JPH07165328A - Confluence control of article and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a confluence control method and a confluence control device of an article to carry out confluence of the article without forming vacancy between the article and causing an accident of collision of the article, etc., at the time of making the article received on a plural number of receiving conveyors flow to one main stream conveyor. CONSTITUTION:A received amount of an article 1 is detected by first and second sensors 2, 3 provided on a plural number of receiving conveyors L1-L4, it is memorized in registers 12a 12d through a control circuit 11 sequentially as the article 1 reaches a specified amount, and the article 1 is made to flow to a main stream conveyor L0 by reading the article sequentially as it is memorized and simultaneously driving the receiving conveyors L1-L4 corresponding to reading at the time of confluence. Additionally, a transport situation of the main stream conveyor L0 is detected by a sensor 4, and when confluence is not possible, a memorized data is erased and confluence is stopped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article merging control method and an article merging control device for merging articles conveyed from a plurality of receiving conveyors into a single mainstream conveyor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a physical distribution process, a conveyor is often used to convey articles, and there is a conveyor configured to combine the articles conveyed by a plurality of receiving conveyors into a single mainstream conveyor. FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional merging conveyor, in which the articles 1 conveyed from a plurality of receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are merged with the mainstream conveyor L0. The mainstream conveyor L0
Also, the arrows attached to the plurality of receiving conveyors L1 to L4 indicate the conveying direction of the article 1. The conveyors L1 to L4 are provided with sensors 2 and 3 for optically detecting the presence or absence of the article 1, for example. The sensors 2 and 3 are composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and are configured to detect the presence or absence of the article 1 by the presence or absence of light shielding. Since this configuration is well known, the light emitting element and the light receiving element are denoted as a set in FIG. The distance between the sensors 2 and 3 is set to a predetermined distance La.

Explaining the merging action, first, it is detected whether or not the article 1 is received in each of the receiving conveyors L1 to L4, and the receiving conveyors L1 to L are passed through the control circuit.
The data is stored in a register corresponding to No. 4 (both not shown). At this time, as shown in the receiving conveyors L1 and L4, if the article 1 is filled between the sensors 2 and 3 and the sensors 2 and 3 are shielded from light, it is possible to merge, that is, the receiving conveyors L1 and L4.
From the main stream conveyor L0 is stored as a cuttable.
On the other hand, like the conveyor L3, the sensors 2, 3
If none of the above is shielded from light, further conveyor conveyor L
Sensor 2 is shielded from light like 2 but sensor 3
If is not shielded from light, it is stored as not allowed to merge.

The merging is carried out by receiving conveyors L1 to L2, L
The receiving conveyor L1
When all the articles 1 can be merged as shown in FIG.
0 are sequentially transported to join. However, in the case of the arrival lines L2 and L3, it is stored that the merging is not possible.
Mainstream conveyor L0 for article 1 on the incoming conveyors L2, L3
Will not be joined. And the receipt conveyor L2, L
After the time required for merging of 3 has passed, the receiving conveyor L
Go to 4 merge work. In the case of such a merge failure,
Since it does not move to the merging operation of the incoming conveyor L4, the arrangement of the articles 1 on the main conveyor L0 is
Following the article 1 merged from 1, the receipt conveyors L2, L
A space corresponding to the article 1 of No. 3 is formed, and the article 1 of the receiving conveyor L4 merges following the space.

[0005]

In the merging conveyor shown in FIG. 7, the merging of the articles 1 from the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 to the mainstream conveyor L0 is the receiving conveyors L1 to L4.
It is performed intermittently according to the number of the above-mentioned articles 1. Therefore, there are various problems such that the merging efficiency is not good, there is a space between the merging articles 1 on the mainstream conveyor L0, the transport efficiency is lowered, and the sorting work is difficult to perform. Note that Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-132133 discloses an example of a merge control device. This device describes a configuration that starts merging each time the articles from the inbound conveyor reach a predetermined lot, but in this configuration, the articles on the inbound conveyor are irrespective of the transport status of the articles on the mainstream conveyor. However, there is a problem in that articles collide with each other on the mainstream conveyor because the articles are joined together. An object of the present invention is to combine articles received on a plurality of receiving conveyors with one mainstream conveyor without forming a space between the articles and without causing an accident such as collision of the articles. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article merging control method to be performed and an article merging control device to execute the merging control method.

[0006]

The object of the present invention is to detect sequentially that a predetermined amount of articles on a plurality of receiving conveyors have been reached, store them in a register as merge data, and merge data in the register. Are read in the order of storage and the plurality of in-feed conveyors are driven in accordance with the information, the predetermined amount of articles are conveyed one lot at a time to one main conveyor, and merged. This is achieved by a method for controlling the merging of articles, wherein the corresponding merging data in the register is canceled when there is a risk of interference.

The object of the present invention is to provide a mainstream conveyor for merging articles, a plurality of receiving conveyors for merging articles to the mainstream conveyor, and whether or not a predetermined number of articles arrive at the plurality of receiving conveyors. First and second sensors that detect whether or not, a third sensor that detects the conveyance status of the article on the mainstream conveyor, and the first and second sensors
The detection signals of the sensors are stored in a register in the order in which the articles reach a predetermined amount, and are read in the storage order to drive the plurality of receipt conveyors to join the articles, and further to the detection signals of the third sensor. And a control circuit for canceling the merging of the articles based on the above.

[0008]

According to the merging control method for articles and the merging control apparatus for articles for executing the merging control method, it is possible to determine whether or not the number of articles received on the plurality of receiving conveyors reaches a predetermined amount. Detected by the sensor and stored in the register by the control circuit in the order of reaching the predetermined amount. Then, at the time of merging, at the same time the storage conveyor is read out in the order of storage, the corresponding in-coming conveyor is driven, and the articles are conveyed to the merging conveyor to be merged. At the time of this merging, the state of transportation of the articles on the mainstream conveyor is
If the articles collide with each other due to the merging, the merging is controlled to stop. Therefore, no space is formed between the articles to be merged on the mainstream conveyor, and the articles can be merged while preventing the articles from colliding with each other.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an article merging control method and an article merging control apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the article merging control device, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the merging control method, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a configuration example of the merge position. In the description of the embodiments, the overall configuration of the article merging control device (hereinafter simply referred to as “control device”) will be described, and then the merging control method will be described.

First, the overall configuration of the control device 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The control device 100 is a receiving conveyor L.
1 to L4 on the mainstream conveyor L0 without interruption,
Moreover, it is configured so that the articles can be merged in accordance with the condition of articles placed on the mainstream conveyor L0. Incoming conveyor L1-L
First and second sensors 2 and 3 for detecting the arrival status of the article 1 are arranged at 4 via a predetermined interval La. The detection signals of the first and second sensors 2 and 3 are supplied to the control circuit 11 described later. The first and second sensors 2 and 3 may be configured by a light emitting element and a light receiving element as in the conventional example, and may be configured to detect the presence or absence of the article 1 by shading. In addition, the receipt conveyor L1
Although the arrival status of the article 1 is shown on L4 by an imaginary line, the illustrated arrival status is merely an example for clarifying the difference from the conventional example shown in FIG. 6, and is not limited to this arrival status. Absent.

On the other hand, in the mainstream conveyor L0, at the positions A1 to A4 intersecting with the inbound conveyors L1 to L4, a third sensor 4 for individually detecting the carrying condition of the article 1 on the mainstream conveyor L0 is individually provided. It is provided. The third sensor 4 may be an optical sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element like the first and second sensors 2 and 3, and a detection signal is supplied to a control circuit 11 described later. It has become. Position B1 shown on the mainstream conveyor L0
B4 indicates an operation start position when the articles 1 on the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are merged with the mainstream conveyor L0. In this embodiment, the transport speeds of the mainstream conveyor L0 and the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are set to be the same, and the distance Lb between the A1 position and the B1 position and the distance Lc from the A1 position to the first sensor 2 are set to the same. Has been done. Note that Lb
Since the configuration of = Lc is the same for each of the receiving conveyors L1 to L4, it is shown in FIG. 1 in relation to the receiving conveyor L1 for convenience of illustration.

The control circuit 11 identifies one of the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 based on the drive control of the mainstream conveyor L0 and the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 and the detection signals obtained from the first and second sensors 2 and 3. In addition, the data for discriminating the presence / absence of merging is written in the register 12, and further read out to perform the merging control comprehensively. The writing and reading of data to and from the register 12 are performed in synchronization with the transport speeds of the mainstream conveyor L0 and the receiving conveyors L1 to L4. Register 1
Data is written to 2 sequentially from the one in which the article 1 is full among the receiving conveyors L1 to L4, that is, the one in which both the first and second sensors 2 and 3 are shielded from light in advance by interrupt processing. It is configured to write. The control circuit 11, according to the information sequentially stored in the register 12,
The merge determination is made at any of the operation start positions B1 to B4.

Next, the merging operation of the articles 1 will be described. At the time of merging, the arrival status is first detected and the writing operation to the register 12 is performed, and then the reading operation and the main conveyor L.
Merging by carrying to 0 is performed. In the arrival status of FIG. 1, the incoming conveyors L1 and L4 are full, but it is assumed that the incoming conveyor L1 is full first and then the incoming conveyor L4 is full. In this situation, the register is stored from the receipt status of the receipt conveyor L1. The storage procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Initially, it is in the standby state as shown in step S2, then the first sensor 2 is turned on as shown in step S4, that is, the light blocking is detected by the article 1, and then the second sensor 3 is shown as shown in step S6. ON is detected. When the first and second sensors 2 and 3 are turned on, first, the merge data Da is stored in the first rank position 12a of the register 12 as shown in FIG. 3 (step S8). Further, the same interruption processing as described above is performed on the receiving conveyor L4, and the merge data Dd is stored in the second rank position 12b of the register 12. The stored merging data Da and Dd are read out in the stored order and used for merging control. In this way, steps S2 to S
The operation of 8 is individually performed for each of the receiving conveyors L1 to L4.

On the other hand, regarding the receiving conveyor L2, the first
Although the sensor 2 is turned on, the second sensor 3 is turned off because there is no light blocking by the article 1, and in this case, the process returns to the standby state of step S2. Further, since there is no arrival of the receipt conveyor L3, it returns to the standby state at the stage of step S4. Therefore, in the storage in the register 12, as shown in FIG. 3, the merged data Da and Dd are stored in this order at the first rank position 12a and the second rank position 12d. However, since the merging data Da is stored first, merging of the most upstream receiving conveyor L1 is performed first, and then merging of the most downstream receiving conveyor L4 is performed. At this stage, as shown in FIG. 3, merge data is not stored in the third rank position 12c and the fourth rank position 12d of the register 12.

Next, the merging operation shown in and after step S10 will be described. The determination as to whether or not the merging can be started in step S10 is made based on whether or not the merging data D is stored in the register 12 and the transport condition on the mainstream conveyor L0. Next, the flow proceeds to the execution of merging shown in step S12, and the merging of the articles 1 for one lot received on the receiving conveyor L1 is started by reading the data Da starting from the position B1. The writing and reading of the merged data are performed corresponding to the transport speeds of the mainstream conveyor L0 and the incoming conveyors L1 to L4.
When the data Da is read from the position B1 as a starting point and the receiving conveyor L1 is driven by the control circuit 11 in synchronization with this, the main conveyor L0 located at the position B1 is moved to the position A.
When moved to 1, the article 1 that has shielded the first sensor 2 from light is placed on the mainstream conveyor L0 at the position A1. This synchronization relationship can be easily understood from the condition of Lb = Lc. Then, one lot worth of articles 1 is the mainstream conveyor L.
The articles 1 for one lot that have been sequentially placed on the receiving conveyor L1 and have arrived on the receiving conveyor L1 are merged.

Then, the mainstream conveyor L0 continues to convey the merged data Dd stored in the register 12 when the rear end of the articles 1 for one lot moves to the position B4.
Is read. Hereinafter, the operation described in step S12 is performed on the in-feed conveyor L4, and the article 1 for one lot is conveyed in the direction of the position A4, starting with the article 1 that has shielded the first sensor 2 on the in-feed conveyor L4. It The receiving conveyor L4 is also set to Lb = Lc. Therefore, when the trailing edge of the articles 1 for one lot merged from the receipt conveyor L1 passes the position A4, the article 1 for one lot conveyed from the receipt conveyor L4 in response to the reading of the merge data Dd. The first article among them, that is, the article 1 that shielded the first sensor 2 from light
However, they are conveyed on the mainstream conveyor L0 and join together without a gap.

That is, in the configuration of this embodiment, one lot of articles 1 on the receiving conveyor L1 and the receiving conveyor L4.
When the above-mentioned one lot worth of articles 1 are merged on the merge conveyor L0, the gap as described in the conventional example is not formed. Therefore, the articles 1 can be efficiently transported, and since no gap is formed, the sorting operation can be efficiently performed. In the arrival status of FIG. 1, the merging data regarding the warehousing conveyors L2 and L3 is not stored in the register 12, and therefore, the merging data is not read and the merging operation based on this is not performed yet.

By the way, it has been described above that the condition for starting the merging is related to the condition of conveyance of the article 1 on the mainstream conveyor L0. That is, the interval between the articles 1 for one lot merged from the receipt conveyor L1 may be vacant for some reason, for example, catching. In this state, if the articles 1 of the receipt conveyor L4 are merged in the same manner as described above, the articles 1 of the receipt conveyor L4 collide with the articles 1 of the receipt conveyor L1. Therefore, in order to prevent an accident such as a collision in advance in this embodiment, when such an accident is predicted,
Delete the merge data of the incoming conveyors to be merged so that the merge is not performed. If the case is explained correspondingly, the merge data D of the incoming conveyor L4
The d is erased and the merging is stopped.

That is, if there is a space between the articles 1, the light-shielding time of the third sensor 4 provided at the position A3 becomes longer than the transportation time corresponding to the original article lot length. And the third
When the light-shielding time of the sensor 4 exceeds the predetermined time, the merging data Dd of the receiving conveyor L4 is erased as shown in step S14, and the merging data can be obtained by reading the data in the second rank position 12b. Try not to. As a result, the articles 1 for one lot that have arrived at the receipt conveyor L4 are not merged, and the articles 1 for one lot that were previously merged at the merge conveyor L0 continue to be conveyed to avoid collision due to the merge. Has become.

For the merged data that has been deleted, refer to Article 1
Is again detected by the first and second sensors 2 and 3, the same merged data is set in the same manner as described above and is stored in the last rank position in the register 12, but instead of this, the merged data is stored. You may enter manually. As described above, according to the merging control method for articles and the merging control device 100 shown in the present embodiment, when a space is not formed between the joined articles and a space is left in an unexpected situation, the merging is performed. It is possible to prevent the collision of the articles to be carried out.

The receiving status of the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and when all the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are full, the merging operation is performed in the order of being full. Then, for example, when there is a vacancy between the articles 1 due to some circumstances between the arrival conveyors L1 and L2, the vacancy is detected by the third sensor 4 at the position A1, and the articles 1 of the arrival conveyor L2 are detected. Stop merging.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the articles 1 from colliding with each other regardless of the order of the receiving conveyors to be merged.

By the way, in FIG. 1, the mainstream conveyor L
Although the merging positions of 0 and the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are schematically illustrated, there are actually various modes as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the mainstream conveyor L0
It may be configured such that and the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are orthogonal to each other. In this case, since the end portions of the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 are straight, either belt driving or roller driving can be applied as the conveying means.

The structure shown in FIG. 5 should be called a concrete example of the structure schematically shown in FIG.
Curved lines 1 to L4 are connected to the mainstream conveyor L0. The angle θ of the connection position between the mainstream conveyor L0 and the receiving conveyors L1 to L4 is set to, for example, about 37.5 °. When the connection position is curved as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to smoothly convey the joining articles 1 along the curved conveyance path. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the driving means is constituted by the rotating roller 14, and the rotating roller 14 is formed so that the outside has a large diameter and the inside has a small diameter. Further, a guard rail 13 is provided inside to prevent the article 1 from falling. According to this configuration, the article 1 does not move to the outside due to the centrifugal force, and is smoothly and reliably conveyed onto the merging conveyor L0. The transport means of the merging conveyor L0 may be either a roller conveyor or a belt conveyor.

[0024]

As described above, the merging control method and the merging control device for articles according to the present invention detect the arrival amount of articles by the first and second sensors provided on a plurality of receiving conveyors. It is stored in a register through the control circuit in the order in which it reaches a predetermined amount, and at the time of merging, it is read out in the stored order and at the same time, the receiving conveyor corresponding to the reading is driven to convey the articles to the mainstream conveyor to merge them, and When the conveyance state is detected by the third sensor and the merging is impossible, the previously stored data is erased and the merging is stopped. Therefore, articles are joined to the mainstream conveyor in order from the arrival conveyor where the arrival amount of the articles reaches a predetermined amount,
No space is formed between the articles. Further, the suitability of merging is carried out by detecting the transport state of the mainstream conveyor, so that the collision of the joined articles can be prevented in advance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an article merging control device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method for controlling the merging of articles.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a form of storage in a register.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part showing a connection between a mainstream conveyor and a stock conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main part showing another example of connection between the mainstream conveyor and the incoming conveyor.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part showing an article conveying structure of an incoming conveyor.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional merging conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article 2 1st sensor 3 2nd sensor 4 3rd sensor 11 Control circuit 100 Merging control apparatus of articles A1 to A4 Positions of 3rd sensor B1 to B4 Merging start position Lb, Lc Distance

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of receiving conveyors (L1) to (L4).
It is sequentially detected that the article (1) has reached a predetermined amount and stored in the register (12) as merged data, and the merged data in the register (12) is read out in the order of storage and the plurality of receipts are received according to the information. The conveyors (L1) to (L4) are driven to convey the predetermined amount of articles (1) one lot at a time onto one mainstream conveyor (L0) to join, and at the time of this joining, the mainstream conveyor (L0) differs. When there is a risk of interference between the lot articles (1), the register (1
2) A merge control method for articles, wherein the relevant merge data in 2) is canceled. 2. A mainstream conveyor (L0) for joining the articles (1), a plurality of receiving conveyors (L1) to (L4) for joining the articles (1) to the mainstream conveyor (L0), and the plurality of receipts. First and second sensors (2) and (3) for detecting whether or not the articles (1) received on the conveyors (L1) to (L4) have reached a predetermined amount, and the mainstream conveyor (L).
0) a third sensor (4) for detecting the transport status of the article (1) on the upper surface, and detection signals of the first and second sensors (2), (3) for a predetermined amount of the article (1). Are stored in the register (12) in the order of arrival to the storage section, and are read out in the storage order to drive the plurality of receiving conveyors (L1) to (L4) to join the articles (1), and further the third sensor (4). ), And a control circuit (11) for canceling the merging of the articles (1) based on the detection signal of (1).