JPS6137169B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an article supply mechanism that pulses and feeds articles to be conveyed by meshing with the transfer mechanism.

When feeding processed products or jigs so that they mesh with the chain conveyor (belt conveyor, etc.) that transports the products, if they do not mesh securely, the chain or processed products may be damaged, or the feeding mechanism or conveyance mechanism may malfunction. I do things. Particularly, when the chain conveyor moves intermittently and the moving speed changes moment by moment (pulsation), the processed products to be supplied become difficult to follow the moving speed of the chain conveyor and do not mesh.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to ensure that the articles engage with the pulsating conveyor when the articles are engaged and fed to the conveyor.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention engages the articles with the conveyor while moving the articles in synchronization with the moving speed of the conveyor.The present invention will be described below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the article supply mechanism of the present invention. A chain conveyor 1 is shown in the figure.
Guide rails 5 are disposed along the upper horizontal conveyance section of the chain conveyor 1 to support and guide articles 4 that are engaged with guide rollers 3 of the chain 2 and move. As shown in FIG. 2, the guide rail 5 consists of two rails 6, which are located on both sides of the chain 2 and the article 4, respectively. Further, the inner wall of the rail 6 is provided with a guide surface 7 that supports the guide rollers 3 that protrude from both sides of the chain 2, and a guide groove 9 into which rollers 8, two of which are attached to each side of the article 4, are fitted. It is being Further, the article 4 straddles the chain 2 and has semicircular guide recesses 10 on the lower surfaces of both sides,
This guide recess 10 fits into the guide roller 3 of the chain 2 and moves as the chain 2 moves.

On the other hand, the sprocket 1 of the chain conveyor 1
A belt conveyor 12 for transporting articles 4 into the guide rail 5 is provided at one end of the guide rail 5 on the first side. Further, the articles 4 are supplied onto the belt conveyor 12 one by one via a carry-in chute 13. On the other hand, at the other end of the guide rail 5 on the guide wheel 14 side of the chain conveyor 1, an unloading chute 15 is disposed so as to send the articles 4 sent out from the guide rail 5 to a storage jig or other assembly line. It's getting old.

In such a conveying device, the sprocket 1
By driving the rotating shaft 16 of the chain 2, the articles 4 supplied from the carrying chute 13 onto the belt conveyor 12 are guided into the guide rail 5, and the guide of the chain 2 rotated by the sprocket 11 is guided. It meshes with the roller 3 and moves intermittently. After predetermined assembly, processing, etc. are carried out at work stations A and B, the guide rail 5 is detached from the other end and transported to the unloading chute 15.
is sent to the designated location by.

By the way, when the sprocket 11 is intermittently rotated by a stepping motor or the like, it is instantaneously fast at the beginning of the rotation, and becomes slow at the later stage due to mere inertia, and the intermittent rotation is not constant.

In other words, at the beginning of rotation, it is instantaneously fast, so
If the article 4 is simply pressed in the feeding direction, it cannot be followed, causing a delay (misalignment) in the movement of the article 4 that is about to engage the chain 2, and the guide recess 10 of the article 4 does not accurately engage with the guide roller 3 of the chain 2. It disappears.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a meshing mechanism whose details are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is provided. That is, a driving pulley 17 for a timing belt is fixed to the rotating shaft 16 of the sprocket 11. Further, a shaft 19 is rotatably attached to an arm 18 rotatably attached to the rotating shaft 16. And this axis 1
9, the driven pulley 20 is fixed. Further, this shaft 19 is disposed parallel to the rotating shaft 16, and its tip faces near the outer periphery of the sprocket 11, and a rubber roller 21 is fixed thereto. The rubber roller 21 is connected to the chain 2 of the sprocket 11.
The lower surface 22 of the article 4 is about to be engaged with the lower surface 22 of the article 4. Further, the arm 1 is arranged so that the circumferential surface of the rubber roller 21 comes into contact with the lower surface 22 of the article 4.
A compression spring 24 is attached to a lever 23 projecting from 8. Furthermore, a cylinder mechanism 25 is provided at the lever 23 portion to adjust the arm 18 by moving it slightly downward so that the article 4 can move along the guide rail without contacting the rubber roller 21. And this cylinder mechanism 25
A hook piece 27 is fixed to the tip of the piston rod 26, and when the piston rod 26 moves backward, the lever 23 is moved downward against the compression spring 24, and the rubber roller 21 is separated from the bottom surface 22 of the article 4. It's summery.

On the other hand, the driving pulley 17 and the driven pulley 2
A timing belt 28 is placed between the
The rotation of the sprocket 11 is transmitted to the rubber roller 21. Further, the driving pulley 1 is arranged so that the article 4 being moved by the rubber roller 21 is moved by one pitch (p) of the chain conveyor 1 with one rotation angle θ (one pitch) of the sprocket 11.
7. The sizes of the driven pulley 20 and rubber roller 21 are selected.

Next, the operation of the meshing mechanism will be explained. By temporarily retracting (lowering) the piston rod 26 by operating the cylinder mechanism 25,
The arm 18 is rotated to the left and the rubber roller 21 is lowered. Then, by the belt conveyor 12,
Article 4 stops at starting position C (in this case,
The article is stopped at the starting position C by moving until it hits an already engaged article, but generally known techniques may be used to stop the article accurately at the starting position C. Alternatively, whether or not the starting position C is accurately located may be detected using a mechanical, electrical, or optical mechanism. ). Next, by moving the piston rod 26 forward, the lever 23 fixed to the arm 18 is released from the hook 27 and rotated clockwise by the restoring force of the compression spring 24. Then, the rubber roller 21 comes into contact with the lower surface 22 of the article 4 at the starting position C. Thereafter, the rotating shaft 16 of the sprocket 11 rotates by θ. Therefore, the rotation of the rotating shaft 16 is transmitted to the rubber roller 21 via the driving pulley 17, the timing belt 28, and the driven pulley 20. As the rubber roller 21 rotates, the article 4 moves toward the chain 2 due to frictional force, and the guide recess 10 of the article 4 and the guide roller 3 of the chain 2 are accurately engaged.

At this time, the amount of rotation of the sprocket 11 at each moment is accurately transmitted to the article 4 via the rubber roller 21. Therefore, even if the rotational speed of the sprocket 11 changes at each moment, the article 4 moves while accurately following this change. For this reason, there is no delay in the movement of the chain 2 as in the conventional case, and the articles 4 can be accurately supplied.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. That is, the rotation of the sprocket may be transmitted using a belt mechanism or a gear mechanism.

Further, the present invention can also be applied to pulsating transport in which the moving speed changes at each moment even when objects are continuously transported.

As described above, according to the article feeding mechanism of the present invention, even if the transfer speed changes, the articles are meshed and fed while accurately following the change, so that accurate feeding can be achieved. Therefore, unlike in the past, improper engagement does not occur, and as a result, the transport mechanism or the article (transferred goods) may be damaged, or
Alternatively, the transfer mechanism and the like will not be damaged.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the article supply mechanism of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the engagement state between the article and the chain, and FIG. 3 is a front view showing the supply mechanism for supplying articles to the chain. FIG. 4 is a side view of the supply mechanism. 1... Chain conveyor, 2... Chain, 3...
Guide roller, 4... Article, 5... Guide rail, 6... Rail, 7... Guide surface, 8... Roller, 9... Guide groove, 10... Guide depression, 11...
... Sprocket, 12 ... Belt conveyor, 13
...Shutdown chute, 14...Guide wheel,
15...Export chute, 16...Rotary shaft, 17
... Drive side pulley, 18 ... Arm, 19 ...
Shaft, 20... Driven pulley, 21... Rubber roller, 22... Bottom surface, 23... Lever, 24... Compression spring, 25... Cylinder mechanism, 26... Piston rod, 27... Hook piece, 28... Timing belt.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An article supply mechanism that supplies articles to a pulsating transfer mechanism that engages and transfers articles to a conveyor mechanism that is pulsatingly moved by a sprocket that is rotated as a drive source, the sprocket provided at an upstream position of the conveyor mechanism. an arm having a base end rotatably supported near the arm and a rubber roller supported at the distal end; A spring and cylinder mechanism that rotates the arm; and a timing belt mechanism that is stretched between the rubber roller and the sprocket and uses the rotational force of the sprocket to rotate the rubber roller that is in contact with the article in a direction that advances the article. and the timing belt mechanism supplies the article to the pulsating transfer mechanism, the rotation ratio of which is set so that the speed of movement of the conveyor mechanism by the sprocket matches the speed of movement of the article by the rubber roller. Goods supply mechanism.