JPH0710126A - Method and apparatus for casing tube - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a tube casing apparatus which can smoothly insert tubes while deformation of a slightly deformed tote box is corrected and also can reduce a cost by carrying the tubes by a bucket conveyer using a standard chain. CONSTITUTION:A tube 3 is mounted on a bucket conveyer 4 and carried to a position opposite to a tote box 2 which has been positioned at a predetermined position. A hand arm 1 supported movably in vertical and fore-and-aft directions on a robot hand mechanism 5 is coupled to a support mechanism 6 for elastically and dampingly supporting the hand arm 1. A control part 7 controls insertion of the hand arm 1 and also reciprocates the hand arm 1 corresponding to a size of a load applied to the tube 3 at the time of insertion, thereby inserting the tube 3 bit by bit. Thus deformation of the tote box 2 is corrected, allowing smooth insertion of the tube. In addition the bucket conveyer 4 comprises a one using a standard chain, thereby reducing a facility cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tube packing method suitable for automatically and smoothly inserting a tube before filling it with toothpaste etc. into a box that is partitioned vertically and horizontally in a grid pattern. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tube for filling toothpaste or the like is manufactured by a tube manufacturer and transported to a content manufacturer for filling toothpaste or the like. In this case, a special case through which the tubes are packed is used. Traditionally, tube packaging was done manually.

On the other hand, in order to reduce labor by manual work and to speed up tube production, automation of box packing is required, and various publicly known techniques for automatic box packing have been disclosed. For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-3901 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-
No. 125406, Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-23843 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-17087 are listed.

The "automatic tube alignment box packing device" of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-3901 discloses a tube transfer device for arranging a large number of rods having air suction passages in parallel and rotatably holding them. With this, the rod is smoothly inserted into the tube while air is evacuated, and the rod is rotated to insert the tube held by the rod into a storage box (corresponding to a box).

The "boxing device for tube bodies" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-125406 is a device for pushing a group of tubes aligned by a tube transfer device into a box body which is lowered by a predetermined pitch with its opening facing sideways. It is pushed all at once in the box.

The "empty tube packing device" of Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-23843 holds an empty tube held by an empty tube holding device by aerodynamic force in a horizontal state, rotates vertically, and turns up the opening. Then, the empty tube is inserted into the case (case box) that is waiting just below.

In the "tube packing device" of Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-17087, a large number of rod-shaped fixed teeth are arranged side by side and a fork having one rotary tooth at the outermost end is arranged in the tube insertion direction. It has a fork device that supports it so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to it, and inserts the tubes in a staggered manner into the case (case box) while rotating the rotating teeth and moving the fork laterally by one tube. It is a thing.

[0008]

As described above, in the case of manually packing a box, a great amount of work time and labor are required, work efficiency is lowered, and it becomes a factor of hindering the speeding up of tube manufacturing. It was On the other hand, although the above-mentioned various automatic packaging devices have their respective characteristics, they cannot deal with the following problems.

That is, the through box is repeatedly used between the tube maker and the contents maker many times and is repeatedly used, so that the tube cannot be smoothly inserted into some cases. As a general rule, it is desirable that the spacing between the partitioning boxes of the through boxes and the bucket pitch of the bucket conveyor that holds the tubes be the same, but for that purpose, it may be necessary to use a non-standard bucket conveyor chain. appear. Therefore, there is a problem that the bucket conveyor becomes expensive. Further, if the tube is forcibly inserted into the deformed container, there is a problem that the tube becomes defective.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and allows a tube to be smoothly inserted into a box that is vertically and horizontally deformed, and is partitioned into a checkerboard pattern, and an apparatus using a standard chain can be used. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tube boxing method and device which can reduce the cost of the above and eliminate the tube defect due to the forcible insertion.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a box containing a plurality of tubes arranged side by side on a conveyor at intervals of an integral multiple of the chain pitch. A tube packing method in which the tube groups are sequentially stacked in multiple stages and the tubes are filled in the through box, and a hand arm elastically and vibrationally supported on the robot hand side is inserted into the tube group. When the tube group is hooked up and the hand arm is inserted in the box in that state, the load on the hand arm caused by the contact between the box and the tube during the insertion is detected, and the load exceeds a predetermined value. The hand arm is retracted and re-inserted, and the hand arm is inserted or stopped to a predetermined depth.

Further, as an apparatus for carrying out this packing method, a large number of tube groups arranged side by side on a bucket conveyor having an interval of an integral multiple of the chain pitch are inserted in a row into a box that is divided into partitions. A tube box packing device for sequentially stacking a plurality of tube groups to fill a tube in a through box, comprising a hand arm arranged at a position facing the tube group, and a moving operation of the hand arm. A robot hand mechanism unit, a support mechanism unit interposed between the robot hand mechanism unit and the hand arm for elastically and vibrationally supporting the hand arm, and load detection for operating the hand arm disposed on the robot hand side. And the amount of movement of the hand arm is detected, and the hand arm is retreated and re-advanced for a load of a predetermined value or more, and the number of reciprocations is detected. Wherein the tube box packed device provided with a control unit for moving and stopping of the hand arm.

Further, as a more specific device, a large number of tube groups arranged side by side on a bucket conveyor at intervals of an integral multiple of the chain pitch of a standard chain are inserted in rows into a box that is partitioned. A tube box packing device for sequentially stacking a plurality of tube groups and filling the tubes in the through box, the tube box packing devices being arranged in parallel at a slightly narrower interval than the chain pitch and arranged at a position facing the tube group. A hand arm, a robot hand mechanism section for moving and operating the hand arm, a support mechanism section interposed between the robot hand mechanism section and the hand arm for elastically and vibrationally supporting the hand arm, and the robot hand. The load which operates on the hand arm and which detects the amount of movement of the hand arm, and detects the load above a predetermined value. Ndoamu retracted and re-advance the features a tube boxes packed device control unit is provided for moving and stopping of the hand arm by detecting the number of round trips.

[0014]

The robot arm mechanism unit and the hand arm supported by the support mechanism unit are inserted into the tube group loaded on the bucket conveyor at a chain pitch and transferred to a predetermined position facing the box. The tube group is caught and held by the arm. In this state, the tube groups are juxtaposed at the arm intervals of the hand arm.

When the arm interval and the partition interval of the box are not the same, the tube interferes with the partition of the box and the insertion resistance is applied to the hand arm. This load is elastically and vibrationally supported by the support mechanism to be alleviated,
If the hand arm is moved in the insertion direction even under the condition that the load is not damaged to the tube, the case is corrected. If the load exceeds the specified value due to deformation of the container, the tube will be damaged if insertion is continued, so if the load exceeds the specified value, the control unit will detect the load. Insert it again and repeat this operation. Due to this small movement of the hand arm, the deformation of the box is corrected, and the suspended tube moves left and right around the claws of the hand arm to move to match the compartment in the box. It is inserted smoothly.

Further, since the bucket pitch of the bucket conveyor does not have to be the same as the interval between the partitions of the container,
A standard chain can be used and cost can be reduced. Further, when the deformation of the case is not corrected by the wiggle motion, the control unit stops the insertion of the hand arm. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective tubes.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a side view showing the overall structure of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view taken along the arrow A in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a partial front view of the bucket conveyor of this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a support mechanism of this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a hand arm supported by the supporting portion, FIG. 5 is a front view of the supporting mechanism portion of this embodiment, FIGS. 6 and 7 are side sectional views showing the elasticity and vibration absorbing structure of the supporting mechanism portion, and FIG. 10 is a front view for explaining the gap between the bucket conveyor, the hand arm, the box and the engagement state thereof, and FIG. 9 is a partial front view for explaining the tube inserting operation of the present embodiment. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the packing operation of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the through box 2 having the lid 9 transferred by the conveyor 8 is removed at the position B by the vibration absorbing means (not shown), and is rotated 90 degrees to descend to the position C. Then
Further, it is vertically lowered to the position D of the tube insertion position and positioned. The box 2 filled with the tubes 3 is further lowered to the E position, inverted by 90 °, discharged to the F position, and sent to the next process side by a conveyor (not shown).

On the other hand, the tube 3 is transferred by the bucket conveyor 4 to the opening side of the box 2 at the D position. The hand arm 1 that inserts the tube 3 into the box 2 is connected to the robot hand mechanism unit 5 via the support mechanism unit 6. The robot hand mechanism unit 5 has a control unit 7 and moves the hand arm 1 in the front-back direction and the up-down direction in the figure and has a general structure (structure description omitted).

Although the control operation will be described later, the control unit 7 has a control detection mechanism for detecting a load acting on the hand arm 1, controlling the movement amount of the hand arm 1, and wiggle motion control.

The tube 3 is composed of a cylindrical body having a cap 3a and opens toward the hand arm 1 side.

As shown in FIG. 3, the tubes 3 are held on the buckets 10 of the bucket conveyor 4 and are sequentially fed by the pitch. In this embodiment, 10 tubes 3 form a tube group, which is first inserted in the lowermost stage of the container box 2, and the next 10 tubes are inserted in the upper stage by the step pitch, that is, in the lowermost two stages.

The bucket 10 of the bucket conveyor 4 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, 3 of the chains 12 fixed on the chain conveyor 11 and having a pitch of 12.7 [mm] in this embodiment.
It is arranged at intervals of the number of pieces. The pitch is 12.7 [m
m] chain 12 is Japanese Standard (JIS) number 4
It corresponds to 0. That is, the bucket 10 is 1
They are arranged in parallel at a bucket pitch of 2.7 × 3 = 38.1 [mm]. Chain conveyor 11 is chain wheel 13
The ten tubes 3 are stopped in a state of being juxtaposed in front of the opening of the case 2 as described above, and stand by for insertion by the hand arm 1.

The hand arm 1 is composed of ten elongated rod-shaped members positioned at positions facing the respective tubes 3 of the tube group, and is inserted into the cylindrical tube 3. A resin member 14 is fixed to the tip of the hand arm 1 to prevent the hand arm 1 from damaging the tube 3.

Next, the support mechanism portion 6 for elastically and vibrationally supporting the hand arm 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. In this embodiment, the support mechanism section 6 is composed of two block main bodies 15 each holding five hand arms 1 connected and supported by a common connecting member 16.
Is connected to the robot hand mechanism section 5 side.

Each block body 15 is shown in FIGS.
A sliding member 17 for fixing the hand arm 1 as shown in FIG.
The sliding shaft 18, a pair of elastic support mechanism portions 19, a shock absorber 20 for absorbing vibration, and the like. The sliding member 17 is guided by a sliding shaft 18 and is movably supported along the axial direction of the hand arm 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the elastic support mechanism section 19 includes a spring 21 for urging the sliding member 17 to press it in the tube 3 insertion direction.
And the adjusting spacer 2 for adjusting the set load of the spring 21
It consists of 2 mag.

On the other hand, the shock absorber 20 attenuates the load applied to the sliding member 17, is movably arranged along the moving direction thereof, and is arranged with a gap with the sliding member 17. Further, a limit switch 23 for detecting the stroke end of the sliding member 17 is provided as a safety means near the shock absorber 20.

With the above structure, the robot hand mechanism section 5
The support mechanism 6 is reciprocated by the tube 3 in the inserting direction, and the load acting on the hand arm 1 at the time of insertion is the spring 21 and the shock absorber 20.
Is elastically and vibration-absorbingly supported, and acts so that an unreasonable force does not act on the tube 3 side.

Next, the principle operation of inserting the tube 3 into the case 2 by the hand arm 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. First, as described above, the tubes 3 are mounted on the buckets 10 of the bucket conveyor 4 one by one, and as shown in FIG. 8, ten tubes 3 are arranged in parallel as a tube group. The bucket pitch of the bucket 10 is determined by the size of the chain 12 as described above, and is 38.
It is formed to 1 [mm]. On the other hand, the space between the hand arms 1 is 36.5 [mm], and the space between the partitions into which the tubes 3 having a diameter of 33 [mm] are inserted is 36 [mm].

As shown in FIG. 8, first, the hand arm 1 is inserted into the tube group. The hand arm 1 near the center of the hand arm 1 is inserted almost in the center of the tube 3,
Due to the difference between the bucket pitch and the arm interval of the hand arm 1, the hand arm 1 is inserted toward the center side of the tube 3 on the end side. Next, when the hand arm 1 is moved upward to catch the tube group and release it from the bucket 10 side, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, each tube 3 is suspended and supported by the hand arm 1 and arranged at the arm interval of the hand arm 1.

For convenience of explanation, if the tube 3 from the center is taken as the tube 3A and the tubes 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E are directed toward the ends as shown in FIG. 9, the outer circumference of the tube 3A is from the center lines 24 to 34. It is at a position separated by 0.75 mm. That is, the half of the distance of the hand arm 1 is 3
6.5 / 2 [mm] and 1/2 of the diameter of the tube 3 33
/ 2 [mm] is added.

On the other hand, the space of the box 2 in which the tubes 3A are housed is 36 from the center line 24, which is the space between the boxes.
It is formed in [mm]. Therefore, 36> 34.75 allows the tube 3A to be inserted into the space.

Similarly, the tubes 3B, 3C, 3D,
As shown in FIG. 9, the tube 3
72> 71.25 for B, 108> 10 for tube 3C
7.75, the tube 3D is 144 <144.25, the tube 3E is 182 <183.25, and the tubes 3D and 3E on the end side slightly interfere with the case 2 side, but the tube head is tapered, Further, since the rod can be rotated right and left around the center of the rod, the tube can be smoothly inserted into the box by the inserting action described below.

Next, the tube inserting operation and the control operation of the control section 7 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. First, as described above, the hand arm 1 is inserted into each tube 3 of the tube group (step 100). The hand arm 1 catches the tube and the tube is suspended at the distance between the hand arms 1 (step 101).

Next, the hand arm 1 is moved forward to insert the tube 3 into each space of the box 2 (step 102). As described above, by inserting the tube 3, the tube 3 interferes with the case 2 and a load commensurate with the amount of deformation of the case 2 acts on the hand arm 1 side. Even if a load is applied, the hand arm 1 side is supported by the spring 21 and the shock absorber 20 so that it is elastically and vibrationally supported, and a large shock force does not act. The control unit 7 detects the load acting on the hand arm 1 and determines whether or not it is below a predetermined value (step 103).

When a load exceeding a predetermined value that damages the tube is acting on the hand arm 1 (in the case of no), the number of insertions of the hand arm 1 is counted, and the predetermined number of times (for example, 3 times). It is determined whether or not (step 1
04). In the following cases (in the case of yes), the hand arm 1 is retracted (step 105), and the hand arm 1 is returned again.
Is inserted and the same steps as above are repeated.

Although the deformation of the case 2 is corrected by reciprocating the hand arm 1 in a small number of times, the hand arm 1 is also reciprocated a predetermined number of times.
If the load applied to the arm does not fall below the predetermined value, the insertion of the hand arm 1 is stopped (step 106) and the box 2
Are regarded as defective and are removed (step 107). On the other hand, when the load acting on the hand arm 1 is less than or equal to the predetermined value (in the case of yes), the hand arm 1 is advanced to the fixed position (step 108), and the insertion of the tube 3 is completed (step 109). In this case, the excessive insertion of the hand arm 1 is detected by the limit switch 23, so that the tube 3 is safely inserted.

Next, the hand arm 1 is moved backward by several mm while it is retracted (step 110), the necessity of inserting the next tube group is judged (step 111), the process returns to step 100 when necessary, and if not necessary. If the tube 2 is filled in the through box 2, the insertion work is finished (step 112). While the deformation of the case 2 is corrected by the above insertion and control action, and the tube rotates around the rod and moves so as to match the section in the case, the tube 3 can be smoothly inserted. I can.

In the above description, the hand arm 1 is set to 1
Although it is set to 0, it is not limited to this. Further, the bucket pitch of the bucket conveyor 4 uses a standard chain and is not limited to the dimensions of the above-mentioned embodiment, but the diameter of the tube 3 and the case 2 corresponding thereto.
It is decided in consideration of the size of.

[0040]

According to the present invention, the following remarkable effects are obtained. 1) The tube is formed so as to be pushed by the hand arm while receiving a load of a predetermined value or less generated by the contact between the tube and the case, and the hand arm is retracted when a load of a predetermined value or more is applied. By re-inserting the tube repeatedly and performing small tube insertion operations, even if there is some deformation in the case, the tube can be smoothly inserted while correcting the deformation. 2) Since the hand arm is elastically and vibration-supported on the robot hand mechanism side, the load generated when the tube is inserted is relieved, and an unreasonable force does not act on the box and the tube. Therefore, damage to both is prevented. 3) Since the bucket pitch of the bucket conveyor that transfers the tube to the predetermined insertion position can be set to an integral multiple of the chain pitch of the standard chain, the device cost can be reduced. 4) Smooth tube insertion can be achieved by properly setting the spacing of the hand arms even if the spacing between the partitions of the through box and the bucket pitch are different. 5) The tube can be automatically inserted and the insertion work efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken along arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partial front view showing the bucket conveyor of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a hand arm and a support mechanism portion of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a support mechanism portion according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a partial side sectional view showing an elastic support mechanism portion of the support mechanism portion.

FIG. 7 is a partial side sectional view showing a shock absorber of the support mechanism section.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the arrangement structure of the box, the bucket conveyor, and the hand arm of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a partial front view for explaining the principle of inserting the tube of the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the insertion and control operation of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 hand arm 2 box 3 tube 3a cap 4 bucket conveyor 5 robot hand mechanism section 6 support mechanism section 7 control section 8 conveyor 9 lid 10 bucket 11 chain conveyor 12 chain 13 chain wheel 14 resin member 15 block Main body 16 Connecting member 17 Sliding member 18 Sliding shaft 19 Elastic support mechanism 20 Shock absorber 21 Spring 22 Adjusting spacer 23 Limit switch 24 Center line

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of tube groups arranged side by side on a conveyor at intervals of an integral multiple of a chain pitch are inserted in a row into a box having a partition, and the tube groups are sequentially stacked in a plurality of stages. A tube packing method for filling a tube inside, wherein a hand arm that is elastically and vibrationally supported on the robot hand side is inserted into the tube group and the tube group is caught, and in that state, the hand arm is inserted into the box. When the load is inserted, the load on the hand arm caused by the contact between the box and the tube during the insertion is detected, and when the load exceeds the specified value, the hand arm is retracted and re-inserted until the hand arm reaches the specified depth. A tube packaging method characterized by inserting or stopping insertion. 2. A plurality of tube groups arranged side by side on a bucket conveyor at intervals of an integral multiple of the chain pitch are inserted one by one in a box having a partition, and the tube groups are successively stacked in plural stages. A tube box packing device for filling tubes in a box, comprising a hand arm arranged at a position opposed to the tube group, a robot hand mechanism section for moving and operating the hand arm, and the robot hand mechanism. And a support mechanism portion interposed between the hand arm and the hand arm to elastically and vibrationally support the hand arm, and to detect load acting on the hand arm and to detect the movement amount of the hand arm, which are arranged on the robot hand side. Control for moving and stopping the hand arm by detecting the number of reciprocations by moving the hand arm backward and forward again for a load of a predetermined value or more. Tube packing device characterized by having a section. 3. A plurality of tube groups arranged in parallel on a bucket conveyor at intervals of an integral multiple of the chain pitch of a standard product chain are inserted into a box having a partition, and the tube groups are sequentially inserted. A tube packing device for stacking a plurality of stages to fill tubes in a through box, a hand arm arranged in parallel at a slightly narrower interval than the chain pitch and arranged at a position facing the tube group, A robot hand mechanism section for moving and operating the hand arm,
A support mechanism part interposed between the robot hand mechanism part and the hand arm for elastically and vibration-absorbingly supporting the hand arm, load detection for moving the hand arm arranged on the robot hand side, and movement amount of the hand arm. A tube packaging device, which is provided with a control unit for performing detection and moving the hand arm backward and forward with respect to a load equal to or more than a predetermined value and detecting the number of reciprocations to move and stop the hand arm.