JPH0824793A - Method for sorting thickness of article - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method for continuously sorting the thicknesses of molding articles, such as wheat gluten and gum, and capable of sorting even the molded article shapes liable to generate bridging, etc., with good accuracy during transportation. CONSTITUTION:In this method of sorting the thicknesses of the articles to be inspected, these articles to be inspected are transported on the spacings formed by transporting guides which are arranged axially between spirally flanged screws, and dropping the articles of the thicknesses corresponding to the spacing zones meeting the thicknesses of the articles while the spirally flanged screws which are reduced in diameter stepwise toward downstream and vary in rotating directions from each other are juxtaposed apart from each other. The articles are transported while the transporting postures thereof are changed every prescribed spacing during the transporting of the articles, by which the postures to drop the articles of the corresponding thicknesses in the prescribed spacing zones are positively created. As a result, the sorting accuracy is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for selecting the thickness of articles such as candy, gum, coins and the like for continuously and accurately selecting the thickness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since a packaging machine for individually packaging candy, gum and the like is generally packaged at a high speed, a certain dimensional accuracy is required for the candy and the like in order to hang these molded products on the packaging machine. For this reason, the thickness of a candy or the like is inspected by using a thickness sorter as shown in Fig. 2 before it is mounted in a packaging machine after molding, and the molded product is thinner than the standard size, within the standard, or thick. Be sorted into things.

As shown in FIG. 2, this thickness sorter is provided with a chute 1 which is provided with an inclination for supplying a molded product to a sorting section, and the supplied molded product from an upstream side to a downstream side of the sorter. A sorting unit 55 that sorts and drops thin products, products within specifications, and thick products in this order, and a conveyor A5 that transports molded products with different thicknesses sorted by this sorting unit 55 to the next process. , Conveyor B6, and conveyor C7. The sorting unit 55 includes a pair of screws 310 and 320 arranged side by side in the downstream direction,
It is composed of a guide 37 which is arranged in the middle of the screw in the axial direction and conveys and guides the molded product.
A gap according to the thickness is formed on the sheet 7, and the molded product is transferred during this period so that the molded product having a desired thickness is dropped in each of the gap zones to be selected. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, this sorting unit is a screw 31 in which spiral ribs 34 and 35 are spirally provided on the surface of a rod-shaped body.
Nos. 0 and 320 are arranged in parallel, and a guide 37 serving as a mountain-shaped conveyance path is provided in the middle thereof, and the gap 1 formed in the gap 100 formed by the screw and the guide 37.
The thickness of the molded product 2 is selected by dropping the molded product 2 having a size passing through 00. The respective screws 310 and 320 are pushed upward by the screws 310 and 320 and the guide 37. It is designed to be conveyed from upstream to downstream while rotating. As shown in FIG. 4, the diameter of the selecting portion is gradually changed from upstream to downstream, and the thickness of the molded product can be selected by gradually increasing the gap between the screw and the guide. . For example, upstream has a diameter of 5
0mm, 48mm in the middle and downstream. Further, the guides are provided in the upstream and midstream parts, but not in the downstream part.
As a result, the gap 100 between the guide 37 and the screws 310 and 320 is, for example, 10 mm in the upstream portion, 11 mm larger by 1 mm in the middle portion, and open in the downstream portion. In addition, the sorting unit 55 is provided with a plurality of sorting units 55 arranged in parallel according to the processing capacity.

The thickness sorter having the above construction sorts thicknesses as follows. The molded product 2 uniformly supplied to each sorting screw by the chute 1 is conveyed from the upstream to the downstream in the state shown in FIG. 3, and the molded product having a thickness of 10 mm or less falls in the upstream portion, and more Thick ones are sent to the midstream section. Similarly, a molded product having a thickness of 11 mm or less falls in the midstream portion. Then, all the molded products thicker than 11 mm fall at the downstream portion. As a result, it is possible to sort into molded products having a standard thickness of 10 to 11 mm.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional thickness sorter, in the case of a molded product having a flat surface, a bridge is apt to occur in the gap portion, and the vertical direction of the product as shown in FIG.
In the case of a molded product having a relatively large thickness with respect to the lateral length ratio and a shape in which the corner surface 2a is removed, the molded product is originally conveyed over the gap between the screw 310 and the guide 37 in a state as shown in FIG. 6 (a). What should have been placed sideways as shown in Figure 6 (b),
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), it is easy for the two to be conveyed in a state where they are placed side by side vertically. For this reason, a thin molded product that should be dropped in the upstream part may be dropped in the midstream part and the downstream part, or a normal product having a size within the standard may be dropped in the downstream part, resulting in a significant decrease in the sorting accuracy. Therefore, the advent of a sorting machine that can reliably sort even a molded product that easily causes such a bridge has been desired. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for selecting the thickness of an article, which can always accurately select the thickness of the article regardless of the shape of the article.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned object is to install spirally-screwed screws, which are gradually reduced in diameter toward the downstream and have different rotation directions, in parallel with each other, and axially arranged in the middle thereof. A method of transferring an article to be inspected onto a gap formed by a conveyance guide, dropping an article having a corresponding thickness in a gap zone corresponding to the thickness of the article, and selecting the thickness of the article during the transportation of the article. The method for selecting the thickness of an article is characterized in that the article is selected while changing its delivery attitude at every predetermined interval to positively create an attitude in which an article having a corresponding thickness falls in a predetermined gap zone.

[0007]

That is, according to the method of selecting the thickness of the article of the present invention, the molded article is transferred in a state where the molded article is laterally placed or two pieces are placed in the gap formed by the screw and the guide and is not sorted in the gap zone to be sorted. In order to prevent this, the posture of the molded product in the above state that does not drop at the predetermined position is broken at an appropriate position of each sorting unit to make it a regular posture that can select the thickness, and the molded product with the predetermined thickness must be the predetermined position. In this way, the thickness of the molded product is accurately selected by dropping it in the sorting section. As described above, the molded product that is supplied to the sorting unit and does not fall in the sorting unit corrects its posture a plurality of times after giving a predetermined sorting time and positively creates the posture of falling into the gap. The molded product having a thickness of 3 is surely dropped in the gap zone having a predetermined thickness, and the molded product can be sorted with high accuracy and stability. Therefore, even if the molded products have a shape that allows easy horizontal mounting or two mounting, it is possible to perform sorting without lowering the sorting accuracy.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for realizing an article thickness selecting method according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an inclined chute for uniformly supplying the molded product 2 to the three sets of sorting units 3, which is provided on the upstream side of the sorting units. Reference numeral 3 denotes a sorting section including a screw A31 and a screw B32 that are spaced apart and arranged side by side, and a guide 37 that is axially arranged in the middle between them, and the molded product 2 supplied from the chute is fed from the upstream side of the sorting section 3. In the process of transporting to the downstream side, while correcting the posture of the molded product, the molded product is selected and dropped in the order of thin, within specification, and thick.
5, 6 and 7 are conveyors A for transporting the selected molded products 2 having respective thicknesses to a subsequent step (not shown),
B and C are provided below the sorting unit. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the sorting section 3, in which a mountain-shaped guide 37 for guiding a molded product is provided in the middle of a screw A31 and a screw B32 provided in parallel, and between the guide 37 and the screw B32. The gap 50 formed between the guide 37 and the screw A31 allows a molded product having a thickness suitable for the gap 50 to be dropped. Therefore, the gap 50 is set so that a molded product having a desired thickness can be dropped. And
Each screw is rotated in the opposite direction to push up the molded product by the screw and the guide. Next, FIG. 8 shows a plan view of this sorting section, in which the screw 33 and the roller 33 of the screw B 32 respectively have a left-hand spiral spiral collar A 34 so as to convey the molded product 2 from upstream to downstream. And a right-handed spiral spiral collar B35. The sorting unit 3 includes the posture correction unit 60 and the thin product sorting unit 7 from the upstream side.
It is divided into four zones: 0, in-specification product selection unit 80, and thick product selection unit 90. The supplied molded products are dropped by the selection unit having a suitable thickness. Also, the roller 33
In the posture correcting section 60 and the thin product selecting section 70, the in-standard product selecting section 80 and the thick product selecting section 90 have different diameters of the rollers, and the gap 50 is gradually widened.
For example, when the former is designed to have a roller diameter of 50 mm and the latter is designed to have a diameter of 48 mm, the gap 50 between the guide 37 and the roller 37 is 50.
, The latter is 1 mm larger than the former. Therefore,
In the in-standard product selection unit 80, the
mm Drops even thick molded products. The guides 37 are provided in the posture correction unit 60, the thin product selection unit 70, and the in-standard product selection unit 80, and in the thick product selection unit 90, all molded products that have not fallen in the in-standard product selection unit 80 are dropped. Because of that. Next, the protruding pins 4 are fixed to the brim A34 and the brim B35 of the posture correcting portion at several places,
As shown in FIG. 9, while the molded product 2 is being conveyed, the molded product is flipped up to change its posture. As a result, the molded product 2 supplied from the chute 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6C, even if two or more pieces are placed sideways in the gap 50, the state is broken and the posture is stable again. As shown in FIG. Is given the opportunity to change and fall. Therefore, the one having a predetermined thickness surely falls in the predetermined gap portion, so that the sorting accuracy can be improved.

In the above structure, the molded product 2 supplied from the chute 1 to the selection unit 3 is first aligned in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. Sent to. Here, a molded product having a certain thickness or less is dropped and conveyed by the conveyor A. Next, the molded product 2 that has not fallen in the thin product selection unit 70 is sent to the in-standard product selection unit 80, and here, the molded product 2 having a certain thickness or less.
Is dropped and is conveyed to the subsequent process as a non-defective product by the conveyor 2. Further, the molded products 2 that have not fallen in the in-standard product selection unit 80 are conveyed to the thick product selection unit 90, where they are all dropped and conveyed by the conveyor C. Then, in the process of this selection, the molded product conveyed in the bridge state is released by the pin 4, and the opportunity of selection is given again. Therefore, according to the thickness selection method using the thickness selection device described above, when the product supplied to the selection unit is conveyed for a certain period of time, the posture is corrected and the opportunity of thickness selection is given again. Even if two products or two products are placed sideways, this is canceled and the opportunity to drop the molded product into the corresponding gap is positively created. It passed the downstream, and even standard products were never discharged as defective products, and it became possible to improve the sorting accuracy.

In the above embodiment, as a method of changing the carrying posture of the molded product being transported to the sorting section, a method of making the molded product dance with the pin 4 shown in FIG. 9 and correcting the posture will be described. However, not limited to this, as shown in FIG. 10, the posture of the molded product may be changed by injecting air from below the gap toward the molded product being conveyed. Moreover, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, an elastic body such as a coil spring or rubber may be suspended above the gap to give a function of changing the posture of the molded product during transfer. Further, in the embodiment, it is stated that the posture correcting unit is provided in front of the selecting unit, but this is reversed, and the molded product supplied from the chute is first roughly selected by the selecting unit and then the posture is changed. It is also possible to cancel the so-called two-sheet mounting, which has lost the chance of falling in the correction section, and improve the sorting accuracy.

[0011]

As described above in detail, in the thickness selection method according to the present invention, the molded product supplied to the screening unit is placed horizontally on the gap between the guide and the roller due to factors such as the shape of the molded product.
Even when individually placed, this posture is released to positively create a posture in which the molded product can drop in a predetermined gap zone. Therefore, according to the sorting method of the present invention, the molded product always falls in the gap zone having a predetermined thickness, so that a continuous thickness sorting method with high sorting accuracy can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a conventional thickness selection device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the selection unit of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the selection unit of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an external view of a molded product.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a conveyed state of a molded product in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a sorting unit in the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a sorting unit in the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a posture correction unit in the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a selection unit in an example in which the posture of a molded product is corrected by air injection.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a selection unit in an example in which an elastic obstacle is provided to correct the posture of a molded product.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Chute 2 Molded Product 3 Sorting Unit 4 Pin 5 Conveyor A 6 Conveyor B 7 Conveyor C 31 Screw A 32 Screw B 310 Screw A 320 Screw B 33 Roller 34 Collar A 35 Collar B 37 Guide 50 Gap 55 Sorting Unit 60 Posture Correcting Unit 70 Thin product selection unit 80 In-standard product selection unit 90 Thick product selection unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gap formed by arranging spirally-screwed screws whose rotation directions are different from each other in a gradually decreasing diameter toward the downstream side and spaced apart from each other, and an intermediately arranged transport guide in the middle thereof. A method of transferring an article to be inspected to an article, dropping an article having a corresponding thickness in a gap zone corresponding to the thickness of the article, and selecting the thickness, wherein the transfer attitude is set at predetermined intervals during the transfer of the article. A method for selecting a thickness of an article, which positively creates a posture in which an article having a corresponding thickness falls in a predetermined gap zone by transferring the article while changing the thickness.