JPH10236436A - Sheet supplying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable sheets to be reliably supplied automatically one by one with slight deflexion applied to the uppermost sheet without performing burr removal by providing a slide driving mechanism for sliding a suction pad when the suction pad sucks the uppermost sheet on a magazine. SOLUTION: In order to prevent two or more aluminum sheets 8 from being cut out simultaneously but to allow the aluminum sheets 8 to be reliably cut out one by one, a slide driving mechanism 52 or the like is provided. That is, when a suction pad 51 sucks the uppermost aluminum sheet in an aluminum sheet holding part, before the sheet is brought up by a cylinder, one of suction pads 51 is driven in an A direction by an air cylinder 52a and also the other suction pad 51 is driven in a B direction by an air cylinder 52a, wherein these operations are alternately repeated several times. Thus deflexion occurs on the uppermost aluminum sheet so that it is easy to peel without burr removal, thereby reliably peeling the uppermost aluminum sheet from second and subsequent sheets.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet such as an aluminum sheet to a predetermined position, and more particularly to an aluminum sheet for cake formed by laminating a large number of thin films and forming (cutting) them together. The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus suitable for use when feeding sheets and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, aluminum sheets used for laying so as to wrap the bottom of cakes are pressed and formed in a state where a large number of sheets are stacked. The aluminum sheets are closely adhered to each other by burrs or the like, and it is difficult to peel off the aluminum sheets one by one. Therefore, conventionally, the burrs are manually removed.

On the other hand, cakes manufactured by coating the surface of a castella table with cream or the like cannot be automatically packaged because the castella table is soft and fragile. And a predetermined number of cakes are stored in the packaging box by grasping the cakes one by one.

[0004]

As described above, conventionally,
Since the packing of cakes is done by hand, the burden on the workers is increased and the manufacturing cost of cakes is increased, and there is also a problem in food hygiene due to the need for manual work by the workers. It is desired to completely automate a series of processes from cake production to packaging.

When the bottom of the cakes is covered with an aluminum sheet or the like at the time of packaging the cakes, it is necessary to automate the processing of supplying the aluminum sheets or the like one by one to the bottom of the cakes in the above series of steps. However, as described above, the aluminum sheets formed by the collective press molding are in close contact with each other and are difficult to separate. Therefore, in order to reliably supply the aluminum sheet or the like one by one, deburring must be manually performed in advance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and can reduce the number of sheets without deburring work.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding device capable of surely automatically feeding sheets one by one.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a sheet feeding apparatus according to the present invention (Claim 1) has a magazine section for holding a large number of sheets in an overlapping manner, and a magazine section for holding a plurality of sheets. A suction pad for sucking sheets one by one and supplying the sheets to a predetermined position from a magazine portion; and a slide drive mechanism for sliding the suction pad when the suction pad sucks the uppermost sheet in the magazine portion. Features.

At this time, a loosening cylinder for pressing and loosening a large number of sheets held in the magazine portion from the side thereof may be provided (claim 2), or the magazine may be removed when the sheet is taken out by the suction pad. The sheet holding device may further include a resistance applying unit that applies resistance to the sheet held by the unit.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. [1] Overall Configuration and Operation of System First, an overall configuration of a box packing system to which a sheet feeding apparatus as one embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 4 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 5 is a side view thereof, and FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b).
Are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing the entire line to which the box packing system of the present embodiment is applied.

In the box packing system of this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (a), a circular frozen cake 1 is obtained by dividing the frozen cake 1 into 12 equal parts, a torte-type cake [a triangular prism-shaped cake having a 30-degree fan-shaped (substantially isosceles triangle) horizontal cross-sectional shape]. 1a is an article to be packed. And
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6A, the box packing system of the present embodiment arranges and arranges the cakes 1a by alternately facing each other.
They are stacked and packed into one packaging box 2 by six pieces (predetermined number).

First, referring to FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), the configuration of the entire line to which the box packing system of the present embodiment is applied will be described. FIG. 6 (a) and FIG. 6 (b) As shown, on the upstream side (left side in the figure) of the boxing system 10 of the present embodiment, a cake cutting line 3, a film attaching line 4 and a metal detection line 5 are provided, and the downstream side of the boxing system 10 (in the figure). On the right) a cartoner 6 is provided.

In the boxing system 10 of the present embodiment, the receiving conveyor 11 for receiving the cake 1a is provided.
Since two lines (described later) are provided, two lines are also provided for the cake cutting line 3, the film attaching line 4, and the metal detection line 5 corresponding to each line. Here, the cake cutting line 3 is a circular frozen cake 1
Is cut into 12 equally-divided 30-degree fan-shaped cakes 1a, and the cakes 1a are sent out one by one to the film sticking line 4. At this time, each cake 1a is sent out with the arc surface directed in the traveling direction (rightward in the figure).

The film sticking line 4 is for sticking the film 7a to the outer periphery of the cake 1a. The film 7a is unwound from the rolls 7, 7 arranged on both sides of the line 4 and the film 7a. It is arranged so as to cover the traveling direction (arc surface). In the film sticking line 4, when the cake 1a is conveyed on the line 4, the film 7a is first stuck on the arc surface of the cake 1a and then stuck on both sides of the cake 1a with the conveyance of the cake 1a. Stick. Then, on the rear end side of the cake 1a,
By cutting means not shown, only the film 7a stuck on the outer periphery of the cake 1a is cut off without cutting the film 7a between the rolls 7, 7. The cake 1a around which the film 7a is wound around in this manner is sent to the metal detection line 5.

The metal detection line 5 is for detecting the presence or absence of metal in the cake 1a by the metal detector 5a. For example, part of the machine is missing and cake 1a
If mixed into the cake, the cake 1
a can be detected by the metal detection line 5 and can be reliably removed. The cartoner 6 is placed on an accumulating unit conveyor 37 (described later) of the box packing system 10.
When the cakes 1a are accumulated, one folded packaging box 2 set in the stacker 6a is taken out, and the packaging box 2 can store six cakes 1a from the folded state. The packing device 2 of the boxing system 10 is further expanded into
When six cakes 1a are inserted (described later), the lid of the packaging box 2 is closed so as to cover the cake 1a, and then sent out onto the unloading roller 6b.

The boxing system 10 of the present embodiment
As shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6 (a) and FIG. 6 (b), the receiving conveyor 11, the detecting device 12, the cake transferring device 13, the aluminum sheet feeding device 14, the aligning / accumulating conveyor 15 and In addition to having a filling device 16, a control panel 1 for managing and controlling the operation of the boxing system 10
7 as well. The control panel 17 is provided with an operation panel 17a for performing various inputs by an operator.

The receiving conveyor 11 receives the cake 1a from the metal detection line 5 and conveys the cake 1a to the cake transfer device 13 described later. As described above, the receiving conveyor 11 has two rows. Then, corresponding to each receiving conveyor 11, a detecting device 12, a cake transferring device 13
And an aluminum sheet supply device 14 are also provided in a pair, respectively, and two rows of receiving conveyors 1 arranged in parallel.
They are arranged approximately symmetrically about the center line between 1 and 11.

Although not shown, in the present embodiment, the receiving conveyor 11 is provided with a mechanism for pressing the film 7a wound on the cake 1a against the side surface of the cake 1a. This mechanism is, for example, a film 7
Nozzle for blowing air to a or film 7a
And a brush roller or the like that presses directly on the cake 1a side by directly contacting the cake 1a. By securely attaching the film 7a to the side surface of the cake 1a using such a mechanism, when the cake 1a is gripped by the gripping mechanism 30 described later, the gripping mechanism 30 and the film 7a interfere with each other. It can be prevented.

The detecting device 12 detects the position of the cake 1a being conveyed by the receiving conveyor 11 (the position of the center of gravity of the fan when the cake 1a is viewed from above) and the posture (the angle with respect to the conveying direction). Cake transfer device 13
Is composed of a robot 25, a turntable 26, and a sending device 27, and transfers the cake 1a conveyed to the receiving conveyor 11 to a tact feeding conveyor 35 described later.
(Alignment / stacking conveyor 15).

Here, the robot 25 operates in accordance with the detection result of the detection device 12, and the robot 1 is provided with the cake 1a on the receiving conveyor 11 at the tip of the arm based on the detection result of the detection device 12. A gripping mechanism 30 for gripping is mounted, and the cake 1a gripped by the gripping mechanism 30 is transferred by a robot 25 to a cake mounting portion 26a of a turntable 26 described later. As shown in FIG. 19, the robot 25 is configured to be rotatable about three axes R1, R2, and R3 in the vertical direction, and to be capable of vertically moving the gripping mechanism 30 attached to the arm tip 25a.

The turntable 26 has four cake placing portions 26a at 90-degree intervals, and the cake placing portion 26a disposed near the robot 25 (transfer station ST1) is attached to the cake placing portion 26a by the robot 25. The cake 1a is transferred. Then, the turntable 26 rotates by 90 degrees, thereby rotating and moving the cake placing portion 26a on which the cake 1a has been transferred at the transfer station ST1 to the vicinity of the tact feeding conveyor 35 (delivery station ST2). It is configured as follows. The detailed configuration of the turntable 26 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

The sending device 27 includes a tact feeding conveyor 35.
Of the cake 1a on the cake placing portion 26a that has moved to the vicinity (delivery station ST2), is horizontally sent out onto the tact feeding conveyor 35. The cake 1a comes into contact with and fits with the cake 1a and pushes out the cake 1a. Contact Claw 27
a, and is constituted by a single-axis robot 27b that reciprocates the contact claw 27a. This sending device 2
7 and the detailed shape of the contact claw 27a will be described later with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, the cake 1a which has been conveyed on the receiving conveyor 11 with the arc surface directed in the traveling direction (to the right in FIGS. 4 to 6) is rotated 180 degrees by the robot 25. Then, the transfer station ST1
Is placed on the cake placing section 26a. When the cake placing section 26a rotates to the delivery station ST2, the cake 1a moves along its arc surface in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance by the tact feeding conveyor 35 [FIGS.
(A) upward or downward]. In such a state, the cake 1a is pushed out by the delivery device 27 onto the stopped tact feeding conveyor 35.

Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 (a), the torte-type cake 1a is sent out from the pair of left and right cake transfer devices 13, 13 onto the tact feeding conveyor 35 so as to face each other. , Alignment / stacking conveyor 1
5 (conveyors 35 to 37 to be described later), one side is conveyed in the traveling direction. In the present embodiment, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 15, each cake placing portion 26a of the turntable 26 is rotatably provided. Thereby, even if only one of the two rows of receiving conveyors 11 is used, if the cake placing portions 26a of the turntable 26 are alternately rotated by 180 degrees, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. And the torte-type cakes 1a can be alternately opposed to be fed onto the tact feeding conveyor 35.

In the present embodiment, the aluminum sheet supply device 14 is provided to feed the cake 1a onto the tact feeding conveyor 35 while being placed on the aluminum sheet 8. This aluminum sheet supply device 14
Cake placing part 26a moved to transfer station ST1
In order to place the aluminum sheet 8 on the turntable 26 in advance at a position (aluminum sheet supply station ST3) which is shifted by 180 degrees from the transfer station ST1 on the turntable 26,
The aluminum sheet 8 is supplied to the cake placing portion 26a.

The aluminum sheet supply device (sheet supply device) 14 holds a magazine section 50 for holding a large number of aluminum sheets 8 in an overlapping manner, and adsorbs the aluminum sheets 8 held on the magazine section 50 one by one. Aluminum sheet supply station ST on turntable 26 from section 50
3 suction pad 5 to be supplied to the cake placing section 26a
1 is provided.

As will be described later with reference to FIG.
Are two sets, and two sets are provided in the present embodiment. The two sets of suction pads 51, 51; 51, 51 are attached to support members (suction arms) 58, 58, respectively, and are provided so as to be capable of being driven to rotate 180 degrees and to be driven up and down. Then, one set of suction pads 51, 51
Is located above the aluminum sheet 8 of the magazine section 50, the other set of suction pads 51, 51 is connected to the cake placing section 26a in the aluminum sheet supply station ST3.
These suction pads 5
By driving up and down 1, the suction of the aluminum sheet 8 from the magazine section 50 and the supply of the aluminum sheet 8 onto the cake placing section 26 a are simultaneously performed. In addition, as described later with reference to FIG. 14, the supplied aluminum sheet 8 is adsorbed on the cake placing portion 26a side.
Three suction holes connected to a vacuum generator (not shown) are formed.

The detailed structure of the aluminum sheet supply device 14 will be described later with reference to FIGS. On the other hand, on the downstream side of the two rows of receiving conveyors 11, 11, on the center line between these conveyors 11, 11,
An alignment / stacking conveyor 15 is arranged. This alignment
The accumulating conveyor 15 conveys the cakes 1a while aligning them and accumulates a predetermined number (six in the present embodiment).
As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG.
5, a transfer conveyor 36 and a transfer section conveyor 37. 7 and 8 are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing the alignment / integration conveyor 15, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are IX and X in FIG. 8, respectively.
It is an enlarged view of a part.

Here, the tact feeding conveyor 35 conveys the cake 1a by a certain distance when the cake 1a is transferred by the cake transfer device 13, and the connecting conveyor 36 is conveyed by the tact feeding conveyor 35. For transferring the cake 1a to the downstream side.
The transfer section conveyor 37 accumulates six cakes 1a transported by the transfer conveyor 36 and transfers the cakes 1a to the filling device 16. The transfer conveyor 36 and the transfer section conveyor 37 are continuously fed.

A transfer conveyor 36 adjacent to the tact feeding conveyor 35 and the transfer unit conveyor 37, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG.
a is guided by knife edge type guide members 38 and 39. These knife edge guides 38, 39
At the ends of the tact feed conveyor 35 and the transfer unit conveyor 37, respectively, are arcuate portions 38a having diameters sufficiently smaller than the diameters of the rollers 35b, 37b wound and guided by the belts 35a, 37a. 39a are formed.

Then, the knife edge type guide members 38, 3
The belt 36a guided by the belt 9 is provided at both ends thereof with a tact feed conveyor 35 and a transfer unit conveyor 3 respectively.
7 are arranged so as to pass over the belts 35a and 37a at the end of the tact feeding conveyor 3,
The transfer surface from the transfer conveyor 5 to the transfer conveyor 36 and the transfer surface from the transfer conveyor 36 to the transfer unit conveyor 37 are substantially flush with each other.

The transfer section conveyor 37 is provided with a photoelectric sensor 40 for detecting the passage of the cake 1a in order to count the number of cakes 1a conveyed on the transfer section conveyor 37. A gate (stopper) 41 capable of closing the space for transporting the cake 1a on the 37 to prevent the cake 1a from being transported, and a motor (drive mechanism) 42 for opening and closing the gate 41 are provided.

The gate 41 is provided so as to be rotatable about a rotating shaft 41a disposed above the transfer section conveyor 37 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor 37 and horizontally.
While closing the transport space of the cake 1a in a state of being arranged orthogonally to the transport surface of the conveyor 37 as shown by the broken line in FIG. 8, while being parallel to the transport surface of the conveyor 37 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. It is configured such that the transport space of the cake 1a is opened in the arranged state.

The photoelectric sensor 40 is composed of a light emitting element 40a and a light receiving element 40b disposed on both sides of the conveyor 37 upstream of the gate 41. The light receiving element 40b always receives the light from the light emitting element 40a, but the light is blocked by passing through the cake 1a.
Therefore, by detecting the interruption of the light by the photoelectric sensor 40, the number of cakes 1a conveyed to the gate 41 side by the transfer unit conveyor 37 and accumulated by closing the gate 41 is counted.

In the present embodiment, a computer or the like (not shown) built in or externally attached to the control panel 17 is used.
Has a function as a counter for counting by a signal from the photoelectric sensor 40, and further has a gate 41
When the counting function described above detects that six cakes 1a have been accumulated in a state in which is closed, the motor 42 is operated to open the gate 41 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. It also has a function as a control unit that controls so that 1a is sent to the filling device 16 as one set.

On the downstream side of the gate 41 described above, the six cakes 1a accumulated on the transfer unit conveyor 37 are put together on the transfer unit conveyor 37 into the packaging box 2 of the cartoner 6. A filling device 16 for feeding is provided. FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the filling device 16, and as shown in FIG.
6 includes a transfer unit conveyor 3 with the opening operation of the gate 41.
L for receiving the six cakes 1a conveyed on the top 7
A letter-shaped frame member 16a is provided. This frame member 1
On the gate 41 side of 6a, the closing member 16b is
6c so as to be rotatable around, and is rotatably driven by a motor or the like (not shown).

In a state in which the six cakes 1a are on standby, the frame member 16a is arranged on the transfer section conveyor 37, and the closing member 16b is arranged at the open position as shown by a solid line in FIG. ing. Then, when the six cakes 1a are received by the frame member 16a in accordance with the opening operation of the gate 41, the closing member 16b is rotationally driven by a motor or the like to the closed position as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. And the closing member 16b hold six cakes 1a.

The filling device 16 is provided with a cylinder 16d for horizontally pushing the frame member 16a in the direction of arrow A (the packaging box 2 in the cartoner 6), and six cylinders 16d by the frame member 16a and the closing member 16b. By operating the cylinder 16 d while holding the cake 1 a, the six cakes 1 a are sent out horizontally to the packaging box 2. That is, the delivery mechanism is constituted by the frame member 16a, the closing member 16b, and the cylinder 16d.

In FIGS. 4 and 6 (a),
Reference numeral 18 denotes a safety guard, which surrounds the robot 25, the turntable 26, and the delivery device 27 in the cake transfer device 13, and prevents these movable parts from coming into contact with an operator or the like. In FIG. 4 and FIG. 6A, reference numeral ST4 denotes a cake placing unit reversing station. At the cake placing unit reversing station ST4, the box packing system 10 operates using only one row of the receiving conveyors 11. In this case, as described later with reference to FIG. 15, every other one of the cake placing portions 26a on the turntable 26 is driven to rotate by 180 degrees.
When the box packing system 10 operates using the two rows of the receiving conveyors 11 as described above, no operation is particularly performed in the cake placing unit reversing station ST4.

In the boxing system 10 of the present embodiment configured as described above, six torte-type cakes 1a are packed in the packaging box 2 in the following manner. The operation will be described with reference to the flowcharts (steps S11 to S43) shown in FIGS. First, the cake 1a is cut out by cutting the circular cake 1 into 12 equal parts on each cake cutting line 3 (step S11), and is sent to the film sticking line 4 one by one (step S12). After the film 1a is attached to the outer periphery of the cake 1a on the film attaching line 4 (step S13), the presence or absence of metal in the cake 1a is detected on the metal detection line 5 (step S14). If not detected (NO route), it is sent to each receiving conveyor 11 of the box packing system 10 of this embodiment as it is. On the other hand, when metal is detected (YES route), the receiving conveyor 11 is stopped (step S1).
5) After removing the cake (NG cake) 1a in which metal has been detected (step S16), the receiving conveyor 11
Is restarted (step S17).

The receiving conveyor 11, the detecting device 1
2. Cake transfer device 13 and aluminum sheet supply device 1
4 is provided with two systems as described above in the present embodiment, but since each system performs exactly the same operation, in the following description, only the operation of one system will be described. The cake 1a sent to the receiving conveyor 11 is conveyed by the receiving conveyor 11 to the vicinity of the robot 25, and reaches a predetermined position (cake center of gravity / tilt measurement position) near the robot 25 (in the case of YES determination in step S18). The detection device 12 detects the position of the center of gravity and the angle with respect to the transport direction (step S19), and the detection data is transferred to the robot 25 (step S2).
0).

Then, when it is detected that the cake 1a has reached the gripping position on the receiving conveyor 11 by the gripping position reaching sensor (not shown) arranged near the robot 25 (ON route from step S21), The transport operation of the receiving conveyor 11 is temporarily stopped (step S
22), the robot 25 operates according to the detection data,
The gripping mechanism 30 at the tip of the arm is moved to a position corresponding to the position and angle of the center of gravity of the cake 1a.
The cake 1a on the receiving conveyor 11 is gripped by the gripping mechanism 30 by taking a posture corresponding to the position and angle of the center of gravity of each cake 1a conveyed above (step S2).
3).

The robot 25 holding the cake 1a by the holding mechanism 30 transfers the cake 1a to the transfer station S
Cake placing part 26 on turntable 26 at T1
Transfer to a. The aluminum sheet 8 is supplied in advance by the aluminum sheet supply device 14 at the aluminum sheet supply station ST3 onto the cake placing portion 26a in the transfer station ST1 (Steps S25 to S25 to be described later).
S31), the robot 25 places the cake 1a on the aluminum sheet 8 and releases the holding state by the holding mechanism 30 (step S24).

On the other hand, the aluminum sheet supply station ST
In 3, the supply of the aluminum sheet 8 by the aluminum sheet supply device 14 is performed as follows. That is, the suction arm 58 is lowered (step S25), suction on the cake mounting portion 26a side of the turntable 26 (suction by the suction hole described above) is turned on (step S26), and the suction pad on the turntable 26 side is turned on. At the same time, the suction of 51 is turned off (step S27),
The suction of the suction pad 51 on the side is turned ON (step S2).
8).

Thus, the adsorption of the aluminum sheet 8 from the magazine section 50 and the supply of the aluminum sheet 8 onto the cake placing section 26a are performed simultaneously. Thereafter, the suction arm 58 is raised (Step S29), the suction arm 58 is turned 180 degrees (Step S30), and the turntable 26 is rotated (Step S31). On the cake placing portion 26a on which the aluminum sheet 8 is placed as described above,
The cake 1a is transferred in step S23 described above.

The sensor for reaching the grip position described above is the cake 1
a is turned off by gripping / transferring (step S32).
, The conveying operation of the receiving conveyor 11 is restarted (step S33). When the transfer of the cake 1a from the conveyor 11 to the turntable 26 is completed (YES route from step S34),
The cake placing section 26a on which the cake 1a has been transferred at the transfer station ST1 is rotated by 90 degrees by the rotation of the turntable 26 (step S35), and is arranged at the delivery station ST2. In the delivery station ST2, the cake 1a on the cake placing portion 26a is pushed out by the delivery device 27 while being in contact with / fitting with the contact claw 27a, and the stopped tact feeding conveyor 3 is stopped.
5 is fed horizontally upward (step S36).

The stations ST1, ST2, ST2
3 and ST4, as described above, are arranged at every 90 degrees, and four cake placing portions 26a on the turntable 26 are also provided at every 90 degrees.
Operation in ST4 (in the above embodiment, the station ST4)
1 to ST3) can be executed simultaneously.

As described above, the cake 1a is transferred from the receiving conveyor 11 to the tact feeding conveyor 35 by the cake transfer device 13. The tact feeding conveyor 35 operates when the cake 1a is transferred, and the cake 1a is moved.
a is conveyed downstream by a certain distance. The above-described operation is performed by two systems of receiving conveyors 1 symmetrically arranged.
1, the detection device 12, the cake transfer device 13 and the aluminum sheet supply device 14 make the cake 1a
As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6 (a), the paper is fed onto the tact feeding conveyor 35 so as to face each other alternately, and is conveyed in an aligned state at an appropriate interval by the tact operation of the tact feeding conveyor 35.

If a pair of cakes 1a, 1a facing each other is being fed onto the tact feeding conveyor 35 (YES route from step S37), the tact feeding conveyor 35 carries out a conveying operation for a fixed distance (step S37). S38). The cake 1a conveyed by the tact feeding conveyor 35 is the connecting conveyor 3 which is continuously fed.
6 and is sent to the transfer section conveyor 37 which is also continuously fed.

At this time, as described above with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the belt 36a of the connecting conveyor 36 has knife edge type guide members 38, 39 at both ends thereof.
The transfer surface from the tact feeding conveyor 35 to the transfer conveyor 36 and the transfer surface from the transfer conveyor 36 to the transfer unit conveyor 37 are substantially flush with each other. Therefore, connecting conveyor 3
In this embodiment, the conveyors 35 and 36 are guided by rollers having substantially the same diameter as the rollers 35b and 37b at the ends of the conveyors 35 and 37.
And between the conveyors 36 and 37 are clearly smaller.

As described above, the cake 1a is arranged on the aligning / accumulating conveyor 15 (conveyors 35 to 37) of this embodiment.
Is transported in a state in which its longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the transport direction (horizontal direction), so that the cake 1a has its longitudinal direction and transport direction parallel to each other as on the receiving conveyor 11 (vertical direction). The cake 1a is more likely to fall as compared with the case where the cake 1a is transported in the (oriented state). In such a case, if the concave portion between the conveyors 35 to 37 is large, the cake 1a will fall over. However, in the present embodiment, the concave portion is extremely small as described above, so that the cake 1a Is reliably transported by the conveyors 35 to 37 without falling over.

On the other hand, the cake 1a sent to the transfer section conveyor 37 is blocked by the gate 41 and accumulated. At this time, the passage of the cake 1a is detected one by one by the photoelectric sensor 40, and based on the detection signal, the number of cakes 1a accumulated by the gate 41 is counted by a counting function of a computer or the like (not shown) (step). S39). When the number reaches a predetermined number (here, six) (YES route from step S40), the motor 42 is controlled by the computer or the like to open the gate 41 (step S41), and the six cakes are opened. 1a is sent out to the filling device 16 as one set. At this time, the count value by the counting function is cleared to 0 at the same time.

In the filling device 16, the frame member 16a is on standby with the closing member 16b opened as shown by the solid line in FIG. 11, the gate 41 is opened, and the six cakes 1a are transferred. When conveyed by the conveyor 37, these cakes 1a are received by the frame member 16a, and are horizontally pushed out by the cylinder 16d while the closing member 16b is closed and held by the frame member 16a and the closing member 16b. It is sent into the packaging box 2 expanded at a time by the cartoner 6 at a time.

The frame member 16a and the closing member 16b which have finished sending out the cake 1a are pulled back onto the transfer section conveyor 37 by the cylinder 16d, and the closing member 16b is opened as shown by a solid line in FIG. 6 cakes 1
Wait for a to be transported. In the cartoner 6, when six cakes 1a are accumulated on the accumulation section conveyor 37 of the box packing system 10, one folded packaging box 2 set in the stacker 6a is taken out, and the packaging box 2 is taken out. 2 is expanded from the folded state to a state where six cakes 1a can be stored. When the six cakes 1a are inserted into the expanded packaging box 2 by the filling device 16 as described above, the lid of the packaging box 2 is closed so as to cover the cake 1a, and the six cakes 1a are removed. The accommodated packaging box 2 is sent out onto the unloading roller 6b (step S43).

As described above, according to the box packing system 10 of the present embodiment, even if the cake 1a is easy to lose its shape and is additionally frozen, the cake 1a can be efficiently packed into the packaging box 2 without requiring any manpower. Can be packed inside
A series of steps from the production of the cake 1a to the packaging can be completely automated. Therefore, the burden on the worker is greatly reduced, and the working environment is greatly improved. Further, the complete automation greatly reduces the manufacturing cost of the cake 1a, and also eliminates food hygiene problems.

The cake transfer device 13 can reliably transfer the cake 1a from the receiving conveyor 11 to the sorting / stacking conveyor 15 by using the robot 25, the turntable 26, and the sending device 27. The cake 1a that has been conveyed in the directional state can be transferred to the tact feeding conveyor 35 while changing its direction to the lateral state.

In the present embodiment, the aluminum sheet 8 is supplied in advance to the cake placing portion 26a of the turntable 26 by the aluminum sheet supplying device 14, and the cake 1a is placed thereon, and the cake 1a is removed. The aluminum sheet 8 can be held while being transferred from the receiving conveyor 11 to the alignment / stacking conveyor 15, and the aluminum sheet 8 can be efficiently applied to each cake 1a.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, FIGS.
As described later, four cake placing portions 26a on the turntable 26 are provided every 90 degrees, and the four stations ST1 to ST4 simultaneously perform separate operations (in the above-described embodiment, cake transfer, cake transfer, (The three operations of sending and supplying the aluminum sheet) can be performed, so that the processing time can be greatly reduced and the processing can be made more efficient.

In the present embodiment, the receiving conveyor 11, the detecting device 12, the cake transferring device 13 and the aluminum sheet feeding device 14 are provided in two systems, and the cakes 1a are alternately arranged on one line of the aligning / accumulating conveyor from these two systems. , The processing time of the entire system can be significantly reduced, and the efficiency of the processing can be further improved.

On the other hand, by arranging the aligning / accumulating conveyor 15 from the tact feeding conveyor 35, the connecting conveyor 36 and the transfer section conveyor 37, the cake transfer apparatus 1
3, the cakes 1a transferred are sent out in a state where they are arranged at regular intervals.
Can be accurately detected by the photoelectric sensor 40 one by one, and the number of cakes 1a passed can be accurately counted, and when the gate 41 is opened, it is possible to prevent more than six cakes 1a from being sent out, and The process of accumulating a predetermined number and sending it to the filling device 16 can be performed accurately without mistaken number.

At this time, the belt 36a constituting the connecting conveyor 36 is guided at both ends by the knife edge type guide members 38 and 39, so that the concave portions between the conveyors 35 and 36 and the conveyors 36 and 37 are formed. Can be reduced, and the cake 1a in the horizontal state can be reliably transported without falling down during transportation by the conveyors 35 to 37.

The flow of the cake 1a is blocked by the gate 41. Only when a predetermined number of cakes 1a are accumulated at the gate 41, the operation of the motor 42 is controlled and the gate 41 is controlled.
Is opened, so that a process of accumulating a predetermined number of cakes 1a and sending out the same to the filling device 16 can be performed reliably. In the filling device 16, a delivery mechanism including a frame member 16a, a closing member 16b, a cylinder 16d, and the like,
The six cakes 1a conveyed on the transfer part conveyor 37 along with the opening operation of the gate 41 are sent out horizontally toward the packaging box 2, so that the six cakes 1a enter the packaging box 2 in the cartoner 6.
The individual cakes 1a can be reliably filled.

[2] Structure and Operation of Turntable 26 and Sending Device 27 Next, the structure and operation of the turntable 26 and the sending device 27 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13 are a plan view and a side view showing the turntable 26 and the delivery device 27 together with the aluminum sheet supply device 14, respectively. In these FIGS. 12 and 13, the aluminum sheet supply device 14 is also shown. Although illustrated, a detailed description thereof is provided in the following section with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing only one cake placing portion 26a of the turntable 26, and FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a single-row operation (only one line of the receiving conveyor 11 is used) of the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining an operation of the turntable 26 during an operation performed during the operation. 16 to 18 show the sending device 27, FIG. 16 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 17 is a view taken in the direction of arrow XVII in FIG. 16, and FIG. 18 is a view taken in the direction of arrow XVIII in FIG.

Now, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13,
The turntable 26, the delivery device 27, and the aluminum sheet supply device 14 are provided on a gantry 43. As described above with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, the turntable 26 has four cake placing portions 26 a at 90-degree intervals, and is rotated and driven by the motor 44 every 90 degrees. Each of the four cake placing sections 26a has 9
Four stations ST1 to ST4 arranged at every 0 degree
Are arranged sequentially. Each cake placing portion 26a is provided so as to be able to be turned 180 degrees by a rotary actuator 26c (see FIG. 2).

Here, as described above, in the transfer station ST1 near the robot 25, the cake placing section 26a
The cake 1a is transferred by the robot 25. 90 degrees ahead of the transfer station ST1 (clockwise in FIG.
At the delivery station ST2 near the tact feeding conveyor 35 at a position advanced by 0 degree), the cake 1a held by the aluminum sheet 8 on the cake placing portion 26a is horizontally moved by the sending device 27 toward the tact feeding conveyor 35. Will be sent out.

At the aluminum sheet supply station ST3 near the aluminum sheet supply device 90 at 90 degrees ahead of the delivery station ST2, the aluminum sheet 8 is supplied by the aluminum sheet supply device 14 onto the cake placing portion 26a.
At the cake placing section reversing station ST4 90 degrees ahead of the aluminum sheet supply station ST3, when the box packing system 10 operates using only one row of the receiving conveyor 11, as shown in FIG. Cake placing part 2 on 26
6a is rotated 180 degrees every other one.

At this time, when the cake placing portion 26a inverted by 180 degrees reaches the transfer station ST1, the robot 25 places the hand portion (gripping mechanism 30) of the arm tip 25a on the cake placing portion 26a. Is cake 1
After a is inverted by 180 degrees, the cake 1a is placed. When the box packing system 10 operates using the two rows of the receiving conveyors 11, no particular operation is performed in the cake placing unit reversing station ST4.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, the aluminum sheet 8 supplied by the aluminum sheet supply device 14 is displaced from a predetermined position on the cake mounting section 26a. 3 connected to a vacuum generator (not shown) in order to adsorb the aluminum sheet 8
Two suction holes 26b are formed. The suction of the aluminum sheet 8 by the suction holes 26b is started at the same time as the aluminum sheet 8 is supplied at the aluminum sheet supply station ST3, and immediately after the cake 1a is transferred at the transfer station ST1 or at the delivery station ST2. It is stopped just before sending out the cake 1a.

On the other hand, the sending device 27 is connected to the sending station ST near the tact feeding conveyor 35 as described above.
2. The cake 1a on the cake placing part 26a moved to 2 is horizontally sent out onto the tact feeding conveyor 35,
It has a contact claw 27a for contacting and fitting with the cake 1a and pushing out the cake 1a, and is constituted by a single-axis robot 27b that reciprocates the contact claw 27a.

This single-axis robot 27b is similar to that shown in FIGS.
3, as shown in FIGS. 15 to 18, supported on the gantry 43 by two columns 45 and 46,
The movable claw 27c of FIG.
a is attached. In addition, the single-axis robot 27b
Is at least the cake 1a at the position A1 as shown in FIG.
Move the upper cake 1a) to position A2 (tact feed conveyor 3).
It has a stroke that can be extruded up to 5).

In this embodiment, the contact claw 27
As shown in FIGS. 13 and 17, a is horizontally arranged at a position where it can come into contact with the lower part of the cake 1a on the cake placing portion 26a of the delivery station ST3, and has an appropriate plate thickness (for example, about 15 mm). Have. As shown in FIG. 16, the contact claw 27a is tightly fitted to the acute angle portion of the cake 1a so that the torte-type cake 1a can be reliably pushed out from the acute angle portion side or the arc portion side. A cut portion 27e for fitting an acute angle portion is formed, and a notch portion for fitting an arc portion that can fit tightly with both sides of the arc portion of the cake 1a on both sides of the notch portion 27e near the tact feeding conveyor 35. 27f, 27f are formed.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the notch portions 27f, 2 for fitting the arc portions of the contact claws 27a.
On both sides of 7f, inclined surfaces 27g, 27g which scoop up both sides of the aluminum sheet 8 placed under the cake 1a when the cake 1a is sent out are formed. Further, since the abutment claw 27a is formed with an appropriate plate thickness as described above, the plate thickness is such that both sides of the aluminum sheet 8 scooped up by the inclined surfaces 27g and 27g can be used for the cake 1a. Acts to stand up along both sides.

In the turntable 26 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the transfer operation of the cake 1a by the robot 25 at the transfer station ST1 and the transfer of the cake 1a held by the aluminum sheet 8 at the delivery station ST2. The feeding operation, the supplying operation of the aluminum sheet 8 by the aluminum sheet supplying device 14 at the aluminum sheet supplying station ST3, and the cake placing section reversing station ST
4 can be performed simultaneously with the reversal operation by the rotary actuator 26c, and the processing time can be greatly reduced, and the processing can be made more efficient.

Further, when the receiving conveyor 11 is operated in one row, as shown in FIG. 15, in the cake placing part reversing station ST4, every other one of the cake placing parts 26a on the turntable 26 is rotated 180 degrees by the rotary actuator 26c. The transfer station ST1 is placed on the cake placing portion 26a that has been turned 180 degrees and turned 180 degrees.
Then, the robot 25 reverses the gripping mechanism 30 (that is, the cake 1a) of the arm tip 25a by 180 degrees, and the cake 1a is placed.

As a result, the two-row receiving conveyor 11
Even when only one of them is used, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 15, similarly to the case where the two rows of receiving conveyors 11 are used, the torte type cakes 1a are alternately opposed to each other on the tact feeding conveyor 35. Can be sent to Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, the suction holes 26 formed in each cake placing portion 26a are formed.
b, the aluminum sheet 8 is adsorbed on the cake mounting part 26a side, so that the cake mounting part 26a is transferred from the aluminum sheet supply station ST3 to the unloading station ST2.
, The aluminum sheet 8 can be reliably prevented from slipping and falling or flying with the rotation of the turntable 26 and the cake placing portion 26a.

On the other hand, in the delivery device 27 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the cake 1a on the mounting portion 26a in the delivery station ST2 fits and abuts on the abutment claw 27a together with the aluminum sheet 8, and By driving the contact claw 27 by the single-axis robot 27b, the contact claw 27
While the lower part of the cake 1a is pressed by a, the cake 1a is fed horizontally onto the tact feeding conveyor 35.

At this time, the contact claw 27a has a notch 27e for fitting an acute angle portion and a notch 27f for fitting an arc portion.
Since the cake 1a is formed on the cake placing portion 26a of the delivery station ST2 as shown in FIG.
When placed as shown in the figure, the cake 1a
The acute angle of the notch 27e is tightly fitted to the acute angle fitting notch 27e.
On the other hand, the cake 1a is in contact with the delivery station S
When the cake 1a is placed on the cake placing portion 26a of T2 as shown in FIG. 15, both sides of the arc portion of the cake 1a closely fit and abut with the notch portions 27f, 27f for fitting the arc portions. .

Therefore, in any case, the cake 1a is
It fits into or fits into the notch 27e or 27f according to its shape, and is reliably fed out to the tact feeding conveyor 35 by the contacting claw 27a. When the abutment claw 27a fits and abuts on the cake 1a, both sides of the aluminum sheet 8 placed under the cake 1a are scooped up by the inclined surfaces 27g, 27g, and the abutment claw is formed. 2
Due to the plate thickness of 7a, both sides of the aluminum sheet 8 scooped up by the inclined surfaces 27g, 27g stand up along both sides of the cake 1a, and the aluminum sheet 8 does not wrinkle, etc. It can be adapted to the outer peripheral shape of 1a.

[3] Configuration and Operation of Aluminum Sheet Feeding Apparatus 14 Next, an aluminum sheet feeding apparatus (sheet feeding apparatus) 14 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
Will be described. Here, FIG.
1A is a plan view showing an arrangement state of a slide drive mechanism 52 of the suction pad 51, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of Ib in FIG.
2 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a magazine portion 50 thereof.
FIG.

As described above, the aluminum sheet supply unit 14 sends the cake 1a onto the tact feeding conveyor 35 with the cake 1a placed on the aluminum sheet 8, and the cake placing section 26a in the aluminum sheet supply station ST3.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of aluminum sheets 8 are provided on a pedestal 43.
And a magazine section 50 for holding a stack of
A plurality of suction pads 5 that suck the aluminum sheets 8 held at 0 and feed the sheets one by one from the magazine section 50 to the cake placing section 26a in the aluminum sheet supply station ST3.
And 1. In addition, each suction pad 51
It is connected to a vacuum generator (not shown) so that the aluminum sheet 8 can be sucked.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the magazine section 50 has a pair of aluminum sheet holding sections 50a, 50a. Each aluminum sheet holding section 50a holds about 2000 aluminum sheets 8. Is done. An opening 50a smaller than the aluminum sheet 8 is formed at the bottom of each aluminum sheet holding portion 50a. This magazine part 5
0 is rotated 180 degrees by the rotary actuator 54 provided on the gantry 43, and when the aluminum sheet 8 in one of the aluminum sheet holding portions 50a is lost, the magazine 50 is rotated 180 degrees by the rotary actuator 54. Thus, the other aluminum sheet holding portion 50 a holding the aluminum sheet 8 is arranged directly below the suction pad 51. In addition,
As shown in FIG. 3, the magazine section 50 is detachably attached to a pedestal 54a connected to the rotary shaft of the rotary actuator 54.
4b and 54b are inserted and fixed to the pedestal 54a.

Further, as shown in FIG.
The air cylinders 53 for loosening (air cylinders for the kneading mechanism) for pressing and loosening a large number of aluminum sheets 8 in each aluminum sheet holding portion 50a from both side surfaces thereof.
53 are provided. At the tip of the rod 53a of each air cylinder 53, a contact portion 53b which is in contact with the side surface of the aluminum sheet 8 is attached, and the contact portion 53b is pushed and pulled by the air cylinder 53 against the side surface of the aluminum sheet 8. It has become so. In FIG. 2, the illustration of the air cylinder 53 is omitted.

Further, each aluminum sheet holding portion 50a of the magazine portion 50 has a brush (resistance applying) for applying resistance to the aluminum sheet 8 held by the holding portion 50a when the aluminum sheet 8 is taken out by the suction pad 51. Means 62 are provided. As a means for imparting resistance in this way, a file, a plate-shaped spring (made of steel, plastic, or the like), a hook-and-loop fastener, or the like may be used instead of the brush 62.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Are two sets, and two sets are provided in the present embodiment. The two sets of suction pads 51, 51; 51, 51 are attached to support members (suction arms) 58, 58, respectively, and each support member 58 is attached to a rotating shaft 59. These two sets of suction pads 51 include a rotating shaft 59.
, And is rotated 180 degrees by the rotary actuator 60.

The rotary actuator 60 is provided with a guide cylinder 6 supported on a support 63 on the base 43.
2 sets of suction pads 5 attached to one telescopic end
1 is driven up and down by a cylinder 61 via a support member 58, a rotating shaft 59 and a rotary actuator 60. Then, one set of suction pads 5
1, 51 are aluminum sheets 8 of the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a.
Is located above the other set of suction pads 51,
51 is located on the cake placing portion 26a in the aluminum sheet supply station ST3.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, two sets of suction pads 51, 5 are provided.
1; 51, 51 are slidably attached to a support member (suction arm) 58 by a slide drive mechanism 52. That is, each suction pad 51 passes through a long hole 58a formed in the support member 58, is driven by an air cylinder 52a provided on the support member 58, and moves along the long hole 58a as shown in FIG. It can be slid in the directions of arrows A and B in the middle. Two sets of air cylinders 52a, 52 provided for each suction pad 51
a; 52a, 52a are arranged point-symmetrically with respect to the rotation center of the rotation shaft 59 to which the support member 58 is attached. Each air cylinder 52a is attached to an eye plate 58b on a support member 58, and a suction pad 5 is attached to the tip of a rod 52b driven to expand and contract by each air cylinder 52a.
1 is attached.

The sliding movement of the suction pad 51 by the slide driving mechanism 52 (air cylinder 52a) is performed when the suction pad 51 sucks the uppermost aluminum sheet 8 of the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a. When one suction pad 51 is driven in the direction A by the air cylinder 52a, the other suction pad 51 is
2a drives in the B direction.

A vacuum generator (not shown) is connected to each suction pad 51 through a suction pad air hose 51a, and as shown in FIG.
Can move up and down via a spring (not shown) with respect to the support member 58 so that the pressing force can be absorbed when the support member 58 is lowered and pressed against the aluminum sheet 8 or the cake placing portion 26a. Attached to. Each air cylinder 52a is connected to an air supply system through an air cylinder air hose 52c.

The slide drive mechanism 52 may be provided on only one of the two suction pads 51, 51. Also,
In FIG. 2, the illustration of the slide drive mechanism 52 described above is omitted. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, in order to always make the uppermost surface of the aluminum sheet 8 held by the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a and the upper surface of the cake placing portion 26a almost the same, immediately below the suction pad 51 on the magazine portion 50 side. Is provided with a mechanism for pushing up the aluminum sheet 8, that is, a push-up member 55, a reversible motor 56, and a ball screw 57.

Here, the lifting member 55 is a ball screw 57
The upper end of the aluminum sheet 8 passes through an opening 50b formed at the bottom of the aluminum sheet holder 50a.
Abuts on the lowermost surface. Reversible motor 5
Reference numeral 6 denotes a device for raising and lowering the push-up member 55 by rotating and driving the ball screw 57 to move up and down. Push-up member 5
5 is driven up and down by a reversible motor 56 and a ball screw 57 to push up the aluminum sheet 8 in the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a disposed immediately below the suction pad 51, and the uppermost surface thereof is always in contact with the upper surface of the cake placing portion 26a. It is adjusted to be almost the same.

In the aluminum sheet supply device 14 of the present embodiment configured as described above, two sets of suction pads 51 are used to take out (cut out) the aluminum sheet 8 from the magazine section 50 (aluminum sheet holding section 50a), and The supply of the aluminum sheet 8 to the cake placing portion 26a of the sheet supply station ST3 is performed at the same time. That is, the two sets of suction pads 51 are respectively connected to the magazine section 50 and the cake placing section 26a of the aluminum sheet supply station ST3.
In a state of being placed immediately above the aluminum sheet 8, the cylinder 61 is moved down to the position of the uppermost aluminum sheet 8 and the cake placing portion 26a.

Then, the suction pad 5 on the magazine section 50 side
In 1, the aluminum sheet 8 is sucked by suction by the vacuum generator, while the suction by the vacuum generator is stopped in the suction pad 51 on the cake placing portion 26 a side, and the sucked aluminum sheet 8 is released. At this time, the aluminum sheet 8 is suctioned by the suction holes 26b on the cake mounting portion 26a side as described above.

Thereafter, the two sets of suction pads 51 that have performed the suction of the aluminum sheet 8 and the supply of the aluminum sheet 8 are
It is raised again by the cylinder 61, and is rotated 180 degrees by the rotary actuator 60.
Cake placing part 2 of aluminum sheet supply station ST3
6a and the magazine unit 50, and the same operation as described above is repeated thereafter.

By the way, the aluminum sheet 8 is usually formed by stacking a large number of aluminum sheets and press forming (cutting) them at once.
By doing so, it is formed into a predetermined shape corresponding to the cake 1a. In this case, burrs are generated on the outer periphery of the aluminum sheet 8, and the aluminum sheets 8 are in close contact with each other. Due to the burrs, two or more aluminum sheets 8 may be simultaneously sucked and cut out by the suction pad 51.

In the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent two or more aluminum sheets 8 from being cut out simultaneously,
As described above, the slide driving mechanism 52, the loosening air cylinder 53, and the brush (resistance applying means) 62 are provided so that the aluminum sheet 8 can be cut out one by one without fail. That is, when the suction pad 51 sucks the uppermost aluminum sheet 8 of the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a, before the aluminum sheet 8 is lifted up by the cylinder 61, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the operation of driving one suction pad 51 in the direction A by the air cylinder 52a and simultaneously driving the other suction pad 51 in the direction B by the air cylinder 52a is repeated several times. The uppermost aluminum sheet 8 is easily distorted due to distortion, and the uppermost aluminum sheet 8 can be reliably separated from the second or less aluminum sheet 8.

Further, in the state where a large number of aluminum sheets 8 are held by the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a immediately below the suction pad 51, the contact portions 53b, 53b are driven by using the air cylinders 53, 53 for loosening. Thereby, it is pressed and bent from both sides. As a result, the portion adhered by burrs or the like is loosened, and it becomes easy to cut out one by one.

Further, when the uppermost aluminum sheet 8 of the aluminum sheet holding portion 50a is sucked and lifted by the suction pad 51, the plurality of aluminum sheets 8 near the uppermost portion are
Since the brush 62 provided on the aluminum sheet holding section 50a comes into contact with the brush 62 to provide resistance, the suction pad 5
The second or less aluminum sheet 8 not sucked by 1
Falls due to the resistance and falls by two or more aluminum sheets 8
Can be reliably prevented from being cut out.

As described above, according to the aluminum sheet supply device 14 as one embodiment of the present invention, two or more aluminum sheets 8 are simultaneously sucked by the suction pad 51 without manually performing deburring. Cutting can be prevented, and the aluminum sheet 8 can be reliably cut one by one. Therefore, the burden on the worker can be reduced, and a series of processes from the production of the cake 1a to the packaging can be completely automated.

For example, the slide mechanism 5 of the suction pad 51
As a result of cutting the aluminum sheet 8 1346 times under the condition that the magazine part 50 was provided with resistance applying means using a hook-and-loop fastener and the side surface of the aluminum sheet 8 was polished with a SUS brush,
The number of times that the sheet was cut out was 1,316 times, and 97.
Experiments confirmed that one sheet could be cut out at a rate of 8%.

Although not shown, the turntable 26
The (aluminum sheet supply station ST3) may be provided with an aluminum sheet side-standing device for adjusting the shape of the aluminum sheet 8 when the aluminum sheet 8 is supplied by the suction pad 51. In this device, both sides of the aluminum sheet 8 are cake 1
This is for preliminarily adjusting the shape of the aluminum sheet 8 so as to stand up along both side surfaces (linear portions) of FIG.

[4] Others In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to the system 10 for packing the cake 1a into a box, and the aluminum sheet 8 is placed on the cake mounting portion 26a before the torte-type cake 1a is mounted. Although the case of supplying is described, the present invention is not limited to this, and is similarly applied to a case other than a case of supplying a sheet made of paper or the like and a boxing system, and the same operation and effect as the above-described embodiment. Can be obtained.

[0102]

As described in detail above, according to the sheet feeding apparatus of the present invention, the following operations and effects can be obtained. (1) When the suction pad sucks the magazine sheet,
The uppermost sheet is slightly distorted by sliding the suction pad by the slide drive mechanism, so that the uppermost sheet is reliably separated from the second and subsequent sheets without deburring work. Thus, the sheets can be reliably supplied one by one (claim 1).

(2) By pressing a large number of sheets from both side surfaces with a loosening cylinder, the portions adhered by burrs or the like are loosened, so that it is easy to cut out one by one (claim 2). (3) When the uppermost sheet is sucked and lifted by the suction pad, resistance is applied to the plurality of sheets in the vicinity of the uppermost portion by the resistance applying means. Can be reliably prevented from falling and receiving two or more aluminum sheets by receiving the resistance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of an aluminum sheet feeding device (sheet feeding device) according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. (B) is a view on arrow Ib of FIG. 1 (a).

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the aluminum sheet supply device (sheet supply device) of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a magazine section in the aluminum sheet supply device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the box packing system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the box packing system of the embodiment.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing the entire line to which the box packing system according to the present embodiment is applied.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an alignment / integration conveyor of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing an alignment / integration conveyor of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a portion IX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a part X in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a filling device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a turntable, a delivery device, and an aluminum sheet supply device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a side view showing a turntable, a delivery device, and an aluminum sheet supply device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a cake placing portion of the turntable of the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a plan view for explaining the operation of the turntable during single-row operation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a sending device of the present embodiment.

17 is a view as viewed in the direction of the arrow XVII in FIG. 16;

18 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow XVIII in FIG.

FIG. 19 is a side view showing a robot having the gripping mechanism of the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the box packing system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the box packing system of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 8 aluminum sheet (sheet) 10 box packing system 14 aluminum sheet supply device (sheet supply device) 50 magazine part 51 suction pad 52 slide drive mechanism 52a air cylinder 53 air cylinder for loosening (air cylinder for kneading mechanism) 62 brush (resistance applying means) )

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaki Kanazawa 12 Nishikicho, Naka-ku, Yokohama

Claims (3)

[Claims] A magazine portion for holding a plurality of sheets in an overlapping manner; a suction pad for sucking the sheets held in the magazine portion one by one and supplying the sheets to a predetermined position from the magazine portion; A sheet feeding device comprising: a slide drive mechanism for slidingly moving the suction pad when the uppermost sheet in the magazine is sucked. 2. A sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a loosening cylinder for pressing and loosening a large number of said sheets held in said magazine portion from side surfaces thereof. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a resistance applying means for applying resistance to said sheet held in said magazine portion when said sheet is taken out by said suction pad. A sheet feeding device as described in the above.