JPH10329924A - Small object feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control and feed a prescribed quantity, particularly a small quantity, of small objects by connecting one end of a conveyance body using the inside of a hollow pipe or a trough-like body as a conveyance path of the small objects to a small-object feed container as a small-object intake port, using the other end as a small-object outlet, and providing a vibration generating means generating traveling waves on the conveyance body at an outlet side tip section. SOLUTION: A feed container 4 of small objects is connected to a small-object intake port at one end of a hollow straight pipe-like conveyance body 2, and a piezoelectric vibrator 3 serving as a vibration generating means is connected to an outlet side tip. When the small objects are conveyed and fed, vibration is applied by the piezoelectric vibrator 3 fitted to the tip section of the conveyance body 2, and traveling waves attenuated in the longitudinal direction of the conveyance body 2 are generated by the vibration. The small objects in the feed container 4 are taken into the conveyance body 2 from the intake opening section of the conveyance body 2, start to advance on the traveling waves generated on the conveyance body 2, and advance toward the outlet direction where the piezoelectric vibrator 3 of a vibration generator is stuck, then the advanced small objects are fed from the outlet side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for supplying small objects such as tablets, granulated medicines and foods, metal parts and electronic parts, and more particularly to a device which has a simple structure and is capable of stably and continuously supplying a small amount of small objects. The present invention relates to an object supply device for supplying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for stably supplying a small amount of a small object, there is a vibration feeder.

[0003] In the vibration feeder, a semicircular or rectangular gutter-shaped carrier is provided at the small object outlet at the opening of the supply container for small objects, and the carrier is set at a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal. By vibrating, and by this vibration force, a small object on the carrier is released in the angular direction, then dropped by gravity, and the powder is moved by repeating this, and by controlling the vibration force and the vibration frequency, It controls the supply amount.

However, in the vibration feeder system, even if a small, light object having a low specific gravity is mounted on a gutter-shaped carrier, the small object does not follow the vibration of the carrier, resulting in an idle motion, which makes supply difficult. .

[0005] In addition, there is noise generation due to vibration,
In the case of a small plate-shaped object, the vibration amplitude is large, so there is a problem that small objects may overlap during transportation, and a mechanism for preventing vibration diffusion to the periphery when the electromagnetic vibrator vibrates is required. It is heavy and it is difficult to reduce the size and weight, and it has not responded to recent demands for reduction in size and weight.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a small object supplying apparatus which stably conveys a small object with a small size, light weight, no noise generation, and a simple structure. is there.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a small object replenishing container in which one end of a carrier having a hollow pipe or the inside of a gutter-shaped body as a small object conveying path is connected to a small object replenishing container as a small object inlet.
This is a small object supply device in which the other end is a small object outlet, and a vibration generating means for generating a traveling wave in the carrier is provided at the end on the exit side.

Further, according to the present invention, the carrier is made of a vibration-attenuating material, and a vibration generating means is installed at the tip of the carrier to generate vibration by inputting an ultrasonic region frequency, thereby providing the carrier itself. With a small object supply device that can take in small objects from the intake by the traveling wave generated toward the intake by absorbing and attenuating the vibrations and constantly supply the required amount of small objects continuously is there.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the small object in the transporting body is stationary before the vibration generating means attached to the exit end is excited, but the vibration is generated by inputting electric power to the vibration generating means. Then, the vibration generates vibration in the carrier, and a traveling wave is generated in the longitudinal direction. This traveling wave becomes a stable traveling wave that attenuates, and the small object in the transporting body is transported from the inlet side to the outlet side and is supplied outflow.

According to the present invention, a vibration can be generated in the carrier by the vibration generating means, and a traveling wave can be generated. The traveling wave travels in the direction of the inlet, but at this time, the traveling wave gradually attenuates, so even if a supply container or the like is connected to the entrance,
No reflected wave is generated at the connection. Thus, the traveling wave is in a stable state, and the small object is conveyed in the exit direction opposite to the traveling direction of the traveling wave.

Since the traveling wave is attenuated on the opposite side of the tip end outlet of the carrier, that is, on the inlet side, the inlet of the carrier is bonded, welded, screwed into the opening of the supply container or the funnel for the small object. Or, it can be connected directly with scissors, etc., and the small object intake can be made easy structure, so the small object does not leak out from the connection between the opening of the supply container and the carrier, and the small object can be removed from the supply container. It can be taken in stably and supplied from the outlet.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a small object supply apparatus 1 according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, one end of a hollow straight tubular transport body 2 is shown.
The small object supply container 4 is connected to the small object inlet, and the piezoelectric vibrator 3 is connected to the end on the outlet side as vibration generating means.

The vibration generating means is a piezoelectric vibrator 3 as shown in FIG.
Can be used. It may be a magnetostrictive vibrator. The piezoelectric vibrator 3 is connected to an AC power supply 7 as shown in FIG. 1, and an AC voltage of 5 to 300 volts peak-to-peak is applied. The frequency of the alternating current is preferably in the ultrasonic range of about 20 to 100 kHz.

The voltage application time may be changed in a pulsed manner.

As shown in FIG. 4 (only the outer wall of the hollow tube is shown), the piezoelectric vibrator 3 causes the outer wall of the cross section of the hollow tubular transport body 2 to vibrate in the radial direction (in the r direction) as indicated by a two-dot chain line. Such a vibration can be generated.

The carrier 2 excited by the piezoelectric vibrator 3
Generates a traveling wave as shown in FIG. When a plastic such as an acrylic resin is used as the carrier 2, a relatively large attenuation characteristic is exhibited, and since the reflected wave is small at the tip portion, the traveling wave becomes a stable traveling wave that is less disturbed by the reflected wave. Transport is performed stably. In addition, since the reflected wave is small at the inlet end, the supply container 4 and the carrier 2
Can be easily bonded or screwed in.

As the piezoelectric vibrator 3 for generating the traveling wave described above, a type in which a ceramic PZT 5 having a thickness of 0.5 to 3 mm is sandwiched between electrodes 6 and 6, as shown in FIG.

When a voltage is applied between the electrodes, expansion and contraction vibrations are excited in the inner and outer diameter directions, that is, in the r direction by the expansion and contraction force of the ceramic, and the vibrations are transmitted to the carrier 2 to become traveling waves. The optimum peak-to-peak voltage and frequency can be calculated from the resonance mode depending on the shape of the piezoelectric vibrator 3. By changing the thickness and shape of the piezoelectric vibrator 3, the applied maximum power and the oscillation frequency can be changed.

In FIG. 2, the piezoelectric vibrator 3 has only one layer. However, if the piezoelectric vibrator 3 is of a multilayer type as shown in FIG. 3, the amount of excitation vibration can be further increased, the traveling wave of the carrier 2 is increased, and the supply power is increased. As a result, the adjustment range of the supply amount can be expanded.

The material of the carrier 2 is preferably a material having a large attenuation, that is, a plastic material such as acrylic, nylon, polycarbonate, polypropylene, or polystyrene. It is possible to increase the attenuation by attaching a large material or forming a groove on a part of the member. The carrier 2 may have a bent shape.

When the contact between the small object and the inner surface of the carrier 2 is a point contact due to the shape of the small object, the inner surface of the carrier 2 is grooved in the longitudinal traveling direction so as not to hinder the movement of the small object. By making it corrugated, the contact effect between the small object and the carrier 2 can be increased to enhance the transport effect.

The carrier 2 is preferably made of acrylic, and the amplitude of the vibration applied to a part of the acrylic carrier is attenuated by the absorption of the vibration of the member, that is, the carrier 2 made of acrylic. The present invention is configured such that the excited vibration of the transport member is attenuated at the end in the traveling wave direction to generate a traveling wave and to change the voltage applied to the piezoelectric vibrator 2 to thereby reduce the transport force. To control the supply amount of the small object.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the inlet of the bent hollow tube-shaped carrier 2 is connected to the lower opening in the gravity direction of the supply container 4 so as to face upward in the antigravity direction, and the outlet is horizontal. It is. In such a structure, gravity acting on a small object causes
Small objects can be easily taken in from the supply container 4 to the carrier 2.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the inlet of the gutter-shaped carrier 2 is connected horizontally to the lower opening of the supply container 4 in the direction of gravity so as to face upward in the direction of antigravity. Further, the piezoelectric vibrator 3 of the vibration generating means is attached to a lower portion of the exit side end of the carrier 2. Even with such a structure, the function of conveying a small object can be sufficiently exhibited. Further, the small object can be easily taken into the carrier 2 from the supply container 4 by the gravity acting on the small object.

[0029]

EXAMPLE The member of the body carrier 2 is an acrylic resin tube,
The outer diameter was 20 mm, the inner diameter was 14 mm, and the length was 200 mm. One end of the small object carrier 2 was cut in a half of 10 mm in the radial direction and 20 mm in the length direction to form a small object intake opening. The piezoelectric vibrator 3 was bonded to the other end on the outlet side.

The hollow shaft of the carrier 2 was horizontal, and the small object inlet cut portion was inserted upward into the insertion hole provided on the side surface of the supply container 4 with the cut portion of the small object inlet facing upward in the direction of antigravity to produce the apparatus shown in FIG.

When a small object is conveyed and supplied, vibration is applied by a vibration generating means attached to the tip of the conveyance body 2, and the vibration causes a traveling wave to be attenuated in the longitudinal direction of the conveyance body 2. The small object in the inside is taken into the carrier 2 from the intake opening of the carrier 2 and starts traveling on the traveling wave generated in the carrier 2, and starts to move.
Proceeds in the direction of the exit to which is adhered, and the advanced small object is supplied from the exit side.

In the experiment, a plate-shaped metal washer having an average weight of 0.21 g was used. As a result of an experiment in which ultrasonic power was input to the vibration generating means at the tip of the carrier 2 and operated, 119 metal washers were continuously supplied per minute.

In this experiment, the moving speed of the metal washer in the carrier changed in proportion to the voltage applied to the piezoelectric vibrator 3, and the supply amount could be controlled. When the power was turned off, the supply of the metal washer was stopped in response to the stop of the vibration of the piezoelectric vibrator 3. The positional relationship between the small objects mounted on the transport body 2 did not change during the transport, and the small objects were transported in the positional relationship at the time of mounting.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, a predetermined small object, especially a small amount of small object, is given to the conveying pipe by applying attenuated vibration by the vibration generating means and controlling the vibration force of the traveling wave. The object can be supplied while being controlled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing one embodiment of a piezoelectric vibrator.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing another embodiment of the piezoelectric vibrator.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining radial vibration of a wall surface of a transport pipe.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining attenuated vibration generated in a transport pipe.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Small object supply device 2: Carrier 3: Piezoelectric vibrator 4: Small object supply container 5: Ceramic PZT 6: Electrode 7: AC power supply

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A small object feeding path which is connected to a small object supply container as one of small object inlets, and the other end of which is a small object outlet, the inside of a hollow pipe or the inside of a gutter-shaped body having a small object conveying path. A small object supply device provided with a vibration generating means for generating a traveling wave in the carrier at the outlet end. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein vibration is applied to the carrier by a vibration generating means provided at a distal end of the carrier on the outlet side, and the small object is continuously moved and supplied by moving the small object in the carrier by the vibration. Item 7. The small object supply device according to Item 1. 3. The carrier body is made of a vibration damping material. The carrier member itself absorbs and attenuates the vibration to generate a traveling wave traveling in the direction of the inlet. Claim 1 or Claim 2 which can be supplied by
A small object supply device according to the above. 4. The small object supply device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration generating means is a piezoelectric vibrator or a magnetostrictive vibrator, and is driven and excited by an ultrasonic frequency input.