JPH05301624A - Alignment method for container and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To align containers whose cross sectional shape is rectangular in the same direction and in a line for moving them downstream without causing an increase in a manufacturing cost and space and without complicating control and the whole line. CONSTITUTION:A group 11 of containers wherein each container has a rectangular cross sectional shape are carried in a standing condition by upstream speed difference conveyers 35a, 35b which are faster than a carrying-in conveyer 35, and brought into contact with a curved-line guide 31 to be slid for aligning them in a line at regular intervals. The group 11 of containers are carried, being placed over a speed difference conveyer 35c and a posture control conveyer 36 faster than it and brought into contact with the front half part 33 of a posture control linear guide to be slid to rotate the container of the group 11 whose shorter edge part is in contact with the front half part 33 to bring the longer edge parts of all the containers into contact with the rear half part 33 of the posture control linear guide, and to move it onto a delivery conveyer 38 which is connected to one side part downstream of the posture control conveyer 36 for delivering them.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for arranging containers for filling soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, liquid products and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Prior Art Bottle washing machines, filling machines, inspection machines, labeling machines, measuring machines, etc. for the above-mentioned containers are arranged in a straight line, and these devices are connected by a conveyor. In order to operate these devices alone at high speed, containers have been supplied to these devices in a single row.

On the other hand, with the diversification of liquid products, there has been an increasing demand for easy handling, beauty, low cost and large capacity for containers, and the shapes of containers have become specialized and diversified. Therefore, if the line of the filling machine is taken as an example, there is a need for an apparatus for controlling the direction of the containers at a plurality of points in the line to form a single row. The conventional example is shown in FIG. 4 is an upstream speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor), 4'is a downstream speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) connected to one downstream side of the same speed difference conveyor 4, 5 is the same speed difference conveyor 4 'Is a carry-out conveyor (single-row conveyor) connected to one downstream side.

[0004] 1 is a container group (a large number of containers conveyed in multiple rows) conveyed by the conveyors 4, 4 ', 5; 3
Is a pair of fixed guides arranged in parallel with both side portions of the transfer conveyor 5 in a state of being obliquely crossed over the speed difference conveyors 4, 4 ', and the moving speed of each of the conveyors 4, 4', 5 is 4 <4 '<5. The speed difference conveyor 4 is composed of four unit conveyors. The closer the moving speed of these unit conveyors is to the speed difference conveyor 4 ', the higher the speed. The speed difference conveyor 4'is composed of two unit conveyors, and these unit conveyors have moving speeds of the carry-out conveyor 5 '.
The closer to, the faster.

In the container aligning apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the container group 1 is conveyed to the speed difference conveyor 4 → speed difference conveyor 4 '→ speed difference conveyor 5, and at this time, the container group 1 is fixed to the fixed guides 3 and 3. By bringing them into contact with each other and sliding them, the containers are arranged in a single row (see 2) and carried out.

[0006]

In the conventional aligning device shown in FIG. 5, the container group 1 to be supplied is limited to a circular, elliptical or square cross-sectional shape. The reason is that, due to the interaction between the fixed guide 3 and the speed difference conveyors 4, 4 ', the containers are kept in close contact with each other and are irregularly rotated into a single row, or in some cases, the containers are not rotated and the speed difference is not changed. In order to make a single row only by accelerating the conveyor 4 → speed difference conveyor 4 ′, the orientations of the containers are different, and the containers supplied to this aligning device are those which are allowed in any orientation (the cross-sectional shape is Limited to round, oval, or square containers).

As another conventional example, there is an aligning device that reciprocally swings the fixed guide 3 in the container conveying direction by a slight amount. However, this aligning device has the same single-row operation and has a shape other than the above shape. No, i.e., a container having a rectangular cross section cannot be conveyed downstream with the same orientation aligned in a line. As another conventional example, there is an aligning device that finally accelerates the container group by each speed difference conveyor while contacting and sliding one fixed guide, and finally making a single row. However, the shapes of the containers to be aligned are limited.

As another conventional example, there is an aligning device in which a speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) is slightly inclined (see JP-A-58-135025 if necessary). However, the shapes of the containers to be aligned are limited. Therefore, when arranging containers having a rectangular cross section in the same direction and in a row, it is necessary to separately provide an aligning machine for a fixed direction. Space increases. There was a problem that the control and the whole line became complicated.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its object is to make a cross-section without increasing the manufacturing cost and space and complicating the control and the whole line. An object of the present invention is to provide a container alignment method and apparatus capable of aligning rectangular containers in the same direction in a line and transporting them to the downstream side.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the method of aligning containers according to the present invention is such that a container group having a rectangular cross section is moved in an upright state at a speed higher than that of a carry-in conveyor. The speed of the downstream side connected to the downstream side one side part of the same speed difference conveyor by transporting by the speed difference conveyor of the Transfer to the speed difference conveyor, across the speed difference conveyor on the downstream side and the attitude control conveyor connected to one downstream side of the speed difference conveyor and moving at a speed faster than the speed difference conveyor. The container is transported in the closed state, and the attitude control linear guide connected to the downstream side of the curved guide is brought into contact with and slid on the container. To Tactile, sliding containers were rotated by the speed difference of each conveyor, after contacting the long side of all containers to the attitude control linear guide, connected to the downstream side one side of the attitude control conveyor The feature is that it is transferred to the carry-out conveyor and carried out.

Further, the container aligning apparatus of the present invention comprises an upstream speed difference conveyor which conveys a group of rectangular cross-section containers in an upright state, and an obliquely above the upstream speed difference conveyor with respect to the conveying direction. Curved guides arranged in an intersecting state, a downstream side speed difference conveyor connected to the downstream side one side portion of the upstream side speed difference conveyor, and a downstream side one side portion of the downstream side speed difference conveyor The attitude control conveyor, the downstream speed difference conveyor, and the attitude control linear guide disposed immediately above the attitude control conveyor in a state of being obliquely intersecting with the conveying direction, and one downstream side of the attitude control conveyor. It is composed of a carry-out conveyor connected to the section.

In the container aligning apparatus according to the present invention, the angle θ of the posture control linear guide with respect to the conveying direction is set.
₁ is set in the range of 4 ° to 18 °, and the moving speed V ₂ of the posture control conveyor is set to 1.2 to 1.5 times the moving speed V ₁ of the downstream speed difference conveyor. In the container aligning device of the present invention, the front half and the rear half of the attitude control linear guide are formed in a substantially linear shape, and the bent portions join each other.

[0013]

According to the container alignment method of the present invention, as described above, a container group having a rectangular cross section is conveyed in an upright state by an upstream speed difference conveyor which is moving at a speed faster than that of the carry-in conveyor, and a curved guide is provided. By arranging and sliding them in a line with a space between them, and then transfer to a downstream speed difference conveyor connected to one downstream side of the speed difference conveyor, and the speed of the downstream side. The difference conveyor, while being conveyed across the attitude control conveyor that is connected to the downstream side one side portion of the same speed difference conveyor and is moving at a higher speed than the same speed difference conveyor, and the above-mentioned curve guide Among the containers rearranged in a line by contacting and sliding the attitude control linear guide connected to the downstream side, the containers whose short sides are in contact with and sliding on the attitude control linear guide are Conveyor Is rotated by the speed difference, after contacting the long sides of all containers in the attitude control linear guide, so Possessed a discharge conveyor connected to the downstream side one side of the posture control conveyor is unloaded.

[0014]

【Example】

(First Embodiment) Next, a container aligning apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
Explaining the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3, reference numeral 35 is a carry-in conveyor (multi-row conveyor), and 11 is a container group having a rectangular cross section which is carried by the carry-in conveyor 35 in a vertical state.

35a is a speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) connected to one downstream side of the carry-in conveyor 35,
b is a speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) connected to one downstream side of the same speed difference conveyor 35a, and 31 is a curved guide provided directly above these speed difference conveyors 35a and 35b. And speed difference conveyor 35a,
The front half portion of the alignment device is constituted by 35b and the curved guide 31.

35c is a speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) connected to one downstream side of the speed difference conveyor 35b,
36 is an attitude control conveyor connected to one downstream side of the same speed difference conveyor 35c, 37 is a speed difference conveyor connected to one downstream side of the same attitude control conveyor 36, and 38 is one side of the same speed difference conveyor 37 Carry-out conveyor connected to the section, 32
Is the front half of the attitude control linear guide connected to the curve guide 31, and 33 is the latter half of the attitude control linear guide connected to the front half 32 via the bent portion 32a. The speed difference conveyor 35c and the attitude control conveyor 36, the speed difference conveyer 37, the carry-out conveyer 38, and the front half 32 and the rear half 33 of the attitude control linear guide form the rear half of the aligning device.

The moving speeds of the carry-in conveyor 35, the speed difference conveyors 35a, 35b, 35c, the attitude control conveyor 36, the speed difference conveyor 37, and the carry-out conveyor 38 are higher on the downstream side. The carry-in conveyor 3
5 (multi-row conveyor) is made of stainless steel and is composed of three unit conveyors each having a flat upper surface. These unit conveyors are driven at the same speed by a chain wheel, and the container group 11
Until the curved guide 31 comes in contact with the carry-in conveyor 35.
Is transported slowly.

The speed difference conveyor 35a is composed of four unit conveyors. The closer the moving speed of these unit conveyors is to the speed difference conveyor 35b, the higher the speed. The speed difference conveyor 35b is composed of four unit conveyors, and the closer the moving speed of these unit conveyors is to the speed difference conveyor 35c, the faster.

The speed difference conveyors 35a and 35b are used.
Is substantially the same as the carry-in conveyor 35, but the width of the unit conveyor is preferably small in order to efficiently form the container group 11 in a single row. Further, these speed difference conveyors 35a and 35b are individually driven by an averter motor or the like installed in each. Of these speed difference conveyors 35a and 35b, especially the speed difference conveyor 3
It is desirable to provide a speed difference between the unit conveyors 5a that collapses the overlapping width (number of stages) of the multi-row containers of the container group 11 supplied from the carry-in conveyor 35. Further, it is preferable that the width of each unit conveyor of the speed difference conveyor 35a be selected so that each of the unit conveyors can share the number of overlapping rows of the multi-row container when the container group 11 contacts the curved guide 31.

[0020] The speed difference conveyor 35c is two units conveyor 35c _1, is constituted by 35c _2, these units conveyor 35c _1, 35c ₂ are as those moving speed is close to the attitude control conveyor 36, faster ing. When the moving speed of the speed difference conveyor 35c ₂ is V ₁ and the moving speed V ₂ of the attitude control conveyor 36, the moving speed V ₂ of the attitude control conveyor 36 is 1.2 to ₁ of the moving speed V ₁ of the speed difference conveyor 35c. .5 times.

If the angle of the front half portion 32 of the posture control linear guide with respect to the transport direction is θ ₁ and the angle of the rear half portion 33 of the posture control linear guide with respect to the transport direction is θ ₂ , 4 ° ≦
θ ₁ <θ ₂ ≦ 18 °. Next, the operation of the container aligning device shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be specifically described. Carry-in conveyor 35 with container group 11 having a rectangular cross section in an upright state
The sheets are conveyed by the upstream speed difference conveyors 35a and 35b which are moving at a higher speed, and are brought into contact with and slid on the curved guides 31 so that they are rearranged into one row at intervals.

Next, it is transferred to the downstream speed difference conveyor 35c connected to the downstream side one side portion of the same speed difference conveyor 35b, and the downstream speed difference conveyor 35c and the downstream side one side of the same speed difference conveyor 35c. Of the posture control linear guide connected to the downstream side of the curve guide 31 while being conveyed while straddling the posture control conveyer 36 which is connected to the section and is moving at a higher speed than the speed difference conveyer 35c. Of the container group 11 rearranged in a line by contacting and sliding on the front half 33, the short side has the same front half 3.
3 to contact the container which slides (see b in FIG. 2) is rotated in the arrow direction by the speed difference of each conveyor 35c (35c _1, 35c ₂₎ and attitude control conveyor 36, the long sides of all containers The part is brought into contact with the rear half 33 of the attitude control linear guide (see a in FIG. 2).

After that, the latter half 33 of the same attitude control linear guide transfers to and carries out the speed difference conveyor 37 → the carry-out conveyor 38 connected to one downstream side of the attitude control conveyor 36. Next, the speed difference conveyor 35
The action of the latter half of c and later will be described more specifically. The container group 11 sent in a line with a space from the first half portion is transferred to the speed difference conveyor 35c. In the case of the embodiment, this speed difference conveyor 35c is composed of _two unit conveyors 35c ₁ and 35c ₂ , and between each other,
Due to the difference in speed, the space between the containers becomes wider.

The attitude control conveyor 36 connected to one downstream side of the same speed difference conveyor 35c ₂ has the attitude control linear guide bent when the container 11 considers the long side and the short side of the container 11 to be handled. Posture a before reaching the portion 32a (when the front half portion 32 of the posture control linear guide is in contact with or sliding)
Of the bottom area of the container and the bottom area of the container in posture b, only 1/2 to 1/3 is supported, and the speed difference conveyor 35c supports the remaining bottom area.

The moving speed V ₂ of the attitude control conveyor 36 is 1.2 to 1.5 times the moving speed V ₁ of the speed difference conveyor 35c (35c ₂ ). Therefore, the moving speed V ₂ of the attitude control conveyor 36 and the speed difference conveyor 35c
The container in the posture a straddled over and is held as it is and conveyed without rotating. On the other hand, attitude control conveyor 3
The container in the posture b straddling the moving speed V _{2 of} 6 and the speed difference conveyor 35c is rotated by 90 ° in the arrow direction to the posture a, and the long side portion contacts the front half portion 32 of the posture control linear guide. , So that all the containers are in the posture a.

After that, the posture is controlled via the bending portion 32a.
The second half 33 of the linear guide comes into contact with and slides, and the speed difference
(A) It is further accelerated by 37 and gets on the carry-out conveyor 38.
Transfer. How to transport the first half 32 of the posture control linear guide
Angle to direction θ₁And the latter half of the same attitude control linear guide
Angle θ of 33 with respect to the transport direction₂And 4 ° ≦ θ₁<Θ
₂≦ 18 °. By setting this angle,
Straddle the difference conveyor 35c and the attitude control conveyor 36
The posture of the container is smoothly changed from b to a.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment in which only the attitude control linear guide 32 is provided instead of the attitude control linear guide having the front half portion 32 and the rear half portion 33. The angle θ ₁ of 32 with respect to the conveying direction is 4 °
It is set in the range of -18 °, and the same operation is performed in this embodiment.

[0028]

As described above, the container alignment method of the present invention conveys a group of rectangular cross-section containers in an upright state by an upstream speed difference conveyor moving at a speed faster than that of the carry-in conveyor, By making contact with and sliding on the curved guide, the lines are rearranged into one row at a distance, and then transferred to the downstream speed difference conveyor connected to the downstream side one side part of the same speed difference conveyor. Of the speed difference conveyor and the same speed difference conveyor while being conveyed across the attitude control conveyor which is connected to the downstream side one side and is moving at a higher speed than the speed difference conveyor, By contacting and sliding the attitude control linear guide connected to the downstream side of the guide, the container whose short side is in contact with and sliding on the attitude control linear guide among the containers arranged in a line above Each of the above Is rotated by the speed difference between the bare after contacting the long sides of all containers in the attitude control linear guide,
Since it is transferred to the carry-out conveyor connected to the downstream side one side of the attitude control conveyor and carried out, it is not necessary to separately provide an aligner for a fixed direction as in the conventional case, which increases the manufacturing cost and space. It is also possible to transport the containers having the rectangular cross section in the same direction in a line and to the downstream side without complicating the control and the entire line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of a container alignment device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the operation of the container aligning device.

3 is a vertical sectional front view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a second embodiment of the container aligning device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a conventional container aligning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Group of containers with rectangular cross section 31 Curved guide 32 First half of posture control linear guide 32a Bending portion 33 Second half of posture control linear guide 35 Carry-in conveyor (multi-row conveyor) 35a Speed difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) 35b 〃 35c Speed Difference conveyor (multi-row conveyor) 36 Posture control conveyor 37 Speed difference conveyor 38 Outgoing conveyor V ₁ Speed difference conveyor 35c ₂ moving speed V ₂ Posture control conveyor 36 moving speed θ ₁ Posture control Conveying direction of the first half 32 of the linear guide With respect to the angle θ _{2 The} angle of the latter half 33 of the posture control linear guide with respect to the transport direction

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A group of containers having a rectangular cross section is conveyed in an upright state by a speed difference conveyor on the upstream side which is moving at a speed faster than that of a carry-in conveyor, and is brought into contact with and slid on a curved guide so that the intervals are increased. Are arranged in a single row, and then transferred to a downstream speed difference conveyor connected to one downstream side of the same speed difference conveyor, and the same downstream speed difference conveyor and the same speed difference conveyor downstream. The attitude control linear guide connected to the downstream side of the curve guide while being conveyed across the attitude control conveyor connected to one side part and moving at a higher speed than the speed difference conveyor. Among the containers arranged in a line by contacting and sliding, the containers whose short sides are in contact with and sliding on the same attitude control linear guide are rotated by the speed difference of each conveyor, and Content A method for aligning containers, characterized in that after the long side of the container is brought into contact with a posture control linear guide, it is transferred to a carry-out conveyor connected to one downstream side of the posture control conveyor and carried out. 2. An upstream speed difference conveyor which conveys a group of containers having a rectangular cross section in an upright state, and a curve which is arranged directly above the upstream speed difference conveyor and is oblique to the conveying direction. A guide, a downstream speed difference conveyor connected to the downstream side one side part of the upstream side speed difference conveyor, an attitude control conveyor connected to the downstream side one side part of the downstream side speed difference conveyor, and the downstream side. At the side of the speed difference conveyor and the attitude control linear guide disposed directly above the attitude control conveyor in a state of being oblique to the transport direction, and by the carry-out conveyor connected to one downstream side of the attitude control conveyor. A container aligning device characterized by being configured. 3. An angle θ ₁ of the posture control linear guide with respect to the conveying direction is set in a range of 4 ° to 18 °, and a movement speed V ₂ of the posture control conveyor is set to a movement speed V of the downstream speed difference conveyor. The container aligning device according to claim 2, wherein the number is 1.2 to 1.5 times as large as ₁ . 4. The container aligning device according to claim 2, wherein the front half and the rear half of the attitude control linear guide are formed in a substantially linear shape, and the bent portions are joined to each other.