JPH1179363A - Article picking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately control picking timing of an article and quantity to be picked in a compact manner without scratching the article. SOLUTION: Two picking devices 1, 2 are connected to a conveyor 3 at a right angle, and the picking devices 1, 2 have a stock plate 11 on which an article is put and a pressing plate 22 which advances and retracts on the stock plate 11 to push up the article. The stock plate 11 is installed by tilting, a picking part is provided with a first sensor which detects the arrival of the article at a picking position and a second sensor which detects its arrival at a position immediately before it, and a picking roller is rotatably attached to the picking position of the stock plate 11 to rotate the picking roller by a motor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an article cutting facility. More specifically, for example, books and videotapes,
The present invention relates to an article cut-out facility for collecting small articles such as CD cases into arbitrary numbers and types and sending the articles to a packaging station or the like. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, A type (example: book)
And B type (example: video), C type (example: CD)
The present invention relates to a cutting device that includes a cutting device that cuts out these pieces by an arbitrary number, and a transport conveyor that reads the type and quantity and distributes and transports them to each packaging station.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional article cutting apparatus, articles are stacked vertically or diagonally on a stack and cut from a lower portion. For this reason, the weight of the upper article is applied to the article to be cut, and a large force is required for cutting.
In addition, the article or its packaging may be damaged due to the large force applied. In particular, those having a soft surface were markedly scratched.

In the conventional example described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 58-20230, a cutting device is connected in series to the base end of the conveyor belt, that is, in the same longitudinal direction. The slider is attached to the tip of the rod, and the slider is pushed out of the storage space and placed on the conveyor belt. However, in this conventional example, since the screw rod protrudes to the rear of the storage space, the overall length of the device becomes longer, and the cutting pitch is determined by the amount of movement of the slider. There is a problem that it cannot be cut out with an accurate number.

Further, in the conventional example described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 51-99381, an article (thin plate) extruded by a slider is slid on an inclined plate and sent to a belt conveyor. The sensor is mounted on the inclined plate. However, in this conventional example, since the detection of the article is performed after the extraction, the extraction of the article cannot be accurately controlled.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an article cutting apparatus which is compact without damaging the article and which can accurately control the cutting timing and the number of cuts of the article. .

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article cutting apparatus comprising a conveying conveyor and a cutting apparatus for supplying articles to the conveying conveyor, wherein the cutting apparatus includes a stock plate on which articles are placed. A push plate which advances and retreats between the base end side and the distal end side of the stock plate and pushes up an article on the stock plate; and a driving device for the push plate, wherein the stock plate has a base end. A first sensor for detecting that an article has come to a cutting position at a cutting section at a tip of the cutting device, wherein the first sensor has Is provided with a detector for an article comprising a second sensor for detecting that it has come to a position immediately before the cutout position. In the article extracting apparatus according to claim 2, the extracting device is connected to the transport conveyor so that a feed direction thereof is perpendicular to a feed direction of the transport conveyor, and a plurality of the cutters are connected to the transport conveyor in parallel. It is characterized by having. The article cutting equipment according to claim 3 is provided at a cutting position at a tip of the stock plate,
A cutting roller is rotatably mounted, and the cutting roller is driven to rotate by a driving device.
The article cutting equipment according to claim 4, wherein the first detector in the detector is provided.
The mounting position of the sensor and the second sensor can be freely moved in the article feeding direction. 6. The article cutting equipment according to claim 5, wherein the driving device includes a nut attached to a lower surface of the push plate, a screw rod attached to a lower surface of the stock plate along an article feeding direction, and a screw threaded with the nut. And a drive motor for rotating the rod. In the article cutting equipment according to claim 6, the transport conveyor includes a roller conveyor for placing the cut articles, and a belt conveyor for feeding the articles. The belt conveyor is located immediately below the cut-out portion, and is installed with the other end in the width direction inclined obliquely downward, and the belt conveyor, along the other end of the roller conveyor, moves its conveyance surface to the conveyance surface of the roller conveyor. It is characterized by being installed perpendicular to. The article cut-out facility according to claim 7, instead of the article detector,
A stepping motor is used as the driving device of the push plate, and the cutout position and the immediately preceding position of the article are detected based on the rotation speed of the stepping motor.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the cutting device is installed at an angle, the entire equipment becomes compact, and since the article detector is attached to the cutting section, it is possible to cut the article before cutting. The type and number can be detected quickly, and the cutting control can be performed accurately. According to the invention of claim 2, since the cutout device is connected at a right angle to the transport conveyor, a plurality of cutout devices can be connected, and a plurality of cutout devices are connected to the transport conveyor. In addition, it is possible to handle different varieties, and the numerical processing capacity is increased. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the cutting roller is rotated to drop the article downward, the dropping of the article due to a change in the friction coefficient due to the catching of the article is small, and the cutting can be reliably performed. According to the fourth aspect of the invention, even if the thickness of the article changes, the cutout of the article can be accurately controlled by adjusting the mounting position of the detector. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the screw rod is installed on the lower surface of the push plate, the overall length is shorter and the device can be made compact as compared with the case where it is installed rearward. In the invention according to claim 6, the feed resistance is reduced by the roller conveyor,
In addition, since the articles are fed by the belt conveyor, there is no speed change due to friction or the like, and reliable sorting can be performed by constant-speed feeding. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the push-out position of the push plate can be detected based on the rotation amount of the stepping motor, accurate cutout control of the article can be performed without using the article detector.

[0008]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an article cutting facility according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the article cutting facility, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a cutting apparatus, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the cutting apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of a cutout portion of the cutout device and a conveyor, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of the cutout portion of the cutout device.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the article detector, and FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of the cutting device.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the article extracting apparatus of the present embodiment, two extracting apparatuses 1 and 2 are connected to a transport conveyor 3 at right angles. That is, the feed direction of the cutting devices 1 and 2 is orthogonal to the feed direction of the transport conveyor 3. In this way, by arranging at a right angle, a plurality of cutting devices can be connected, so that several kinds of articles can be cut. Furthermore, the quantitative processing capacity is also improved, and it is necessary to replenish the articles when one cutting device 1 finishes cutting, but there is an advantage that another cutting device 2 can cut out during this time. The conveyor 3
Is composed of a roller conveyor 4 and a belt conveyor 5, the details of which will be described later.

Next, the details of the cutting devices 1 and 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, two cutting devices 1,
2 have the same configuration, only one of the cutout devices will be described. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 6 denotes a stand for the cutting-out devices 1 and 2;
Is a frame of the conveyor 3.

2 to 4, reference numeral 10 denotes a cutting device 1,
2 is a long member having a rectangular cross section.
The central portion of the upper surface member is cut out in the longitudinal direction, and is a space through which a slider 16 described later passes. On the upper surface of the frame 10, a stock plate 11 is arranged. The stock plate 11 is a member having a width slightly smaller than that of the frame 10 and an almost equal length, and is supported by the frame 10 at both ends in the longitudinal direction.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a screw rod disposed in the frame 10 and both ends supported by bearings (not shown). A pulley 13 is fixed to the lower end of the screw rod 12, and a chain or the like is wound around the pulley 13 and a pulley 15 of a motor 14 attached to a lower end of the frame 10. Reference numeral 16 denotes a slider. A slide portion 18 is attached to a lower surface of a frame-shaped upper member 17 surrounding the stock plate 11, and a nut 19 is attached to a lower surface of the slide portion 18. The slide portion 18 is slidably fitted to two rails 21 installed in the frame 10, and the nut 19 is screwed to the screw rod 12. A push plate 22 is provided upright on the upper surface of the slider 16. Reference numeral 23 denotes a side plate set up along one side edge of the frame 10. When the motor 14 is driven, the push plate 22 moves from the lower end (the position shown by the solid line) to the upper end (the position shown by the chain line) as shown in FIG. Position) can be reciprocated.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a side plate which is set up along one side edge of the frame 10, and is provided so that one side edge of the article is aligned.

Next, details of the cut-out portion will be described with reference to FIGS. A cutting roller 25 is rotatably supported at the tip of the stock plate 11, and the height of the upper surface of the cutting roller 25 is set to be equal to or slightly higher than the height of the stock plate 11. A pulley 26 is attached to one end of the cut-out roller 25. A motor 27 is mounted on the lower surface of the upper end of the frame 10, and a chain 29 is wound between a pulley 28 of the output shaft and the pulley 26. Therefore, when the motor 27 is driven, the cut-out roller 25 rotates.

A detector 30 is provided on the side plate 23 in the cutout portion.
Is attached. The detector 30 includes a first sensor 31 and a second sensor 32, each of which is constituted by an optical sensor. The first and second sensors 31 and 32 can be slid on a mounting rod 33 fixed to the side plate 23, and their mounting positions can be variably adjusted according to the thickness of the article to be cut out. The first sensor 31 is attached to a position where the article can be detected when the article comes to the cutout position placed on the cutout roll 25, and the second sensor 32 can detect the article in a state immediately before the cutout position. Mounted in position.

Next, details of the conveyor 3 are shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on. The transport surfaces of the roller conveyor 4 and the belt conveyor 5 are orthogonal to each other, and are arranged in a V-shape when viewed from the side. The roller conveyor 4 has a number of rollers 41 rotatably supported and arranged, and has one end in the width direction located immediately below the lower end of the cut-out roller 25 and the other end in the width direction obliquely downward. It is installed at an angle. The belt conveyor 5 is formed by winding a belt 52 around a pair of front and rear rollers 51, and its conveying surface is orthogonal to the conveying surface of the roller conveyor 4, and the lower ends thereof are arranged adjacent to each other.

Therefore, the article dropped from the cut-out roller 25 slides down on the roller 41, and its end face hits the belt 52 of the belt conveyor 5 and stops. Then, after receiving the feed of the belt conveyor 5, it slides on the roller conveyor 4 and is conveyed to a packaging station (not shown).

Next, the operation of cutting out articles by the cutting devices 1 and 2 will be described. FIG. 8 (I) shows a state in which the article,... Has been pushed out of the stock plate 11 by the push plate 22 to the cut-out portion. Then, when it is detected by the second sensor 32 that the leading article has come to the position immediately before the cutting, the cutting preparation is completed. When the cutting is started, the articles,... Are pushed out by the push plate 22, and the first article is detected by the first sensor 31 and the second article is detected by the second sensor 32, as shown in FIG. Then
Feeding is stopped. Then, as shown in FIG. 3 (III), when the cutting roller 25 is rotated, only the leading article falls onto the roller 41. Without the cut-out roller 25, the article slides down only by gravity, so that the speed change is large due to the variation of the friction coefficient. However, when the cut-out roller 25 is rotated, any article can be reliably dropped.
Cutting can be performed accurately. Note that the cutout roller 25 may be constantly rotated. When the first sensor 31 is turned off by the above-described cutting, the feeding of the cutting device is started again, and the feeding is performed until the next article can be detected by the first sensor 31 as shown in FIG. After this,
By repeating the above (I) to (IV), articles can be sequentially cut out.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. Although the cut-out roller 25 is provided in the above embodiment, this is not essential and may not be provided. In this case, the article falls directly onto the roller conveyor 4 from the tip of the stock plate 11, but it is possible if the article smoothly falls on the roller conveyor 4 due to the inclination angle of the roller conveyor 4, the coefficient of friction and the coefficient of friction of the article. is there.

In the above-described embodiment, an article detector is attached to the cut-out portion. However, in the case of an article whose article shape is relatively large and the accumulation of gaps between the articles does not affect the cut-out, this is not used. Alternatively, a stepping motor may be used as the drive motor 14 of the push plate 22, and the cutout position of the article and the position immediately before the cutout position may be indirectly detected by the rotation amount or the rotation position of the stepping motor. Even with such a configuration, the same accurate cutout control as in the case of using the article detector can be performed. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the roller conveyor 4 is provided on the transport conveyor 3, but a low-friction plate may be used instead of the roller conveyor 4.

[0021]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the cutting device is installed at an angle, the cutting device is compact, and since the article detector is attached to the stock plate, the cutting control can be performed accurately. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since a plurality of cutting devices are connected to a plurality of conveyors, different types of products can be handled, and the numerical processing capacity can be increased. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the cutting roller is rotated to drop the article downward, the cutting can be reliably performed. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even if the thickness of the article changes, the cutout of the article can be accurately controlled by adjusting the mounting position. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the screw rod is provided on the lower surface of the push plate, the overall length is shortened, and compactness can be achieved. In the invention of claim 6,
Since the feed resistance is reduced by the roller conveyor and the articles are fed by the belt conveyor, reliable sorting by constant-speed feeding is enabled. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to accurately cut out an article based on the rotation amount and the rotation position of the stepping motor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an article cutting facility according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the article cutting facility.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cutting device.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a cutting device.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view of a cutting section of a cutting device and a transport conveyor.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of a cutting section of the cutting device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the article detector.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the cutting device.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of an article cutting operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 cutout device 2 cutout device 3 transport conveyor 4 roller conveyor 5 belt conveyor 10 frame 11 stock plate 12 screw rod 16 slider 22 push plate 23 side plate 25 cutout roller 31 first sensor 32 second sensor

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An article cutting apparatus comprising a transport conveyor and a cutting device for supplying an article thereto, the cutting device comprising: a stock plate on which an article is placed; and a base plate and a distal end on the stock plate. A push plate that moves back and forth to push up the articles on the stock plate, and a driving device for the push plate;
The stock plate is installed at an angle so that the base end is located downward and the tip end is located on the transport conveyor, and a cut-out portion at the end of the cut-out device detects that an article has reached the cut-out position. And a second sensor for detecting that the article has come to a position immediately before the cutting position. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the cutting devices are connected to the transport conveyor so that a feed direction thereof is perpendicular to a transport direction of the transport conveyor, and a plurality of the cutting devices are connected to the transport conveyor in parallel. The article cutting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. The article cutting equipment according to claim 1, wherein a cutting roller is rotatably mounted at a cutting position at a leading end of the stock plate, and the cutting roller is driven to rotate by a driving device. 4. The article cut-out equipment according to claim 1, wherein the mounting positions of the first sensor and the second sensor in the detector are movable in the article feeding direction. 5. A driving device comprising: a nut attached to a lower surface of the push plate; a screw rod attached to a lower surface of the stock plate along an article feeding direction; and a screw rod to which the nut is screwed, and rotates the screw rod. 2. The article cutting equipment according to claim 1, comprising a drive motor. 6. The conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor comprises a roller conveyor on which the cut articles are placed, and a belt conveyor which feeds the articles. The belt conveyor is positioned so that the other end side in the width direction is inclined obliquely downward, and the belt conveyor is arranged along the other end side of the roller conveyor, with its conveyance surface orthogonal to the conveyance surface of the roller conveyor. The article cutting equipment according to claim 1, wherein the article cutting equipment is installed. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a stepping motor is used as a driving device of the push plate instead of the article detector, and a cutout position and an immediately preceding position of the article are detected based on the number of revolutions of the stepping motor. The article cutting equipment according to claim 1, wherein