JPH0881045A - Article separative aligning conveyor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an article separative aligning conveyor device that can convey articles, conveyed in the longitudinally-laterally aligned state, one by one in the longitudinally aligned state. CONSTITUTION: A high speed belt conveyor 12 formed of four belt conveyors 12a-12d is disposed on the lower reaches of a low speed belt conveyor 10 for conveying numerous articles 11 in the longitudinally-laterally aligned state. Since the lower reaches side is made high speed, the articles in front and in the rear are separated at the time of transfer. A stopper plate 14 is disposed on the first belt conveyor so as to temporarily stop the advance of an article group. A conveyor means 15 with a press-feeding finger moving parallel with the disposed direction of a stopper plate 14 so as to convey the laterally aligned article group 11' in a specified direction is disposed adjacently to the stopper plate 14, and the article group is laterally moved by the press-feeding finger and advanced again on the first belt conveyor in order from the head article coming off the stopper plate 14. The laterally arranged articles are thereby placed in the longitudinally aligned state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article separating and aligning and conveying apparatus.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is possible to separate an article, which has been conveyed in a state where front and rear articles are in contact with each other (or with a certain interval), by a predetermined distance in the front and rear direction (if it is originally separated, it is further separated). At least 2
Various ones have been developed in which one transport device is used and the transport speed of the downstream transport device is increased.

By the way, confectionery and other foods are individually packaged one by one and then stored in a predetermined number in a package. Therefore, in order to perform such individual packaging, it is necessary to supply such articles (confectionery, etc.) to a predetermined packaging device such as a pillow packaging device at regular intervals. On the other hand, such an article is manufactured in a line different from that of the packaging device, and then transported in a state where it is vertically and horizontally aligned and packed in a box such as a tray. Then, by reversing the tray or the like, the article is transferred to the packaging device (actually, a transport device for supplying the packaging device) and transferred.

Further, in the case where a series of continuous systems from production to packaging are carried out, they are unloaded in a horizontal row from the production line side and sent to the packaging line side.

Therefore, a large number of articles are supplied on the packaging apparatus (conveying apparatus) in a state of being aligned vertically and horizontally, so that the front and rear are separated in the middle thereof and finally when the articles are supplied to the packaging apparatus. Need to be aligned one by one in a vertical line and have the same orientation.

Therefore, it is desired to develop a separating and aligning / conveying device for smoothly and accurately performing such a conversion of the conveying state (a state of being arranged vertically and horizontally → a state of being vertically arranged with a predetermined distance in front and rear). However, there is no device that satisfies the above-mentioned demand.

The present invention has been made in view of the above background. An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to vertically arrange articles conveyed in a vertical and horizontal manner one by one. An object of the present invention is to provide an article separating and aligning / conveying apparatus which can surely make the conveying postures the same in a state of being in the same state, and can surely separate front and rear articles by a certain distance or more.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in an article separating and aligning and conveying apparatus according to the present invention, there are provided a first conveying means for sequentially conveying a large number of articles in a vertically and horizontally aligned state, and a first conveying means therefor. A second conveying unit which is provided on the downstream side of the first conveying unit and conveys at a higher speed than the conveying speed of the first conveying unit; and a predetermined position above the conveying surface of the second conveying unit,
The stopper means which is arranged to intersect with the traveling direction thereof, is arranged near the upstream side of the stopper means and above the conveying surface of the second conveying means, moves in parallel with the arrangement direction of the stopper means, and forms a horizontal row. Conveyor means having a pushing finger for conveying the group of articles arranged in a predetermined direction.

[0009] Preferably, the carrying-out side of the second carrying means is provided with carrying-direction correcting means for sequentially feeding the articles in a predetermined direction to the next-stage packaging device, and the carrying-out side of the second carrying means. At least one side surface in the vicinity is opened, and a discharge path is arranged on the opening side, and the conveyance posture correction means is a belt surface on a vertical surface above the conveyance surface of the second conveyance means. An endless belt having a moving path of a belt surface of the endless belt, a portion inclined toward the side surface on the opening side, and a portion continuous to the tip of the inclined portion and parallel to the side surface on the opening side. It is configured to have.

[0010]

When the group of articles in the front row among the articles conveyed on the first conveying means are transferred to the second conveying means,
Due to the difference in the conveyance speed (the second conveyance means is faster), the article group moves forward while gradually separating from the succeeding article group. As a result, among the vertically and horizontally arranged articles, the articles in the vertical direction (front and back) are separated from each other by a predetermined distance.

Next, the forward movement of the article moving on the second conveying means is temporarily stopped by the stopper means. In this state, a group of articles lined up in a horizontal line by the conveyor means comes in contact with the side surface of the article when the pushing fingers move from the lateral direction, and further urges the article in the lateral direction. As a result, the article group moves in the moving direction (direction different from the carrying direction of the second carrying means) as the pushing finger moves. Then, when the head in the moving direction is separated from the stopper means, it is moved in the carrying direction of the second carrying means in order from the head by the carrying force of the second carrying means. As a result, the articles lined up in the horizontal direction are moved forward one by one, so that the articles are finally converted into a state where they are lined up in a line.

Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, the transporting posture correcting means aligns the transporting directions of the articles. And if the posture is not in the desired state,
Drop into the discharge path. Therefore, for the next packaging equipment,
Only articles with uniform postures are smoothly and sequentially supplied.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the article separating and aligning and conveying apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows the whole of a carrying apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a large number of articles 11 are arranged vertically and horizontally on a low-speed belt conveyor 10 serving as a first conveying means, and adjacent articles 11 are in contact with each other, and conveyed at a predetermined speed. To be done. In addition, in this example, the articles 11 adjacent to each other in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction are in contact with each other, but the present invention is not limited to this, and one of the front-rear and left-right articles or both the articles is separated by a certain distance. Further, as shown in the drawing, 14 × 3 articles 11 may be made into one lump, and the lumps of such articles may be conveyed back and forth by a predetermined distance. Further, the article 11 that can be placed in this example is made of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped confectionery.

On the downstream side of the low speed belt conveyor 10, a high speed belt conveyor 12 as a second conveying means is continuously arranged. And in this example, the high-speed belt conveyor 1
2 is composed of four belt conveyors (first to fourth belt conveyors 12a to 12d). And the conveyance speed of those four belt conveyors 12a-12d is,
Both of them have the same speed, and have a higher speed than the low speed belt conveyor 10. Furthermore, the transport direction is the same,
They are arranged continuously in a straight line.

With such a configuration, when the frontmost one row of the articles 11 moving on the low speed belt conveyor 10 is transferred to the first belt conveyor 12a, the one row of the articles 11 is transferred due to the difference in transport speed. Only at a high speed, and is separated from the article 11 on the subsequent low-speed belt conveyor 10. Then, a large number of articles 1 arranged in one horizontal line (14 in this example)
It is conveyed at a constant speed in the state of the article group 11 'consisting of 1.

The conveyor speeds of the conveyors 12a to 12d are all the same in this example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the separation distance between the front and rear articles 11 is gradually changed by appropriately changing them. You may do it.

The first belt conveyor 12a on the upstream side
Is provided with a stopper plate 14 extending in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction at a predetermined position on the carry-in side, and an article group 11 ′ moving on the first belt conveyor 12 a abuts on the stopper plate 14. Then, since the article group 11 'is only on the first belt conveyor 12a, its advance is temporarily stopped.

Further, in the vicinity of the upstream side of the stopper plate 14, parallel to the arrangement direction of the stopper plate 14 (first
A koyagra conveyor 15 as a conveyor means is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the belt conveyor 12a. As shown in the enlarged view of FIGS. 2 and 3, the koyagra conveyor 15 includes a drive sprocket 17a attached to the output shaft of a drive motor 16 installed outside the side edge of the first belt conveyor 12a, and a first sprocket 17a. The 1-belt conveyor 12a is provided with a pushing finger 19 at a predetermined position of an endless chain 18 which is suspended between driven sprockets 17b arranged at a predetermined position (a position near one end of the stopper plate 14). Further, in this example, three pushing fingers 19 are arranged at equal intervals (in the illustrated example, a large number is shown because the movement trajectory of the pushing finger 19 is shown by a chain double-dashed line).

The pushing finger 19 (endless chain 18) is a plane parallel to the stopper plate 14,
That is, the above-mentioned components are arranged so as to rotate in the transport plane of the first belt conveyor 12a and the vertical plane orthogonal to the transport direction. Furthermore, front and rear pushing fingers 1
The distance W between 9 is set longer than the width of the article group 11 '. Then, the article group 11 ′ that is transferred and conveyed to the first belt conveyor 12 a includes the front and rear pushing fingers 1.
Each of the conveyors 10, 12, so as to pass through the space 9 and hit the stopper plate 14 to temporarily stop its forward movement.
The rotation speed and operation timing of 15 are adjusted.

As a result, the article group 11 'whose forward movement is temporarily stopped by the stopper plate 14 is urged by the pushing finger 18 and conveyed in the lateral direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the first belt conveyor 12a. Has become.
When the tip 14a of the stopper plate 14 is crossed, the force for suppressing the forward movement is lost. , Move forward again.

Further, on the downstream side of the stopper plate 14 and the koyagra conveyor 15, the side edge of the first belt conveyor 12a opposite to the side where the drive motor 16 is installed is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the conveying direction of the first belt conveyor 12a. The guide plate 20 is arranged in a shape. Then, the article 11 carried out from the koyagra conveyor 15 comes into contact with the guide plate 20 and moves along the guide plate 20, so that the conveyance posture is changed (inclination equal to the inclination angle of the guide plate 20). Will be).

Further, in this example, the first belt conveyor 12
A first guide belt 21 extending in an inclined shape from one side edge (on the same side as the guide plate 20) of the second belt conveyor 12b installed on the downstream side of a toward the center is provided. The first guide belt 21 is rotationally driven by a drive motor 22 installed outside the second belt conveyor 12b, and each article 11 whose conveyance posture is changed to the inclined shape by the guide plate 20 is the first guide belt 21. While being in contact with the second endless belt 21 and maintaining the transporting posture thereof, the second endless belt 12b is transported to the vicinity of the side edge on the opposite side and is transferred to the third endless belt 12c.

Further, the second guide belt 23 (driving motor 2) extending from one side edge (the side opposite to the first guide belt 21) of the third belt conveyor 12c to the center in an inclined manner.
4 is driven to rotate). The second guide belt 23 is arranged so as to be inclined in a direction opposite to that of the first guide belt 21, and the leading end of the second guide belt 23 has the fourth belt conveyor 12
It is extended to the carry-out side of d.

The third belt conveyor 12d
Compared to the second and third belt conveyors 12b and 12c,
Its width is set short. Then, the package supply device 25 of the pillow packaging device and other packaging devices is arranged on the downstream side of the fourth belt conveyor 12d. In this example, the supply device 25 is arranged near one side edge. ing.

Then, the side edge of the forty-third belt conveyor 12d on which the package supply device 25 is installed is opened, and a discharge chute 26 is installed on the open outside. The discharge chute 26 is formed in a downward slope in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, and the articles 11 dropped from the fourth belt conveyor 12d fall along the downward slope and are discharged to the outside.

Further, above the fourth belt conveyor 12d, a conveyance posture correction device 30 is arranged. The conveyance posture correction device 30 is arranged in the vicinity of the supply device 25 on the downstream side of the fourth belt conveyor 12d and the drive pulley 32 attached to the drive motor 31 arranged on the upstream side edge of the fourth belt conveyor 12d. The driven pulley 33 and the endless belt 35 that is wound around the idle pulley 34 that is arranged at a predetermined position in the intermediate portion of the driven pulley 33.
Is arranged so as to have a belt surface on a vertical surface above the transport surface of the.

Further, the line connecting the driven pulley 33 and the idle pulley 34 is set to be parallel to the open side edge of the fourth belt conveyor 12d (the side where the discharge chute 26 is formed) and the feeding direction of the supply device 25. . As a result, the movement trajectory of the belt surface of the endless belt 35 is continuous with the portion A (from the drive pulley 32 to the idle pulley 34) inclined toward the open side surface and the tip of the inclined portion A. It has a portion B (from the idle pulley 34 to the driven pulley 33) parallel to the side surface on the open side.

Then, the above-mentioned second to fourth belt conveyors 1
When the articles conveyed on 2b to 12d come into contact with the first and second guide belts 21 and 23 and the endless belt 35, the longitudinal side surfaces of the article 11 come into contact with the belt surface, and To move along.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. First, the articles 11 conveyed in a state in which they are in contact with each other on the low-speed belt conveyor 10 in the front, rear, left, and right are first in the front row.
When it is transferred onto the belt conveyor 12a, it moves forward while gradually separating from the succeeding article due to the difference in transport speed. When it abuts on the stopper plate 14, its forward movement is temporarily stopped.

At this time, the temporarily stopped article group 11 'is
Since it is inserted and arranged between the pushing fingers 19 of the koyagra conveyor 15, as the pushing fingers 19 move,
The pushing finger 19 contacts the article group 11 '. When the pushing finger 19 further moves, the article group 11 'is pushed along with the movement. The article 11 located at the rearmost end of the article group 11 ′ with respect to the moving direction of the pushing finger 19 is in surface contact with the pushing finger 19, and the moving direction of the pushing finger 19 and the arrangement direction of the article group 11 ′ are the same. Therefore, each article 11 moves smoothly and reliably in a stable state as the pushing finger 19 moves. Then, at the time of this movement, each article 11 receives the conveying force from the first belt conveyor 12a in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction thereof, but the movement in the above-described direction is suppressed by the stopper plate 14. Therefore, it moves in the direction orthogonal to the first belt conveyor 12a without breaking the carrying posture.

When the article 11 located in the foremost row in the moving direction moves further than the tip 14a of the stopper plate 14, the stopper plate 14 releases the above restraining force, so that the first belt conveyor 12a It moves in the carrying direction of the first belt conveyor 12a according to the carrying force.

That is, when vertically and horizontally aligned articles are transferred from the low-speed belt conveyor 10 to the first belt conveyor 12a, the front and rear articles are separated from each other, and further, when the articles are unloaded from the koyagra conveyor 15, Since the articles 11 that are adjacent to each other on the left and right on the low-speed belt conveyor 10 are separated from each other and move forward in order from the beginning, FIG.
As shown in, it can be converted into a vertically aligned state.

Further, in this example, since the article 11 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, it is necessary to finally transfer the article 11 to the supply device 25 in a state where the longitudinal direction is located in the front-rear direction. Then, in the illustrated example, the article 11 carried out from the koyagra conveyor 25 is in a state in which the longitudinal direction is oriented in the front-rear direction. Instead of coming off the tip 14a of the plate 14,
Since it gradually disengages, part of the article 11 receives the restraint force by the stopper plate 14 in the middle thereof, and the rest of the article 11 receives the conveying force from the first belt conveyor 12a and moves in that direction. The power to work is working. as a result,
The article may be carried out from the koyagra conveyor in a slightly inclined state (in the same direction as the guide plate 20 (the inclination angle is different)).

Therefore, the guide plate 20 and the guide belts 21 and 23 arranged on the high-speed belt conveyor 12 lower the conveyance posture (tilt angle) several times to unify the posture. That is, the article 11 contacting the guide plate 20 rotates along the inclination angle of the guide plate 20. As a result, the inclination angles are almost the same. The article 1 that is inclined according to the inclination angle of the guide plate 20
As for 1, the side surface in the longitudinal direction thereof is in contact with the first guide belt 21 of the next stage as it is, and is conveyed along the belt surface.

The apex on the left front side of the article 11 which is not tilted at the correct angle by the guide plate 20 contacts the belt surface of the first guide belt 21. Then, the portion in contact with the belt surface receives a conveying force obliquely forward along the moving direction of the belt surface. On the other hand, the portion that is not in contact is only the forward conveying force from the first endless belt 12a. Therefore, due to the difference in the direction in which the conveyance force is applied, the article 11 gradually rotates in the conveyance posture, and when finally conveyed out from the first endless belt 21, the article 11 is inclined at a predetermined angle. Become.

However, for some reason, for example, when the top of the article is scraped so that the article is substantially parallel to the belt surface, the longitudinal side surface contacts the belt surface. By the same principle as described above, the article is delivered without rotating, that is, in an attitude other than the desired inclination angle. However, by passing through the guide plate 20 and the first guide belt 21, the conveyance postures of the articles after passing the first guide belt 21 are more aligned than the degree of the conveyance postures of the articles after passing the guide plate 20. The degree is higher.

Next, the conveyance posture of the article 11 is reversed by the second guide belt 23 so as to have an inclination angle in the opposite direction to the above, and further conveyed by the area A in the conveyance posture correction device 30. Rotate the posture in the opposite direction. In this way, by changing the inclination angle several times, the conveyance postures of the articles 11 are surely aligned.

Then, the article 11 which finally comes into contact with the conveyance posture correcting device 30 is in the same direction as the moving direction of the fourth belt conveyor 12d from the inclined shape (area A) due to the rotation of the endless belt 35. The posture of the article 11 is corrected so that the longitudinal direction of the article 11 is in the front-rear direction (area B), and the article 11 is directly sent to the supply device 25 and individually packaged.

On the other hand, the article 11a, which is not converted into the correct posture even when it comes to the area B and is inclined by a predetermined angle, falls from the open side edge of the fourth belt conveyor 12d to the ejection chute 26 side and is ejected. . As a result, the articles are not jammed at the entrance of the supply device 25, and the articles are reliably transferred and placed in a state in which the transportation postures are aligned.

In the above embodiment, the high-speed belt conveyor 12 is composed of a plurality of belt conveyors 12a to 12d, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a single continuous belt conveyor may be used. A combination of a plurality of belt conveyors may be used. Furthermore, each guide plate and guide belt do not necessarily have to be provided.

[0041]

As described above, in the article separating and aligning / conveying apparatus according to the present invention, the speed of the second conveying means is set to be higher than that of the first conveying means, so that the articles conveyed in the vertical and horizontal directions are conveyed. The front and rear (vertical direction) can be separated, and moreover, the articles arranged in a horizontal row can be carried out one by one by the stopper means and the conveyor means. Therefore, it is possible to convey the articles on the second conveying means in a state where they are lined up vertically and in a state where the front and rear articles are separated by a certain distance or more.

Further, when the conveyance posture correcting means is provided and the discharge path is provided as in claim 2, the desired articles are aligned in the same direction, and articles not in the desired direction are externally discharged through the discharge path. Therefore, it is possible to reliably carry out the article from the second carrying means to the next-stage device while keeping the carrying attitude of the article the same.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a preferred embodiment of an article separating and aligning and conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the main part thereof.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Low-Speed Belt Conveyor (First Conveying Means) 11 Articles 11 'Group of Articles 12 High-Speed Belt Conveyor (Second Conveying Means) 14 Stopper Plate (Stopper Means) 15 Koyagra Conveyor (Conveyor Means) 19 Pushing Fingers 26 Ejecting Chute ( Discharge path) 30 Conveyance posture correction device 35 Endless belt

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first transporting means for sequentially transporting a large number of articles vertically and horizontally, and a downstream side of the first transporting means, the transporting speed being higher than that of the first transporting means. Second transporting means for transporting, stopper means disposed at a predetermined position above the transporting surface of the second transporting means and intersecting the traveling direction thereof, the second transporting means in the vicinity of the upstream side of the stopper means Article separating and aligning / conveying device, which is arranged above the conveying surface, moves in parallel to the arrangement direction of the stopper means, and has conveyor means having a pushing finger for conveying a group of articles arranged in a horizontal line in a predetermined direction. 2. A carrying-out posture correcting means for sequentially feeding the articles in a predetermined direction to the next-stage packaging device is provided on the carrying-out side of the second carrying means, and the carrying-out side near the carrying-out side of the second carrying means. At least one side surface is open, and a discharge path is provided on the open side, and the transport attitude correcting means has a belt surface on a vertical surface above the transport surface of the second transport means. An endless belt is provided, and a movement trajectory of a belt surface of the endless belt has a portion inclined toward the side surface on the opening side and a portion continuous to the tip of the inclined portion and parallel to the side surface on the opening side. Item 1. The article separating and conveying apparatus according to item 1.