JPH0780561B2 - Method for automatically separating conveyed material, apparatus therefor, and supply apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention is designed so that a plate-like conveyed product that is continuously conveyed in front and rear contact with each other can be easily processed in the next step.
The present invention relates to a method of automatically separating into individual states during transportation, an apparatus therefor, and an apparatus for automatically separating and feeding plate-like conveyed materials using the apparatus.

[Problems to be Solved by Prior Art and Invention]

In mass production lines of various industries, it is common to automatically convey products by a conveyor when connecting processes. However, depending on the post-process, it is often the case that the products conveyed and supplied are easier to process when they are separated from each other.

For example, in the case of making rice crackers, 1
In an automatic wrapping machine that wraps one by one, attachments are planted at regular intervals on the supply conveyor that supplies the rice cracker to the wrapping machine, because it is necessary to open a predetermined interval for each rice cracker. ing. In the past, it was a common method to put baked rice crackers, which have been seasoned, directly between the attachments of the supply conveyor upon acquisition.

Conventionally, a parts feeder that stocks and supplies the above rice crackers has been known, but with a simple combination of this parts feeder and a conveyor, the rice crackers discharged from the parts feeder and conveyed on the conveyor are in contact with each other before and after in the traveling direction. It was in a state of being. For this reason, it was impossible to put the rice crackers one by one between the attachments on the supply conveyor of the packaging machine.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

As a result of various studies in view of this, the present invention has developed a method and an apparatus capable of automatically and easily separating a plate-like conveyed product on the conveyor, for example, a rice cracker, at equal intervals during the conveyance of the conveyor. It is a thing.

That is, in the automatic separating method of the present invention, the front side in the rotation direction is a curved convex shape, the rear side is a curved concave shape, and the tip is at a position where the circumference of the rotation axis having the same rotation direction as the rotation axis of the conveyor is divided into three equal parts. A claw wheel provided with a pointed claw is rotated at a lower speed than the conveyor below the conveyor surface of the conveyor, and the tip end of the plate-like conveyed object sent in contact with each other from the rear side of the conveyor is The plate-like conveyed objects are sent out separately from each other on the conveyer by abutting the curved concave portion of the claw and advancing while pushing up the rear side of the conveyed object with the curved convex portion of the claw that comes next. It is characterized by.

Further, the automatic separating apparatus of the present invention is provided with a second conveyor, which is faster than the first conveyor, on the front side of the first conveyor for transferring the plate-shaped conveyed material in a state of contacting each other in the front and rear of the traveling direction,
At the position where the rear end of the second conveyor divides the circumference of the rotary shaft having the same rotation direction as the rotary shaft of the second conveyor into three equal parts, the front side in the direction of rotation has a curved convex shape and the rear side has a curved concave shape and the front end. A claw wheel having a pointed claw, below the conveyance surface of the second conveyor, and when the claw wheel is rotated, the tip of one claw bends before the other sinks below the conveyor conveyance surface. At the position where the convex portion appears on the conveyor, it is rotated at a speed lower than that of the conveyor, and the tip of the plate-like conveyed objects sent in contact with each other from the first conveyor is brought into contact with the curved concave portion of one claw. It is characterized in that the curved convex portion of the next claw pushes up the rear side of the conveyed product while advancing it on the second conveyor so that the conveyed products are separated from each other and sent out on the second conveyor.

The automatic separating and feeding apparatus for conveyed goods according to the present invention has two beam sensors for detecting the interval of conveyed conveyed goods and automatically adjusting the operating speed of the parts feeder at the discharge part of the disk-shaped parts feeder. Installed side by side in the traveling direction, a beam sensor is installed upstream of the parts feeder to detect the product amount and adjust the supply amount of the conveyed products to the parts feeder, and the conveyed conveyed products are discharged before and after the traveling direction. A first conveyor which is transferred in contact with is connected to the discharge port of the parts feeder, and a second conveyor, which is faster than the first conveyor, is provided in front of the first conveyor, and a rear end portion of the second conveyor. A claw having a curved convex shape on the front side in the direction of rotation and a curved concave shape on the rear side and a pointed tip at a position that divides the circumference of the rotation axis having the same rotation direction as the rotation axis of the second conveyor into three equal parts. The claw wheel on the conveyor is below the conveying surface of the second conveyor, and before the tip of one claw sinks below the conveyor conveying surface when the claw wheel rotates, At the position appearing in, the conveyor is rotated at a lower speed than the conveyor, and a beam sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a conveyed object and adjusting the speed of the first conveyor is provided immediately before the ratchet wheel. The selection of the plate-like conveyed object that moves in a state in which the front and the rear are in contact with each other is brought into contact with the curved concave portion of one claw, and the curved convex portion of the next claw pushes up the rear side of the conveyed object. It is characterized in that the conveyed products are separated from each other and sent out on the second conveyor by advancing on the conveyor.

[Action]

As described above, the plate-like conveyed objects conveyed in a state of being in contact with each other on the first conveyor are respectively provided at the connection portion with the second conveyor, at positions that divide the circumference of the rotation axis into three equal parts, respectively. The principle of disassembling by a ratchet wheel having a claw having a curved convex shape on the front side and a curved concave shape on the back side and a pointed tip will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), a plate-like conveyed product (3) conveyed from the first conveyor (1) to the second conveyor (2).
The front and back come in contact with each other. Then, the conveyed product (3) is transferred to the rear end of the second conveyor (2) which is normally operated faster than the first conveyor (1), and then the front end of the conveyed product (3) is moved to one of the ratchet wheels (4). It is advanced on the second conveyor (2) according to the rotation of the ratchet wheel (4) while being locked by the concave curved portion (6) of the nail (5). The speed of the second conveyor (2) is usually set higher than the peripheral speed of rotation of the ratchet wheel (4).

Then, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the claw (5) that locks the tip of the conveyed product (3) gradually sinks below the second conveyor (2) as the claw (5) rotates. The leading edge of still holds the conveyed product (3) on the second conveyor (2). Immediately before the claw (5) sinks, as the claw (5 ') behind the claw (5) rotates, its convex curved portion (7) first appears on the second conveyor (2), and this curve The part (7) pushes up the lower surface of the conveyed product (3). Since the positional relationship is adjusted so that the engagement of the claw (5) at the tip of the conveyed article (3) is released with a slight delay, the conveyed article (3) is placed on the second conveyor (2) at its tip. It moves at the speed of the second conveyor (2) with the parts placed.

After that, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), a step and a gap (8) formed between the rear end of the conveyed article (3) and the front end of the conveyed article (3 ') (the step and the step The gap (8) may occur when the rear end of the front conveyed product (3) and the front end of the rear conveyed product (3 ′) are in contact with each other as shown in the figure, but the gap of the front conveyed product (3) is The front end of the claw (5 ') enters into the rear end of the conveyed product (3') even when it rides on the front end of the conveyed product (3 '), so that the conveyed product (3') has a concave curve of the claw (5 '). The conveyed product (3), which is detached from the claw (5) while moving forward while being locked by the section (6), moves on the second conveyor (2).

By using the ratchet wheel as described above, it becomes possible to arbitrarily set the interval between the conveyed objects in the middle of the conveyor, and the subsequent processing becomes easy.

The size of the ratchet wheel is the distance between the tips of the ratchet wheels (R in Fig. 1).
Is about 2/3 of the length (indicated by L in FIG. 1) of the conveyed product in the traveling direction.

〔Example〕

Next, as one embodiment of the device of the present invention, an automatic separating and supplying device for supplying the rice crackers one by one to an automatic packaging machine for packaging the round rice crackers one by one will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 2 (a) and (b), the rice cracker is placed upstream of the outer disk (10) from which the rice cracker is sent out, in a disk-type rotary parts feeder (9) that stocks and continuously sends the rice cracker. The first beam sensor (1
1) is provided, the first conveyor (1) that conveys the rice cracker from the outlet of the outer disk (10) to the supply conveyor (12) of the automatic packaging machine (13), and the claw wheel of the above shape in front of it Second conveyor (2) with (4) attached to its rear end
And are provided in order, and at the outlet of the parts feeder (9),
The second beam sensor (14) and the third beam sensor (15) for detecting the interval of the rice crackers sent from the discharge port to the second conveyor (2) are attached, and further in front of the ratchet wheel (4) at that part. A fourth beam sensor (16) for detecting the presence of rice crackers was attached.

Further, above the ratchet wheel (4), a bearing is rotatably held at one end of a support lever (23) equipped with a height adjusting mechanism (21) such as a screw and a downward pressing mechanism by a spring (22). The cylindrical coil brush (17) was provided. As described above, the coil brush (17) pushes up the lower surface of the rice cracker to which the convex curved portion (7) of the nail wheel (4) has been conveyed, and when the coil wheel (4) rotates, the upper surface of the rice cracker rides. This is to prevent the non-uniform shaped rice crackers from flying or slipping when they are rotated by contacting with.

The outer disc (10) of the parts feeder (9)
The first conveyor (1) and the first conveyor (1) both have an automatic switching mechanism for high-speed and low-speed operation by means of a beam sensor, and both high-speed and low-speed operation allows fine speed adjustment by manual setting. The inner disc (18) of the parts feeder (9) has no speed switching, but also has a speed fine adjustment mechanism by manual setting, and both the inner disc (18) and the outer disc (10) also have an automatic stop function. . In addition, the second compare (2) is always in high speed operation, which also has a speed fine adjustment mechanism by manual setting, and the ratchet wheel (4) is connected to the rotary shaft of the supply conveyor (12) of the packaging machine. It is synchronized with the speed of this supply conveyor (12).

Next, as an operation method of this automatic separating and supplying apparatus, there are an automatic operation and a manual operation, and there are an individual operation which operates only during the manual operation and an interlocking operation. The switching of each of these operations can be performed by each switching switch of the operation switch panel of the control panel. And the synchronous operation with the automatic packaging machine is performed in the automatic operation state, the individual operation is used for adjustment of each conveyor in the initial stage, and the interlocked operation is performed before the operation of the packaging machine at the start of the packaging work as described below. Is used for.

That is, before the automatic operation is started, the parts feeder (9) and the first conveyor (1) are operated by the interlocking operation which can be separated from the operation of the packaging machine, and the ratchet wheel (4) is operated.
The fourth beam sensor (16) attached at the position detects the presence of the rice cracker, and the second and third beam sensors (14, 15) also detect the presence, and the outer disk (10) is detected. After both the first conveyor (1) and the first conveyor (1) are in the low speed state, the switch is switched to the automatic operation side. Then, the supply conveyor (12) of the packaging machine is operated and the attachment (2
By arranging rice crackers between 0) and turning on the packaging machine, the separating and supplying device and the automatic packaging machine will be operated automatically in synchronization.

By using such an interlocking operation mechanism, it is possible to prevent the idle operation of the packaging machine from the beginning until the time when the rice crackers are transferred by operating the packaging machine, or to manually supply the packaging machine to eliminate the idle operation. It is possible to omit the trouble of arranging rice crackers one by one on the device.

In the above apparatus, when a rice cracker is first put into the inner disk (18), the rice cake on the disk (18), which rotates at high speed, tends to move to the outside of this disk (18) by centrifugal force. At this time, the inner disc (18) and the outer disc (10) that surrounds the outer periphery of the disc have the same level in only one part, and the other part has a step due to the inclination of these discs. Only from the level matching part, the rice cracker transfers to the outer disc (10). In addition, the rice cracker that could not be transferred at once was again inside disc (10)
Rotate and repeat the transfer operation.

Then, as described above, during the interlocking operation or the automatic operation, and when there is no rice cracker in the front, the rice cracker transferred to the outer disk (10) has the second and third beam sensors (14) (15).
Moves on the outer disk (10) that is operating at high speed until the rice cracker is detected, and the first conveyor (1) also operates at high speed until the fourth beam sensor (16) detects rice cracker.

Here, the second, third and fourth beam sensors (14) (15)
The function of (16) will be described in detail. Above inner disc (1
The outer disk (1)
0) The drawback of the parts feeder (9) that transfers to the top is that the transfer is random, and the rice crackers move in close contact with each other on the outer disk (10), and more than 2-3 rice crackers can be transferred. It may be moved with a gap. Therefore, the beam sensors (14) (15) (16) are installed to compensate for these problems.

That is, the second beam sensor (14) is installed immediately before the rice cracker is transferred from the outer disk (10) to the first conveyor (1), and the third beam sensor (15) is used when the rice cracker is transferred from the outer disk (10) to the first conveyor (1). Install it at the position immediately after the transfer to 1) (the length of about one rice cracker or less).

When the second beam sensor (14) does not detect a rice cracker, that is, when there is no rice cracker at the position of the second beam sensor (14), the third beam sensor (15) may detect the presence of a rice cracker. With or without the rice cracker at the position of the third beam sensor (15), the outer disk (10) rotates at high speed to fast-forward the rice cracker to this position.

On the other hand, when the second beam sensor (14) detects the presence of a rice cracker and the third beam sensor (15) detects the presence of a rice cracker, the disc (10) automatically switches to low speed rotation. . However, even if the second beam sensor (14) detects the presence of a rice cracker, the outer disk (10) still rotates at high speed when the third beam sensor (15) does not detect the presence of a rice cracker.

When the fourth beam sensor (16) does not detect the rice cracker, the first conveyor (1) operates at high speed, and when the rice cracker is detected, the first conveyor (1) operates at low speed. By combining such operations, the intervals of the rice crackers conveyed to the position of the ratchet wheel (4) are automatically adjusted so as not to open too much or jam too much.

With the above mechanism, the rice cracker conveyed on the first conveyor (1) in a state where the front and back are in proper contact with each other is the action of the second conveyor (2) and the ratchet wheel (4) as described above. 1
The sheets are separated one by one and moved on the second conveyor (2) in a separated state. Then the rice cracker is the second conveyor (2)
Whether or not each sheet is placed between the attachments (20) of the supply conveyor (12) when transferred from the supply conveyor (12) to the supply conveyor (12), if the speed of the second conveyor (2) is manually adjusted at the initial stage of operation. Good.

When the first beam sensor (11) upstream of the outer disc (10) detects a rice cracker, the parts feeder (9)
The inner disk (18) is stopped as a full signal inside, and at the same time, the conveyor device (not shown) for supplying the rice cracker into the parts feeder (9) is also stopped. When the beam sensor (11) does not detect the rice cracker, it supplies new rice cracker into the parts feeder (9) and the inner disc (18).
Also rotates.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a thin plate-shaped wheel (4) is used.
The structure is provided in the middle of the second conveyor (2) consisting of two conveyors arranged side by side, but depending on the size and shape of the transported object, a thick ratchet wheel may be used, or a plurality of ratchet wheels may be provided in the width direction. In some cases it may be more effective to install.

In this embodiment, a round rice cracker is shown as a product to be conveyed, but a square rice cracker can of course be applied.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily separate a plate-like conveyed product that is in contact with and moves on a conveyor, and to supply the conveyed product at equal intervals in the subsequent process, so that various products can be supplied to the conveyed product in the subsequent process. There is a remarkable effect that the automatic processing of (3) becomes easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (a) to 1 (c) are side views for explaining the operation of the ratchet wheel of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) show one embodiment of the device of the present invention ( (A) is an external view and (b) is a side view. 1 ... First conveyor 2 ... Second conveyor 3,3 '... Plate-like conveyed object 4 ... Claw wheel 5,5' ... Claw 6 ... Concave curved portion 7 ... Convex curved portion 8 ... … Steps and gaps 9 …… Parts feeder 10 …… Outside disc 11 …… First beam sensor 12 …… Supply conveyor 13 …… Automatic packaging machine 14 …… Second beam sensor 15 …… Third beam sensor 16 …… No. 4 beam sensor 17 …… Brush 18 …… Inner disk 19 …… Rice cracker 20 …… Attachment 21 …… Height adjustment mechanism 22 …… Spring 23 …… Support lever

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A claw having a curved convex shape on the front side and a curved concave shape on the rear side and a pointed tip at the positions in which the circumference of a rotation axis having the same rotation direction as the rotation axis of the conveyor is divided into three equal parts. The claw wheel provided with is rotated at a lower speed than the conveyor below the conveyor surface, and the tip of the plate-like conveyed objects sent in contact with each other from the rear side of the conveyor is used to bend one claw. Conveying characterized in that these plate-like conveyed objects are separated from each other and sent out on a conveyer conveyor by advancing while pushing the rear side of the conveyed object while pushing the rear side of the conveyed object in contact with the concave portion and the curved convex portion of the claw which comes next. Automatic separation method. 2. A second conveyor having a speed higher than that of the first conveyor is provided on the front side of the first conveyor for transferring the plate-like conveyed objects in a state of being in contact with each other before and after the traveling direction, and a rear end portion of the second conveyor. A claw having a curved convex front side, a curved concave rear side, and a pointed claw on the front side in a rotational direction at positions that divide the circumference of the rotational axis having the same rotational direction as the rotational axis of the second conveyor into three equal parts. When the car is below the conveying surface of the second conveyor, and when the pawl wheel is rotated, the curved convex portion of the other pawl appears on the conveyor before the tip of one pawl sinks below the conveyor conveying surface. At the position, it rotates at a lower speed than the conveyor, and the tip of the plate-like conveyed object sent from the first conveyor in a state of being in contact with each other is brought into contact with the curved concave portion of one claw, and the curved convex portion of the next claw comes next. While pushing up the rear side of the transported object,
An automatic conveyed article separating device, characterized in that the conveyed articles are separated from each other on the second conveyor and sent out by advancing on the conveyor. 3. A beam-type parts feeder is provided with two beam sensors arranged side by side in the advancing direction for automatically adjusting the operating speed of the parts feeder by detecting the distance between the ejected plate-like conveyed objects. Then, a beam sensor for detecting the product amount upstream of the parts feeder and adjusting the supply amount of the conveyed products to the parts feeder is attached, and the discharged conveyed products are in contact with each other before and after the traveling direction. Is provided by connecting to the discharge port of the parts feeder, a second conveyor having a higher speed than the first conveyor is provided at the front side of the first conveyor, and the second conveyor is provided at the rear end of the second conveyor. 2 At a position that divides the circumference of a rotation axis having the same rotation direction as the rotation axis of the conveyor into three equal parts, a claw wheel having a claw with a curved convex shape on the front side and a curved concave shape on the rear side and a pointed tip in the rotation direction, respectively. , The second Below the bear's carrying surface, when the tip of one of the nails sinks below the conveyor carrying surface when the ratchet wheel is rotated, the curved convex portion of the following nail appears on the conveyor, A beam sensor is installed to rotate the conveyor at a lower speed and to detect the presence of a plate-like conveyed object immediately before the ratchet wheel to adjust the speed of the first conveyor. The leading end of the conveyed object moving in contact with each other is brought into contact with the curved concave portion of one claw, and the curved convex portion of the next claw pushes up the rear side of the conveyed object to advance on the second conveyor. As a result, the conveyed goods are automatically separated and supplied on the second conveyor by separating the conveyed goods from each other.