JPH05186049A - Nursery box accumulation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a means to certainly stop nursery boxes at a specified position and a means to automatically and certainly accumulate the nursery boxes to provide a nursery box accumulation device to deliver transported processed nursery boxes to a packing device of a following process after accumulating a specified number of the transported processed nursery boxes in a transport system to transport the nursery boxes by a belt conveyor with specified intervals, accumulate and pack them after applying processes of cleaning, disinfection and others. CONSTITUTION:Accumulation claws 6 (four sets) only to revolve above a horizontal line are provided on upper edges of rods 5a on four corners of an accumulation lift to lift up and down a nursery box 2 stopping at a specified position, and accumulation of the nursery box 2 is carried out by actuation of a conveyor 1 by way of using the accumulation claws 6 both for engagement and lifting up of the nursery box 2. A means to arrange a gate 4 to stop the nursery box 2 at a specified position for accumulation on the rear part of a nursery box accumulation device in the forwarding direction and to push back the nursery box 2 to the specified position against positional dislocation of the unaccumulated nursery box 2 in accordance with opening and closing of the gate 4 is provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stacking device in a transport system for automatically carrying out cleaning, disinfection, etc. of a nursery box for stacking and packing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Raising a nursery shelf with a plurality of seedling raising boxes already seeded, rotating and changing the inner and outer shelf positions, and raising all the raised nursery shelves under the same conditions. The rotary seedling growing machine is known. However, the seedling raising box to be mounted on the seedling raising rack of the rotary seedling raising machine needs to be washed and disinfected, packed, and managed so as to be suitable for mounting on the seedling raising rack. Therefore, it is desirable to have a transport system that transports the seedling raising box by a belt conveyor and automatically performs cleaning, disinfection, and the like to accumulate and package, but such a transport system is unknown. And
The integrated device therein is not known either.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to obtain a stacking device suitable for a transfer system with automatic control as described above, a stopping means for stopping the seedling raising boxes successively transferred on a belt conveyor in a fixed position, and a horizontal shape. Lift the seedling box to
There is a need for a stacking means for supporting and then placing the supporting nursery box on top of the stopped nursery box in place and lifting it again.

[0004]

The present invention uses the following means in order to achieve the above objects. That is, the nursery box is transported at a constant interval on the belt conveyor, and is washed, disinfected, accumulated after being processed by draining, and then packed in the nursery box transport system for transporting the nursery box. The collecting lift for descending and raising is provided with a collecting claw that rotates only above the horizontal shape, and the collecting claw is commonly used for locking and raising the seedling growing box so that the seedling growing boxes can be collected. In the nursery box accumulating device, a gate for stopping the nursery box in a fixed position for accumulating is arranged at the rear part in the conveying direction of the nursery box accumulating device, and with respect to the position shift of the unaccumulated nursery box due to opening and closing of the gate. A means for pushing back to a fixed position is provided.

[0005]

[Operation] When the nursery box after completion of collection is carried out by opening the gate and the next nursery box has passed the fixed position for collection, the push-back force at the time of closing the gate causes the nursery box to move. The box is put back in place. And
At the time of accumulating the nursery boxes, the accumulating claws rotate only upward, so that the accumulating claws push against the edge of the nursery box in a fixed position by the lowering of the accumulating lift and rotate upward, When the stacking claw is moved to the lower side of the edge by returning to the horizontal state and the stacking lift is again raised, the stacking claw supports the edge of the nursery box from below while keeping the horizontal state. Lift above the home position. In this way, the accumulating claws automatically disengage, lock, support, and lift the raising box along with the raising and lowering of the gathering lift. Is done automatically.

[0006]

The problems and configurations to be solved by the present invention are as described above. Next, the embodiments of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the process of the whole nursery box transportation system, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the stacking device D.
3 is a side view of the same, FIG. 4 is a front view of the same, and FIG. 5 is a partial plan view showing the structure of the stacking claw 6 in the stacking lift 5.
6 is a partial front view, FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an automatic control mechanism in the integrated device D, FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of the integrated device D showing conditions for setting the delay time, and FIG. FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the push-back action, and FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the safety device immediately before the integrated device D.

With reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the whole nursery box transportation system will be described. The transport system transports the nursery boxes one after another on the belt conveyor at regular intervals. First, the nursery box is lowered on the belt conveyor driven by the nursery box feeder A and washed by the cleaning device B. Next, the water drop / disinfection device C removes the water droplets of the cleaning liquid remaining in the box during the entire process, and sprays the disinfectant. Then, a certain number of the seedling raising boxes that have been subjected to such a treatment are accumulated in the accumulating device D and are conveyed to the packing device E in the next step.

The structure of the integrated device D will be described with reference to FIGS. The nursery box 2 is conveyed on the belt conveyor 1. The accumulating device D is installed in the middle of the belt conveyor 1 so as to block the machine frame 3 that supports and forms the accumulating device D, the seedling raising box 2 that is conveyed, open after the completion of accumulating, and send it to the next step. 4 and a lift 5 for accumulating a fixed number of stacked seedling raising boxes 2 and the like. The gate 4 is opened / closed by driving the gate opening / closing air solenoid SV1, and the stacking lift 5 is lifted / lowered by driving the lift lifting / lowering air solenoid SV2. The gate opening / closing air solenoid SV1 opens the gate 4 by drawing the piston rod when energized, and the lift lifting air solenoid SV2 pushes up the piston rod and energizes the stacking lift 5 when energized. is there. In addition, both solenoids have a certain number of seedling raising boxes 2 that have been conveyed on the belt conveyor 1 and are thus O
It is driven by signals of the box fixed position detection switch LS1 that turns on N and the box integration completion detection switch LS2 that is turned on when the box reaches the fixed position.

In the machine frame 3, pillar members 3a are erected at four corners, left and right pillar members 3a are erected on an upper horizontal member 3b, and below the belt conveyor 1, each pillar member 3a is supported on a lower part. It is connected and supported by the member 3c. Further, the conveyance guide 3d is attached to the belt conveyor 1 at the rear of the pillar member 3a,
The lateral position of the seedling raising box 2 conveyed on the belt conveyor 1 is configured to be constant in the accumulating device D. The gate 4 is rotatably attached to the outside of two left and right pillar members 3a standing upright in the transport direction with a gate shaft 4a attached parallel to the pillar members 3a as a rotation fulcrum. The gate opening / closing air solenoid SV is provided at the center of the upper horizontal member 3b of the machine frame 3 on the front side in the transport direction.
1 is arranged in parallel with the conveying direction, and the gate link 4b is connected from the upper part of the left and right gates 4 to the gate opening / closing air solenoid SV.
Connect to No. 1 piston rod. Then, as shown in FIG.
When the gate opening / closing air solenoid SV1 is normal, the gate 4 is closed, and when energized, the piston rod is driven in the compression direction to open the gate 4.

The gate 4 having the above-mentioned structure is operated by inputting a box stacking completion detection switch LS1 and a box fixed position detection switch LS2, which will be described later, to open / close the gate air solenoid SV1.
When the accumulation of the seedling raising box 2 is completed, the box accumulation completion detection switch LS1 is input, the gate 4 is opened, the accumulated seedling raising box 2 is taken out, and the next seedling raising box is opened. After being conveyed, it is conveyed on the belt conveyor 1 and pressed against the box fixed position detection switch LS2 to close the gate 4. However, when the gate 4 is closed,
From the pushing position of the box fixed position detection switch LS2, the seedling raising box 2
Moves forward and crosses the fixed position for collecting,
As shown in FIG. 9, the push-back force associated with the closing of the gate 4 pushes the seedling-growing box 2 back to the fixed position for stacking, thus ensuring stacking.

The stacking lift 5 is connected to the tip of the piston rod above the lift-elevating air solenoid SV2 arranged vertically at the center of the lower support member 3c of the machine frame 3 and the piston rod. The connected members are
It is the bottom lift support member 5b, and the rod 5 is
a is erected, and the rod 5a is inserted into a pipe-shaped guide 1a attached below the side surface of the belt conveyor 1. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the lift lift air solenoid SV2
In the normal state, the piston rod descends and the spool rises when energized, and the collecting lift 5 is raised and lowered.

At the upper end of each rod 5a, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a pivot shaft 7 is laid horizontally and arranged in parallel with the side surface of the seedling raising box 2, and the accumulated pawls 6 are attached to the pivot shaft 7. Pivotally support the lower edge of the nursery box 2 with two stacking claws 6 in the front-rear direction, and further connect both stacking claws 6 with a connecting rod 8 so that both stacking claws 6 are simultaneously above horizontal. It is configured to rotate to. In this way, the stacking claws 6 that connect the front and rear two are arranged on both the left and right sides of the seedling raising box 2 that is conveyed on the belt conveyor 1, and as shown in FIG. The edge of the nursery box 2 on the belt conveyor 1 is pressed and rotated upward, and further descends to return to a horizontal state to support the edge of the nursery box 2, while the rod 5a When rising, the accumulating claws 6 do not rotate downward, so that the raising claws 6 rise while supporting the seedling raising box 2.

A method of accumulating the nursery boxes 2 by raising and lowering the accumulating lift 5 will be described. When the seedling raising box 2 reaches the box fixed position of the stacking device D and pushes against the closed gate 4 to stop,
The collecting lift 5 is lowered from the upper part to lower the collecting claws 6 to the lower part of the seedling raising box 2, and is raised again to support the edge of the seedling raising box 2 with the collecting claws 6 while maintaining the seedling raising box 2 Pull up above the home position. Next, it is conveyed on the belt conveyor 1 and the seedling raising box 2 previously pulled up is placed on the next seedling raising box 2 which has reached the fixed position by lowering the collecting lift 5. After further lowering the stacking lift 5, the stacking lift 5 is lifted again, and the stacking claws 6 are used to stack the collected seedling raising boxes 2.
The edge of the nursery box 2 corresponding to the lowermost stage is supported and further raised, and the whole nursery box 2 accumulated at the fixed position is pulled up above the fixed position. This operation is repeated at the fixed position until the number of the seedling raising boxes 2 is one less than the specified number. The seedling raising boxes 2 accumulated and raised in this way are lowered onto the last raising seedling raising box 2 of the prescribed number of accumulations conveyed to the fixed position by lowering the accumulation lift 5 after the completion of accumulation.
The gate 4 is opened and it is carried out to the next process.

Next, the arrangement of the box stacking completion detection switch LS1 and the box fixed position detection switch LS2 will be described.
First, the box stacking completion detection switch LS1 is pushed to the side of the edge of the seedling raising box 2 which is the uppermost portion of the pillar member 3a of the machine frame 3 hitting forward in the carry-out direction when the accumulated seedling raising boxes 2 have reached a fixed number. Install it in the appropriate position. Further, the box fixed position detection switch LS2 is, in the stacking device D, of the pillar member 3a of the machine frame 3 corresponding to the foremost end of the fixed position where the seedling raising boxes 2 are stacked,
It is attached to a position where the side of the edge of the seedling raising box 2 that has been conveyed is pressed.

The automatic control structure of the integrated device D having the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS. After turning on the power of the stacking device D, first, it is confirmed by the input / output state of the box stacking completion detection switch LS1 whether or not the seedling growing box 2 is in the fixed position at the fixed position. After being transported or when the seedling raising box 2 is in the process of being accumulated (0
In 1), the box stacking completion switch LS1 is in the OFF state, the gate opening / closing air solenoid SV1 is not driven, and the gate 4 is closed (02). In this state,
When the nursery box 2 is conveyed on the belt conveyor 1 and reaches a fixed position in the stacking device D, the box fixed position detection switch L
After S2 is turned on (03) and the seedling raising box 2 has pressed the switch, it is conveyed by the belt conveyor 1 for the delay time T1 and still moves forward, hits the gate 4 and is reliably stopped, and the delay time T1 is reached. (04) When the lift lifting air solenoid SV2 is de-energized, the stacking lift 5 is lowered (05), and the accumulated seedling raising box 2 is supported, the belt conveyor 1 is at a fixed position. After being securely placed on the seedling raising box 2 and the delay time T2 has elapsed (06), the lift lifting air solenoid SV2 is energized and driven to raise the collecting lift 5 (07), and the collecting claw 6 The seedling raising box 2 accumulated in is supported and pulled up. In the state where the next raising seedling raising box 2 has not reached the fixed position, the box fixed position detection switch LS2 is in the OFF state (08). Is
The lift raising / lowering air solenoid SV2 is maintained in the energized state, and the collecting lift 5 is kept raised (09), and the collected seedling raising boxes 2 are supported by the collecting claw 6 above the fixed position. When the next nursery box 2 reaches the fixed position (0
3) Then, the raised seedling raising box 2 is lowered onto the seedling raising box 2 at a fixed position on the belt conveyor 1 (04 to 05), and the lifting lift 5 is raised again to pull up the accumulated seedling raising boxes 2 ( (06 to 07), it is supported until the next nursery box 2 arrives (08).

By repeating the above operation, the seedling raising boxes 2 are gathered by one less than the prescribed number, and when they are pulled up, the box gathering completion switch LS1 is turned on (10), and in conjunction therewith, for lifting and lowering the lift. The energization of the air solenoid SV2 is cut off and the stacking lift 5 descends (11). And
The accumulated seedling raising box 2 is lowered onto the seedling raising box 2 corresponding to the last one of the prescribed number of accumulated seedlings that has reached the fixed position, and when the descending is completed, the accumulated seedling raising box 2 is surely placed in the fixed position. Box 2
After the delay time T2 (1
2), the gate opening / closing air solenoid SV1 is driven to open the gate 4 (13), and the accumulated seedling raising boxes 2 are surely carried out from the accumulating device D to the next step by the belt conveyor 1 and after the delay time T3 has passed. (14) The power to the gate opening / closing air solenoid SV2 is cut off again, and the gate 4 is closed (1
5) Prepare for the next accumulation of the nursery boxes 2.

Next, setting of the delay times T1 to T3 in the above automatic control mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that the belt conveyor 1 always moves at a constant speed of Vmm / sec, the length of the nursery box 2 in the transport direction is Xmm, from the position of the gate 4 to the position where the box fixed position detection switch LS2 is pressed to the nursery box 2. Is Ymm, the distance between the nursery boxes 2 before and after the normal belt conveyor transportation is Zmm, and the distance between the accumulated nursery boxes 2 carried out from the gate 4 and the next nursery box 2 which has reached the fixed position. Z'mm. First, the delay time T
In the setting of 1, the box fixed position detection switch LS2 is O
After N, the time Y / V seconds in which the seedling raising box 2 presses against the gate 4 and surely stops at the fixed position is Y / V seconds. Next, the accumulation lift 5 is lowered to ensure that the already accumulated nursery box 2 that has been lifted to the upper portion is placed on the nursery box 2 that is stopped at a fixed position, and the nursery box that has been accumulated. The delay time T2 is set in order to reliably lower the seedling raising box 2 on the belt conveyor 1, but the operation of lowering the stacking lift 5 and raising it again to raise the seedling raising box 2 is The process must be completed within the time (X + Z) / V seconds until the fixed position is reached, and the delay time T2 is also set on the premise of the required time. Then, the delay time T3 is set as the time for keeping the gate 4 open in order to send the accumulated seedling raising boxes 2 to the next step, but after the gate 4 is opened, the accumulated seedling raising boxes 2 are Since the next seedling raising box 2 reaches the fixed position at a point Z'mm away from the position of the gate 4, the delay time T3 is (X + V seconds) (X + V).
Z ') / V seconds must be set.

In the transporting system for raising seedlings, in the stacking device D, the raising seedling in a fixed position must be lifted before the next raising seedling is transported, so that it is especially on the belt conveyor. The front-to-back spacing between nursery boxes becomes a problem. That is, if the interval becomes equal to or less than a certain reference value, the next seedling raising box reaches the inside of the stacking device D while the previous seedling raising box is accumulated. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, in the conveying device of the belt conveyor 1 divided into several steps, when the interval between the seedling raising boxes becomes equal to or less than the reference value immediately before the accumulating device D, the sensor S detects it. A motor M for detecting and transmitting to the conveying device (in the draining / disinfecting device C) in the previous step to drive the belt conveyor 1 ′.
When the sensor is stopped and the interval returns to the reference value, the sensor S
The safety device is installed in the conveying device so that the transmission of the signal is stopped and the belt conveyor 1'is driven again.

[0019]

The present invention has the following effects by being configured as described above. That is, in the stacking device in the transport system for automatically cleaning, disinfecting, stacking and packing the seedling raising box, the construction of the claim of the stacking pawl causes the seedling raising box to stop at the fixed position when the stacking lift is lowered. The edge of the nursery box is pushed from the bottom to the edge of the nursery box while the accumulation claws remain horizontal, when the accumulation claw is in a horizontal state by pressing the edge of the seedling and rotating it upward to easily move to the bottom of the edge. Since it is supported and lifted, it is possible to automatically disengage, lock, support, and lift the nursery box along with the operation of the collecting lift.
The structure is simple and reliable integration is possible. Also, when the nursery box after completion of collection is carried out to the next process by opening the gate, the nursery box to be transported next may pass through the fixed position for collection, but due to the push-back force due to the closing of the gate. , The nursery box is pushed back into place,
It enables reliable accumulation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a process of an entire transport system for a nursery box.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of an integrated device D.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view showing a configuration of a stacking claw 6 in the stacking lift 5.

FIG. 6 is a partial side view of the same.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an automatic control mechanism in the stacking device D.

FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of the integrated device D showing the conditions for setting the delay time.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the pushing back action of the gate 4.

10 is a plan view showing the arrangement of safety devices installed immediately before the stacking device D. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 D stacking device 1 belt conveyor 2 seedling box 4 gate 5 stacking lift 6 stacking claw SV1 gate opening / closing air solenoid SV2 lift lifting air solenoid LS1 box stacking completion detection switch LS2 box fixed position detection switch

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A nursery box accumulating device in a nursery box accumulating system for conveying and packing a nursery box on a belt conveyor at regular intervals, which is washed, disinfected, and drained before being stopped at a fixed position. A collecting lift for lowering and raising the seedling raising box is provided with a collecting claw that rotates only above the horizontal shape, and the collecting claw is commonly used for locking and lifting the raising seedling box so that the seedling raising box is collected. Seedling box collecting device characterized by. 2. The seedling raising box accumulating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a gate for stopping the seedling raising box at a fixed position for accumulating is arranged at a rear portion in the conveying direction of the seedling raising box accumulating apparatus, and the gate is not accumulated due to opening and closing. A seedling raising box accumulating device characterized in that means for pushing back the seedling raising box to a fixed position is provided.