JPH0627749U - Automatic carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] The present invention relates to an automatic carrying device suitable for carrying an object having elastic force such as a sponge, and the elastic body is automatically moved in a predetermined direction and at a constant interval with simple equipment. It is intended for transport processing. [Structure] A suction conveyance device 3 having a suction conveyance belt 14 having a suction hole 13 and a suction device 15 means for adsorbing an object to be conveyed (sponge 5) to the suction conveyance belt 14, and carrying in of this suction conveyance device 3. It is equipped with a conveyed object supply device 3 for supplying the sponge 5 to the section 20 in a non-aligned state, and a suction conveyance apparatus so that the height position of the carry-out section 21 is higher than the height position of the carry-in section 20. Tilt 3 to install. Further, a pair of arms 23, 24 for aligning the orientation of the sponge 5 conveyed to the conveyor belt 22 by vibrating by the vibration urging device 25 is provided at a position downstream of the carry-out section 21.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an automatic carrying device, and more particularly to an automatic carrying device suitable for carrying an elastic material such as a sponge.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 For example, when forming a natural polymer, a synthetic polymer, etc., by finely dispersing a gas inside so that it is soft and elastic depending on the purpose of use, or by generating a gas from the polymer itself during molding. A high-molecular-weight molded body containing a uniform amount of gas with a certain fineness is produced. A sponge is one of the polymer moldings molded in this way, and this sponge is widely used as a cosmetic sponge, a kitchen sponge, and the like.

These sponges are packaged one by one in a manufacturer's manufacturing factory and shipped as products. Particularly in the case of cosmetic sponges, hygienic conditions are strictly considered in this packaging process from the viewpoint of preventing microbial contamination. Therefore, the ideal method for packaging sponges is automated packaging that does not require manual work.

In order to carry out the above-mentioned automated packaging, an automatic carrying device for automatically carrying the sponge, which is an elastic body, to the automatic packing device is required. In addition, in order for the automatic packaging device to perform proper packaging processing, it is necessary for the automatic transportation device to sequentially convey the sponges one by one to the automatic packaging device in a predetermined direction and at regular intervals. Therefore, the automatic carrier must have the function of aligning the sponges in a predetermined direction and arranging them so that they have a certain interval.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, as described above, the sponge is an elastic body and is easily deformed when pressed, and has the property of returning to its original shape when the pressing force is released. Also, due to its structure, it has the property of being light in weight for its volume.

Conventionally, if the object to be conveyed has a certain degree of hardness (that is, a small elastic force), the object to be conveyed is also fixed in a predetermined direction on the conveyor for conveyance using a manipulator such as a hand. Techniques for arranging at intervals are known. However, in order to arrange the transported objects with a large elastic deformation force in a predetermined direction and at regular intervals, many contact sensors are installed in the manipulator, and It is necessary to calculate the shape and correct the amount of deformation before positioning the object to be conveyed on the conveyor. With such a configuration, there is a problem in that the facility requires a large amount of cost and is not realistic.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic transfer device capable of automatically transferring an elastic body in a predetermined direction and at regular intervals with simple equipment. To do.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The above problems include a suction conveyance belt having a suction hole, suction means for sucking an object to be conveyed to a suction conveyance belt via the suction hole, and a drive device for driving the suction conveyance belt. The object to be conveyed is sucked in from the carry-in section, which is arranged on the upstream side with respect to the moving direction of the belt, and is conveyed from the carry-out section, which is arranged on the downstream side with respect to the moving direction of the suction-conveying belt. The suction transport device is configured to be carried out, and the transported object supply device that supplies the transported object in a non-aligned state with respect to the transport part of the suction transport device is provided. This can be solved by an automatic transfer device characterized in that the suction transfer device is arranged so as to be inclined so that the height position of the carry-out section is higher than the position.

Further, in the automatic carrying apparatus according to claim 1, a carrying belt for carrying the carried object carried out from the carrying-out section to a position downstream of the carrying-out section, and a carried belt carried by the carrying belt. A direction aligning device including a pair of arms arranged on both sides of the article and a vibration urging means for vibrating and urging at least one end of the pair of arms is provided. It is possible to solve the problem by the automatic transfer device characterized in that the objects to be transferred are arranged in a predetermined direction.

[0010]

[Action]

 According to the invention of claim 1, since the suction and conveyance device is disposed so as to be inclined so that the height position of the carry-out portion is higher than the height position of the carry-in portion, a plurality of conveyed objects are overlapped. Even if it is supplied to the carry-in section by the conveyed object feeder, the suctioned conveyor belt is not sucked by the overlapped conveyed objects. Only the objects to be conveyed that are in contact with the belt) are conveyed, and the objects to be conveyed that are located on top of each other are sequentially dropped, and the conveyance by the automatic conveyor is not performed. Therefore, the suction conveyance device is configured to sequentially convey the conveyed objects one by one from the carry-in section to the carry-out section.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the arms are vibrated to sequentially convey the conveyed objects sequentially conveyed one by one by the suction conveying device, so that the conveyed objects are aligned in a predetermined direction on the conveyor belt. Therefore, according to the above-described automatic transport device, it is possible to sequentially transport the objects to be transported one by one in a predetermined direction and at regular intervals.

[0012]

【Example】

 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an automatic carrying device 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention. The automatic transfer device 1 is roughly composed of an object supply device 2, a suction transfer device 3, and a direction alignment device 4. The automatic transporting device 1 uses an elastic body that is easily elastically deformed as an object to be transported, and in this embodiment, a case where the sponge 5 is transported as an elastic body will be described as an example.

The transported object supply device 2 is composed of a hopper 6, a transfer belt 7, an optical sensor 8 and the like, and supplies a sponge 5 to a suction transfer device 3 described later. As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 2, the hopper 6 is formed with a charging port 9 into which the sponge 5 is charged and a storage portion 10 for temporarily storing the charged sponge 5. ing. A conveyor belt 11 is disposed below the storage unit 10, and the conveyor belt 11 is configured to move in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 2 by a driving unit (not shown). Further, an opening 12 is formed at the end of the conveyor belt 11 in the moving direction, and the sponge 5 stored in the storage portion 10 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. It is configured to drop onto the conveyor belt 7 from the portion 12.

The conveyor belt 7 is configured to move in the direction of arrow X1 in FIG. 1, and has a function of conveying the sponge 5 supplied from the hopper 6 to the suction conveyor device 3. An optical sensor 8 is arranged at an intermediate position of the conveyor belt 7.

The optical sensor 8 is provided to determine whether or not the sponge 5 is present on the conveyor belt 7, and the detection result of the optical sensor 8 indicates that the sponge 5 is not present on the conveyor belt 7. When judged, the conveyor belt 11 of the hopper 6 is driven to supply the sponge 5 to the conveyor belt 7, and it is judged from the detection result of the optical sensor 8 that many sponges 5 still exist on the conveyor belt 7. In this case, the driving of the conveyor belt 11 is stopped and the supply of the sponge 5 onto the conveyor belt 7 is stopped.

With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent the excessive sponge 5 from existing on the conveyor belt 7, prevent the sponge 5 from falling off the conveyor belt 7, and stabilize the suction conveyor device 3. The sponge 5 can be supplied. The transported object supply device 2 does not have a function of aligning the sponges 5. Therefore, when the sponge 5 is supplied from the transported object supply device 2 to the suction transport device 3, the sponge 5 may overlap. It is in a non-aligned state facing various directions.

Next, the suction conveyance device 3 will be described. As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 3, the suction / conveyance device 3 has a suction / conveyance belt 14 having a plurality of suction holes 13 formed therein, and the sponge 5 serving as an object to be conveyed through the suction holes 13 for suction / conveyance belt 14. The suction device 15 for sucking the suction conveyer belt 14 and the drive device 16 for driving the suction / conveyance belt 14 are included.

The suction conveyance belt 14 is wound around a pair of rollers 17 and 18, and is configured to move in the X 2 direction in the figure when one of the rollers 17 is rotated by a driving device 16 such as a motor. Has been done. Further, 19 is an auxiliary roller provided to prevent the occurrence of slack of the suction and conveyance belt 14.

The suction device 15 is disposed between the pair of rollers 17 and 18 (that is, a portion sandwiched between the suction conveyance belts 14). The suction device 15 is provided with a vacuum generating device therein, and the vacuum force generated by the vacuum generating device causes the sponge 5 to be vacuum-sucked by the suction-conveying belt 14 through the suction hole 13 as described above. It is configured.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a mode of the suction holes 13 formed in the suction conveyance belt 14. The combination of the size of the suction holes 13, the number of the suction holes 13, the position of the suction holes 13, and the like have a great relationship with the suction force with which the suction device 15 sucks the sponge 5. It is necessary to properly select the size, weight, shape, etc. Specifically, for a sponge 5 that is small in size and weight and has a simple shape, a small diameter and a small number of suction holes 13 are sufficient (as shown in FIG. 7A), but a large weight and a complicated shape. For the sponge 5, it is necessary to increase the diameter of the suction holes 13 and increase the number of the suction holes 13 (shown in FIG. 3B).

In the suction / conveyance device 3 having the above-described configuration, the sponge 5 is carried in from the conveyed object supply device 2 in the carry-in section 20 arranged on the upstream side in the moving direction X2 of the suction / conveyance belt 14, The sponge 5 is carried out toward the direction alignment device 4 from the carry-out section 21 arranged on the downstream side with respect to the moving direction X2.

The present invention has a first feature in that the suction and conveyance device 3 is arranged so as to be inclined. Specifically, the suction / conveyance device 3 is disposed so as to be inclined such that the height position of the carry-out part 22 is higher than the height position of the carry-in part 21. How the sponge 5 is carried by the suction carrying device 3 having this configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

As described above, the transported object supply device 2 does not have the function of aligning the sponges 5, and therefore, when the transported object supply device 2 is supplied to the carry-in section 20, the sponge 5 overlaps. It fits or is oriented in various directions. This state is shown in FIG. (Hereafter, this state is called a random state).

As is well known, since the sponge 5 has a large amount of friction on its surface and is light in weight, the sponge 5 located at the lowermost portion (reference numeral 5a) is sucked by the suction conveyor belt 14 by the suction device 15. ) Starts to move by the suction / conveyance belt 14, the sponge 5 overlapping the upper part thereof is also moved by being dragged by the lowermost sponge 5a. Therefore, if the suction / conveyance device 3 is not tilted, the plurality of sponges 5 are conveyed in a state of being overlapped.

However, when the suction / conveyance device 3 is arranged so as to be inclined as in the present invention, a force that tends to drop downward acts on each sponge 5 in accordance with the inclination angle. When this falling force becomes larger than the above-mentioned frictional force, the sponge 5 located at the upper portion of the stack is not sucked by the suction conveyance belt 14 and is sequentially dropped. Will be transported (shown in FIG. 6).

Therefore, the suction-conveying device 3 makes it possible to sequentially convey the sponges 5, which were in a random state in the carry-in section 20, from the carry-in section 20 to the carry-out section 21 one by one. Further, as the structure required for sequentially transporting the sponges 5 one by one in this way, an expensive manipulator or the like as in the conventional art is not necessary, and the suction and transport device 3 is simply inclined and disposed. The sponge 5 can be individually transported easily, easily and at low cost. Further, since it is not necessary to correct the manipulator (correction of elastic deformation, etc.) which is required when the sponge 5 which is an elastic body is used as the transported object, it is possible to simplify the control system. The inclination angle of the suction / conveyance device 3 must be appropriately selected depending on the weight of the sponge 5, the coefficient of friction, etc. so that only the lowermost sponge 5a is conveyed.

The sponges 5 sequentially conveyed one by one by the suction / conveyance device 3 as described above are subsequently carried into the direction alignment device 4 arranged at the downstream position of the carry-out section 21.

The direction aligning device 4 is the second feature of the present invention, and includes a conveyor belt 22 for conveying the sponge 5 carried out from the carry-out section 21, and a sponge 5 carried by the conveyor belt 22. It is composed of a pair of arms 23 and 24 arranged at both sides and a vibration urging device 25 for urging the one ends of the pair of arms. Note that FIG. 7A is a view of the direction alignment device 4 as viewed from above.

The arms 23 and 24 are configured to integrally operate, and are urged by the vibration urging device 25 to vibrate in the directions of arrows F1 and F2 around the position P in FIG. 7A. Is configured. As described above, the sponges 5 are sequentially carried into the directional aligning device 4 one by one in the suction transporting device 3, but their directions are still in a random state. However, as the arms 23 and 24 vibrate in the directions F1 and F2, the arms 23 and 24 come into contact with the sponge 5 being conveyed on the conveyor belt 22 and their directions gradually become uniform, and eventually in the same direction. Be aligned.

As described above, the direction aligning device 4 also has a simple structure mainly including the pair of arms 23 and 24 and the vibration urging device 25, so that the device can be manufactured at low cost. Moreover, since the directions of the sponges 5 can be aligned without gripping the individual sponges 5, even the sponges 5 that are elastic bodies can be reliably aligned in a predetermined direction. Therefore, according to the automatic carrier 1 configured as described above, even the sponge 5, which is an elastic body, can be automatically carried sequentially one by one in a predetermined direction and at regular intervals without manual labor. Becomes

In the configuration shown in FIG. 7A, the vibration urging device is provided at one end of each arm 23, 24 (the right end in the drawing, but the left end is also possible). No. 25 is provided and only this end is vibrated in the F1 and F2 directions. However, as shown in FIG. 7B, in addition to the right end, the left end also has the second vibration. A biasing device 26 may be provided and both ends of the arms 23 and 24 may be vibrated in the F1 and F2 directions and the G1 and G2 directions to align the sponge 5 in a predetermined direction.

Further, when vibrating both ends, as shown in FIG. 8A, simultaneous same-direction vibration that vibrates the left end in the G1 and G2 directions and the right end in the F1 and F2 directions is performed. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7B, the left end portion may vibrate in the directions G1 and G2, and the right end portion may vibrate in the directions F1 ′ and F2 ′. Good. Furthermore, the vibration direction of each end may be arbitrarily selected. With this configuration, it is possible to perform the alignment process corresponding to the size and shape of the sponge 5.

[0033]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the suction / conveyance device is disposed so as to be inclined so that the height position of the carry-out section is higher than the height position of the carry-in section, a plurality of objects to be conveyed are Even if the conveyed objects are supplied to the carry-in section in the overlapped state, the inclined suction conveyance belt conveys only the lowest conveyed object, and the conveyed upper objects are sequentially dropped. Since it is not carried by the automatic carrying device, it becomes possible to carry the carried objects one by one from the carry-in section to the carry-out section.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the arms are vibrated to sequentially convey the conveyed objects sequentially conveyed one by one by the suction conveying device so that the conveyed objects are aligned in a predetermined direction on the conveyor belt. Therefore, according to the above-described automatic carrier, it is possible to successively carry the objects to be carried one by one in a predetermined direction and at regular intervals.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic carrying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the structure of a hopper.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a suction conveyance device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining suction holes formed in a suction conveyance belt.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the suction conveyance device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the suction conveyance device.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the direction alignment device.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a modification of the direction alignment device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic conveyance device 2 Conveyance object supply device 3 Suction conveyance device 4 Directional alignment device 5 Sponge 6 Hopper 7,11,22 Conveyance belt 8 Optical sensor 9 Input port 10 Storage part 12 Opening part 13 Suction hole 14 Suction conveyance belt 15 Suction Device 16 Drive device 20 Carry-in part 21 Carry-out part 23,24 Arm 25,26 Vibration urging device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location // B65G 47/91 B 8010-3F

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A suction conveyor belt having a suction hole, a suction means for sucking an object to be conveyed to the suction conveyor belt through the suction hole, and a drive device for driving the suction conveyor belt, The object to be conveyed is carried onto the suction conveyor belt from a carry-in portion arranged on the upstream side with respect to the moving direction of the suction conveyor belt, and an unloading section arranged on the downstream side with respect to the moving direction of the suction conveyor belt. A suction-conveying device configured to carry out the conveyed-object, and a conveyed-object supplying device that supplies the conveyed-object to the carry-in portion of the suction-conveying device in an unaligned state. An automatic transfer device, wherein the suction transfer device is disposed so as to be inclined such that the height position of the carry-out part is higher than the height position of the carry-in part. 2. The automatic transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a transport belt that transports the transported object transported from the unloading unit to a position downstream of the unloading unit, and the transport target that is transported by the transport belt. A direction aligning device including a pair of arms arranged at both positions of the conveyed object and a vibration urging means for vibrating and urging at least one end of the pair of arms is provided, and the arms are vibrated to convey the conveyed object An automatic transport device characterized in that the transported objects are arranged on a belt in a predetermined direction.