JPS6037387Y2 - Feeding device for conveyed objects - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] This invention can be used without damaging items that are easily damaged during transportation, such as agricultural products and marine products, and without changing the alignment direction.
The present invention also relates to a feeding device that can reliably feed an object from a pre-process conveyor to a post-process conveyor regardless of the size of the object.

As an example of a feeding device that feeds objects to be transported from a pre-process conveyor to a post-process conveyor at a fixed pitch, a so-called star wheel is used, which rotates a plurality of blades arranged radially at fixed pitches at fixed positions.

Since the blades of this type of star wheel are made of metal and the space for accommodating the objects to be conveyed is constant, it can be used as a fixed pitch feeding device in, for example, a shape sorting device for make-in, which is one of the agricultural products. Starwheels cannot be used.

In other words, the direction of the transported object may change when it is input from the front-process conveyor to the star wheel, when it is rotated by the star wheel, and when it is discharged from the star wheel to the rear-process conveyor. This may cause damage to the transported object.

This invention improves and eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional art.A case in which an embodiment of this invention is applied as a feeding device for a shape sorting device will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a direction correction conveyor for correcting the direction of a long and narrow conveyed object a such as a make-in or a cucumber from vertical to horizontal.

In other words, the rollers 3 are placed at a fixed pitch between the two chains 2, 2.
A large number of rollers 3 are provided, and each roller 3 is made of, for example, synthetic resin, and both ends 3', 3' have a larger diameter than the middle part.

Further, a gear 4 is provided at one end of each roller 3,
A rack (not shown) for rotating the gear 4 located on the forward side in the same direction as the rotation direction of the conveyor 1 is arranged at a predetermined position.

Therefore, by moving each roller 3 while rotating, the direction of the conveyed object a is corrected from vertical to horizontal, and 1
The pieces are placed between the rollers 3 and 3 and transported one by one.

On the exit side of the conveyor 1, a plurality of extrusion rods 7 are fixed radially to the shaft 6 of a sprocket 5 that drives the chains 2, 2 at a constant pitch and positioned between the rollers 3, 3.

Then, the object to be conveyed a is gradually pushed up from between the rollers 3 and 3 using the extrusion rod 7, and is fed into a feeding device to be described later.

Reference numeral 8 shows an embodiment of the feeding device according to this invention, and the structure is as follows.

That is, a polygonal support base 10 is fixed to the rotating shaft 9,
Support plates 11 are fixed to each of the outer circumferential surfaces of the base 10 along these surfaces in a pinwheel shape.

One end of the bottom plate 12 made of a flexible material, for example, a synthetic resin such as Pancoran (trade name) is fixed to the tip of each support plate 11, and the other end is attached to the tip of the adjacent support plate 11 so that the bottom plate 12 is It is fixed in such a way that it curves toward the direction, that is, it forms a bulge.

Further, both ends of a partition plate 13 formed in a bulging shape and projecting outward from each bottom plate 12 are fixed to the tip of each support plate 11, and this partition plate 13 is also made of the same flexible material as the bottom plate 12. It is manufactured by.

This bottom plate 12 and two partition plates 13 located on both sides thereof.
13 constitutes one section, that is, a storage chamber for the transported object a, and in the illustrated example, eight storage chambers are provided around the rotating shaft 9 at regular intervals.

The lengths of the bottom plate 12 and the partition plate 13 in the direction of the axis 9 are the same, and a frame (not shown) is installed at both ends of the side plate 14 to prevent the side plate 14 from coming into contact with the bottom plate 12 and the partition plate 13.
It is installed in

Further, a guide plate 15 is provided from near the starting point on the return side of the conveyor 1 to the lower part of the feeder 8 along the outer periphery thereof.

This guide plate 15 is provided to prevent the transported object a from falling during transportation, and an elastic material such as sponge is pasted on its surface to prevent damage to the transported object a. I hope it doesn't happen.

Further, the feeding device 8 is configured to rotate before each tip of the partition plate 13 comes into contact with the surface of the guide plate 15.

Then, by the pushing operation of the extrusion rod 7 of the pre-process conveyor 1, the objects a are fed into the storage chamber of the feeding device 8 one by one. It is clamped and transferred to the post-processing conveyor without changing its direction.

Furthermore, in the case of a large diameter object a', both the flexible bottom plate 12 and the partition plate 13 are bent, as shown by the broken line in FIG. and the partition plate 13, so that the direction does not change during transportation.

Since the tips of the partition plates 13 are designed to slide on the surface of the guide plate 15, a force in the opposite direction to the rotational direction acts on each tip, and as a result, any large or small object a can be transported reliably. The bottom plate 12 and the partition plate 13 are further sandwiched between each other.

Furthermore, since an elastic material is adhered to the surface of the guide plate 15, even if the transported object a comes into contact with the guide plate 15 during transportation, the transported object a will not be damaged.

The conveyed object a transferred by the feeding device 8 is discharged to a progressive conveyor, which is a post-process conveyor 16, just before its lowest point.

This post-process conveyor 16 is structured as follows.

That is, a large number of packets 18 are fixed to the two chains 17, 17 at a fixed pitch.

Each packet 18 is formed into a substantially semicircular shape so that the transported object a always faces in a fixed direction, that is, in the case shown, faces in the horizontal direction, and its surface is made of an elastic material such as sponge. This is to prevent the transported object a from being damaged.

Further, both longitudinal ends of each packet 18 are open, and side plates 14 are provided on both sides of the feeding device 8 in order to prevent the transported object a from jumping out or falling from the openings.
14 are extended on both sides of each packet 18 located on the forward movement side.

In addition, 19 is a sprocket for driving the chain 17.17.

Then, from each storage chamber of the feeding device 8, the transported objects a are discharged one by one into each packet 18 by their own weight.

Each packet 18 is formed in a semicircular shape, and side plates 14 are arranged on both sides of the packet 18, so that the transported object a does not jump out or fall from the packet 18, and is placed sideways. They are transported one after another while maintaining the same conditions.

Then, while the transported objects a are housed in each packet 18, their shapes are sorted out by a sorter (not shown), for example.

It goes without saying that the pre-process conveyor 1, the feeding device 8, and the post-process conveyor 16 are operated in synchronization with each other.
For example, it is also possible to drive the pre-process conveyor 1 so that a predetermined number of two or more objects to be transported a are introduced into each storage chamber of the feeding device 8.

Further, the pre-process conveyor 1 and the post-process conveyor 16 do not need to have the structure shown in the figure; for example, the pre-process conveyor 1 may be any conveyor that can transport the objects a in an aligned state.

Further, side plates replacing the side plates 14, 14 are fixed to the rotating shaft 9 of the feeding device 8, and on the other hand, also in the post-process conveyor 16,
Although side plates may be fixed to both ends of the opening of each packet 18 instead of the side plates 14, 14, an additional load will be placed on the drive source, and this is not a good idea.

Furthermore, the feeding device according to this invention is not limited to only elongated objects to be transported, but can also be applied to, for example, spherical objects.

As explained above, this invention consists of fixing a plurality of flexible bottom plates to the rotating shaft in a radial manner in a bulging shape outward, and inserting flexible partition plates between each bottom plate and outwardly from the bottom plate. The bottom plate and the partition plate adjacent thereto form a storage chamber for objects to be transported, and prevent the objects to be transported in this storage chamber from falling. Install a guide plate,
Since the objects to be conveyed are transferred by rotation, the objects can be reliably transferred from the front-process conveyor to the rear-process conveyor at a fixed pitch without changing the alignment direction or damaging the objects, and can also be used for large and small objects. Even objects with mixed shapes can be transported by automatically changing the space in the storage chamber according to the size of the objects, which has a special effect compared to conventional metal star wheels.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings all show one embodiment of this invention; Fig. 1 is a front view including the front and rear conveyors, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a partial front view of the main parts of this invention. . 9...Rotating shaft, 12...Bottom plate, 13.
...Division board, 15...Guide board, a...
...Object to be transported, b...Accommodation chamber.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A plurality of flexible bottom plates are fixed to the rotating shaft in a radial manner in a bulging shape, and a flexible partition plate is made to protrude outward from between the bottom plates than the bottom plates, and in a radial shape. The bottom plate and the partition plate adjacent thereto form a storage chamber for the transported objects, and a guide plate is provided to prevent the transported objects from falling in this storage chamber. A feeding device for objects to be conveyed, characterized in that the object is rotatably transferred.