed matter has been set incorrectly, and if other abnormalities occur continuously, it is assumed that the mechanism is malfunctioning. , emergency stop, etc. can be set as appropriate.

When it is determined to reject the defective product based on such a judgment, the control unit 41 determines the time when the group of printed matter 60b in which the abnormality has occurred passes over the rejection station 2b discharge gate 21 by adjusting the speed of the conveyors 1a and 2a. , and outputs an operation signal for the discharge gate 21. As a result, the discharge gate 21 opens, and the group of printed matter 60b falls into the defective product receiver 22 and is removed from the conveyor line, and only the group of good printed matter 60a is sent to the next packaging station 3b.

At the packaging station 3b, the sent printed matter group 60a is automatically packed into bags, and the packaged printed matter group 60c is placed into the product receiver 31.

The collation and packaging of the printed matter 60 are automatically performed by the operations described above.

The various sensors explained in connection with FIG. 2 are as follows:
The structure and mounting position may be changed as appropriate. That is, for example, the thickness sensor 52 is connected to the detection lever 52a.
can be changed to a roller type actuator, and the second feed sensor 53 can be used as the first
A detection lever type similar to the delivery sensor 51 can also be used. Further, a photoelectric sensor similar to the jam sensor 55 can be used as the first feed sensor 51, and its position is not past the end of the feed table 12 as shown in the figure, but rather on the belt forming the feed table 12. 12b.

In addition to the above-mentioned control, the control section 41 can of course also be used for management tasks such as recording and processing production history and other various data.

<Effects of the Invention> As is clear from the description of the embodiments above, the system of the present invention includes a plurality of supply stations,
A removal station and a packaging station are arranged in sequence along the conveyor, and while detecting the type and supply status of printed matter supplied to the conveyor, collation of printed matter, removal of defective products, and packaging of a group of collated printed matter are performed. This is done automatically. Therefore, according to the present invention, operations from collation to packaging can be efficiently performed without errors such as missing pages, inserting two sheets, or collating foreign objects by simply supplying predetermined printed materials to each supply station. Since only items that are correctly placed on the conveyor are packaged, there are no problems at the packaging station.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a conceptual system diagram, FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the detection mechanism in the supply station, and FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the paper feeding mechanism in the supply station. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of the flowchart. 1a, 2a, 3a...conveyor, 1b...supply station, 2b...exclusion station, 3b
... Packaging station, 21 ... Discharge gate, 4
1...control unit, 41a...CPU, 51...first
feeding sensor, 52...thickness sensor, 53...
...Second delivery sensor, 54...Foreign object sensor,
55... Jam sensor, 60... Printed matter, 60a
...Printed materials.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A conveyor, a plurality of supply stations disposed upstream of the conveyor along the conveyor, a rejection station disposed midstream of the conveyor, and a packaging station disposed downstream of the conveyor;
By feeding printed matter from each feeding station to the conveyor according to the speed of the conveyor and the spacing between each feeding station, each feeding station and detects an abnormality in the supply of printed matter from the supply station, and if an abnormality is detected, controls the removing operation of the removal station so as to remove the group of printed matter at that position from the conveyor; A collating and packaging system for printed matter, further comprising: a control unit for controlling the wrapping operation of the packaging station so as to individually wrap each group of printed matter that has not been rejected by the rejection station, wherein the printed matter is sent out from the supply station; means for detecting that one copy of the printed matter has been sent out; means for detecting that the printed matter has been placed on a predetermined position on the conveyor; and means for detecting that the printed matter has been placed on the conveyor normally. A collating and packaging system for printed matter, comprising: means for collating and packaging printed matter.