JPS6238282A - Sorting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to a sorting device for separating rollable objects from non-rollable objects. The present invention relates to a sorting device used to sort ceramic bodies for electronic parts from polishing media after the ceramic bodies for electronic parts are barrel-polished.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a sorting device as described above, in which objects to be sorted are supplied to the upper surface of an endless belt driven with an upward slope, and while rolling objects are allowed to fall from the upper surface of the endless belt, This device attempts to separate rollable objects from non-rollable objects by leaving only non-rollable objects on the upper surface of the endless bell 1~.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For example, ceramic bodies for electronic components such as chip capacitors are fired and then subjected to barrel polishing. In barrel polishing, spherical polishing media are used. After finishing barrel polishing, the polishing media and the ceramic body for electronic parts must be sorted out.

Conventionally, when performing the sorting described above, a sieve having a mesh has been used. That is, a mixture of a ceramic body for electronic parts and polishing media is placed in this sieve, and the sieve is shaken to perform sorting. In this case, the attempt is made to utilize the difference in dimensions between the ceramic body for electronic components and the polishing media.
The roughness of the mesh used has an important relationship with the dimensions of the ceramic body for electronic parts and the polishing media.

Therefore, if a mesh with a roughness that is between the size of the ceramic element for electronic components and the polishing media is used, and the ceramic element is larger than the media, the ceramic element will remain on the mesh and the In addition, if the media is larger than the ceramic body, the media will remain on the mesh.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the above-described sorting using a sieve cannot be applied when the dimensions of the ceramic body for electronic parts and the polishing media are approximately the same.

Furthermore, the roughness of the mesh must be selected depending on the dimensional relationship between the ceramic body for electronic parts and the polishing media, and many types of meshes with different roughness must be prepared in advance.

Further, the polishing media may become smaller due to wear while the polishing process is repeated, and the sizes of the polishing media may become uneven. In this case, it is especially important to select the mode in which the polishing media remains on the mesh. because,
This is because the media, which has become smaller due to wear, is sieved out through the mesh together with the ceramic body. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly manage the amount of wear on the polishing media.

In addition, the polishing media may contain defective particles in which two particles stick together, and in this case, it is not possible to completely separate the ceramic body for electronic components from the polishing media. It turns out.

Furthermore, if a mesh is used, it must be of uniform roughness.

Therefore, the present invention provides a sorting method that can separate objects such as ceramic bodies for electronic components and objects such as polishing media regardless of their respective sizes, and has excellent productivity. The aim is to provide equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In this invention, an object such as an abrasive media is typically
It is spherical and can roll when placed on an inclined surface, whereas objects such as ceramic bodies for electronic components usually have flat surfaces on the outside and do not roll when placed on an inclined surface. This is an attempt to take advantage of the property of being immovable.

In other words, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned sorting between ceramic bodies for electronic components and polishing media, but is generally applicable to devices for sorting between rollable objects and non-rollable objects. Its characteristics are that the endless belt is wound around two rollers with parallel rotation axes pointing in the horizontal direction, with the top surface sloped; A drive device that rotates the endless belt so that it moves from the bottom of the gradient to the top on the top surface, and a rollable object and a non-rollable object in the middle of the movement path of the top surface of the endless belt. and a supply device that supplies a mixture of materials to be sorted.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, when a rollable object is supplied to the middle of the movement path of the upper surface of the endless belt, it rolls according to the slope of the upper surface of the endless belt. On the other hand, a non-rollable object is lifted without rolling from below the slope to the top according to the movement of the upper surface of the endless space. Therefore, while the endless belt is moving, a rollable object and a non-rollable object can be separated on the starting end side and the ending end side of the movement path on the upper surface, respectively.

Therefore, this invention makes use of the difference in the external shape of two objects to be sorted, and can sort the objects to be sorted regardless of their size. Therefore,
The problems encountered in the conventional sieve screening described above can be advantageously solved. That is, there is no need to prepare various sieves with different mesh roughnesses. Further, preparatory work such as having to replace the sieve every time the object/object to be sorted changes is no longer necessary, improving productivity.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied even to materials such as polishing media whose dimensions become smaller and fluctuate as they are used, and there is no need to manage the amount of wear. Further, there is no need for management to eliminate variations in mesh roughness.

Further, according to the present invention, further developed from the above, since it is sufficient that the two types of objects to be separated have a rollable property and a non-rollable property, respectively,
Complete sorting can be performed even if the sizes and shapes of the objects to be sorted are not uniform. For example, when polishing media and ceramic bodies for electronic components are sorted, polishing media of various sizes are mixed, and
Even if ceramic bodies for electronic components of various sizes or shapes are mixed, as long as they each have the above-mentioned rollable and non-rollable properties, polishing media and electronic The ceramic body for parts can be completely separated.

Further, in the present invention, since the endless belt is driven so that its upper surface moves from the lower side of the slope toward the upper side, it is possible to perform continuous sorting while continuing the operation of the endless belt. Therefore, sorting can be performed with high productivity.

Embodiment A sorting device as an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the first embodiment.
As shown in the figure.

This sorting device first includes an endless belt 3 wound between two rollers 1.2 having mutually parallel rotation axes oriented in the horizontal direction. The two rows 51 and 2 are only the minimum necessary for winding the endless belt 3, and several rollers or the like may be arranged in relation to the path of the endless belt 3. When the endless belt 3 is in such a state, the upper surface 3
The characteristic is that a has a slope. It is preferable to use a material with a relatively large am coefficient as the surface material of the endless belt 3, and in the example, Habasit Belt (trade name) having appropriate adhesiveness was used. In addition, a belt made of silicone resin or other plastic, or a belt made of a composite material whose surface is treated with a suitable resin on a fiber belt may also be used.

The sorting device shown in FIG. 1 is intended to separate, for example, a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped ceramic body 4 for electronic components from a spherical polishing media 5.

That is, in FIG. 1, the ceramic body 4 for electronic components is shown as a rectangle, and the polishing media 5 is shown as a circle. When dealing with such objects to be sorted, in an actual example, a width of about 1
11 endless belts 3 are used, the upper surface 3a of which extends over a length of about 1.5 m.

The endless belt 3 is rotationally driven in the direction shown by the arrow so that the upper surface 3a thereof moves from the lower part of the slope to the upper part. Although a driving device for this purpose is not shown, it is installed to rotate either roller 1 or 2. Note that a roller rotationally driven by this drive device may be provided in addition to the illustrated roller 1.2 and brought into contact with the endless belt 3.

In the middle of the movement path of the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3,
A hopper 6 serving as a supply device for supplying objects to be sorted is arranged. In the illustrated embodiment, the hopper 6 is placed at a position offset to the starting end of the movement path of the upper surface 3a. Hopper 6 is
The shape is shown in a perspective view in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the hopper 6 has a hole 7 at its bottom that is larger than the objects to be sorted, and is placed so that the arrow 8 coincides with the width direction of the endless spacer 3. The hopper 6 may be provided in a fixed state, or may be vibrated in the direction of the arrow 8. In this way, when vibration is applied to the ceramic body 4 as the object to be sorted housed in the hopper 6,
Appropriate stirring action is applied to the mixture of and media 5, and the materials to be sorted can be more uniformly supplied onto the endless belt 3.

At the starting end of the movement path of the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3,
A media reservoir 9 is provided to collect the polishing media 5 as a rollable object. On the other hand, at the end of the moving path, a ceramic element reservoir 10 is installed to collect the ceramic element body 4 for electronic components as a non-rollable object.
is provided.

Both reservoirs 9 , 10 are designed to receive media 5 or ceramic bodies 4 that naturally fall from the Endless Perth 3 . Note that the means for collecting these does not have to be the reservoirs 9 and 10 in the shape of containers, but may be, for example, a conveyor device that transports the collected ceramic bodies 4 or media 5 to another location. It may be something like this.

In the illustrated embodiment, a plurality of warping members 11 are provided on the movement path of the upper surface of the endless belt 3 and on the terminal side from the hopper 6 as a means for handling the ceramic bodies 4 and the media 5 as objects to be sorted. They are distributed in the length direction of the endless belt 3. The deflection member 11 is shown alone in perspective view in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, the warping device @11 includes a stand 12 extending in the width direction of the endless belt 3, and a plurality of contact rods 13 protruding downward from the stand 12. The contact rod 13 is made of piano wire, for example, and is bent into an L shape, and is arranged so that its end faces toward the end of the movement path of the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3, as shown in FIG.

The contact rod 13 is placed as close as possible to the upper surface 3a of the endless spell 3 without touching it. Further, the distance between adjacent contact rods 13 is selected so that the ceramic element body 4 can pass therethrough. It is preferable that the warping member 11 be vibrated in the width direction of the endless belt 3, that is, in the direction of the arrow 14.

This enhances the stirring effect on the ceramic body 4 and the media 5 placed on the upper surface 3a.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, when a plurality of warping members 11 are provided, it is preferable that the vibration direction of each warping member 11 be alternated.

At the end of the movement path of the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3,
As shown in FIG. 1, a scraping member 15 is provided. The scraping member 15, as shown alone in FIG.
A stand 16 extending in the width direction of the endless belt 3 is provided, and a plurality of scraping rods 17 made of piano wire, for example, are provided protruding downward from the stand 16. The scraping member 15 is preferably vibrated in the direction shown by the arrow 18, and is forcibly applied in order to loosen the adhesion of the ceramic body 4 that may be adhered to the upper surface 3a of the Endless Perth 3 by adhesive. This is an attempt to scrape off the ceramic body 4 from the Endless Perth 3. Therefore, the scraping rod 17 of the scraping member 15 only needs to contact the ceramic body 4 attached to the endless belt 3, and it does not matter whether it is in contact or not in contact with the endless belt 3. good. Note that the distance between adjacent scraping rods 17 is selected so that the ceramic body 4 can pass therethrough.

According to the configuration described above, the operation of the ceramic body 4 and the media 5 as objects to be sorted will be explained.

Ceramic body 4 and media 5 supplied from hopper 6
As shown in FIG. 1, the mixture is dropped onto the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3, which is moved in the direction of the arrow. At this time, since the media 5 is spherical, most of it will roll on the upper surface 3a and fall into the media reservoir 9 regardless of the movement of the endless belt 3.

On the other hand, since the ceramic body 4 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, it does not roll on the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3, but climbs the slope as the upper surface 3a moves. Note that some of the media 5 may be piled up or tangled with the ceramic body 4 and transported together with the ceramic body 4 by the endless belt 3. However, since such media 5 is then handled by the contact rod 13 of the warping member 11, it is released from the ceramic body 4 and eventually rolls and falls along the slope of the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3. . Therefore, after passing through the warping member 11, only the ceramic element body 4 remains on the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3. When these ceramic bodies 4 reach the end of the movement path on the upper surface 3a, they are placed in the ceramic body reservoir 10.
It naturally falls inside. If the ceramic body 4 is still attached to the top surface 3a due to the adhesiveness of the top surface 3a of the endless belt 3, the scraping member 15 will actively scrape the ceramic body 4 from the top surface 3a. Since the ceramic element body 4 is dropped, the ceramic element body 4 will not fall into the ceramic element body reservoir 10 and will not be carried away by the endless belt 3.

Although this invention has been described above in connection with one embodiment,
Still other variations are possible.

For example, with respect to the warping member 11, it may have a shape similar to the scraping member 15 shown in FIG. Moreover, on the contrary, the scraping member 15
may be replaced with one having a shape similar to the warping member 11 shown in FIG.

Furthermore, the deflecting member and the scraping member may be replaced by a member having serrated contact portions 19 as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, the warping member 11 shown in FIG.
1 while fixedly arranging each contact rod 1.
3 may be shifted in the width direction of the endless belt 3.

Even with such a configuration, it is possible to provide the same stirring effect to the objects to be sorted that pass through the warping member 11 as the endless belt 3 moves.

Note that the configuration shown in FIG. 6 can be similarly applied to the case where the member shown in FIG. 4 or 5 is used as a warping member.

The above-mentioned means for sorting the objects to be sorted includes the warping member 1
As typified by No. 1, these included members that come into direct contact with non-sorted materials. However, the means for sorting out non-sorted items is not limited to this configuration. For example, air may be blown onto a predetermined position on the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3, thereby separating the objects to be sorted. Alternatively, the objects to be sorted may be separated by applying mechanical vibration to the upper surface 3a of the endless belt 3 by intermittently pushing it up from below.

Moreover, the hopper 6 as a feeding device for feeding objects to be sorted onto the endless bells 1 to 3 can be replaced with any other feeding device.

For example, if a parts feeder, linear feeder, or air feeder is used, the objects to be sorted can be uniformly fed onto the endless belt 3 without applying vibrations as applied in the case of the hopper 6. .

Incidentally, among the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the warping member 11 and the scraping member 15 are not essential to the present invention. For example, if the objects to be sorted are supplied onto the endless belt 3 without piling up or intertwining with each other at the stage of supplying the objects to be sorted onto the endless belt 3 by a feeding device such as the hopper 6, then This is because there is no need to separate the objects to be sorted after that. Incidentally, if the warping member 11 is actively provided, the following advantages can be expected, although these are not directly related to the gist of the present invention. If there are two spherical particles as described in the conventional example (including a defective media that has been stuck),
It may not roll down on the upper surface 3a of the endless bell l-3 and may not be able to pass between the contact rods 13. Therefore, such defective media are captured by the warping member 11, and defective media can also be sorted out from the media.

Further, the object to be sorted to which the present invention is applied is not limited to a mixture of the ceramic body 4 for electronic parts and the polishing media 5 as in the illustrated embodiment. Furthermore, the shapes of objects included in the objects to be sorted are not limited to spherical and rectangular parallelepiped shapes. In other words, as long as the object to be sorted is a mixture of rollable and non-rollable objects, it can be applied to any purpose and to any shape of object. Can be done. Here, "rollable" and "non-rollable"
It should be pointed out that the meaning of each cannot be defined by the three-dimensional shape of the object. for example,"
Even if a rollable object is defined as an object whose outer surface is defined by a curved surface, such as a sphere, this is not necessarily an accurate definition. This is because a solid with a shape like a Go stone can be said to be an object whose outer surface is defined by a curved surface.
Because it has an overall flat shape, it is "non-rollable". On the other hand, even if we define a "non-rollable" object as an object that has a flat surface on its outer surface, for example, even if both end surfaces are flat, such as in a cylindrical shape,
This falls under the category of "rollable" objects. Further, even if the object has the same cylindrical shape, if the height dimension is small, so-called a disk shape, then it falls into the category of "non-rollable" objects.

To point out further, "rollable" and "non-rollable" may have to be understood as relative properties. In other words, "rollable" means "easy to roll"
On the other hand, "impossible to roll" can also mean "difficult to roll."

That is, objects of the same shape may be "rollable" or "unrollable" depending on the slope of the top surface of the endless belt.

In this sense, the slope of the upper surface of the endless belt employed in this invention is selected so that one of the two objects to be sorted can roll while the other remains on the belt. It's a good thing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the hopper 6 of FIG. 1 alone, with a part cut away. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the warping member 11 of FIG. 1 alone. Fourth
This figure is a perspective view showing the scraping member 15 of FIG. 1 alone. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a member that can be used in place of the warping member 11 or the scraping member 15. FIG. 6 is a schematic bottom view showing a preferred arrangement when the warping member 11 is fixedly provided. In the figure, 1.2 is a roller, 3 is an endless belt,
3a is the upper surface of the endless belt, 4 is a ceramic element for electronic parts (an object that cannot roll), and 5 is the polishing media (
6 is a hotspot (supply bag RA), 9 is a media reservoir (means for collecting a rollable object), 10
11 is a warping member (a means for removing objects to be sorted); and 15 is a scraping member (to prevent adhesion of objects that cannot be rolled). means to solve the problem).

Claims (8)

[Claims] (1) A device for separating rollable objects from non-rollable objects, which has a sloped upper surface between two rollers with rotational axes oriented horizontally and parallel to each other. an endless belt wound around the endless belt; a drive device that rotationally drives the endless belt so that the endless belt moves from the bottom of the gradient upward to the top surface of the endless belt; and a part of the moving path of the top surface of the endless belt A sorting device comprising: a supply device that supplies a mixture of the rollable object and the non-rollable object to be sorted. (2) The sorting according to claim 1, wherein the rollable object is an object whose outer surface is defined by a curved surface, and the non-rollable object is an object whose outer surface has a flat surface. Device. (3) the rollable object is polishing media;
3. The sorting device according to claim 2, wherein the non-rollable object is a ceramic body for electronic components polished by the polishing media. (4) At the starting end of the movement path on the upper surface of the endless bell,
means are provided for retrieving the rollable object, and
The sorting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising means for collecting the non-rollable object at the end of the movement path. (5) A means for handling the objects to be sorted is provided on the movement path of the upper surface of the endless belt and on the terminal end side of the supply device. The sorting device according to any one of the above. (6) The sorting device according to claim 5, wherein the means for sorting includes a member that directly contacts the objects to be sorted placed on the upper surface of the endless belt. (7) The sorting device according to claim 5, wherein the means for sorting includes means for applying mechanical vibration to the upper surface of the endless belt. (8) The scope of the present invention further comprises means for releasing the non-rollable object that may be adhered to the endless belt by adhesive at the end of the movement path on the upper surface of the endless belt. The sorting device according to any one of Items 1 to 7.