JPH10203516A - Bag opener - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer, open and discharge a bag body by including a bag holding mechanism for picking up the bag body and discharging it, a bag holding claw for sticking the bag body from an upper face toward both lower sides for hanging and supporting and a bag holding arm for holding the bag body from both lower sides. SOLUTION: At the time of starting a bag holding and discharging apparatus, a suction pad 12 is raised, a bag holding claw is stored and a bag holding arm 17 is kept open. Then after a bag body 7 to be opened is moved upward by a robot and the suction pad 12 is lowered to suck the bag body 7, the suction pad 12 is raised and at the same time the bag holding claw 14 is rotated downward to protrude for sticking it through the bag body 7 so that the bag body 7 is hung down and supported. Thereafter the bag body 7 is moved onto a supply conveyer by the robot, it is sent to a rotary blade 4 while being held by the bag holding and discharging apparatus, and the bag body 7 is equally cut into two parts. Then left and right bag holding arms 17 are rotated outward and upward, while the bag holding claw 14 is also reversely rotated outward for discharging.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention transfers cereals, feed, and other various raw materials packed in a bag from a pallet or the like.
It belongs to a bag opening device for taking out the contents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional bag opening apparatus includes a general-purpose industrial robot that takes out and transfers bags from a pallet or the like, and a bag opening machine that opens and pays out bags brought by the robot. A combined apparatus is generally used, and as the bag opening machine, the technique and apparatus described in JP-A-63-91408 can be used. This bag-opening machine is provided with a supply conveyor for feeding bags brought from a pallet by a robot or the like to one of the carry-in sides, and has an empty bag discharge port on the other side. The bag machine main body has an arm for moving the bag while grasping the bag, and a rotary blade for cutting the bag is provided at a lower portion on the path of the bag. Then, the bag is cut in half by moving on the rotary blade with the biting teeth protruding from the arm firmly grasping the bag on both sides, and after cutting, the opening of the bag is turned down and the contents are turned down Things are completely discharged.

[0003]

The apparatus using the combination of the industrial robot and the bag opener described above is much more efficient than relying on manual labor, and is safe because it does not require human labor. Necessary and expensive equipment as a whole. Therefore, a space-saving and inexpensive bag opening apparatus has been desired. The bag is mainly hemp bag, PP
There are three types, bags and paper bags, but there is no transfer device that can handle all of these. The present invention has been developed to meet such a demand, and requires less space than a conventional combination of an industrial robot and a bag opener.
An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive bag opening apparatus that can handle both PP bags and paper bags.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a bag opening apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is mounted on an arm of an industrial robot, and holds a bag for performing a bag-up operation and a dispensing operation. A bag opening device comprising a mechanism and a rotary blade provided at an appropriate position, wherein the bag holding mechanism pierces the bag body so as to penetrate the upper side downward from both sides, and a bag holding claw that suspends and supports the bag body. A bag holding arm that holds a bag body suspended and supported by the bag holding claw from both lower sides. When the bag holding arm is released, the bag body cut by the rotary blade is opened by the bag holding claw. The unit can be suspended downward and supported, and the industrial robot is controlled to perform the transfer, opening, and dispensing operations of the bag.

[0005] In the bag opening apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the bag holding claw is formed of a plurality of arcuate fangs, and a base end thereof is connected to a rotating shaft provided near the center of the arc. The rotation of the shaft pierces the bag body from above the bag body to suspend and support the bag body, and the rotation shaft is pivotally supported by a support having a rotation shaft at the top, and the support rotates. Thus, the bag holding claws are opened outward from each other, and a payout operation is performed with the opening of the cut bag body facing downward.

A bag opening apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is configured such that the rotary blade is mounted on a support provided on the industrial robot.

In the bag opening apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the bag holding mechanism is provided with a suction pad for sucking the bag at the center of the bottom surface.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bag opening apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the arrangement of the first embodiment. The transfer and opening operations are performed by a series of operations of an industrial robot 2 (hereinafter, referred to as a robot). The robot 2 is equipped with a bag holding and dispensing device 1 which is a bag holding mechanism for gripping and transferring the bag 7 at the tip of the arm 2a and performing a dispensing operation of the contents. Supply conveyor 3
And the rotary blade 4 are provided.

The supply conveyor 3 is a device for feeding the bag 7 to the rotary blade 4. The rotary blade 4 is provided near the center of the outlet of the supply conveyor 3 so as to bite into the supply conveyor 3. The bag is provided so as to be parallel to the traveling direction, and cuts the supplied bag into approximately two equal parts. However, the supply conveyor 3 is provided as needed and may not be provided. Reference numeral 5 denotes a hopper serving as an outlet for the contents of the bag, reference numeral 6 denotes an empty bag outlet for discharging empty bags after dispensing, and reference numeral 8 denotes a pallet.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the bag holding and dispensing apparatus 1, and FIG. 3 shows a side view. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a suspension plate for suspending and holding the main body of the bag holding and dispensing apparatus 1, which has a robot mounting portion 11a for connecting to a robot at an upper portion, and is shown in a side view of the robot in FIG. Is used by being attached to the arm 2a of the robot 2. The housing 2 constituting the main body is provided at four places of the suspension plate 11.
The hanging rods 21 for hanging 0 are attached. Each of the hanging rods 21 has a spring 21a around the hanging rods 21 so as to be able to absorb the shock during the operation and to be able to hold and transfer without burdening the bag body 7. It has become.

The suspended housing 20 has a suction pad 12 downward at the center, and an air cylinder 13 for vertically moving the suction pad 12 is provided vertically above the suction pad 12. The suction pad 12 is effective mainly for picking up a paper bag, and may not be used when only a hemp bag or a PP bag is handled. Reference numeral 14 denotes a bag holding claw, which is provided before and after the suction pad 12 as one set of four arc-shaped fang members. The bag holding claw 14 is connected by a sleeve 22 to a rotation shaft 15a whose base end is provided near the center of the arc,
The rotation can be performed by the rotation shaft 15a. When the bag 7 is transferred, the bag holding claws 14 rotate downward by the rotation of the rotating shaft 15a, pierce the upper portion of the bag 7 before and after, and suspend and support the bag 7 from above. The front-back direction is, for example, in the front view of FIG. 2, the front side of the paper surface is the front side, and the back side is the rear side.

Both ends of the rotating shaft 15a are respectively supported by supports 19, and one of the left and right supports 19 is provided with an air cylinder 15 for rotating the rotating shaft 15a. As shown in FIG. 2, the front rotation shaft 15a is connected to an air cylinder 15 provided on the right support 19, and the rear rotation shaft 1
5a is connected to the left air cylinder 15. The piston rod of the air cylinder 15 is connected to an arm 15b provided at one end of the rotating shaft 15a, and is capable of rotating the rotating shaft 15a. As described above, the bag holding claw 14 is rotated by the expansion and contraction of the air cylinder 15 and is stored upward, or protrudes downward and pierces the bag body. 2, 3, and 4 all show a state in which the bag holding claws 14 are rotationally projected downward and the bag body 7 is suspended.

Further, each of the supports 19 has a shaft attachment portion 19a on the upper portion, and the left and right shaft attachment portions 19a are fixed so as to operate integrally by a reversing shaft 16a supported by the housing 20. . The rotation of the reversing shaft 16a causes the support 1
9 is rotatable with the bag holding claws 14. The reversing shaft 16a has a pinion gear at one end, and an air cylinder 16 having a piston rod 23 formed with a rack gear is provided at a position corresponding to the housing 20, and the reversing shaft 16a is meshed with the pinion gear and the rack gear. It is designed to rotate. As a result of this rotation, the support 19 rotates substantially 90 degrees in the direction of the arrow (two-dot chain line) as shown in FIG. In addition, 7a has shown the cut | disconnected bag body. Thus, the support 19 is rotated by the air cylinder 16.
As a result, the bag holding claws 14 rotate outward and upward to perform a reversing operation, thereby performing a dispensing operation of the contents of the bag body. The rotation operation of the reversing shaft 16a by the air cylinder 16 is not performed by the rack and the pinion, but by the rotation shaft 1
The arm may be provided on the reversing shaft 16a and rotated as shown in 5a.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a bag holding arm for holding the bag 7 from below to prevent the bag from falling. The bag holding arm 17 includes four substantially rectangular metal rods, and is provided on the left and right sides of the suction pad 12, and the base end is a housing. 2
It is fixed to a rotating shaft 18a pivotally supported at zero. The rotating shaft 18a is rotated by the expansion and contraction of the air cylinder 18 provided on the upper part of the housing 20, and the bag holding arm 17 performs the holding operation and the opening operation of the bag 7.

Next, the operation of the bag opening apparatus will be described with reference to the operation explanatory views of the bag holding and dispensing apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. FIG.
6 is a front view explanatory diagram, in which a, b, c, and d in the side view explanatory diagram of FIG. 6 correspond to a, b, c, and d, respectively. The description will be made with reference to FIG. First, the bag holding and dispensing apparatus 1 at the time of the start
The support 19 is in a horizontal state in which the bag holding claws 14 are stored, and the bag holding arm 17 is in an open state. Then, the robot 2 moves above the bag 7 to be opened.

Next, as shown in FIG.
2 is lowered by the operation of the air cylinder 13 to contact the bag 7 to start suction. However, when the bag 7 is not a paper bag, the suction pad 12 does not have to be operated. After the suction, the suction pad 12 is raised as shown in FIG. 6B, and simultaneously, the bag holding claws 14 are rotated and protruded downward by the operation of the air cylinder 15 to pierce the bag body 7 to suspend and support the bag body 7. . Since the bag holding claws 14 are bent in an arc shape, the bag 7 can be hung after being pierced, so that the bag can be reliably held from above. Then, the bag 7 is lifted by the robot 2 and the bag holding arm 17 is rotated by the operation of the air cylinder 18 to hold the bag 7 from below.

After holding the bag, the bag 7 is transferred onto the supply conveyor 3 by the robot 2. At this time, in the bag holding and dispensing device 1, the rotation axis 15 a of the bag holding claw 14 is parallel to the traveling direction of the supply conveyor 3 so that the rotary blade 4 moves between the front and rear supports 19, 19. The bag 7 is placed on the supply conveyor 3 while holding the bag 7 so that the rotary blade 4 passes below the center of the bag holding and dispensing apparatus 1. In this way, the bag 7 is sent to the rotary blade 4 by the supply conveyor 3 while being held by the bag holding and dispensing device 1 as shown in FIG. During this time, the robot 2 may be operated in accordance with the movement of the supply conveyor 3 until the cutting by the rotary blade 4 is completed. Thus, by having the supply conveyor 3,
The position of the bag 7 can be stabilized and can be cut into two equal parts without fail, but it is possible to cut without providing the supply conveyor 3, and in this case, the bag 7 is held. What is necessary is just to move the bag holding and dispensing device 1 on the rotary blade 4 by the robot 2.

The rotary blade 4 has a radius sufficient to completely cut the bag 7 sent, and the rotary blade 4 passes between the support members 19 before and after the bag holding and dispensing device 1. There is enough space for In this way, the bag 7 is cut into approximately two equal parts by passing the bag holding and dispensing device 1 over the rotary blade 4 while holding the bag 7. After the cutting, the left and right bag holding arms 17 are pivoted outward and upward by the operation of the air cylinder 18 to stop holding, as shown in FIG.
At the same time, the front and rear supports 19 are also opened by the air cylinder 16. With this operation, the bag holding claws 14 are also turned outward to perform the payout operation. The opening of the cut bag 7a thus faces completely downward, and the discharge of the contents is promoted.

As described above, since the payout operation is performed after the cutting, the contents are completely discharged. This dispensing operation is effective when the air cylinder 16 is expanded and contracted in small increments according to the contents and the bag is vibrated. And
The contents discharged at the time of cutting or after inversion are collected by a hopper 5 (shown in FIG. 1) which collects the contents below.
After discharging the contents, the reversing operation of the support 19 is finished, the bag 19 is returned to the horizontal state, and the bag holding claws 14 are stored upward. It is collected at the empty bag discharge port 6 provided. Then, the bag holding and dispensing device 1 returns to the initial state, and shifts to the next bag opening operation.

As described above, the bag 7 on the pallet 8 is operated only by a series of operations of the robot 2 equipped with the bag holding and dispensing apparatus 1.
Since the transfer, opening and dispensing operations can be performed, it is only necessary to attach the rotary blade to the existing hopper, and there is no need to separately install a bag opening machine. Therefore, the installation space can be saved, and an inexpensive apparatus can be provided because a separate bag opening machine is not required.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to the layout explanatory diagram of FIG. FIG. 7 shows a configuration in which the rotary blade 4 is not provided on the hopper 5 side, but provided on the robot 2. A support 26 is provided below the robot 2, and a hydraulic cylinder 25 having the rotary blade 4 attached to the tip thereof is mounted on the support 26. Installed sideways. The hydraulic cylinder 25 expands and contracts a sufficient distance to cut the bag 7, and the bag holding and dispensing device 1 holding the bag 7
Is stopped at a predetermined position so that the rotary blade 4 can pass between the front and rear supports 19 as in the first embodiment, and the bag 7 is cut by the expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder 25. I have. In addition, 27 is a pallet receiving stand for lifting the pallet 8 in accordance with the support stand 26. In addition, the same parts as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. If the rotary blade is provided integrally with the robot in this way, the installation space can be further saved, and the robot can be stopped during the cutting of the bag, and the contents can be easily collected.

In the above embodiment, the bag holding arm is provided at a position orthogonal to the bag holding claw, but may be in the same direction. In addition, in the case where the rotary blade is integrated with the robot, a table is provided below the robot and the rotary blade is supported on the table. However, the rotary blade may be directly supported by the robot body. In addition, the number and shape of the bag holding claws and the like, and the shape and configuration of other parts are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed and embodied without departing from the spirit of the present invention. .

[0023]

As described in detail above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, since the bag holding and dispensing device is mounted on the robot, the bag is taken out, opened, and dispensed in a series of steps. The operation can be performed during the operation, and a space-saving and inexpensive apparatus can be realized without requiring a separate bag opening machine.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the rotary blade is mounted on the robot, the whole space can be further reduced.

According to the invention of claim 4, paper bags, hemp bags, P
Compatible with all P bags.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a layout of a bag opening device showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the bag holding and dispensing device.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the bag holding and dispensing device.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the robot to which the bag holding and dispensing device is assembled.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory front view showing the flow of the operation of the bag holding and dispensing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory side view showing a flow of the operation of the bag holding and dispensing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the arrangement of a bag opening device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Bag holding and dispensing device, 2. Robot (industrial robot), 4. Rotary blade, 12. Suction pad, 14.
Bag holding claw, 17 ··· Bag holding arm, 19 ··· Support, 2
0 ... housing

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claims: 1. An industrial robot arm,
A bag-opening device comprising a bag holding mechanism for performing a bag-lifting operation and a dispensing operation, and a rotary blade provided at an appropriate position, wherein the bag holding mechanism is configured to penetrate the bag from an upper surface to both lower sides. A bag holding claw for piercing and suspending and supporting the bag body, and a bag holding arm for holding the bag body suspended and supported by the bag holding claw from both lower sides, and when the bag holding arm is released, the rotary blade And a bag opening device for transferring, opening, and dispensing the bag body by controlling an industrial robot by allowing the bag body cut in step (1) to be hung and supported by the bag holding claw with the opening portion directed downward. 2. The bag holding claw is formed of a plurality of arc-shaped fangs, and a base end thereof is connected to a rotation shaft provided near the center of the arc, and the rotation of the rotation shaft causes an upper portion of the bag to be raised. The bag is hung and supported by being pierced into the bag, and the rotating shaft is pivotally supported by a support having a rotating shaft at an upper portion, and the bag holding claws are moved outward by rotating the support. The bag-opening device according to claim 1, wherein the bag-opening device is opened to perform a dispensing operation with the opening of the cut bag facing downward. 3. The bag opening apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotary blade is mounted on a support provided on the industrial robot. 4. The bag opening apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bag holding mechanism is provided with a suction pad for suctioning a bag body at a center portion of a bottom surface.