JPH09249207A - Article filling device into carton - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article filling device into a carton, which does not require to prepare mouths of various kinds of configurations in response to the size and the shape of a carton, and in addition, of which the procedure change can be easily performed even when a carton in which an article is filled, is changed. SOLUTION: This article filling device is equipped with a holding means having a pair of clamps 31a, 31b which hold a carton 70 at a specified article filling position, and a filling means which fills an article in the body part 71 of the carton 70 from the article filling port. Then, for the clamps 31a, 31b, a suction port as a suction means to hold the carton 70 by the clamps 31a, 31b by drawing the body part 71 by suction, and a suction head 39 as an auxiliary suction means to prevent a side plate 71a from hanging down by attaching to the vicinity of the article filling port of the side plate 71a which is the upper side of the carton 70, are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a carton article filling device for filling an article into an assembled carton in an article packaging operation step, and more particularly to a carton article which can be smoothly filled with the article. Regarding the filling device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in the process of packing articles, first, a flat carton is taken out from a stacking device in which flat carton folds are stacked, and the body of the flat carton is turned into a rectangular cylinder by an assembling device. After raising and forming the bottom, the carton is filled with articles by an article filling device.

As the above-mentioned article filling device, a carton holding means for holding the carton in a state where the body of the carton is laid sideways, and an article in the body of the carton held by the holding means. 2. Description of the Related Art An article filling means for filling an article by sliding the article from the opposite side of the filling port is known.

The holding means is usually attached to the carrying means such as a chain conveyor for carrying the carton assembled by the assembling apparatus to the article filling position with the body of the carton lying down. And a positioning member for contacting both upright end surfaces and a bottom surface of the carton during transportation to hold the transportation posture of the carton, and the transportation means while keeping the carton in a predetermined transportation posture by the positioning member. Is conveyed to the article filling position and stands by at the article filling position.

On the other hand, the filling means, as shown in FIG. 10, has a table 81 arranged on the opposite side of the article filling port of the carton C waiting at the article filling position for placing the articles M to be filled. And the article M placed on this table 81
The pusher 82 for pushing the carton C into the carton C, and the mouse 8 having a cross-sectional gate shape along the inner surface of the body part b of the carton C, which is inserted into the carton C before pushing the article M into the carton C.
3 and a lid flap retracting mechanism (not shown) for spreading the lid flap f continuously provided on the body b before the mouse 83 is inserted and retracting it from the filling path of the article M. By inserting the mouse 83 into the carton C in advance, the sagging of the top plate p of the body in the carrying posture (standby posture) is corrected and the article M is reliably guided into the carton C. The filling work of M is done smoothly.

[0006]

By the way, in the above-described article filling apparatus, the mouse 83 must be inserted into the carton C before the article filling in order to smoothly perform the article filling work. The mouse 83 needs to be prepared in various forms according to the size and shape of the carton C to be filled with the article, and when the carton C to be filled with the article is changed, Each time, it is necessary to replace the mouse 83 with a different one, and there is a problem that it takes a lot of time to perform the setup change.

Therefore, in the case of articles whose packaging is frequently changed or high-mix low-volume production, the work of filling articles in the carton is often performed manually by an operator.
It was one of the factors that hindered the automation of the work process of packaging articles.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is that it is not necessary to prepare mice of various shapes according to the size and shape of the carton, and furthermore, even if the carton to be filled with the goods is changed, the setup can be changed. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for filling an article in a carton that can be easily performed.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a carton in which a rectangular tubular body is formed by a pair of side plates facing each other and a pair of end plates facing each other.
With the end plate standing upright, the holding means holds the article at a predetermined article loading position so that the article loading port is oriented laterally, and from the article loading port of the carton to the carton for loading the body with the article by the filling means. In the article filling device,
The holding means is attached to the clamp by an openable / closable clamp for positioning the carton by abutting the both end plates of the body portion from the outside, the drive means for opening / closing the clamp, and the body portion attached to the clamp. Suction means for adsorbing to the clamp to hold the carton in the clamp, and auxiliary suction means attached to the clamp for adsorbing the vicinity of the article filling opening of the upper side plate to hold the article filling opening in a predetermined shape. An article filling device for a carton is provided.

[0010]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a filling station that fills a carton with articles in the article packaging operation step. Cartons assembled by a carton assembling device (not shown) are conveyed to the filling station by the carton conveyor 3, and small box-packaged articles are conveyed by the article conveyor 4. The carton conveyed to the transfer station by the carton conveyor 3 is held at a predetermined article filling position by the holding means 1, and the article conveyed by the article conveyor 4 is filled in the carton by the holding means 2. Is filled with.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the carton 70 used in this packaging operation step has two end plates 71c, 7 facing each other and two side plates 71a, 71b facing each other.
1d is a rectangular tube-shaped body 71 which is continuously provided via a fold line 72, and three lid flaps 73a, 73b which are continuously provided at the upper end edge of the body portion 71 via a fold line 74. , 73c
And four bottom flaps 75a, 75b, 75c, 75d that are continuously provided on the lower end edge of the body 71 via a fold line 76. By raising the body 71 in a rectangular tube shape, It is a so-called one-touch carton that naturally forms a bottom. It should be noted that this carton 70 is assembled immediately before the article filling process, and before that, the carton 7
The bottom flaps 75a, 75b, 75c, which are folded in a flat plate shape by two fold lines 72 in diagonal positions of 1,
75d is transported and accumulated in a state of being folded in the body 71 by the fold line 78.

As shown in FIG. 1, the holding means 1 has a slide rail 11 extending from one side of the carton conveyor 3 at a right angle, a column 12 which moves forward and backward along the slide rail 11, and a column 12. The robot arm 13 moves up and down along the robot arm 13 and a robot hand 20 rotatably attached to the tip of the robot arm 13. The robot hand 20 moves as the column 12 and the robot arm 13 move. The carton conveyor 3 is adapted to move toward and away from and move up and down. The column 12, the robot arm 13 and the robot hand 20 are controlled by an actuator which drives each of them by a control means (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 2, the robot hand 20 has a hand frame formed by a pair of support plates 21 facing each other and a hand base 22 having both ends fixed to the rear ends of the support plates 21. The front end of the support plate 21 is rotatably supported by the tip of the robot arm 13 via a support shaft 23a and a bearing 23b.

A stepping motor 24 is attached to the robot arm 13, and a timing pulley 24a attached to the rotating shaft of the stepping motor 24 and a timing pulley 23c attached to one of the supporting shafts 23a. The timing belt 25 is hung. Therefore, when the stepping motor 24 is operated, its rotational driving force is transmitted to the support shaft 23a via the timing belt 25, and the entire hand frame is rotated.

A slide rail 26 is attached to the front surface of the hand base 22. A pair of slide rails 26 are brought into contact with both end plates 71c and 71d of the carton 70 from the outside to position the carton 70. The clamps 31a and 31b are supported so that they can be opened and closed. When the carton 70 is positioned, the clamp 31a opens and closes to sandwich the body 71 with the other clamp 31b. The other clamp 31b has a length between the end plates 71c and 71d of the carton 70. After the position adjustment is also performed once, it is held at the adjusted position.

The clamp 31a is a drive shaft 27b of a compact cylinder 27 mounted on the back side of the hand base 22 via a cylinder base 27d.
The compact cylinder 27 is operated to move the clamp 31a between the release position α and the contact position β of the carton 70.

Further, the clamp 31b is screwed to the ball screw 28 which is rotatably supported by the hand base 22 by a support member 28a. A pulley 28c is attached to the end of the ball screw 28,
A timing belt 30 is wound around the pulley 28c and a timing pulley 29b attached to the rotation shaft of a stepping motor 29 attached to the back surface of the hand base 22. Therefore, when the stepping motor 29 is operated, its rotational driving force is transmitted to the ball screw 28 via the timing belt 30, and the rotation of the ball screw 28 moves the clamp 31b along the slide rail 26. , Its position can be adjusted.

A plurality of proximity switches 22a are attached to the hand base 22 at predetermined positions.
When the clamp 31b is detected by these proximity switches 22a, the control means (not shown) stops the operation of the stepping motor 29 based on the detection signal so that the clamp 31b does not move more than necessary.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 (in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, some components such as the ball screw 28 are omitted), the clamps 31a and 31b have the slide rail 26. A slider 32a that engages with and slides
32b, plates 33a and 33b fixed to the sliders 32a and 32b, and plates 33a and 33b
Of the gripping plates 34a and 34b fixed to the ends of the carton 70, and the front surface of the plates 33a and 33b (as shown in FIG. 3, the carton 70 is sandwiched by the gripping plates 34a and 34b). On the side facing the side plate 71a) as the suction means.
a and 35b, 35c (see FIG. 4) are formed.
The suction ports 35a, 35b, 35c communicate with tappings 36a, 36b, 36c attached to one side surface of the plates 33a, 33b, respectively. The tappings 36a, 36b, 36c and suction hoses 37a,
It is connected to a suction device (not shown) such as a compressor via 37b and 37c.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the clamp 31b faces the vicinity of the article filling port of the side plate 71a of the carton 70 as an auxiliary suction means while sandwiching the carton 70 through the plate 39b. Suction head 39
Is attached, and the suction head 39 is also connected to the suction device via a suction hose 39a.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the carton 70 positioned by being sandwiched by the clamps 31a and 31b is sucked by the suction ports 35a and 35b and 35c at the bottom side of the side plate 71a of its body 71. By being sucked by the plates 33a, 33b, they are held by the clamps 31a, 31b, and by the suction head 39, the vicinity of the article filling port of the side plate 71a is sucked and slightly lifted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the filling means 2 is arranged on the opposite side of the holding means 1 with the carton conveyor 3 interposed therebetween, and the article arranged at a high position. The articles M conveyed by the conveyor 4 for
A vertical transport mechanism 40 for vertically transporting the article M from the transport level to the height of the carton conveyor 3 disposed at a lower position, that is, a filling level, and the article M transported by the article conveyor 4. The vertical transport mechanism 4
It is composed of a transfer mechanism 50 for moving to 0, and a filling mechanism 60 for filling the carton 70 waiting at the article filling position with the articles M conveyed to the filling level by the vertical conveyance mechanism 40.

The vertical transfer mechanism 40 is disposed on the side of the carton conveyor 3 at the end of the article conveyor 4, and has an elevating table 41 on which an article M is placed, and the elevating table 41 for conveying the article. An actuator 42 for moving up and down between a level and a filling level, and the lifting table 41
Positioning unit 43 for positioning the article M provided above
And is constituted by.

As shown in FIG. 5, the positioning portion 43 is composed of a pair of opposing plates 43a and 43b standing upright on both sides of the lifting table 41,
One plate 43a is fixed to the elevating table 41, while the other plate 43b is moved toward and away from the one plate 43a by an actuator (not shown). Therefore, the article M is positioned at a predetermined position by inserting and sandwiching the article M between the pair of plates 43a and 43b.

The transfer mechanism 50 is arranged above the article conveyor 4, and when a predetermined number of articles M to be filled at the end of the article conveyor 4 are accumulated, the transfer mechanism 50 reaches the conveyance level. A pusher 51 that pushes the article M onto the ascending / descending table 41, and stoppers 52 and 53 for supplying a predetermined number of articles M to be filled to the pushing position according to the operation timing of the pusher 51. , 54
And is constituted by.

The stopper 52 is provided when the pusher 51 pushes the article M toward the lifting table 41.
By shutting off the transport path, the articles M successively transported are stocked in front of the extrusion position, but the number of articles M stocked by a sensor (not shown) is counted, and only the number of articles to be filled is counted. When the sensor counts, the stopper 53 on the front side further descends to block the conveyance path, and the article is not conveyed to the stopper 52 side any more. Then, when the pusher 51 pushes out a predetermined number of articles M to the elevating table 41 and then returns to the initial position, the stopper 52 moves upward to release the conveyance path, and the stocked predetermined number of articles are It is conveyed to the extrusion position, abuts on the stopper 54, and is positioned at a predetermined extrusion position. The stopper 54 is always closed, and is opened when a predetermined number of articles M have not been conveyed to a predetermined extrusion position or when it is determined to be abnormal by another detection means (not shown), and the articles M are opened. Is designed to be discharged.

The filling mechanism 60 includes a pusher 61 disposed below the article conveyor 4, a filling table 62 disposed between the vertical transport mechanism 40 and the carton conveyor 3, and an article. Carton 7 waiting in the filling position
0 is inserted into the inside of the lid flaps 73b and 73c of the carton 70 before the article M is filled,
b and 73c are retracted from the filling path of the article M, and then the article M
And a mouse 63 (see FIG. 7) for guiding the inside of the carton 70.

The mouse 63 has a pair of guide plates 63a and 63b facing each other which can be inserted into the lid flaps 73b and 73c of the carton 70, and both guide plates 63a and 63b.
And an actuator (not shown) for moving the carts away from each other and moving them back and forth with respect to the waiting carton 70.
a and 63b are inserted close to each other inside the lid flaps 73b and 73c of the carton 70, and then the guide plates 63a and 63b are moved away from each other to open the lid flaps 73b and 73c to the outside so that the article M The article M is retracted to secure the article M filling path, and the article M is guided into the carton 70. In addition, this mouse 63 is designed to be compatible with various cartons.
Guide plates 63a, 63b to fit the largest carton
It is preferable to set the height of. Also, in FIG.
The mouse 63 is configured such that the other guide plate 63b approaches and separates from the one guide plate 63a.
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the two guide plates 63a and 63b approach and separate from each other.

The article M transported to the filling level by the vertical transport mechanism 40 is moved by the pusher 61.
It is extruded to the side of the filling table 62, and is further filled in the carton 70 by the pusher 61. The details of the filling operation will be described later.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the filling means 2 and the article conveyor 4. The schematic structure is the filling means 2
Since it is the same as the article conveyor 4, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals, the description thereof will be omitted, and different portions will be described.

The article conveyor 4 shown in FIG. 6 is composed of three conveyors 4a, 4b and 4c, and the conveyors 4a, 4b and 4c are connected in series along the conveying direction of the article M. But below the conveyor 4a, the conveyor 4b
By disposing the conveyor 4c below the conveyor 4b, a step is formed between the conveyors 4a, 4b, and 4c. Therefore, the article M conveyed by the conveyor 4a is inverted 90 degrees when it is transferred to the conveyor 4b,
Further, when transferring to the conveyor 4c, it will be inverted 90 degrees. In this way, the conveyor 4 is replaced with a plurality of conveyors 4a,
By dividing into 4b and 4c and providing a step, the display surface of the article M packaged in the small box can be made to coincide with the display surface of the carton 70. The number of divisions of the conveyor 4 may be set appropriately in relation to the previous process. In FIG. 6, 5 is a discharge conveyor used when the stopper 54 is opened to discharge the article M, and 55 is the article M.
A sensor 56 for detecting and counting is an image processing device for detecting the inversion defect of the article M packaged in a small box.

The filling means 2 shown in FIG. 6 is used when the articles M are stacked in two layers and filled in the carton 70. In the vertical transport mechanism 40 described above, the pusher 51
When the article M is transferred from the conveyor 4 to the elevating table 41 by the elevating table 41, the elevating table 41 immediately descends to the filling level.
At 0, as shown in FIG. 6, when the article M is first transferred to the elevating table 41, the elevating table 41 descends by the height of the article M and temporarily stops at that position. Then, the next article M is pushed out by the pusher 51, the articles M are stacked on the elevating table 41 in two stages, and then lowered to the filling level. In this way, if the elevating table 41 is lowered in two stages, it is possible to stack and fill the cartons with the articles M without changing the basic configuration, which has the effect of increasing versatility.

A filling operation of the article M into the carton 70 by the holding means 1 and the filling means 2 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. First, FIG.
As shown in, the carton 70 is conveyed to the vicinity of the article filling position by the carton conveyor 3 in a state where the elevating table 41 on which the article M is placed descends to the filling level and is placed sideways.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the conveyed carton 70 is sandwiched between the clamps 31a and 31b for positioning, and the carton 70 is held by suction. And these clamps 31a, 31b
Moves to the filling table 62 side and the lid flap 73
Insert a into the lower side of the filling table 62 to hold the carton 70 at a predetermined article filling position. At this time, the suction head 39 adsorbs the side plate 71a near the article filling port and slightly lifts it.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, after the mouse 63 is inserted inside the lid flaps 73b, 73c of the carton 70, they are separated from each other to make the lid flaps 73b, 73c outside. Open to the side and retract from the filling path for the article M to secure the filling path for the article M.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7C, the articles M on the lifting table 41 are pushed out to the front side of the filling table 62 by the pusher 61 and filled in the carton 70 while being guided by the mouse 63. It At this time, as described above, since the vicinity of the article filling port of the upper side plate 71a is adsorbed by the suction head 39 and slightly lifted, the tip of the side plate 71a does not hinder the filling work of the article M. The filling work can be done smoothly. The mouse 63 is omitted in FIG. 7 (c).

When the article M is completely filled in the carton 70, the mouse 63 moves backward and the clamps 31a and 31b (the entire robot hand 20) rotate 90 degrees as shown in FIG. When the carton 70 is erected and placed on the carton conveyor 3 and the holding is released,
The carton 70 filled with the articles M is conveyed to the lid closing station which is the next step.

As described above, when the holding means 1 holds the carton 70, the side plate 71a on the upper side of the carton 70 is held by the suction head 39 as the auxiliary suction means.
Since the vicinity of the article filling port is sucked and supported, the side plate 71a does not hang down when the article is filled, and the article M can be reliably filled in the carton 70. As a result, unlike the conventional case, it is not necessary to prevent the sagging of the carton by the gate-shaped mouse along the inner surface of the body of the carton, and it is possible to use the highly versatile mouse 63 as described above. The general versatility is also high, and the setup can be easily changed when the carton is changed.

In this embodiment, the side plate 71a on the upper side of the carton 70 is moved by the suction head 39.
The side plate 7
It is sufficient that 1a can be supported at least in a flat state.
Further, in this embodiment, the article M is packed in the carton 70.
Although the mouse 63 for guiding inside is used, the holding means 1
The carton 7 is positioned by the positioning of the carton 70 by the positioning part 43 of the filling means 2 by the positioning part 43 of the filling means 2.
If it is possible to reliably fill the article M into 0, the mouse 63 may not be used.

[0040]

As described above, in the article filling apparatus according to the present invention, the holding means for holding the carton at the predetermined article filling position is brought into contact with the both end plates of the body portion from the outside to position the carton. A suction means for adsorbing to the body portion and an auxiliary suction means for adsorbing to the vicinity of the article filling port of the upper side plate are attached to an openable / closable clamp, the carton is held by the suction means and the auxiliary suction means is used. Since the vicinity of the article filling port of the upper side plate is supported, the upper side plate does not hang down and does not hinder the article filling operation.

Therefore, unlike the conventional article filling apparatus, it is not necessary to prevent the side plate on the upper side of the carton from hanging down by the mouse which is one component of the filling means. It can be configured by a pair of openable and closable guide plates.

Therefore, if the height of the guide plate is set based on the maximum carton, even if the carton to be filled with the article is changed, it can be sufficiently dealt with without replacing the mouse itself, and the step can be changed. There is an effect that it can be easily replaced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an article filling station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing details of the above robot hand.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the above clamp.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line XX of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an outline of a filling means for filling the above articles.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the article filling means.

FIG. 7 is a process diagram showing a work of filling an article in a carton.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an assembled carton.

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the above.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Holding Means 2 Filling Means 3 Carton Conveyor 4 Article Conveyor 20 Robot Hand 31a, 31b Clamps 35a, 35b, 35c Suction Port 39 Suction Head 40 Vertical Elevating Mechanism 50 Transfer Mechanism 60 Filling Mechanism 61 Pusher 62 Filling Table 63 Mouse 70 carton

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carton in which a rectangular tube-shaped body is formed by a pair of side plates facing each other and a pair of end plates facing each other is held such that the end plates are in a standing state and an article filling port is laterally oriented. An article filling device for a carton that holds the article at a predetermined article filling position by means and fills the body with the article from the article filling port of the carton by the filling means, wherein the holding means has both end plates upright of the body. An openable and closable clamp for abutting from outside to position the carton, a drive means for opening and closing the clamp, and a suction device attached to the clamp for adsorbing to the body and holding the carton in the clamp. And an auxiliary suction means attached to the clamp and sucking the vicinity of the article filling port of the upper side plate to hold the article filling port in a predetermined shape. Product fill device to the carton characterized by and.