JPH0659324U - Goods supply equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To take out articles from a place where a large number of articles are stored so that they can be delivered one by one reliably. [Structure] A straight-line feeder E for sending out substantially one article from a discharge port 20 after a lapse of a predetermined time, and a discharge port 20 within a vertical plane that intersects a vertical plane passing through a sending direction of the straight-line feeder E at a right angle. And a trough-shaped body F, which is provided at a lower position of the table and is inclined with respect to the horizontal direction, receives articles sent from the discharge port 20 and discharges the articles from the discharge port 23,
And an article detection sensor PHC for detecting an article sliding down the gutter F, and a determination reference time shorter than the predetermined time are set, and the detection time interval of the article detected by the article detection sensor PHC is determined. A determination unit that determines that two or more articles have been sent out from the discharge port 20 when it is determined that the time is shorter than the reference time.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an article supply device for taking out and supplying articles one by one from a large number of articles stored in a storage place.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 An example of a conventional article supply device is described in Japanese Patent Application No. 53-87960 (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 55-7844). As shown in FIG. 8, this article supply apparatus includes a hopper S for storing a large number of articles and a slicing conveyor U.₁And the conveyor U₂And are equipped with. The articles in the hopper S are discharged from the lower opening due to their own weight, and the cutting conveyor U₁It is sent randomly to the top, and this cutting conveyor U₁ Transported by the conveyor U₂Sent to the top. However, conveyor U₂Is a conveyor U for cutting₁Since it is provided so as to intersect at a substantially right angle to the cutting conveyor U, as shown in FIG.₁Even if the articles 31, 31, 1, 3 are discharged in three rows from the discharge port of ₂ It can be aligned in a substantially single row as it is fed out. In this way, Conveyor U₂Since the articles sent to the top are arranged in a line, the conveyor U₂It is possible to discharge the articles one by one from the discharge outlet of.

Therefore, for example, when three articles are supplied to the container B, when the article detector G detects the fourth article, the transportation of the slicing conveyor U ₁ and the conveyor U ₂ is stopped. Thereby, three articles can be supplied to the container B, and the fourth article can be left on the discharge port of the conveyor U ₂ .

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

In the conventional article supply device shown in FIG. 8, when the article detector G detects the fourth article, the third article is ejected, but the fourth article is left on the ejection port. Conveyor U ₂ needs to be stopped. However, for slippery articles such as frozen foods, it is difficult to reliably leave the fourth article on the outlet, while for articles with a high coefficient of friction, the third article. There is a problem that it is difficult to reliably discharge

Then, the fourth article is ejected without remaining on the ejection opening, and the third article is left on the ejection opening without being ejected from the ejection opening, so that There is a problem that such an abnormality cannot be detected when three items cannot be supplied.

An object of the present invention is to provide an article supply device that solves the above problems.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a delivery device for delivering substantially one article from a delivery port every predetermined time, and a vertical plane that forms a predetermined angle with respect to a vertical plane passing through the delivery direction of the delivery device. A gutter-shaped part that is provided below the outlet and is inclined with respect to the horizontal direction and that receives the article sent out from the outlet and discharges it from the outlet, and a gutter provided on the gutter-shaped part and slides down the gutter. A detector that detects the products to be used and a reference time that is shorter than the above specified time are set, and it is determined that the detection time interval of the products detected by the product detector is shorter than the reference time. In this case, a determination unit that determines that two or more articles have been sent out from the delivery port is provided.

According to a second aspect, in the article supply apparatus according to the first aspect, a gate is provided at an outlet of the gutter-shaped part, and if the detection time interval of the article is shorter than the determination reference time, the determination is made. When the section makes a decision, the above-mentioned gate is closed after the first article is discharged from the discharge opening of the gutter-shaped section, the next delivery of the article by the delivery device is stopped, and the above-mentioned operation is performed at a predetermined timing. It is characterized in that a drive control unit for opening the gate is provided.

[0009]

[Action]

 According to the first invention, the sending device sends out approximately one item from the sending port every time a predetermined time elapses, and the sent-out product slides down the gutter-shaped part and is discharged from the discharge port of the gutter-shaped part. To be done. Therefore, each of the articles sliding down the gutter-shaped portion is detected by the detector approximately every predetermined time. Therefore, a time shorter than this predetermined time, for example, the shortest time from when the article is sent out from the delivery port of the delivery device to when it is detected by the detector is set as the determination reference time. When the detector detects an article at a shorter time interval, it can be determined that two or more articles are delivered from the delivery port at one time.

Since the gutter-shaped portion is provided at a position that passes through the vertical plane that forms a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical plane that passes through the feeding direction of the feeding device, for example, two articles are arranged in two rows. When the product is delivered from the delivery port of the delivery device, the two articles are conveyed on the gutter at a front-to-back spacing that is wider than the front-to-back spacing of the two articles located at the delivery outlet. be able to. Then, when the two articles slide down on the gutter-shaped portion, the distance between the articles further widens, whereby the two articles are respectively detected by the detector.

According to the second invention, when the determination unit determines that the detection time interval of the articles detected by the detector is shorter than the determination reference time, that is, two or more articles are sent out at one time. If it is sent out through the mouth, the gate closes the outlet after the first article is discharged through the outlet in the gutter-shaped part. As a result, even when two or more articles are delivered from the delivery port, one article can be delivered from the outlet of the trough. Then, at the next predetermined timing, the gate is opened and the second and subsequent articles are discharged from this discharge port.

[0012]

【Example】

In this embodiment, the article supply apparatus of the present invention is applied to an m-stage (for example, 3 stages of S size, M size, and L size) weight sorter. FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of this weight sorter. As shown in FIG. 1, this weight sorter is provided with a dispersion feeder 16 approximately at the center of a fixed base 11, and n (for example, 16) articles are dispersed to the outside by the dispersion feeder 16. It is supplied to the linear feeder E (E ₁ ~E _n). The dispersion feeder 16 and the linear feeder E (E ₁ ~E _n) is a delivery device according to claim 1及beauty 2. The plurality of linear feeders E feed articles one by one into the corresponding troughs F (F _{1 to} F _n ), and the articles fed to the troughs F slide down the troughs F. Are supplied to the corresponding weighing hoppers A (A _{1 to} A _n ). The gutter-shaped body F is the gutter-shaped portion according to the first and second aspects. Articles whose weight is weighed by each weighing hopper A are discharged from each weighing hopper A and supplied to a sorting device (not shown). Then, the sorting device sorts each article into a storage box (not shown) corresponding to the weight of each article and sorts the weight of the articles.

In other words, this weight sorter weighs, for example, frozen scallop scallops and other articles one by one, and the weight thereof is one of three weight ranks of S, M, and L sizes. It is determined whether or not the item belongs to, and based on the result of the determination, the weighed item is discharged into the corresponding storage box, and the weight of the item is sorted.

Reference numeral 17 shown in FIG. 1 is a storage hopper for articles, which is attached to the upper surface of the central portion of the fixed base 11. Although not shown in the figure, a discharge port of the bucket conveyor is arranged above the storage hopper 17, and the product is discharged from the discharge port and is randomly supplied to the storage hopper 17.

The articles in the storage hopper 17 are supplied to the upper surface of the umbrella-shaped body 18. The articles supplied to the upper surface of the umbrella-shaped body 18 are sent from the center of the umbrella-shaped body 18 to the outer peripheral side when the dispersion vibrator VM vibrates and are radially dispersed. As shown in FIG. 2, the umbrella-shaped body 18 is provided with 16 partition guides 9 at equal intervals along the outer peripheral edge (four partition guides 9 are shown in FIG. 2). Sixteen outlets 4 are formed by the sixteen partition guides 9 (five outlets 4 are shown in FIG. 2). Then, the articles are sent to the respective discharge ports 4 substantially evenly. Each discharge port 4 is provided with a fall stop gate 40, and when the gate 40 is opened, articles fall onto the gutter 19 below. This fall stop gate 40 is a gate drive cylinder GA (GA) for a distributed feeder. ₁ ~ GA_n) Is driven to open and close. As shown in FIG. 3, the discharge port 4 is formed in a substantially semicircular shape whose cross-sectional shape becomes narrower toward the bottom, which allows articles to be arranged in a line from the discharge port 4. I am able to discharge it.

Around the distributed feeder 16, as shown in FIG. 1, 16 linear feeders E (one linear feeder E in FIG. 1 are provided at every (360/16) ° in a radial direction.₁Indicates. ) Are arranged, and each linear feeder E is provided on the upper surface of the fixed base 11. Each straight feeder E is provided with a trough-shaped body 19, the center side end portion is located below the outer edge of the umbrella-shaped body 18, and the tip side is each trough-shaped body F (F.₁~ F_n) Is located above. Then, each gutter 19 is provided so as to be slanted so that the article is easily slid down so that the tip end side is downward. As shown in FIG. 3, the gutter-shaped body 19 has a semi-circular bottom, and the whole is formed in a substantially V-shaped cross-sectional shape. As a result, the articles supplied to the gutter-shaped body 19 can be slid down in a single row and discharged from the discharge port 20 as shown in FIG. 7A. The article discharged from the discharge port 4 of the umbrella-shaped body 18 is supplied onto the gutter-shaped body 19 and slides down and the vibrator V (V ₁ ~ V_n), It is sent from the end portion on the center side of the trough 19 to the tip side. Reference numeral 21 shown in FIG. 1 is a closing gate for opening and closing the discharge port 20 of the trough-like body 19. The closing gate 21 is a closing gate driving cylinder GB (GB) for each straight feeder.₁~ GB_n) To open and close.

Below the tips of the 16 linear feeders E, 16 troughs F (F _{1 to} F _n ) are provided on the fixed base 11 as shown in FIG. However, FIG. 1 shows only one gutter F. As shown in FIG. 2, the gutter-shaped body F is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the gutter-shaped body 19, and the end portion on the receiving side of the article is located below the discharge port 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19. The tip end side is located above each weighing hopper A. Further, each gutter F is provided so as to be slanted so that the article is easily slid down so that the tip side is downward. Then, the article discharged from the discharge port 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19 is supplied onto the gutter-shaped body F and is sent to the tip side of the gutter-shaped body F by sliding. Reference numeral 22 shown in FIG. 1 is a closing gate for opening and closing the outlet 23 of the trough F. The closing gate 22 is opened and closed by being driven by the respective driving gate drive cylinders GC (GC _{1 to} GC _n ). .

Below the tips of the 16 gutters F, 16 weighing hoppers A are provided as shown in FIG. 1 to hold and weigh articles. Each of these weighing hoppers A is provided with a weight detector (not shown) to detect the weight value of the articles supplied to the weighing hopper A. The articles weighed by the weighing hopper A are discharged to a sorting device provided below the weighing hopper A.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a part of an electric circuit of the multi-stage weight sorter, and the electric circuit includes a control device 25.

As shown in FIG. 1, the article detection sensors PHA (PHA _{1 to} PHA _n ) are provided on the article supply side of each linear feeder E (on the side of the discharge port 4 of the dispersion feeder 16) and each trough shape. If the amount of articles on the body 19 is less than the predetermined amount, a signal to that effect is transmitted to the control device 25, and the control device 25 sends a signal to that effect to the corresponding discharge gate drive cylinder GA for distributed feeders. The gate 40 is opened. When the gate 40 is opened, an article is dropped from above the umbrella-shaped body 18 onto the gutter-shaped body 19, and the dropped article moves while sliding toward the discharge port 20 side.

The article detection sensors PHB (PHB _{1 to} PHB _n ) are provided on the article ejection side of each straight feeder E as shown in FIG. 1, and are ejected from the ejection port 20 of each gutter 19. The article is detected, and the detection signal is transmitted to the control device 25, and the control device 25 sends a signal to that effect to the corresponding gate drive cylinder GB to close the gate 21. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the control device 25 opens the gate 21 at every elapse of a predetermined time T, ejects the article from the ejection port 20 of the trough 19, and ejects one article. When this is detected by the article detection sensor PHB, the gate 21 is closed, and the subsequent article is held by the gate 21 on the gutter-shaped body 19.

The article detection sensors PHC (PHC _{1 to} PHC _n ) are provided at the outlet 23 of each gutter F as shown in FIG. 2, and each gutter F as shown in FIG. The article that passes through the discharge port 23 is detected, and the detection signal is transmitted to the control device 25.

The control device 25 includes a determination unit and a drive control unit. The judgment unit is set with a judgment reference time T _k shorter than the predetermined time T, and whether or not the detection time interval t of the article detected by the article detection sensor PHC is longer than the judgment reference time T _k. It is judged. The determination reference time T _k is, for example, the shortest time from when the article is sent out from the discharge port 20 of the straight feeder E to when it is detected by the article detection sensor PHC, or a time close thereto. When the determination unit determines that the article detection time interval t is shorter than the determination reference time T _k (for example, two articles are ejected at once from the ejection port 20 of the straight feeder E). Occasionally, the loading gate 22 is closed after the first article is discharged from the discharge port 23 of the gutter F, and the linear feeder E stops sending the article at the next predetermined timing (next time). It is assumed that the opening of the input gate 21 at the timing is stopped) and the input gate 22 is opened at the next timing to discharge one article on the gutter-shaped body F.

Next, the operation of this multi-stage weight sorter will be described with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG. As shown in the chart, the gate 21 provided in the discharge port 20 of the straight feeder F is opened and closed every time a predetermined time Tsec elapses, and the articles are discharged from the discharge port 20 one by one to obtain a gutter. Put in the state F. The articles put into the gutter-shaped body F are slid down the gutter-shaped body F, discharged from the discharge port 23, and put into the weighing hopper A. The articles put into the weighing hopper A are discharged from the weighing hopper A after being weighed, and are supplied to a sorting device (not shown). Then, the sorting device sorts the articles into the S, M, and L size storage boxes (not shown) corresponding to the weights of the articles and sorts the weights of the articles.

However, as shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C, when two articles are ejected side by side in the ejection opening 20 of the trough 19, the two articles are ejected once. The gutter-shaped body F is placed in the gutter-shaped body F. Since the gutter-shaped body F is arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the gutter-shaped body 19, the two articles put in the gutter-shaped body F are shown in FIG. As shown in, the gutter F is slid down in a vertical line. The articles sliding down the gutter F gradually collide with each other, and the sliding velocity gradually increases due to the gravitational acceleration, whereby the intervals between the articles gradually increase. In this way, even when two articles are discharged side by side to the discharge port 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19, the gutter-shaped bodies F can be slid in one vertical line. As shown in FIG. 2, the gutter-shaped body F is arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the gutter-shaped body 19, but the gutter-shaped body F and the gutter-shaped body 19 may be crossed at other angles. Good.

Then, when an article sliding down the gutter F in a state where two pieces are arranged vertically vertically shields the article detection sensor P HC from light, as shown in the output level of the article detection sensor PHC in FIG. _The detection signal is input to the control device 25 at a time interval of ₂ sec. At this time, the determination unit determines that the article detection time interval t ₂ is shorter than the determination reference time T _k (determines that two articles have been discharged from the discharge port 20 of the straight-travel feeder E at one time. ), The drive control unit closes the loading gate 22 at the timing P ₁ after the _first article is discharged from the discharge opening 23 of the gutter-shaped body F based on the determination result (see the gutter shown in FIG. 6). (Refer to the time chart of the loading gate 22 of the discharge port 23 of the shape body F), and the feeding of the article by the straight feeder E at the timing of the next P ₂ is stopped (the opening of the loading gate 21 at the next timing is stopped. ) Then, at the next timing of P ₃ , the charging gate 22 is opened to discharge the remaining one article on the trough F. Even if two articles are discharged from the discharge opening 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19 as described above, the articles are discharged from the discharge opening 23 of the gutter-shaped body F one by one at a predetermined time interval T. You can do it.

Of course, when the articles are discharged one by one from the discharge port 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19 at a time interval of approximately Tsec, as shown in the output level of the article detection sensor PHC in FIG. ₁ The detection signal of the article detection sensor PHC is input to the control device 25 at a time interval of (≈T) sec. At this time, the determination unit determines that the article detection time interval t₁Is the criterion time T_kSince it is determined that they are longer than or equal to each other, the input gate 22 of the trough F remains open, and the article can be discharged from the discharge port 23 of the trough F at a time interval of approximately Tsec.

However, in the above-described embodiment, when two articles are discharged from the discharge port 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19 at one time, the input gate 22 provided in the gutter-shaped body F is closed and the following 2 The second article is put into the weighing hopper A by temporarily holding the second article and opening the loading gate 22 at the time P ₃ of the predetermined timing shown in FIG. If two articles are discharged at one time from the discharge port 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19 without providing the gate 22, these two articles are thrown into the weighing hopper A at one time and It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the two articles are processed as the articles with the wrong supply without performing the weight selection. Similarly, when three or more articles are discharged from the discharge opening 20 of the gutter-shaped body 19 at one time, the three or more articles are thrown into the weighing hopper A at one time and the three or more articles are discharged. The weight of the articles may not be selected, and the article may be processed as an article with a wrong supply.

[0029] In the above embodiment, when the two articles from the discharge port 20 of the gutter-like bodies 19 at a time is issued discharge, as shown in FIG. 6, the gutter-shaped member at the P ₃ F Although the charging gate 22 of the discharge port 23 is opened, the charging gate 22 may be opened at a time other than the time point P ₃ between the time points P ₁ and P ₄ shown in FIG. In other words, the weighing hopper A is empty and the weighing gate hopper A can be opened to load the articles into the weighing hopper A during the time when the articles can be received.

Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the weighing hopper A is provided below the trough F, and the articles are discharged from the trough F and fed into the weighing hopper A. Instead of the hopper A, for example, a supply hopper or a conveyer conveyor may be provided, and articles may be supplied to the supply hopper or the like. The articles supplied to the supply hopper or the like may be discharged from the supply hopper or the like at a predetermined timing and put into a corresponding weighing hopper.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the article supply apparatus of the present invention is applied to a multi-stage weight sorter, but it can be applied to other apparatuses such as a combination weigher. That is, when it is applied to a combination weigher, it is used as, for example, a supply device that supplies one item to each weighing hopper at predetermined timing.

[0032]

[Effect of device]

 According to the first and second inventions, when two or more articles are sent out from the delivery port of the delivery device at one time, the determination unit can determine that. Therefore, for example, when a predetermined number of articles are supplied to a packaging machine and a predetermined number of articles are packaged as a set, by using the article supply device of the present invention, the predetermined number of articles can be more accurately than before. There is an effect that it is possible to make a packaged product that is packaged as a set.

Further, for example, when the articles are supplied to the weighing device one by one, the weight of the articles is measured one by one, and the weight rank is determined for each of the weighed articles, the article supply of the present invention By using the device, it is possible to prevent weighing, for example, two articles at one time, and as a result, it is possible to determine the weight rank of the articles more accurately than before.

According to the second invention, when two or more articles are sent out from the delivery port of the delivery device at one time, the first article is ejected from the ejection port of the gutter-shaped part and two articles are ejected. It is configured so that the articles below the eye are stopped by the gate, and the gate is opened at the next predetermined timing to eject the second and subsequent articles from the outlet. Therefore, if a delivery device with two variations in the number of articles delivered is used, even if two articles are delivered by the delivery device at a time, the articles will always be sent one by one at a predetermined time interval. There is an effect that it can be discharged from the discharge port of the part. As a result, the number of times the articles are discharged one by one can be improved as compared with the first device. In other words, even if a two-feeding device having a variation in the number of articles to be fed is adopted, it is possible to reliably eject the articles one by one from the trough-shaped outlet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a multi-stage weight sorter to which an article supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a straight feeder and an article supply device of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the linear feeder of the embodiment as seen from the AA direction in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional front view of the article supply apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an article detection sensor and a control device of the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart of the multi-stage weight sorter of the same embodiment.

7 (a), (b) and (c) are diagrams showing a state in which an article is discharged from a discharge opening of a gutter-shaped body of the straight feeder of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional article supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16 Dispersion feeder 19 Gutter 20 Discharge port 21 Input gate 22 Input gate 23 Discharge port 25 Control device E Straight-line feeder F Gutter PHC Article detection sensor

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location G06M 7/00 301 Z 9302-2F

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A sending-out device for sending out substantially one article from a sending-out port after a lapse of a predetermined time, and the sending-out port in a vertical plane forming a predetermined angle with respect to a vertical plane passing through the sending-out direction of the sending-out device. A gutter-shaped part which is provided at a lower position of the slant with respect to the horizontal direction and receives an article sent from the above-mentioned outlet and discharges it from an outlet, and an article provided on the gutter-shaped part and sliding down the gutter-shaped part And a detection reference time shorter than the predetermined time is set, and when the detection time interval of the article detected by the article detector is shorter than the determination reference time, An article supply device comprising: a determination unit that determines that two or more articles have been delivered from a delivery port. 2. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a gate is provided at an outlet of the trough, and the determination section determines that the detection time interval of the article is shorter than the determination reference time. And a drive control unit that closes the gate after the first article is discharged from the discharge opening of the gutter-shaped portion, stops the next sending of the article by the sending-out device, and opens the gate at a predetermined timing. An article supply apparatus, characterized in that the article supply apparatus is provided.