JPH10181865A - Take-out and sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a device constitution and reduce running cost by delivering a carrier article on a tray, disengaging a stopper from the inclined downstream side of the tray and providing at least an article take-out part receiving the carrier article flowing out due to the inclination of the tray. SOLUTION: A belt conveyor 6 of a carry-in part A is driven by detecting the approaching of a tray 4 and delivers an article W mounted on the upper part to the side of the tray 4. The tray 4 on which the article W is mounted moves to the right side of a chain 3, maintaining its inclined angle attitude along an attitude holding guide 5, and rises, being adjacent to each article take-out part. When the article W is judged to be an article to be transferred to a pertinent take-out part while the tray 4 rises, a stopper plate arranged at the inclined downstream tip of the tray 4 is disengaged in the take-out part, and at the same time, a belt conveyor 7 is driven, the article W is received and the article W is delivered to a roller conveyor 8 of the rear part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article sorting and article taking-out apparatus suitable for use in an article collection and distribution center, a three-dimensional warehouse, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an article take-out apparatus, there is an apparatus that generally takes out articles by using a stacker crane movable vertically and horizontally in a three-dimensional warehouse or the like. In addition, as an article sorting device used in an article collection and distribution center, particularly, for an article having a relatively large size or a heavy weight, an identification label attached to an article conveyed on a conveyor is optically recognized. When the delivery location is determined by reading by a type reader or the like, it is distributed to the relevant sorting port by a branch conveyor or slat conveyor, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art A configuration of an automatic device that branches according to purpose is known.

Here, as a conventional article unloading apparatus, there is a continuous unloading apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-27204, for example. This apparatus includes a stacker crane that travels along storage shelves arranged in multiple stages, and a vertical circulation conveyor arranged near the stacker crane, and a load on the shelf is provided on a carriage that moves up and down the stacker crane. A series of operations are performed to deliver the goods to the receiving part via the unloading device, then deliver the goods from the receiving part to the receiving part arranged on the circulating conveyor, and deliver the goods to the unloading conveyor arranged below the circulating conveyor. The receiving parts are cantilever-shaped receiving surfaces that intersect with each other in a comb tooth shape. By lowering the receiving part on the carriage side, the load placed on the receiving part is transferred to the receiving part on the circulation conveyor side. By intersecting while transferring, the load can be continuously taken out without stopping the circulation conveyor every time the goods are transferred, so that relatively high-speed operation can be performed as a load in the three-dimensional warehouse.

[0004]

However, when such an article take-out device is driven in reverse to be used as a sorting device, the unloading conveyor has a structure that can be arranged only at the lower part of the circulation conveyor. The conveyor alone cannot be driven as a sorting device for sorting articles on a plurality of lines.

Further, when the stacker crane is used as a sorting device in cooperation with the circulating conveyor in the continuous unloading device, the receiving portion of the circulating conveyor and the receiving portion on the carriage side intersect to transfer the load. If the reverse operation is performed, the delivery destination of each item to be sent to each shelf is different between the transport conveyor and the circulation conveyor or between the circulation conveyor and the stacker crane. Complex control is required for the connection of the delivery, and the connection of the delivery is not actually taken, and in some cases, the load may be missed.

[0006] As described above, in taking out and sorting articles, it is not an exaggeration to say that the flow of articles is almost the reverse, but the apparatus cannot cope with only the reverse operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, has a simple structure, and can be continuously operated at a high speed both as an automatic sorting apparatus and as an article take-out apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for sorting and taking out articles as described above.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to a vertically movable, endless chain which is connected at a predetermined interval to place a conveyed article in an inclined state. A plurality of trays, a guide that cooperates with the chain and guides the movement of each tray while maintaining the posture of each tray, and a stopper that supports, in a stopped state, a conveyed article placed on each tray at the inclined downstream end position of each tray. At least one article carry-in portion for transferring articles to be conveyed onto the tray from an upstream side of the tray, and at least one article for receiving a conveyed article flowing out by the inclination of the tray by hanging the stopper from the downstream side of the tray. And two article receiving sections.

Therefore, in the present invention, by using only the movement of the chain and utilizing the inclination of the tray, articles are sequentially delivered to each tray from the carry-in section, and the corresponding sections on the tray are delivered at the respective delivery sections. Articles can be received sequentially. That is, at each delivery position, no power is required for moving the article, the configuration of the apparatus is greatly simplified, and the running cost is reduced. Further, if this is used for sorting, the sorting in the vertical direction is performed, so that the space use efficiency can be drastically increased.

Here, each of the trays may be configured to be tiltably supported by a supporting means whose posture is held by a chain and a guide. Further, an actuator for the operation of hooking the tray is arranged in the loading section, and by temporarily locking the end of the tray on the loading section side, the loading section level and the level of this tray end section are temporarily set. It is possible to carry the conveyed article onto the tray while deepening the tilt angle in a state where the objects are in line with each other. In each of the receiving portions, an actuator for detaching and engaging the stopper is disposed, and thereby the level of the leading end of the tray is adjusted by the temporary locking operation of the tip of the tray subsequent to the operation for detaching and engaging the stopper. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the conveyed article is discharged to the receiving unit side while the tilt angle is deepened in a state where the conveyed article temporarily matches the level.

Therefore, with such a configuration, when the tray is continuously moved, the inclination angle is increased while maintaining the level of the transfer surface with each unit only in the loading unit and the receiving unit temporarily.
Because goods can be received and paid out smoothly,
There is no problem in receiving and paying out articles during continuous movement. Further, according to the apparatus of the present invention, except that each receiving unit is a plurality of carrying-in units, the carrying-in unit is a single outlet, and at least the inclination angle of the tray and the direction of the stopper are reversed. A similar configuration can be provided. Thus, by simply reversing the directions of the tray and the stopper, the apparatus can be used reversibly as a continuous article removal apparatus without changing the main structure of the apparatus.

[0012]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.
1 shows the overall configuration of the vertical sorting device according to the present invention. The vertical sorting device shown in the figure includes a vertical frame 1 installed on the floor, a pair of sprockets 2 rotatably supported above and below the frame 1, and a chain 3 looped between the two sprockets 2. A number of trays 4 connected to the outer portion of the chain 3 at regular intervals, and before and after guiding each tray 4 by moving the chain 3 counterclockwise while holding each tray 4 at a predetermined inclination angle. A pair of posture holding guides 5 and a belt conveyor 6 for carrying the conveyed articles W, which is located at a lower portion of the outer side of the left side of the chain 3 in the figure and is inclined forward at an angle equal to the inclination angle of the tray 4, An article receiving belt conveyor 7 which is disposed on the right side of the chain 3 in the figure, and which is rearward inclined at an inclination angle equal to the inclination angle of the tray 4;
And a roller conveyor 8 orthogonal to the rear of each conveyor 7
And a plurality of article receiving sections B1 to B6 arranged in multiple stages. Although two sprockets 2 are not shown in the drawing, two sprockets are coaxially arranged on the left and right sides in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, and two chains 3 are vertically arranged in parallel on the left and right.

Next, an outline of the operation in the above configuration will be described. First, the belt conveyor 6 of the loading section A is driven by detecting the approach of the tray 4 and delivers the article W mounted thereon to the tray 4 side. The tray 4 on which the articles W are loaded moves to the right side of the chain 3 while maintaining its inclination angle attitude along the attitude holding guide 5, and rises adjacent to each of the article receiving sections B1 to B6.

If it is determined that the article W is to be transferred to the corresponding receiving section during this ascent, the stopper section, which will be described later, is disposed at the receiving section and disposed at the inclined downstream end of the tray 4. Simultaneously, the belt conveyor 7 is driven to receive the article W, and the article W is delivered to the rear roller conveyor 8, and the roller conveyor 8 delivers the article W to a stacking position (not shown) orthogonal to the drawing sheet. With the above operation, the vertical sorting apparatus circulates and repeats the operation of sorting and discharging the articles W from the loading section A to the receiving sections B1 to B6 one after another. The receiving section is not limited to each of the heights B1 to B6, but can be set at each stage according to the height of the vertical frame 1.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show the tray 4 and its supporting structure. In the drawing, the tray 4 has a large number of rollers 10 arranged inside a rectangular frame portion 9, and the articles W are sent in an inclined direction by the rolling of each roller 10. The support structure includes a horizontal support shaft 11 and a pair of support brackets 12 fixed at the lower ends on both sides of the horizontal support shaft 11, and the tray 4 is supported on the upper portion of the support bracket 12 via the shaft 13 so that the tray 4 can be tilted. It is the structure which did.

The above-mentioned stopper plate 14 is arranged at the inclined downstream end of the tray 4, and the arms 14 a on both sides thereof are rotatably supported by the shaft 13. The stopper plate 14 has an L-shaped cross section, and is always provided by a compression coil spring 16 interposed between a plate 15 disposed on the front side between the support brackets 12 and the arm 14a at a lower portion of the tray 4. Energized to the raised position, the tip of the tray 4 protrudes from the article mounting surface and holds the article W in a stopped state.

Although not shown, an urging force between the plate 15 and the frame 9 of the tray 4 is such that the load of the article W does not cause the tray 4 to tilt forward, and is stronger than the compression coil spring 16. A simple spring mechanism is interposed to urge the tray 4 in the backward tilt direction. However, on the rear side between the support brackets 12, a tilt holding plate 17 for regulating the backward tilt of the tray 4 and constantly holding the tray 4 in the forward tilt position is disposed, and the tray 4 is set to the predetermined forward tilt angle position. keeping.

In the lower part on both sides on the downstream side of the tray 4,
An L-shaped stopper 18 for restricting downward rotation of the support arm 14a is arranged, and a hit plate 19 for an actuator described later is fixed to a lower surface of a rear portion of the tray 4. Further, in this support configuration, one ends of a pair of link plates 20 are rotatably supported at both ends of the horizontal support shaft 11, and
Further, a pair of L-shaped horizontal holding arms 21 extending in the front-rear direction are fixedly disposed at the left and right outer ends.

Each of the link plates 20 is connected to the left and right chains 3 via a mounting portion 22 with its leading end extended up and down by a predetermined angle, and the entire apparatus is supported by the chain 3 in a suspended state. In addition, each horizontal holding arm 21
By engaging the guide rollers 23 bearing at the upper outer ends of the front and rear posture holding guides 5 described above,
As shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 1, the apparatus moves along the trajectory of the attitude holding guide 5, so that the horizontal support shaft 11 and the upper part of the horizontal support shaft 11 are irrespective of the displacement of the attitude of each link plate 20 at any suspension position. , The posture of the tray 4 and the other members is kept constant.

Next, the detailed operation of the article loading / receiving section A and the receiving / receiving sections B1 to B6 with respect to the transfer of the article W will be described with reference to FIGS. First,
FIG. 4 shows a detailed operation mode in the article loading section A.
At the lower part of the carry-in belt conveyor 6, a pneumatic hydraulic cylinder 24 constituting the above-described actuator is arranged in parallel with the carry-in belt conveyor 6, and the plunger 24a faces the inclined upstream end side of the tray 4.

In this configuration, first, as shown in (a), in a state where the tray 4 is located at a position higher than the belt conveyor 6 and is lowered, the belt conveyor 6 carries the loaded articles W. Stop in the state, plunger 2
4a is also immersed and is in a delivery standby state. From this state,
When the tray 4 is further lowered, the belt conveyor 6 is moved in accordance with the detection output of a position sensor (not shown) as shown in FIG.
Is driven to transfer the article W to the tray 4 side, and at the same time, the plunger 24a protrudes and hits the hitting plate 19 fixed to the lower part of the tray 4, and as shown in FIG.
The lowering operation of the tray 4 is temporarily restricted, and the leading end of the belt conveyor 6 and the inclined upstream end of the tray 4 are kept at the same level.

As a result, the tray 4 is further inclined forward with respect to the supporting shaft 13 against the urging pressure of the spring mechanism for holding the posture.
The article W that has entered the side is slid to the downstream end portion of the tray 4 via the roller 10 and received by the stopper plate 14, thereby holding the article W on the downstream end portion of the tray 4. After this operation, the plunger 24a of the pneumatic hydraulic cylinder 24 is retracted, so that the tray 4 returns to the normal inclination angle regulated by the inclination holding plate 17,
The article W is transferred to each receiving section while holding the article W. Further, the belt conveyor 6 stops with the next article W loaded thereon, and returns to the delivery standby state.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a detailed operation mode of each of the article receiving sections B1 to B6. A cylinder 25 is disposed, and its plunger 25a is directed toward the inclined downstream end of the tray 4.

In the above configuration, first, as shown in (a), when the tray 4 is at a position lower than the belt conveyor 7 and is rising while supporting the articles W, the belt conveyor 7 stops. The plunger 25a is also immersed, and is in a reception standby state.

From this state, as shown in (b), the article W held by the tray 4 is an article to be delivered to its own receiving section by a detection output of a position sensor (not shown) and an optical reader. If it is determined that there is
Upon receiving the output D, the belt conveyor 7 is driven in the take-off direction, and at the same time, the plunger 25a protrudes to hit the downstream end of the stopper plate 14, and the stopper plate 14 is moved in accordance with the relative ascent operation. Is pivoted downward against the biasing pressure of. Thereby, the article W
Starts sliding toward the belt conveyor 7 by its own weight according to the inclination angle of the tray 4.

When the tray 4 further moves up in this state, the lower portion of the stopper plate 14 abuts against the L-shaped stopper 18 to prevent further rotation, as shown in FIG. , The tray 4 deepens forward against the spring pressure of the spring mechanism,
The article W is completely discharged to the side of the belt conveyor 7 due to the increase in the slipperiness according to the inclination while the tip level thereof is kept equal to the level of the end of the belt conveyor 7.

After this operation, the plunger 25a of the empty hydraulic cylinder 25 is retracted again, and the empty tray 4 is
While returning to the normal angle posture, the belt conveyer 7 transfers the article W to the roller conveyer 8, and then returns to the transfer standby state. Therefore, by taking the above operation mode, receiving the article W while the tray 4 is continuously conveyed,
In carrying out the discharging operation, it is possible to reliably perform the transfer.

In this embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a vertical sorting device is shown. However,
In the present invention, on the contrary, it can also be used as an article take-out device. In this case, it is needless to say that each of the payout ports B1 to B6 is a plurality of carry-in sections, the article carry-in section A is a single payout port, and the tray 4 and the corresponding belt conveyors 6, 7 are used. Can be realized in the same configuration as that of the above embodiment except that the inclination angle and the direction of the stopper plate 14 are reversed, and there is no need to change the main structure of the apparatus other than changing the mounting position.

In this case, the product W, that is, the case where the types and numbers of the products are mixed and delivered to one store or the like, is suitable. Just by specifying, the required number and types can be paid out collectively from various kinds of products stocked in each sorting state.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the operation of only the movement of the chain utilizes the inclination of the tray, and sequentially transfers the articles from the carry-in section to the respective trays. The section can sequentially receive the corresponding articles on the tray. In other words, at each delivery position,
No power is required for the movement of the article, the apparatus configuration is greatly simplified, and the running cost is reduced. Further, if this is used for sorting, the sorting in the vertical direction is performed, so that the space use efficiency can be drastically increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall configuration of a vertical sorting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a tray support configuration in the sorting apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the same.

FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory views showing an operation of delivering a conveyed article to a tray at an insertion port.

FIGS. 6A to 6C are explanatory views showing a payout operation of a conveyed article in a receiving unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Sprocket 3 Chain 4 Tray 5 Posture holding guide A Article carrying-in section B1-B6 Receiving section 11, 12, 13 Support configuration (11 horizontal support shaft, 12
Support bracket, 13 axes) 14 Stopper plate 24, 25 Pneumatic hydraulic cylinder (actuator) W Article

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of trays (4), which are connected at predetermined intervals to an endless chain (3) which can be continuously moved in a vertical direction, and on which a conveyed article (W) is placed in an inclined state; A guide (5) that cooperates with 3) to guide the movement while maintaining the posture of each tray (4), and is placed on each tray (4) at the inclined downstream end position of each tray (4). A stopper (14) for supporting the conveyed articles (W) to be stopped in a stopped state; and at least one article carry-in section (A) for transferring the conveyed articles onto the tray (4) from an inclined upstream side of the tray (4). At least one article receiving portion (B1) that hangs the stopper (14) from the inclined downstream side of the tray (4) and receives the conveyed articles (W) flowing out by the inclination of the tray (4).
To B6).