JPH10120186A - Article pickup facility - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a facility in which a stock device is installed by making the direction to receive an article of the stock device perpendicularly intersect to the direction to delivery the article, receiving of the article is smoothly performed, and receiving of different-sized articles large and small can be efficiently performed. SOLUTION: An article pickup device for picking an article, a stock device and a mast 3a on which the article pickup device and the stock device are so provided as to be independently raised and lowered are provided. The stock device is provided with a receiving conveyor 68 for receiving articles from the article pickup device, and a delivering conveyor 69 for delivering the article in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the receiving conveyor 68, and the conveying surface 68a of the receiving conveyor is made to appear and disappear in relation to the conveying surface 69a of the delivering conveyor. The conveying surface 68a of the receiving conveyor 68 is inclined downward from the receiving upstream side to the downstream side. The receiving conveyor 68 is arranged between the mutually adjacent delivering conveyors 69, 69, and the distance between the mutually adjacent delivering conveyors is so set that the delivering downstream may be narrow and the upstream may be wide.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method of picking up articles individually from a group of articles stacked in a stock area,
The present invention relates to a facility for paying out picked-up articles to a carry-out conveyor or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An article pick-up facility includes an article pick-up apparatus for picking up articles from a group of stacked articles, a stock apparatus for receiving and storing articles from the article pick-up apparatus, and an article pick-up apparatus and a stock apparatus that are independently raised and lowered. And a mast that can be freely provided.

In this equipment, an article pick-up device is moved to a height corresponding to an article to be picked up, a stock device is moved to a height at which the picked-up article is received from the article pick-up device, and an article picked up by the article pick-up device is transferred to the stock device. Earn. Subsequently, the equipment moves the stocking device storing the predetermined number of articles to the dispensing height position and dispenses the articles to the unloading conveyor or the like, and moves the article pick-up apparatus to the height of the article to be picked up next. The cycle of moving the empty stocker again to a level at which it picks up articles from the picker is repeated.

[0004]

In the stock apparatus, the direction in which the article is picked up from the article pick-up device is the same as the direction in which the article is dispensed. But,
As equipment, there is a demand for a stock apparatus in which the direction in which articles are picked up from the article pick-up apparatus and the direction in which articles are dispensed are made orthogonal to each other due to the layout of the apparatus.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a facility equipped with a stocking device in which the direction of picking up an article and the direction of dispensing the article are orthogonal to each other in order to meet the above demand. Another object of the present invention is to provide a facility that can smoothly accept articles and efficiently accept large and small articles of different sizes.

[0006]

The gist of the present invention is to provide an article pick-up apparatus for picking up an article, a stock apparatus for receiving and storing articles from the article pick-up apparatus, and an article pick-up apparatus and a stock apparatus. In the article pick-up equipment provided with a mast provided so as to be able to move up and down, the stock apparatus includes a receiving conveyor for picking up the articles from the article pick-up apparatus, and a pay-out conveyor for paying out in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the receiving conveyor. In addition, the transfer surface of the receiving conveyer can be made to protrude and retract with respect to the transfer surface of the dispensing conveyer.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the articles picked up by the article pick-up device are received by the receiving conveyor by projecting the conveying surface of the receiving conveyor of the stocking device to the conveying surface of the pay-out conveyor. By immersing the conveying surface of the receiving conveyor with respect to the conveying surface of the paying-out conveyor, the articles accepted by the receiving conveyor can be paid out by the paying-out conveyor in a direction orthogonal to the receiving direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the receiving conveyor has a conveying surface inclined downward from the receiving upstream side to the downstream side, and the articles are directed from the upstream side to the downstream side by their own weight. The article pick-up facility according to claim 1, wherein the article pick-up facility is moved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when an article is received from the article pick-up device to the receiving upstream side of the receiving conveyor, the article is naturally moved to the downstream side by its own weight.

[0010] The gist of the present invention is that a plurality of sets each of the receiving conveyor and the paying-out conveyor are provided, a receiving conveyor is arranged between the adjacent paying-out conveyors, and an interval between the adjacent paying-out conveyors is set. The article pick-up facility according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the downstream side to pay out is narrow and the upstream side is wide.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a large article can be picked up on the upstream side with a wide interval between the pay-out conveyors and can be discharged toward the downstream side, and small articles can be taken on the downstream side with the narrow interval between the pay-out conveyors. Items can be accepted and paid out.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an article pickup facility according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "the present invention facility") will be described based on an embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 6 show an embodiment of the equipment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire equipment from obliquely above a stock area S. FIG. FIG. 3 is a right side view showing a main part in a standby state, FIG. 4 is a right side view showing a main part in a state immediately before starting to tilt an article, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a right side view showing a main part in a state in which the article is tilted, and FIG. 6 is a right side view showing a main part in a state in which the tilted article is scooped. "Before"
Means the stock area S side, and "rear" means the transport conveyor C side. "Right" refers to the right when the front is viewed from the back, and "left" refers to the left when the front is viewed from behind.

The equipment according to this embodiment is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, a stock area S for storing articles B in a stacked state, an article pick-up device 1 for individually picking up articles B from a group of articles stacked in the stock area S, and an article pick-up apparatus 1 A stocking device 2 that receives and stores B, a traveling cart 3 that is provided with the article pick-up device 1 and the stocking device 2 so as to be able to move up and down, and runs in the left-right direction;
And a carry-out conveyor C extending in the left-right direction so as to receive the article B from the stock apparatus 2.

One of the features of this equipment is in the stocking device 2, which receives the articles B sent out from the article pick-up device 1 in the left-right direction by the stocking device 2,
That is, the goods B received and stored are paid out along the front-rear direction and delivered to the carry-out conveyor C.

The stock apparatus 2 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 19, a plurality of sets of receiving conveyors 68 for receiving the articles B pushed out from the pull-out conveyor 26, and paying the rearward at right angles to the conveying direction of the receiving conveyor 68 (the direction of arrow H in FIG. 18). A plurality of sets of the dispensing conveyors 69 are provided, and the transport surface 68a of the receiving conveyer 68 can freely move in and out of the transport surface 69a of the dispensing conveyor 69 (see FIG. 19).

In the receiving conveyor 68 and the paying-out conveyor 69, each paying-out conveyor 69 is disposed between the adjacent receiving conveyors 68, 68, and the interval P between the adjacent receiving conveyors 68, 68 is set to the upstream side for paying out. The manufacturing cost is reduced by making the front side wider and the downstream side (rear side) narrower. The stocking device 2 receives a large article B in an area with a wide interval P and receives a small article B in an area with a narrow interval P.

Each of the receiving conveyors 68 has a long frame 71, 1 joined to an elevating device 70, 70 for elevating and retracting.
7, a large number of freely rotating rollers 72 are attached, and the conveying surface 68a formed of the outer peripheral surface of the rollers 72 is inclined downward from the right receiving upstream side to the left downstream side. is there. When each receiving conveyor 68 receives an article B from the article pickup device 1 in a state where the conveying surface 68a is projected from the conveying surface 69a of the payout conveyor 69, the receiving conveyor 68 transfers the article B from the upstream side to the downstream side by the weight of the article B. Move naturally.

The stocker 2 is provided with a stopper 72 on the left side so as to receive the article B which is guided by the receiving conveyor 68 and moves obliquely.

Each of the payout conveyors 69 comprises a rotatable roller 75 having both ends joined to left and right main body frames 73, 74. Drive device 76 for forcibly driving roller 75
The endless belt 77 includes an endless belt 77 pressed against the outer peripheral surface of each roller 75, pulleys 78, 78 for stretching the endless belt 77, and a motor (not shown) for driving the endless belt 77. The driving device 76
As another embodiment, the chain may be wound around a sprocket fixed to the shaft end of each roller 75, and the chain may be driven by a motor.

By making the conveying surface 68a of the receiving conveyor 68 immersed in the conveying surface 69a of the paying-out conveyor 69, each paying-out conveyor 69 receives each receiving conveyor 6
The article B received by the stopper 8 and received by the stopper 72 can be paid out in a direction orthogonal to the receiving direction.

The stock device 2 is guided by the mast 3a of the traveling vehicle 3 so as to be able to move up and down, and connects the lower end of a hoisting rope 79 of a lifting winch (not shown) provided above the traveling vehicle 3 to the main body frame 80. It is. The stocking device 2 moves up and down from the height for receiving the articles B pushed out from the drawer conveyor 26 shown in FIG. 2 to the level for discharging the received articles B to the transport conveyor C by driving the lifting winch.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conveyor C comprises a belt conveyor or a roller conveyor extending in the left-right direction. The traveling vehicle 3 has a built-in driving device (not shown) so that the traveling vehicle 3 is guided by rails 81 and 82 and moves in the left-right direction.

As shown in FIG. 5, the article picking-up device 1 includes a tilting device 4 for raising and tilting the lower part of the stacked articles B in front of the article B, and a lower space D of the articles B tilted by the tilting device 4. And a scooping device 5 for scooping the article B by entering the apparatus. The tilting device 4, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5,
A vertically movable frame 6 guided by left and right masts 3a, 3a of the traveling carriage 3, a guide 19 provided on the frame 6,
A telescopic arm 7 that is guided by 19 (see FIG. 10) and is movable in the left-right direction and the tip 7a moves back and forth;
A tilting tool 8 provided at the tip 7a of the arm 7.

The tilting tool 8 is, as shown in FIGS.
A pressing tool 11 and a lifting arm 16 are provided. The pressing tool 11 is disposed at the distal end 7a of the telescopic arm 7 via a slider 9 and a rack 10 so as to be able to move up and down. The pressing tool 11 includes a driving motor 17a and a driving belt 17b.
The device B is driven by a driving device 17 composed of the above, and moves up and down from an upper standby position (see FIG. 8) to a pressing position (see FIG. 7) for pressing the upper surface of the article B. Pressing tool 11
Is rotatably supported at the lower end of the slider 10,
The upper surface of the article B which has been scooped and inclined by the scooping device 5 (see FIG. 6) can be pressed. The lifting arm 16 pivotally supports 14 left and right sliders 12, which are disposed at the tip end 7 a of the arm 7 so as to be movable back and forth, and a feed screw rod 13 attached to the sliders 12, 12.
A pivot 15 is provided on a nut 83 screwed into the nut.

The lifting arm 16 is composed of a set of three links 16a, 16b and 16c which are rotatably connected to each other, and the motor 18 drives a slider 12 which can be moved back and forth and is guided by a tip 7a of the arm 7. As a result, the entire link structure is moved back and forth, and the feed screw rod 13 is driven by the motor 84 so that the pivots 14 and 15 are separated from each other and the pressing tip 16d is moved up and down. The lifting arm 16 is configured such that the nut 83 is
5 in the direction to separate from the tip 5
When the nut 83 moves in a direction to approach between the pivots 14 and 15, the pressing tip 16d is lowered. The lifting arm 16 presses the pressing tip 16d lowered from the upper standby position (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 7) to the article B.
The article B can be tilted (see FIG. 5) by slightly raising the pressing tip 16d while pressing the article B against the front of the hand.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the tilting tool 8 is provided with a back plate 20 for supporting the rear surface of the article B to be picked up at the distal end 7a of the extendable arm 7. The back plate 20 is a nestable telescopic plate 2
0a, 20b, and 20c, and the tip plate 20c, which has been lowered by its own weight, is lifted up and stored by an elevating operation tool 21 composed of an air cylinder, a pulley, a rope, and the like (see FIG. 8). When there is no article B in front of the article B to be tilted, the back plate 20 is moved downward from the upper storage position to the lower support position.
At c, the back of the article B to be tilted is supported.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the scooping device 5 includes vertically movable frames 22, 23 guided by left and right masts 3a, 3a of the traveling carriage 3, and frames 22, 23.
3 and the drawer conveyor 26 and the frame 2
An arm 25 (see FIG. 5) that is guided by the guides 2 and 23 and moves in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, and a scooping tool 24 provided on the distal end side of the arm 25 are provided. As shown in FIG. 11 to FIG.
Left and right middle frame 2 guided back and forth by 2, 23
8, 29 are arranged. The intermediate frames 28 and 29 are
As shown in FIG. 12, guide rails 36, 36 connected by connecting frames 35, 35 and extending left and right are laid on the connecting frames 35, 35. The guide rails 36, 36 guide the slider 90 so as to be movable left and right.
Guides the arm 25 movably back and forth.

The intermediate frames 28 and 29 are driven by the driving device 3 in the front-rear direction with respect to the frames 22 and 23.
Performed at 0. The drive device 30 includes front and rear pulley shafts 31, 31 that support both ends on the frames 22, 23, pulleys 32 fixed to the left and right of each pulley shaft 31, and left and right endless belts stretched over the front and rear pulleys 32, 32. Belt 3
3 and 33, and a motor 34 for driving the pulley shaft 31. An appropriate position of the endless belts 33, 33 is connected 41 to the intermediate frames 28, 29 (see FIG. 14).

The arm 25 is connected to the intermediate frames 28 and 2
9 is driven by the driving device 91 and the driving device 37 drives the intermediate frames 28 and 29 in the front-rear direction. The driving device 91 is stretched in the left and right directions on the intermediate frames 28 and 29 and both ends 92.
a, a belt 92 connected to the slider 90;
A motor 93 for rotating and driving the belt 92 is provided, and a slider 90 for guiding the arm 25 is moved and stopped in the left-right direction under the control of the motor 93.

The driving device 37 includes an intermediate frame 28,
A spline shaft 38 having both ends rotatably supported at 29;
A motor 39 for rotating and driving the spline shaft 38, a toothed pulley 40 rotatably supported by the slider 90 and slidably fitted on the spline shaft 38, and the arm 25 so as to mesh with the toothed pulley 40. And a toothed pulley 4 with a motor 39 attached thereto.
0 is controlled to move and stop the toothed belt 94 and the arm 25 in the front-rear direction.

The driving device 30 moves the scooping tool 24 back and forth together with the draw-out conveyor 26, and the drive devices 37 and 91 move the scooping tool 24 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction independently of the draw-out conveyor 26 to obtain desired scooping. It can be stopped at the position (see the two-dot chain line in FIGS. 11 and 12).

The drawer conveyor 26 is shown in FIGS.
3 and FIG. 14, the intermediate frames 28, 29
The two ends of a plurality of rollers 42 are pivotally supported on the intermediate frame 2.
A plurality of rollers 42 are flexibly connected to the rearmost roller 42-1 that is pivotally supported by the rollers 8 and 29. In this flexible connection structure, the shafts of adjacent rollers 42 are rotatably connected one after another by a link 43. The roller group at the bent portion is guided by guide rails 44 and 45 provided inside the frames 22 and 23, and the intermediate frames 28 and
It moves back and forth with the advance and retreat of 29.

In the above-mentioned rotary drive unit 46 for the roller group, a chain bracket 47 is attached to the shaft of each roller 42, and the chain 4 is attached to adjacent sprockets 47.
8 are stretched one after another, and a chain 48 is stretched over an arbitrary sprocket 47 and an output sprocket 50 of the roller driving motor 47. The roller drive motor 49 is attached to the intermediate frame 29 and moves back and forth with the intermediate frame 29. The roller driving motor 49 causes all the rollers 42 to rotate at the same time by being activated.

As shown in FIG. 5, the drawer 26 is provided with a stopper 65 over the entire effective width of the conveyor near the rear end, so that the article B conveyed backward is not received and discharged by the stopper 65. It is. Further, as shown in FIG.
By arranging the push-out unit 66 to move forward (in the direction of arrow H) from the right standby position to the left side, the articles B received by the stopper 65 (see FIG. 5) can be sent out to the stocking apparatus 2. It is.

In the drawer conveyor 26, the retracted side bent and connected at the time of retreat is stored between the frames 22 and 23, so that the retreat side does not protrude rearward from a predetermined position and the equipment can be made compact. Can be configured.

As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the scooping tool 24 is provided at the rear end between the frames 52, 52 connected to the distal end of the arm 25 by pins. , 52, a drive motor 53 having output shafts 53a, 53a protruding left and right, driven shafts 54, 54 pivotally supported forward and rearwardly upward of the frames 52, 52, and output shafts 53a, 53a and the driven shaft 54. , 54, pulleys 55 attached to the left and right ends, respectively.
And left and right tension pulleys 63, 63 attached to the frames 52, 52, and pulleys 55, 55, 55 of each set.
Left and right endless belts 56, 56 stretched over the tension pulley 63, extension frames 57, 57 attached to the ends of the frames 52, 52, and extension frames 57, 57.
A driven shaft 58 pivotally supported near the tip of the driven shaft 57;
Pulleys 59, 59 attached to the pulleys 4, 58, and the pulley 5
An introduction endless belt 60 stretched between 9, 59 is provided, and guide rollers 61, 61 rotatably supported at both ends of a driven shaft 58 at the tip.

When the driving motor 53 is started, the scooping tool 24 is driven by the endless belt 60 for introduction and the pulley 5.
5, 55 are driven in the scooping direction (arrow F direction). The scooping tool 24 is provided with detection bars 62, 62 so as to be able to advance and retreat, and detects a relative positional relationship with articles to be scooped.

A drive device for raising and lowering the upper frame 6 constituting the tilting device 4 and the lower frames 22 and 23 constituting the scooping device 5 shown in FIG. And a sub-winch provided on the upper frame 6. The lower end of the rope on which the main winch is wound is connected to the upper frame 6, and the lower end of the rope on which the sub-winch is wound is connected with the lower frame 22. , 23.

Next, the operation of the equipment will be described. First, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
a is retracted and the scooping tool 24 is retracted to a standby state. Next, when an article take-out signal is issued, the traveling trolley 3 travels to a predetermined article take-out position and stops.
Thereafter, the upper frame 6 and the lower frames 22, 2
3 move up and down to a predetermined take-out height, respectively.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4, the article pick-up device 1 pushes the article B behind the article B to be taken out by pushing down the article B behind the article B after the tip 7a of the arm 7 is advanced to a predetermined position. I do. Then, the lifting arm 16 presses against the front surface of the article B from which the pressing portion 16d is taken out. Continue further
The lifting arm 16 tilts the article B by raising the pressing portion 16d, as shown in FIG. And
The scooping tool 24 advances so as to enter the lower space D formed below the tilted article B while flipping up the article B by the guide rollers 61, 61. In parallel with this, the tilting tool 8 raises the pressing tool 11 and raises the lifting arm 1.
6 is retracted. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the tilting tool 8 presses the upper surface of the article B transferred to the scooping tool 24 with the pressing tool 11 due to the slight retreat of the arm 7 and the lowering of the pressing tool 11,
Even if the articles B to be scooped are rapidly moved, the articles B can be moved without falling down.

In this state, the endless belt 56 of the scooping tool 24 and the pressing tool 11 retreat in a synchronized state, and deliver the article B to the pull-out conveyor 26. The drawer conveyor 26 conveys the received article B and stops it with the stopper 65. Subsequently, the draw-out conveyor 26 pushes the article B to the stocking device 2 by the extrusion device 66. As shown in FIG. 18, the stocking device 2 has a raised receiving conveyor 6.
At 8, the article B is accepted and stopped by the stopper 72.

Finally, when the stocking device 2 has received a predetermined number of articles B, it descends to the height of the conveyor C, and then raises and drives the payout conveyor 69 to move the articles B to the conveyor C. Payout completes one cycle of picking up the item.

[0044]

As described in detail above, the article pick-up equipment according to the present invention has the following excellent effects.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to meet the required equipment layout by making the direction of receiving and dispensing the articles of the stock apparatus orthogonal to each other.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the articles received from the article pick-up device on the upstream side of the receiving conveyor naturally move to the downstream side, so that the articles can be smoothly received.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a large article can be picked up on the upstream side of the payout conveyor with a wide interval and a small article can be picked up on the downstream side of the narrow interval, so that large and small articles of different sizes can be picked up. Underwriting can be done efficiently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the facility of the present invention, and is a view of the entire facility from obliquely above a stock area.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the entire facility viewed obliquely from above a conveyor in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a right side view showing a main part in a standby state in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a right side view showing a main part in a state immediately before starting tilting of the article in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a right side view showing a main part in a state where the article is tilted in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a right side view showing a main part in a state where the tilted article is scooped in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a right side view showing, on an enlarged scale, a state in which the distal end portion of the arm is advanced and the lifting arm is advanced in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged right side view showing a state in which the lifting arm, the pressing tool, and the back plate are retracted in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a cross section taken along the line II of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a right side view, partially in section, showing a relationship between an upper frame and an arm.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a drawer conveyor and a scooping tool.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing an arm and a scooping tool with a drawer conveyor omitted and partly cut away.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a section taken along a roll line in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of a cross section taken along a Harha line in FIG. 11;

FIG. 15 is a right side view showing the scooping tool.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a scooping tool with a partial cross section.

FIG. 17 is a plan view showing a stock device.

FIG. 18 is a rear view showing the stock apparatus.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged side view showing a relationship between a receiving conveyor and a paying-out conveyor of the stock apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Article pick-up apparatus 2 ... Stocking apparatus 3 ... Traveling trolley 4 ... Tilting apparatus 5 ... Scooping apparatus 6 ... Frame 7 ... Arm 8 ... Tilting tool 22, 23 ... Frame 24 ... Scooping tool 25 ... Arm R ... Stock area C ... Unloading conveyor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An article pick-up facility comprising: an article pick-up device for picking up an article; a stock apparatus for receiving and storing the articles from the article pick-up apparatus; and a mast for individually guiding the article pick-up apparatus and the stock apparatus to be vertically movable.
The stock apparatus includes a receiving conveyor for picking up articles from the article pick-up apparatus, and a pay-out conveyor for paying out the goods in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the receiving conveyor.
An article pick-up facility characterized in that the transfer surface of the receiving conveyor is freely retractable with respect to the transfer surface of the pay-out conveyor. 2. The receiving conveyor according to claim 1,
2. The article pickup facility according to claim 1, wherein the article is inclined downward from the receiving upstream side to the downstream side, and the article is moved from the upstream side to the downstream side by its own weight. 3. A plurality of sets each of the receiving conveyor and the paying-out conveyor, and a receiving conveyor is arranged between the adjacent paying-out conveyors, and an interval between the adjacent paying-out conveyors is set such that a downstream side to pay out is narrowed and an upstream side is provided. Claim 1 that is widened
Or the article pick-up equipment according to 2.