JPH0764413B2 - Product sorting device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a product sorting device that sorts various products for each destination.

(Prior Art) For example, in a delivery sensor for a product for a supermarket or a chain store, in accordance with an order from each destination, various sorts of products are sorted according to the number of ordered products, but the sorting work is performed for each destination. In this work, for example, a product sorting device described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-157524 is used.

This sorting device arranges a plurality of collection pockets for collecting products for each destination on both sides of a conveyor-carrying route of products, and selectively conveys the products being conveyed to the left and right sides of the conveyor. With a distribution mechanism for discharging, when the product is transported to a position corresponding to the collection pocket to be loaded, the distribution mechanism is operated to load the product into the collection pocket. is there. According to such a device, by inputting the number of orders received from each destination for each product in advance, the ordered products can be delivered to each destination only by sequentially supplying the products to the upstream portion of the conveyor. The ordered items will be collected one by one, and the sort work of this kind of products will be automatically performed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional sorting apparatus as described above, since the products must be supplied to the upstream portion of the conveyor one by one, the work efficiency is low, and the products are conveyed by the conveyor. Since the speed of the sorting operation has a certain limit, the sorting work had to take a long time.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of product sorting work using this sort device.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the product sorting apparatus according to the present invention is configured as follows.

That is, the distribution conveyor that conveys the products supplied to the upstream part and distributes and puts them into each collection pocket, and a number indicator that displays the number of products supplied to the distribution conveyor are provided, and from each destination. The number of orders received is divided into a plurality of preset transport units, and the total number of transports for each transport unit for all destinations is calculated, while the number of each transport unit is displayed by the total number of transports. The distribution conveyor is operated so that the products displayed on the container and supplied to the upstream portion of the distribution conveyor in accordance with the display are put into the collection pocket of the destination corresponding to the number of orders that the transport unit belongs to. A control means is provided.

(Operation) According to the above configuration, since the predetermined number of transport units such as 5, 3, 2, etc. is displayed on the number display as many times as the number of transports required by that number, it is displayed on the number display. If products of the specified transport unit number are supplied to the upstream part of the sorting conveyor by the number of display times, these products will be sequentially loaded into the collection pocket of the destination corresponding to the number of orders that the transport unit belongs to. become. Then, at the time when the supply and the transportation of the products for the number of display times for the total number of transportation units are completed, the ordered number of products are collected in the collection pockets of all the destinations. Therefore, the work efficiency is significantly improved as compared with the case where the products are supplied one by one.

In particular, according to the present invention, the number of products supplied to the sorting conveyor according to the display of the number display device is the preset number of transport units, so that the time and effort required to supply the products to the conveyor can be saved. The work efficiency as a whole is further improved, especially when the number of orders from each destination is large.

(Example) Hereinafter, the Example of this invention is described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the product sorting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has, as main components, a weight checker 10 and a sorting conveyor 20 connected downstream of the checker 10. , Collection pockets 2i (i = 1,2,3 ...) For each destination are provided on both left and right sides of the sorting conveyor 20, and a control system 30 for the sorting apparatus is provided near the weight checker 10. Is provided with a terminal device 31 and a number display 32 for indicating the number of products supplied to the operator.

As shown in FIG. 2, the weight checker 10 is provided with a weighing device 11
And a belt-type weighing conveyor placed on the weighing device 11.
It is composed of 12 and
The weight of the product supplied to the upper part 12 is measured, and the product is transported to the downstream side and delivered to the distribution conveyor 20.

Further, in this embodiment, the distribution conveyor 20 is configured such that a large number of transport plates 21 ... The product received above is conveyed to the downstream side. Further, in the distribution conveyor 20, as shown in FIG. 3, each transport plate 21 can be tilted to the left and right, and both left and right side portions thereof are lifted and lowered by a pair of cylinders 22, 22, respectively. Are supported by 23, 23, and as shown by the chain line, when the left support member 23 is raised and the right support member 23 is lowered by the cylinders 22, 22, the transport plate 21 becomes lower on the right side. It is designed to tilt in the direction. Then, a discharge chute 3i is provided between the sorting conveyor 20 and each collection pocket 2i provided on the left and right sides thereof.
(I = 1,2,3 ...) is arranged, and when the transport plate 21 is tilted so that one of the left and right sides is lowered at a certain position as described above, the product on the plate 21 is , A collection pocket corresponding to the chute 3i through the discharge chute 3i on the side where the transport plate 21 is lowered at that position
It will be put into 2i. Further, the distribution conveyor 20 is provided with product sensors 24 ... 24, which are photoelectric tubes or the like for detecting the passage of products, immediately upstream of the positions where the respective discharge chutes 3i are arranged.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, the control system 30 of the sorting apparatus 1 will be described.
The terminal 31 is connected to the host computer 33 in the distribution center or the like via a relay 34, and receives the order quantity data for each product for each destination from the host computer 33. . Further, the terminal 31 is provided with a bar code scanner 35, and the bar code scanner 35 and the weight checker 10 are provided.
The product code signal, the weight signal, and the product passage signal are input from the weighing device 11 of FIG. 1 and the product sensors 24 ... 24 on the distribution conveyor 20, respectively, and the terminal device 31 is based on these signals. The above-mentioned number indicator 32
And a pair of cylinders 22 and 22 for tilting each transport plate 21 in the distribution conveyor 20 to output a display signal and a product loading signal, respectively.

Next, the product sorting operation by the product sorting device will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

That is, first, in step S ₁₁ , the bar code of the product a ′ to be processed first is read by the bar code scanner 35, the code number of the product a ′ is input, and this is transmitted to the host computer 33.

Next, in step S ₁₂ , the host computer 33
Each of the ordered quantity Nai 'for the product a'is divided into a plurality of preset transport unit numbers s, t, u ... That is, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, 5,3,2 is set as the transport unit number s, t, u.
Is set, and the number of each ordered Na from the 1st to 4th destinations is Na
Assuming that ₁ ′ to Na ₄ ′ are 10,9,3,7, as shown in the figure, Na ₁ ′ = 5 + 5 Na ₂ ′ = 5 + 2 + 2 Na ₃ ′ = 3 Na ₄ ′ = 5 + 2 Each order quantity is divided into

The host computer 33, in step S _13, the number of the transport unit at the time of dividing the orders number for all destination
The number of times s, t, u has been used, that is, the total number of times of transportation for each number of transportation units is calculated, and this is transmitted to the terminal device 31 as transportation data in step S ₁₄ . Here, in the case of the above example, the number of transports by the first transport unit number s (5) is 4, the number of transports by the second transport unit number t (3) is 1, and the third transport unit number u.
The number of times of conveyance by (2) is three times.

Next, in step S _15, with displays on the terminal 31 is first of all conveying unit number s (5) number indicator 32, in step S _16, the number of units feeding worker該搬accordance with the display s That is, five pieces of product a ′ are supplied to the weight checker 10. Then, in step S _17, checking the number of the supplied goods a 'is performed. That is,
The weighing machine 11 of the weight checker 10 measures the weight of the product a'placed on the weighing conveyor 12, and the terminal 31 which has received the measured weight value per one of the pre-registered product a '. Is multiplied by the first transport unit number s, and the calculation result is compared with the weight value measured by the weight checker 10 to indicate the number of the products a'supplied to the checker 10 by the number indicator. It is determined whether or not it matches the first transport unit number s displayed on 32.

When the goods a 'is supplied to the number s by weight checker 10 that is displayed on the number display 32, then the measuring conveyor 12 of the weight checker 10 starts the operation in step S _18, the number s
The product a ′ is transferred to the sorting conveyor 20. Then, in step S ₁₉ , the sorting conveyor 20 is operated to collect the destination collection pocket 2i corresponding to the first ordered quantity to which the first transport unit number s belongs (in this case, the first ordered party whose ordered quantity is 10). The above-mentioned product a'is put into the collection pocket 2i). Then, then step S ₂₀ in the first conveying unit number s
In the above example, the number of transports in the first transport unit number s is four,
It will be repeated four times above steps S ₁₅ to S _20, the first
Destination of the current product pocket 2 ₁ to 2 times, each of the second, fourth destination of the current product pocket 2 _2, 2 ₄ 1 times, so that the goods a 'are each five-on.

In this manner, when the conveyor in the first conveying unit s ends, then determine whether at step S ₂₁ is the number next conveyance unit, in some cases, the number of transport units in step S ₂₂ Is displayed on the number display 32, and then step S ₁₆
Repeat ~ S ₂₀ . That is, in the above example, and displays the second conveying unit number t (3), once the t pieces of product a 'that is provided in accordance with the display to the current article pockets 2 of the _third destination turned Will be done. Further similarly, displays the number of the third conveyance unit u (2) the number display 32, twice the product a 'of this number to the current article pockets 2 ₂ of the second destination, the fourth destination It will be turned on once to the current product pocket 2 _4.

As a result, the products a'are placed in the collection pockets 2i of the respective destinations for each of the orders, and the sorting of the products a'is completed. Then, in step S _23, it is judged whether there is the next item to be sorted, in some cases, these products b ', c' performs sorting in the same manner also ....

As described above, the respective products a ', b', c '... are put into the collection pockets 2i of the respective destinations according to the number of received orders, and all the sorting work is completed, but according to this embodiment. For example, since multiple products are supplied and transported one by one,
Work efficiency is improved compared to the case of supplying and transporting each one at a time, and especially when the number of workers when supplying goods to the weight checker 10 is a preset number such as 5, 3, 2, etc. When the number of orders received from the destination is large, the trouble of counting the number of products supplied is reduced.

The distribution conveyor is not limited to the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but may be the one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-157524, or the one shown in FIG. You can The distribution conveyor 20 'shown in FIG. 7 is a chain 21' that rotates in an elliptical orbit in a horizontal plane, and is equipped with a plurality of buckets 22 '... 22' equipped with discharge gates at a constant pitch. Collection pockets 2i '(i = 1,2,3 ...) are arranged along the forward and return paths of' ... 22 ', and a product supply section from the weight checker 10' is provided at the upstream end of the forward path. Has been. And each bucket 22 '... 2
When the 2'is located above the collection pocket 2i 'into which the product is to be loaded, the gate is opened so that the product inside the pocket is opened.
It is designed to be discharged to 2i '.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, in the product sorting device that uses the sorting conveyor to sort the products ordered by each destination into the collection pocket by the number of ordered products, and to insert the products into the collection pocket,
Since the products are supplied to the distribution conveyor, or the products are conveyed and distributed by the conveyor by a preset number of conveyance units, the work is performed in comparison with the case where the products are supplied and conveyed one by one. The efficiency will be significantly improved.

In particular, according to the present invention, the labor for counting the number of products to be supplied can be omitted or reduced, so that the work efficiency can be further improved, especially when the number of orders from each destination is large. Become.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a layout view showing the overall structure of a product sorting device, and FIG. 2 is a main part of a shellfish device. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view, FIG. 3 is a schematic enlarged sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the apparatus, FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. The figure is an explanatory view showing an example of division of the number of received orders in the embodiment. Further, FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing another configuration example of the sorting conveyor. 1 ... sorting device, 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ ..., 2 ₁ ′, 2 ₂ ′ ... collection pocket, 20,20 ′ …… sorting conveyor, 32 …… number indicator, 3
1,33 …… Control means (terminals, host computers).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A product sorting device for loading products into a collection pocket for each destination by the number of ordered products, and a distribution conveyor for transporting the products supplied to an upstream part and sorting and loading them into each collection pocket. , A quantity display for displaying the number of products supplied to the sorting conveyor, and dividing the number of orders from each destination into a plurality of preset transport unit numbers, and for each transport unit number for all destinations. The total number of times of transportation is calculated, and the number of each transportation unit is displayed on the above-mentioned number indicator by the total number of times of transportation, and the products supplied to the sorting conveyor are displayed according to the display.
A product sorting device comprising control means for operating a sorting conveyor so as to put the product into a collection pocket of a destination corresponding to the number of orders to which the transport unit belongs.