JPS6056731A - Product conveying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To convey products in an arranged state with a simple apparatus by taking out a lot of trays in an apparatus body in order from a conveyer to load and unload products, positioning the tray with good accuracy to a product loading and unloading portion and feeding same. CONSTITUTION:Working apparatus 10 including a mount protion 4 and a tray operating machine 5 disposed on an apparatus body 3 are provided at work portions 50A, 50B, and the apparatus 10 and 10 are connected by a transport 1 storing trays 2. The transport 1 storing stacked trays for loading and unloading products is carried to correspond to the apparatus 10 of the specified work position 50, and the transport 1 is pushed in the mount portion 4 and mounted there. According to a control command, the trays 2 are taken out in order onto the upper surface of an elevator 8 by a crossfeed machine 2 and an elevator 7, and products are loaded and unloaded by a work robot 40.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a product conveying device that stores arbitrary products in trays in various factories and conveys and connects them between various manufacturing and processing lines.

In order to automate the manufacturing and processing of small products in various factories, etc., it is necessary to transport the products between the various manufacturing and processing lines in an automatically organized and regulated state.

This transportation system generally transports small products by storing them in trays, which are flat containers, and then supplies these trays to the product loading and unloading sections of each manufacturing and processing department using an automated system such as a conveyor. However, automated systems such as conveyors have the disadvantage that the equipment is large and cannot be easily installed, and it is also difficult to supply each tray to the product loading/unloading area with accurate positioning. There was a drawback. Furthermore, there is a drawback in that automatic product transport is not possible unless the large conveyor system is used to rearrange and transport the large number of trays that have been loaded and unloaded with the products.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and in product transportation using trays, a large number of trays are housed in a conveying body within the main body of the device, and the trays are sequentially taken out from the conveying body within the main body. By installing work equipment made of
It is possible to easily continuously supply trays to a product loading/unloading section with a simple device, and to supply each tray with accurate positioning to the product loading/unloading section,
In addition, each tray loaded and unloaded with products is then stored in an m# shape at an arbitrary stacking section, so that the next conveyance work can be carried out in an organized manner. This is what we provide.

Embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described in detail below. 1st
The figure is an overall conceptual diagram of the device of the present invention.

In the figure, the present invention is a working unit 50A that manufactures or processes arbitrary products in various factories.

50B, a working device 10 comprising a mounting section 4 and a tray operating device 5 is installed in the device main body 3, and these working devices io and io are connected by a carrier 1 containing a tray 2. The carrier 1 stores a large number of trays 2, 2 in a stacked manner in the vertical direction, and is removably attached to the attachment part 4 of the working device 10, and when attached, a work robot 40 moves each tray 2 to the attachment part 4. Products are loaded and unloaded, and at this time, the conveyor 1 is moved by the operating device 5 to each of the stacked trays 2, 2.
When the tray 2 is taken out from the transport body 1, the work robot 40 always loads and unloads the product at a predetermined position.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views of the tray conveyor. Although the conveyor 1 in the embodiment is made up of eight stacked trays 2, the number of stacked trays can be arbitrarily selected in proportion to the size of the working device 10. First, the carrier 1 shown in FIG. 2 is formed as a framework box as a whole, and has an opening 12 on one or both sides of the upper end of the side surface through which the trays 2 are taken in and out. It is designed to be stored in layers. Note that the opening 12 may be located at the center of the side surface or at the lower end. Further, the carrier l in FIG. 3 is
Eight stacking shelves 11 each having an opening 12 on the side surface are vertically arranged in series, and each of the mounting shelves 11 and 111C tray 2 is stored in and out of the opening 12 at will. Each of the two trays is vertically stacked, but the adjacent upper and lower portions are not in contact with each other, so that they can be freely taken out and inserted through the opening 12. Two trays each are conveyed and connected between the respective working sections 50A and 50B by the conveyor 1.

The carrier 1 is transported by an arbitrary trolley 22.

It is sufficient to have at least one working section 50A, and this working section 5OA may be connected to a general working section or a bottom filling factory or the like outside the same factory using the conveyor 1.

The above-mentioned tray 2 is formed as a flat rectangular container whose upper surface is fully open, as shown in FIG. Note that the external shape and depth of the tray can be freely selected, and any tray such as a general pallet or a commercially available plastic container can be used. In addition, a formwork 17 having a product fitting part 18 formed of styrofoam or the like adapted to the outer shape of the transported product is housed in the tray, so that the work robot 40 can position the product itself. The work can be done more automatically. Also,
The mold 17 and the tray 2 themselves can also be integrally molded with any material.

Next, a description will be given of the working device 10, which includes the device main body 3, the tray mounting section 4, and the tray operating device 5.

The working device 10 is installed near a working section 50 of various factories, etc., and as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the device main body 3 is formed entirely of a rectangular box. A tray mounting section 4 consisting of a space in which the tray carrier l is housed is provided within this box-shaped apparatus main body 3, and the tray mounting section 4
A tray operating device 5 is provided in the apparatus main body 3 facing the tray.

In the above embodiment, the carrier 1 shown in FIG. 2 is mounted on the mounting section 4.

The carrier 1 containing the tray 2 is usually an arbitrary trolley 2.
2, the above-mentioned work equipment [
It is moved and placed on the mounting section 4 of 10.

On the other hand, the carrier 1, together with the stand m22, has a mounting portion 4Vc.
It is also possible to place the item for transportation, or it may be transported by an automatic machine such as a fork without using a trolley.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the tray mounting section 4 has a space in which the carrier 1 containing the tray 2 is detachably mounted, and this space is open at the front. Then, the carrier 1 is slid toward the front and attached.

The five operating machines for the tray 2 provided in the apparatus main body 3 basically consist of a traverse feeder 6 for the tray 2 and an elevator 7.8. These transverse feeders 6 and elevators 7.8 are controlled by the control section 3.
Each operates according to a command from 0.

Next, the lateral feeder 6 that constitutes the tray operating device 5 moves the tray 2
The tray 2 is configured with a cylinder having a stroke capable of transversely feeding one tray, and the trays 2 placed in a stacked manner in the conveyor 1 are transversely fed and taken out from an upper opening 12. The tray 2 is taken out by placing the tray 2 on the upper surface of the elevator 8. In addition, the horizontal feeder 6
As shown in FIG. 5, since it is horizontally movable, there is no problem in attaching the carrier 1. Alternatively, a lateral feeder may be provided on the side of the stacking section 9, which will be described later, to pull the trays.

Next, the elevators 7 and 8 are each provided with a folding arm on the lower surface of the base. And one elevator 7 is
It is installed on the lower surface of the mounting part 4, ascends into the frame from the lower surface of the carrier 1, lifts up the 81-layer tray 2.2 in the frame,
The upper tray 2 is designed to always face the opening 12. The other elevator 8 is installed on the lower surface of the laminated portion 9 of the worked trays 2 formed adjacent to the mounting portion 4.

The Fti layer section 9 is formed as a space in which an empty frame-shaped carrier 1a that does not contain the tray 2 is mounted. As shown in the figure, it can be raised and lowered freely. Further, the elevator 8 is configured to form a product entrance/exit section 14 at the upper end of the stacked section 9. However, the tray 2, which is transferred from the upper end opening 12 of the carrier l onto the elevator 8 by the transverse feeder 6, is loaded and unloaded with products by the work robot 40 at that location (product entrance/exit section 14). Ru. When one loading/unloading operation is completed, the elevator 8 descends one tray and waits to place the next tray 2 on top of the tray 2 that has been loaded.

When the above operations are carried out continuously, the trays 2 and 2 that have been worked on are stored in the conveyor la in the stacking section 9 (stacked and stored,
In addition, the carrier i tt-i in the mounting section 4 becomes empty. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the carrier 1a of the stacking section 9 is moved onto the right hand truck 22a, the carrier 1 of the mounting section 4 is moved to the stacking section 9, and a new tray-containing carrier 1 is transferred to the mounting section 4. Attach to. Note that the conveyor 1a is not necessarily installed in the stacking section 9.
It is also possible to substantially stack the worked (l/-2) without a frame without having to do this.

The above-mentioned transverse feeder 6 can be attached to the vertical shaft guide so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and in this case, the elevator 7 can be omitted. That is, by forming the mounting part 4 and the laminated part 9 with a step, and by mounting the carrier 1 shown in FIG. Each tray 2 can be taken out onto the elevator 8 by the traverse feeder 6.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned working device 10 will be explained.

First, a transport body 1 in which trays 2.2 for loading and unloading products are stacked and stored is adapted to transport the work device 10 installed in a specific work section 50, and the transport body 1 is transferred to the mounting section 50. Push it into place.

Next, each operating section operates as follows based on commands from the control section 30.

In other words, the tray 2 inside the carrier 1 mounted on the mounting section 4
The products are taken out to the product entrance/exit section 14 which is the upper surface of the elevator 8 using the traverse feeder 6 and the elevator 7, and the work robot 40 loads and unloads the products. Next, each tray after the loading and unloading work is moved to the stacking section 91C by the two-tray elevator 8.
They are stacked and stored in order.

Note that, according to the work robot 40, the work of loading and unloading the products can also be carried out manually. Oh,
The elevators 7 and 8 may be of any type as long as they have the function of substantially raising and lowering the tray 2, and may be configured by, for example, a combination of a cylinder and a base, an air spring, or the like.

Next, FIGS. 8 and 9 show other embodiments.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, a mounting section 4, an elevator 8, and a stacking section 9 are arranged side by side in the apparatus main body 3, and the carrier 1 shown in FIG. 3 is mounted on the mounting section 4. On the other hand, the cross feeder 6 is able to move up and down and feeds each tray 2 from the respective openings 12 onto the base 13 of the elevator 8, and the trays 2 on the base 13 are transferred to the product entrance/exit section 14 by the auxiliary feeder 15. When the loading and unloading work of the products is completed, the products are stacked and stored again in the stacking section 9 in order by the elevator 8 and the auxiliary feeder 15 which can be raised and lowered. The base 13 is designed to accommodate two trays 2, and the tray holder at the product entrance/exit section 14 is designed to allow efficient transfer work.

Next, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the mounting part 4 and the laminated part 9 are formed so as to be vertically connected, and an elevator 8 is provided facing both, and a traverse feeder 6 is provided with respect to the elevator 8. The trays 2 taken out from the mounting section 4 are moved to the product entrance/exit section 14, and when the product loading/unloading work is completed, they are stacked and stored in the empty frame carrier 1a of the stacking section 9. Note that after the above series of operations, the empty frame carrier 1 remains in the upper mounting section 4, so the empty frame carrier 1 is sequentially attached to the mounting section 4? #The layer group part 9 can also be used interchangeably.

Note that the various carriers 1 described above can also be used as stockers.

As described above, the product transport device of the present invention has a work device in which a transport body in which a large number of trays are housed in a camphor layer is removably attached, and is installed in the product loading/unloading section. Each stacked tray is taken out one by one to the product entrance/exit section, making it easy to continuously supply trays to the product loading/unloading section with a simple device. Since the trays are taken out to the product entrance/exit section by the operating device of the work equipment, tray feeding with accurate positioning can be performed.Furthermore, the trays taken out from the above-mentioned conveyor are returned to the stacking section after product loading/unloading work. Since the items are stored in a stacked manner, the next conveyance operation can be carried out in an organized manner.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall conceptual diagram of the apparatus of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of the tray conveyor, Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the tray, and Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the tray.
The figure is a front view of the working device, FIGS. 6 and 7 are side views of the working device, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are side views of other embodiments of the working device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Transportation body 2...Tray 3...Device main body 4...Mounting part 5...Manipulator 6...Transverse transport machine 7.8...Elevator 9...Stacking part Worker 0: Work device 12: Opening 14: Product entrance/exit portion 30: Control unit 40: Work robot 5o River Work Department Applicant Motoda Electronics Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A product conveying device comprising a combination of a conveying body having a tray and a working device and having the following requirements. (a) A framework-formed carrier is provided with an opening for loading and unloading trays, and a plurality of trays are stacked and stored in the carrier. (b) The main body of the working device is provided with a mounting section for removably mounting the carrier and an operating device for removing and operating the tray in the carrier. (c) The operating device includes a traverse feeder and an elevator that take out and transfer the trays in the carrier to the stacking section through the product entrance/exit section.