JPH085955Y2 - Article transfer mechanism and article stacking apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for horizontally pushing out articles on a conveyor and transferring them to a storage box or the like, or stacking and transferring them in layers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an article that has been pitch-fed by a conveyor is pushed horizontally and is transferred to a predetermined position in a storage box having an opening on its side surface or is stacked and transferred in layers, the article is conveyed. A guide is provided between them so that they will not be pushed out of the box and fall before reaching the storage box. If this guide is a fixed type, the supplied storage box is brought closer to the conveyor side to stack the articles at the specified position,
When the stack was over, the storage box was ejected away from the conveyor. In addition, if this guide is movable and horizontal movement of the storage box is avoided, an air cylinder for driving the guide is provided separately from the air cylinder that drives the pusher that pushes out the article, and the guide along with the pushed out article has a fixed distance. It had a moving structure.

[0003]

When the guide is fixed as in the former case, a mechanism for moving the storage box in the horizontal direction is required, and in the latter case, the movable guide is driven. An air cylinder is required, and the structure becomes complicated in both cases. Further, when the guide is driven separately from the pusher, it is necessary to match the speed at which the article is pushed out with the moving speed of the guide, and to consider the timing of starting the movement of the guide. Furthermore, when dealing with articles having different depth dimensions, it is necessary to replace the guide or change the pushing stroke of each pusher.

[0004]

Therefore, in the present invention, a pusher for horizontally pushing an article from a conveying means into a storage box, a replaceable stopper for restricting the pushing stroke, and a pusher for pushing the article between the conveyor and the storage box are provided. A guide plate that interlocks with the pusher to support the article pushed out during the stroke from below and guide it to the storage position in the storage box, and a replaceable sub-stopper that stops the guide plate during the extrusion stroke. Set up. Then, the pusher is reciprocated by the air cylinder, and the guide plate temporarily interlocked with it is also reciprocated.
When articles are stacked in layers, storage box moving means for pitching the storage boxes vertically is provided.

[0005]

With a single driving means, it is possible to push out the article horizontally and guide it from the conveyor to the storage position so that the article does not fall.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the article transfer mechanism of the present invention and an article stacking apparatus using the same will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an article transfer mechanism of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof. The article transfer mechanism A includes a pusher 1, a guide plate portion 2, and an air. Cylinder part 3
Consists of Further, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that a cylindrical article such as a battery is transferred to the storage case.

Reference numeral 10 designates a pair of bilaterally symmetrical brackets for mounting the article transfer mechanism A of the present embodiment, one end of which is mounted on the main body frame (not shown) at the same height with an interval slightly larger than the outer size of the frame 51 described later. The support plate 9 is horizontally attached to the support plate attachment portions 91 held at the other ends.
A pair of linear guide bearings 11 are attached to the support plate 9 in parallel with each other at intervals smaller than the width of the storage box. The pusher 1 is attached to the lower surface of the connecting member 13 and the connecting member 13 that connects one end of the pair of shafts 12 that fits in the linear guide bearing 11 and moves linearly, and has a width dimension slightly smaller than the inner width of the storage box C. The article extruding plate 14 horizontally projects in the extruding direction. The article push-out plate 14 faces the specified number of end faces of the articles X aligned on the conveyor 4, and the other ends of the pair of shafts 12 are connected by a connecting plate 15. This connecting plate 15
Has an angle 151 for supporting a pair of linear guide bearings 16 parallel to each other below the connecting surface of the shaft 12, and a pair of shafts 171 that fit into the linear guide bearings 16 and move linearly and a connecting member 172 that connects one ends thereof. , Connecting member 17
A guide plate pushing member 17 that horizontally protrudes in the pushing direction and a connecting plate 173 that connects the other ends of the shafts 171 are supported at approximately the center of 2. This connecting plate 173 and angle 1
The minimum distance from the connector 51 is determined by the bolt 18 attached to the connecting plate 173, and the connecting coil 173 is always pulled toward the angle 151 by the tension coil spring 19 provided between the connecting plate 173 and the angle 151.

The guide plate portion 2 includes a pair of parallel linear guide bearings 22 supported by a support plate 21, a pair of shafts 23 fitted into the linear guide bearings 22, and a connecting member 25 for connecting one ends thereof, and a shaft 23. Plate 24, which connects the other ends of the two and rises vertically to the article discharge side of the conveyor 4,
X attached to the upper surface of the product and discharged from the conveyor
A guide plate 241 for receiving the information. In addition, the connecting member 25
Is at a height corresponding to the pushing position of the guide plate pushing member 17 of the pusher 1, and the guide plate 241 is the conveyor 4
Between the storage box C and the storage box C, is located at a height slightly lower than the article conveying surface of the conveyor 4, and has a width dimension slightly smaller than the inner width of the storage box C. Then, the support plate 21 and the connecting plate 2
4 is determined by the bolt 27 attached to the support plate 21, and the connection coil 24 is always pulled toward the support plate 21 by the tension coil spring 28 provided between the support plate 21 and the connection plate 24. Reference numeral 26 is a sub-stopper that restricts the movement stroke of the guide plate 241, and is attached to the connecting member 25 in a replaceable manner, and the stroke is restricted by colliding with the support plate 21.

The air cylinder section 3 includes an air cylinder 31 attached to the support plate 9 by a support block 34,
Joint 33 attached to the tip of own rod 32
The rod 32 is connected to the connecting member 13 of the pusher 1 via a joint 33.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an article detection unit for confirming whether or not the articles X aligned on the conveyor and fed at a pitch have reached the number of articles to be transferred to the storage box C by the pusher 1 at a time. The U-shaped frame 51 having the sensor 6 is rotatably supported by a pair of mounting plates 55 fixed to the shaft 9 via an outer ring rotation bearing 56 provided on the mounting plate 55. The mounting interval of the mounting plate 55 and the arm interval of the frame 51 correspond to the outer dimension between the outer ring rotation bearings 53 mounted at both ends of the connecting member 13 of the pusher 1, and the inside of the frame 51 has the pusher 1 Connection member 1
A pair of plate cams 52 are provided that abut on bearings 53 that move by the reciprocating motion of 3 to vertically rotate the frame 51. The plate cam 52 has a shape having a downward slope in the pushing direction of the pusher 1. The sensor 6 has a frame 51.
It is attached to a predetermined position of and the article X on the conveyor detects whether or not the article X has reached directly under itself. Also, the frame 51
Both arm portions are pulled up to the main body frame side (not shown) through a pair of tension coil springs 54 with the outer ring rotation bearing 56 as a fulcrum, and the plate cam 52 contacts the outer ring rotation bearing 53 of the pusher 1. It has been stopped by.

Reference numeral 7 designates a pair of stoppers which, when the pusher 1 is pushed out by the air cylinder portion 3, collide with the connecting plate 15 thereof to regulate the pushing stroke of the pusher 1, and the protruding portion at one end of the support plate 9 It is inserted into a pair of concave receiving blocks 71 fixed to the plate 91 and fixed by fixing screws 72.

FIG. 3 shows that when articles are stacked one by one in the storage box by using the article transfer mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the storage boxes C are lowered by one pitch each time they are stacked. It is a schematic side view which shows one Example of the storage box moving means B.

The storage box moving means B includes a frame 81, a pair of ball screws 82, a ball nut 83 and a supporter 8.
4, toothed pulley 85, shaft 86, lifting guide 87
And a mounting plate 88. The frame 81 has an opening on the front side on the article conveyor side, and its top plate has a cutout portion so that the storage box can project from the upper surface of the frame when the storage box is raised. The pair of ball screws 82 are supporters 84 provided at symmetrical positions on the inner surfaces of the left and right side plates of the frame 81.
And, it is rotatably held in a vertical posture by a bearing embedded in the top plate and has a toothed pulley 85 at its upper end. The ball nut 83 is moved up and down by the rotation of the ball screw 82, and is movable along a pair of vertically fixed shafts 86 that connect a predetermined position between the top plate and the bottom plate of the frame 81 and a pair of lift guides 87. Each is connected.
The mounting plate 88 connects between the pair of lifting guides,
The storage box C is positioned and placed. In this embodiment, since the storage box C transfers articles from the horizontal direction, the storage box C is placed in a sideways posture so that the opening is located on the conveyor side. However, it is originally used with the opening facing upward. is there.

The operation of the article transfer mechanism and the article stacking apparatus having such a configuration will be described with reference to the drawings.

When the articles X aligned and pitch-fed on the conveyor 4 reach directly below the sensor 6, a control device (not shown) stops the pitch-feeding of the conveyor by the detection signal of the sensor and drives the air cylinder 31. To do. The pushed rod 32 is pushed through the joint 33 to the pusher 1
The connecting member 13 is pushed out. Then, due to the movement of the outer ring rotation bearings 53 at both ends of the coupling member 13 and the downward slope of the plate cam 52, the frame 51 is moved to the outer ring rotation bearings 5.
With the fulcrum 6 as a fulcrum, the tension of the tension coil spring 54 causes the sensor 6 to gradually rotate upward, and the sensor 6 is removed from the moving space of the pusher 1. When the connecting member 13 is pushed out, the connecting plate 15 is also pulled out, and eventually the guide plate pushing member 17 reaches the connecting member 25 of the guide plate portion 2. At this time, the article push-out plate 14 of the pusher 1 has pushed out the article X from the conveyor and has finished transferring it onto the guide plate 241. When the rod 32 is further pushed out, the shaft 23 is pushed out along the linear guide bearing 22, the guide plate 241 starts to move, and the article pushing plate 14 and the guide plate 241 move in parallel at the same speed. That is, the article X is carried into the storage box C while remaining stationary on the guide plate 241, the stopper 26 of the guide plate portion 2 eventually contacts the support plate 21, and only the guide plate 241 stops at a predetermined position. When the rod 32 is further pushed out, the article pushing plate 14 pushes the article X on the stopped guide plate from the guide plate, and the article X is transferred into the storage box.
On the other hand, since the guide plate pushing member 17 has stopped pushing by the stopper 26, while the article X is transferred from the guide plate 241 to the storage box, the connecting plate 15 and the angle 151 attached thereto are linearly guided. By the bearing 16, the guide plate pushing member 17 is approached along the shaft 171.

When the transfer of the article X to the storage box is completed and the air cylinder 31 pulls the rod 32 back to its original position, first, the gap between the angle 151 of the pusher 1 and the guide plate pushing member 17 is changed to the tension coil. The spring 19 returns the guide plate 241 of the guide plate portion 2 to the minimum distance determined by the bolt 18, and the tension coil spring 28 pulls back the guide plate 241 to the minimum distance determined by the bolt 27 with the support plate 21. Stop in position. Further, since the contact position of the plate cam 52 contacting the outer ring rotation bearing 53 is also retracted to the original position, the frame 51 is gradually swung downward, and the sensor 6 is returned to the original article detection position. come.

Next, the case where the articles X are stacked in the storage box by using the transfer mechanism of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

When the toothed pulley 85 and the ball screw 82 are rotated by the rotational force transmitted by the toothed belt from a pulse motor (not shown), the ball nut 83 moves up and down. When the ball nut 83 moves up and down, the lift guide 87 and the mounting plate 88 connected to the ball nut 83 move the shaft 86.
Go up and down. Therefore, the position where the guide plate 241 of the guide plate portion 2 enters just above the article mounting surface of the storage box C is stopped as a lift reference, and after the first stage article transfer, the height of the article X is increased. The pulse motor (not shown) is rotated by a specified amount in order to lower the storage box C by one step with the pitch size as one pitch. Then, this operation is repeated every time the articles are stacked and transferred, and the storage box is ejected at this position, with the position where the specified pitches are fed several times as the lower reference. When the storage box is ejected, a pulse motor (not shown) reversely rotates and the ball nut 83 is returned to the upper reference position. That is, the loading plate 88 also returns to the upper reference position, and the next storage box is supplied onto the loading plate 88 to repeat the stacking operation of the articles in the storage box.

Further, in the article transfer mechanism of the present embodiment, the stopper 7 and the stopper 26 of the guide plate portion 2 are replaced according to the depth dimension of the article so that various articles having the same height and different depth dimensions can be obtained. Can handle.

[0021]

As described above, the single drive means
Since the article is horizontally transferred from the conveyor to a predetermined position in the storage box while guiding the article, it is not necessary to adjust the timing of pushing out and guiding the article. In addition, by changing the stoppers at two locations, it is possible to switch the types of articles to be transferred in a relatively short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an article transfer mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an embodiment of a transfer mechanism for articles of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating an article stacking device using the article transfer mechanism of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A article transfer mechanism B storage box moving means C storage box X article 1 pusher 2 guide plate section 3 air cylinder section 4 conveyor 5 article detection section 6 sensor 7 stopper 9 support plate 26 sub-stopper

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A mechanism for horizontally pushing out an article fed by a conveying means with a pitch and transferring the article into a storage box having an opening on a side surface, a pusher for horizontally pushing out the article from the conveying means into the storage box, Between the stopper that regulates the push-out stroke of the pusher, and between the conveying means and the storage box, the pusher is provided to support the pushed-out article from below in the middle of the push-out stroke of the pusher and guide it to the storage position in the storage box. And a sub-stopper that stops the guide plate during the push stroke of the pusher, and an air cylinder that reciprocates the push stroke of the pusher and the movement of the guide plate in association with each other. An article transfer mechanism characterized by the above. 2. An article stacking apparatus for horizontally pushing out articles pitch-fed by a conveying means and stacking them in layers in a storage box having an opening on a side surface thereof.
2. An article stacking device, comprising: the article transfer mechanism; and a storage box moving means for mounting the storage boxes and pitch-feeding the storage boxes in a vertical direction corresponding to stacking positions of the articles.