JPH0940176A - Article sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform constantly reliable operation to deliver articles to a branch passage by controlling operation of a diverter based on the detecting results of a detector to detect a feed amount of a main conveyor and a first sensor to detect the passage of the article situated in a position right in front of the diverter. SOLUTION: When, after the front end of an article W is detected by a photoelectric sensor 13 situated in a position right in front of a diverter 12, a value of an encoder to detect a feed amount of a main conveyor 10 attains a given value corresponding to a length in a conveyance direction of the article W, the diverter 12 starts an operation. Since with an increase of the length in a conveyance direction of the article W, a value of an encoder (a feed amount of the main conveyor 10) during a time between detection of the forward end of the article W by the photoelectric sensor 13 and the starting of operation of the diverter 12 is increased. As a result of the diverter 12 oscillated to the inner side being protruded to a position above the conveyance surface of the main conveyor 10, the advancing direction of the article W is varied along the inside surface of the diverter 12 and the article is delivered to a branch passage 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article sorting apparatus for swinging a diverter to change the traveling direction of an article on a main conveyor and to dispense the article to a branch path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an article sorting device for sorting a large number of conveyed articles for each customer, a plurality of diverters swingable about a vertical axis are arranged to face a main conveyor and a diverter. It is known to have a branch path connected to the side of the main conveyor at the position. In this article sorting apparatus, after the passage of the article is detected at the main conveyor entrance, when the feed amount of the main conveyor detected by the encoder reaches a predetermined value, the diverter operates assuming that the article reaches the predetermined position.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional article sorting apparatus, since the position of the article is estimated from the encoder value after the passage of the article is detected at the main conveyor entrance, the diverter is operated. If the product slips on the main conveyor, the diverter operation may not be performed at the correct timing for the product, and the operation start timing of the diverter may be too early, and the dispensing operation of the product to the branch road may be performed accurately and reliably. There was a fear that it could not be done. Also, due to some circumstances, article congestion (in this specification, article congestion means a state in which articles are not normally conveyed because the articles are jammed on the main conveyor).
Even if occurs, since it could not be detected, the diverter may run out of motion or pay out another article, and a large number of articles may appear on the main conveyor before the worker notices. There was a risk that it would be clogged and it would take a great deal of time for the recovery procedure.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to dispense an article to a branch road by operating the diverter at an accurate timing even when the article slips on the main conveyor. An object of the present invention is to provide an article sorting apparatus which can always perform an operation reliably and can detect a traffic jam of an article and take a quick recovery action.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 changes the traveling direction of an article on a main conveyor by swinging a diverter to make the article a branch path. Based on the detection results of the detector and the first sensor, which is an article sorting device for paying out, a detector for detecting the feed amount of the main conveyor, a first sensor for detecting passage of the article immediately before the diverter. An article sorting apparatus having a control device for controlling a diverter operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a second sensor for detecting passage of an article is provided on the upstream side of the first sensor, and the control device detects the first sensor, the second sensor and the detector. Based on the result, it should be determined that there is an article congestion.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control device measures the article detection time by the first sensor and determines that the article is congested based on the measurement time.

The present invention has the following functions. In the invention according to claim 1, the control device operates the diverter when the feed amount of the main conveyor detected by the detector reaches a predetermined value after the passage of the article is detected by the first sensor immediately before the diverter. .

According to the second aspect of the invention, the control device causes the first sensor to detect the passing amount of the main conveyor after the second sensor detects the passage of the article, even if the feed amount of the main conveyor reaches a predetermined value. When the passage of the article is not detected, it is determined that the article congestion occurs.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the control device determines that the article congestion occurs when the article detection time of the first sensor exceeds a predetermined time.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples without departing from the gist of the present invention. 1 is a schematic plan view schematically showing an article sorting apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a payout portion, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the payout portion, and FIG.
Is a simplified plan view showing the diverter operation start timing, and FIG. 5 is a block configuration diagram showing a conceptual configuration of the control device.
In this specification, the front is the lower side of FIG. 1, the rear is the upper side of the same figure, the right is the left side of FIG. 1, and the left is the right side of the same figure.

The article sorting apparatus includes a carry-in conveyor 1 composed of a belt conveyor, a main conveyor 10 connected to the downstream side (front side) of the carry-in conveyor 1, and a plurality of branches connected to the sides of the main conveyor 10. And the road 20. The supply of articles to the carry-in conveyor 1 is performed by a robot (not shown) or the like installed upstream of the article.

In the middle of the carry-in conveyor 1, there is provided a photoelectric sensor 2 composed of a pair of a light emitting / receiving device which is shielded by the passage of the article W. The photoelectric sensor 2 is for detecting the length in the carrying direction of each article W carried on the carry-in conveyor 1. Further, on the downstream side of the photoelectric sensor 2 in the middle of the carry-in conveyor 1, a bar code reader 3 for reading the bar code attached to the upper surface of the article W is provided above the carry-in conveyor 1. The barcode reader 3 is for recognizing the sorting destination of each article W conveyed on the carry-in conveyor 1. still,
The barcode may be attached to any surface of the article W,
The barcode reader 3 is installed according to this position. The carry-in conveyor 1 is driven by the rotation of the drive motor 5, and the belt feed amount of the carry-in conveyor 1 is detected by the encoder 6.

The main conveyor 10 is composed of a steel belt conveyor whose front and rear direction is the carrying direction, and has side walls 11 provided on both left and right sides along the carrying direction. The main conveyor 10 is a drive motor 18
The rotation amount of the main conveyor 10 is driven, and the belt feed amount of the main conveyor 10 is detected by the encoder 19.

A plurality of diverters 12 made of a rigid material such as metal are provided along the left and right side walls 11 at a front and rear at predetermined intervals. The diverter 12 is swingable about the vertical shaft 16 at the rear end so that the diverter 12 projects onto the transport surface of the main conveyor 10 by the rotation of the drive motor 15. In the example shown in the present embodiment, the article W is preliminarily placed on the main conveyor 10 by the corresponding diverter 12.
It is assumed that it is located on the side (right or left side) where

At a position immediately in front of the diverter 12, the photoelectric sensor 13 (a first sensor in the claims) is composed of a pair of a light emitter and a light receiver which are shielded by the passage of the article W.
Is provided. The photoelectric sensor 13 has a one-to-one correspondence with each diverter 12, and is embedded in the side wall 11 so as not to project onto the conveying surface of the main conveyor 10. Further, a photoelectric sensor 17 (a second sensor in the claims) including a pair of a light emitter and a light receiver which is shielded by the passage of the article W is provided in the entrance portion (upstreammost portion) of the main conveyor 10. There is.

At a position facing the diverter 12 of the main conveyor 10, a branch path 20 constituted by a roller conveyor having a conveyance direction as a left-right direction is connected.
The branch passages 20 may be provided only on the right side or the left side of the main conveyor 10, and in such a case, the diverter 12 is all arranged along the left or right side wall 11. The branch path 20 is not limited to the roller conveyor, and may be a belt conveyor or a mere inclined path made of steel. The branch passage 20 has side walls 21 provided on both front and rear sides along the transport direction.
A large number of rollers 22 are rotatably provided between the left and right at predetermined intervals. The transport surface of this roller conveyor is inclined downward as it moves away from the main conveyor 10, and the article W is transported in the branch path 20 by its own weight.
The roller 2 closest to the main conveyor 10 (first roller)
Reference numeral 2 denotes a drive roller, which can reliably draw the article W paid out from the main conveyor 10 into the branch passage 20.

Next, the conceptual configuration of the control device 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The length detection unit 102 calculates the length of the article W in the conveyance direction from the value of the encoder 6 corresponding to the time when the photoelectric sensor 2 is shielded. The main control unit 101
Based on the detection results of the length detection unit 102, the barcode reader 3, the photoelectric sensor 13, the photoelectric sensor 17, and the encoder 19, the congestion of the article W on the main conveyor 10 is detected, and the motor drive units 103, 10 are also provided.
The conveyer driving motor 5, the main conveyor driving motor 18, and the diverter driving motor 15 are controlled via 4, 105.

Explaining congestion detection of the article W, the main control unit 101 measures the time during which the photoelectric sensor 13 and the photoelectric sensor 17 are shielded, and the shielding time is a predetermined value corresponding to the length of the article W in the conveyance direction. If the time is exceeded, it is determined that there is congestion.

The main control unit 101 stores the distance from the photoelectric sensor 17 arranged at the entrance of the main conveyor to the photoelectric sensor 13 corresponding to each diverter 12, and after the photoelectric sensor 17 is shielded, the encoder 19 Even if the value of reaches the predetermined value corresponding to those distances, the photoelectric sensor 13
If the road is not shielded, it is determined that there is congestion.
In addition, in the example shown in the present embodiment, the congestion of the article W is detected from the feed amount of the main conveyor 10 between the photoelectric sensor 17 and the photoelectric sensor 13. Congestion may be detected from the feed amount of the main conveyor 10 between the photoelectric sensor 13. That is, for example, even if the value of the encoder 19 reaches a predetermined value after the second photoelectric sensor 13 is shielded, 3
When the second photoelectric sensor 13 is not shielded, it may be determined that congestion is occurring. In this case, the front (second) photoelectric sensor 13 is the second sensor in the claims. When the article congestion on the main conveyor 10 is detected in this way, a predetermined indicator light (not shown) provided corresponding to each photoelectric sensor 13 and 17 is turned on, and the occurrence of congestion and the position thereof are checked. It is designed to let people know.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, the articles W having a bar code indicating the information including the sorting destination attached on the upper surface are sequentially supplied to the carry-in conveyor 1. Then, the article W conveyed on the carry-in conveyor 1 shields between the light emitter and the light receiver of the photoelectric sensor 2, and the conveyance direction length is detected from the shielding time. Thereafter, the article W passes below the barcode reader 3 on the further downstream side, and the sorting destination is recognized from the reading result of the barcode reader 3. The articles W whose sorting destinations have been recognized are brought to the diverter 12 side (right or left side) corresponding to the sorting destinations and supplied to the main conveyor 10, and between the emitter / receiver of the photoelectric sensor 17 at the main conveyor entrance portion. Shield.

When the articles W conveyed along the side wall 11 on the side of the main conveyor 10 reach a predetermined position corresponding to the length in the conveying direction on the side of the diverter 12 corresponding to the sorting destination, the diverter 12 is conveyed. Swings inwardly around the vertical axis 16. The timing when the diverter 12 starts its operation will be described. After the front end of the article W is detected by the photoelectric sensor 13 located immediately before the diverter 12, the value of the encoder 19 that detects the feed amount of the main conveyor 10 is the value of the article W. The diverter 12 starts its operation when it reaches a predetermined value according to the length in the conveyance direction.
As shown in FIG. 4, as the length of the article W in the conveying direction is longer, the encoder 19 from when the front end of the article W is detected by the photoelectric sensor 13 to when the diverter 12 starts to operate.
The value of (the feed amount of the main conveyor 10) becomes large.

When the diverter 12 swinging inward is projected onto the conveying surface of the main conveyor 10, the article W is changed in its traveling direction along the inner surface of the diverter 12 and is discharged to the branch path 20. At this time, the article W is drawn into the branch passage 20 by the first drive roller 22 in the branch passage 20 without remaining on the main conveyor 10. The articles W delivered to the branch path 20 are transported to the end of the branch path 20 by their own weight and then sent to the next step.

The photoelectric sensors 2, 13 and 17 used to detect passage of the article W in the above example may be photoelectric sensors other than the light emitting and receiving type or sensors other than the photoelectric sensor. Further, not only the congestion of the article W is detected from the feed amount between the photoelectric sensor 17 and the photoelectric sensor 13, but also the congestion of the article W is detected from the shielding time of those photoelectric sensors. It is possible to detect a traffic jam at any position.

[0025]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. In the invention according to claim 1, the control device operates the diverter when the feed amount of the main conveyor detected by the detector reaches a predetermined value after the passage of the article is detected by the first sensor immediately before the diverter. That is, since the operation start timing of the diverter is not affected by the slip or the like between the entrance of the main conveyor and the first sensor, even when the amount of articles fed during that period does not correspond to the amount of feed of the main conveyor. Therefore, the diverter can always be operated at an accurate timing to reliably deliver the article.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the control device causes the first sensor to detect even if the feed amount of the main conveyor detected by the detector reaches a predetermined value after the passage of the article is detected by the second sensor. When the passage of the article is not detected, it is determined that the article is congested, so that the occurrence of the congestion can be easily detected, and the worker can take an immediate recovery procedure.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the control device determines that the article congestion has occurred when the article detection time of the first sensor exceeds a predetermined time. Therefore, it is easy to generate the congestion including the occurrence location. Can be detected and the operator can take immediate recovery measures. Further, since the first sensor for detecting the operation start timing of the diverter is also used for detecting the article congestion, it is not necessary to provide a special detecting means for detecting the article congestion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view schematically showing an article sorting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a payout unit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a payout unit.

FIG. 4 is a simplified plan view showing diverter operation start timing.

FIG. 5 is a block configuration diagram showing a conceptual configuration of a control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W goods 1 carry-in conveyor 10 main conveyor 12 diverter 20 branch path 100 controller 101 main controller 102 length detector

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An article sorting device for swinging a diverter to change the traveling direction of an article on a main conveyor and delivering the article to a branch path, and a detector for detecting the feed amount of the main conveyor. An article sorting apparatus having a first sensor that detects passage of articles immediately before a diverter and a controller that controls a diverter operation based on a detection result of the detector and the first sensor. 2. A traffic congestion article based on the detection results of the first sensor, the second sensor, and the detector, the control apparatus having a second sensor on the upstream side of the first sensor to detect passage of the article. The article sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sorting apparatus determines that 3. The article sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control device measures an article detection time by the first sensor and determines that there is an article congestion based on the measurement time.